Eight+ Things to Read About China and Other Things, Part 14

This is the fourteenth episode in our ongoing Saturday series on eight+ things to read about China and a lot more. We constantly get emails from readers asking what to read on China and all sorts of things related and even barely related to China and this series is intended to constantly and consistently answer these questions.

As we said in our initial post on this, our plan is to list out eight (or so) articles we benefitted from reading and think you our readers would also benefit from reading, along with a very brief explanation as to why the particular article was included. More specifically:

The articles will likely include many on China and on Asia and a few on international trade, international politics, Spain and Latin America, economics and really just anything else we believe might benefit our readers or even that we just want people to read. We do not plan to choose articles that push our or any other political agenda or any other agenda for that matter, but having said that, we are not objective and our views may creep through. Our goal though is to focus on articles that are important or helpful or — most importantly — that make you think. Our posting of an article will NOT mean we agree with all of it or even any of it. Most of the articles will be from the week preceding the post but we will also sometimes throw in older articles (classics if you will) as well.

Please do not hesitate to comment at the end of this or any other post. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your comments, good, bad and indifferent.

Here we go, in absolutely no particular order.

1.  Hong Kong critical to China but uncertainty reigns. Deutsche Welle. Is Hong Kong finishedBecause there are so many questions swirling about Hong Kong. Will China send in the troops? as an international business center? And so on and so on…. See also, the BBC’s Hong Kong protests: “We don’t want to leave but may have no choice’ and Atlantic’s Hong Kong Shows the Flaws in China’s Zero-Sum Worldview.

2. Teen goes viral for tweeting from LG smart fridge after mom confiscates all electronics. CBS News.  Because teens are obsessed with social media, but you knew that.

3. Dogfishing: When online daters pose with adorable pets that aren’t theirs. Washington Post. Because who doesn’t love the word dogfishing?

4. American Factory Shows What Happens When One Multibillion Dollar Chinese Company Opens Shop In An Ohio Town. Because it does not pay to believe in economic saviors.

5. Class dismissed: Surge in arrests of foreign teachers in China. Reuters. Because China is no place for English teachers. See also Do NOT Teach English in China. 

6. The rural America death spiral. Axios. Because this is happening. Because America’s the urban-rural divide just keeps growing. Because this is not just a U.S. issue, it is an issue for many (most?) countries.