Held incommunicado since February, writer and activist Xu Zhiyong will receive PEN America’s 2020 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award.
Hot green air
In September, President Xi Jinping stunned and dazzled during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly when he pledged carbon emissions in China would peak before 2030 and the country would […]
China’s Three Gorges Dam is one of the largest ever created. Was it worth it?
The Three Gorges Dam was designed to tame China’s longest river. But this summer’s record rains reveal its limited ability to control floods.
Patricia Adams: China’s quixotic lawyers take on the Communist party
They are turning the notion of civil disobedience on its head, demanding only that the government observe the rule of law.
China’s crackdown on religion
A pandemic did not stop the Chinese government from dismantling, destroying and modifying visible signs of religious display during the Covid-19 crisis and its efforts have ramped up in its wake.
We signed!
Probe International has added its support to a letter signed by more than 60 MPs urging the Canadian government to take action against top Chinese officials in response to “human rights atrocities” […]
Floods focus fresh scrutiny on Three Gorges Dam
As Beijing officials and Three Gorges Dam operator, China Three Gorges Corporation, praise the hydro giant for its performance and benefits during a time of punishing floods and some of the heaviest […]
China’s flood defence network put to the test as it braces for more storms
Is China set for a redo of its 1998 flood crisis?
Flying against the wind amid a grim situation
July 9 marks a grim anniversary for lawyers and activists in China. As fears mount Hong Kong will soon encounter a similar crackdown, July 9 is also a day of recognition: a […]
Testing times for Three Gorges Dam and the Canadian connection to its construction
Canada’s flag is draped all over the national pride of China.
Canadian thought leaders urge Trudeau to reject calls for Meng Wanzhou’s release
Stand firm, Trudeau!
Let’s not double down on the nanny state
The virus may be “natural” but governments have made the crisis. Although the circumstances are new, says Queen’s University law professor, Bruce Pardy, the pattern is not: the larger the welfare state, the more it stands in the way of well being. Don’t double down: turn around.
A city comes to life

Tianshui is the second-largest city in northwestern Gansu Province. Less severely impacted by COVID-19 than other areas, Tianshui is finding its pulse as restrictions lift and the colours and quickening step of spring brightens warmer days. This gallery of recovery snapshots captures one city’s return to a new (but different) normal.
China’s Chernobyl moment

More than one hundred China experts and senior political figures have signed an open letter describing the Chinese Communist Party government’s cover up of COVID-19 as “China’s Chernobyl moment.” The group of signatories, who include some of the world’s leading authorities on Chinese politics, law, and modern history, say that the Chinese government’s rule by fear endangers Chinese citizens—and the world.
A stopped Beijing

New images from inside Beijing’s travel arteries show a stopped Beijing as the battle to contain the coronavirus outbreak brings one of the world’s most populous cities to an eerie halt.