People’s Republic of China

July 07, 2022

Twenty-five years after promising autonomy, China has turned Hong Kong into China

On January 1, 1997, Hong Kong, effectively seized by Great Britain in war a century before, reverted to Chinese rule. Only recently liberated from the madness of Mao Zedong’s rule, Beijing promised to preserve Hong Kong’s separate “system” for 50 years. Continue Reading...

January 18, 2022

Elections in Hong Kong ratify Beijing’s control

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is completing the destruction of the old Hong Kong. The last vestiges of free expression and democratic choice are disappearing. On January 4, the media site Citizen News closed due to the deteriorating legal environment. Continue Reading...

August 19, 2021

Hong Kong group behind large pro-democracy protests disbands

The Civil Human Rights Front, or CHRF, a prominent civil rights group that has commonly supported and organized some of Hong Kong’s most notable pro-democracy protests, has disbanded under increasing restrictions in Hong Kong’s wide-sweeping National Security Law, or NSL. Continue Reading...

December 03, 2020

Jimmy Lai, 2020 Acton award recipient, arrested and denied bail

Jimmy Lai, the outspoken Catholic dissident who has dedicated his Hong Kong-based media empire to exposing Chinese repression, has been arrested on new charges and ordered to spend the next four months in jail. Continue Reading...

September 07, 2020

Jimmy Lai innocent, Pope Francis silent on Hong Kong

A court has found Hong Kong dissident Jimmy Lai not guilty of intimidation. But that does not mean he, or Hong Kong, can rest easy – especially as he faces the prospect of life in prison without any public support from the most important institution in his life: the Vatican. Continue Reading...

July 23, 2020

Hong Kong and the enduring value of the Declaration of Independence

American exceptionalism cannot be appreciated without contrast. Compare these two scenes: On Wednesday night throngs of rioters rampaged through Seattle’s Capitol Hill district, inflicting “massive amounts of property damage, looting,” and “arson” without sustaining a single arrest. Continue Reading...

July 21, 2020

Culture matters: China’s pre-revolutionary remnants

In our efforts to reduce poverty and spur economic growth, it can be easy to be consumed with top-down policy solutions and debates about the proper allocation of resources. Yet as many economists are beginning to recognize, the distinguishing features of flourishing societies are more readily found at the levels of culture – in our attitudes, beliefs, and imaginations. Continue Reading...

October 12, 2010

Liu Xiaobo: Peace Prize, Prosperity and Liberty

In the International Herald Tribune, Fang Lizhi points to the experience of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo over the last 20 years as “evidence on its own to demolish any idea that democracy will automatically emerge as a result of growing prosperity” in China. Continue Reading...