Exit Hu, Enter Xi: Changing of the Guard 
No More Wang Yang 
2013: The Year Of The Comeback? 
China in 2013: The Confidence Game 
Bad Year?
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
by Mary McGuire Senior Communications Manager and Mary Humphreys, Communications Intern A thick skin is a necessary prerequisite for every success...
Despite the promise of wider editorial latitude, CCTV America's coverage of China is largely scrubbed of controversy and upbeat in tone, with a heavy emphasis on business and cultural stories in places where Beijing hopes to gain influence.
The story of how China's political elites have been able to leverage their power to make a quick RMB is alluring, but it is also important to keep this in perspective and remember that most of China's richest owe their success to their distance from, rather than their connections in, Beijing.
The polo shirt is an example of a Chinese twist on conspicuous consumption. Instead of expensive tailored suits, designer ties and glittering cuff links, nouveau riche Chinese seem content to purchase ever pricier polo shirts.
Two major events in China are sure to shape the world's newest superpower: the sensational murder trial of Madame Gu Kailai, and the top secret leadership conclave at the seaside resort of Beidaihe.
However paradoxical it may sound to Westernears, the Chinese government has succeeded by drawing upon sources of non-democratic legitimacy.
We should not harbor illusions about China. It is largely run by the rich, for the rich. Perhaps that's why it feels, to me, so much like home.
I recently caught up with Ian Johnson, an old friend and sometimes co-author, and asked him some of the sorts of questions I thought he might get when he is part of an upcoming Asia Society panel on contemporary China.
Our instincts are to cheer on Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng and use this case to dramatize the flagrant human rights abuses that occur in modern China. However, we must not sensationalize this affair.
Prior to the scandal, Bo Xilai was the closest thing the Chinese Communist Party had to a Western media darling. But if Bo looks familiar to Western eyes it is because he embodied much of the worst of Western politicians.
The Bo Xilai scandal is many things. It is intriguing, complex, significant, and even sexy. But don't believe the hype. It will no more bring down Beijing than Watergate brought down Washington.
China naysayers are revelling in the avalanche of revelations about the extensive corruption of Bo Xilai's family network. In doing so, they are missing the much larger, and more historically significant, course correction taking place: the advent of Chinese glasnost.
Bo Xilai, the populist former Chongqing chief recently purged from China's Politburo, was a dangerous, recidivistic force in Chinese politics. His fate should be cheered. Yes, his ouster reveals the dark side of the country's cloak-and-dagger leadership.
In and of itself, a high-ranking official being dismissed in backroom party machinations is hardly a sign of improvement. Yet the event inspires hope that the more authoritarian Chongqing model is losing ground.
Speculations continue to swirl around apparently the highest-level purge in China's political leadership in years. The intensity seems to be rippling ...
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