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With Barbs, Author Becomes Literary Star In China

Not so long ago, many Chinese commentators wrote in a cautious, oblique style designed not to offend the nation's famously humorless leaders — then came the Internet, blogs and a cheeky young man named...

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As Economy Slows, China Looks For A New Model

If you followed American media in recent years, you might have thought China was taking over the planet. Recent titles at the book store have included Becoming China's Bitch and When China Rules the...

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For Complainers, A Stint In China's 'Black Jails'

People often say China is a nation of contrasts: of wealth and poverty, of personal freedom and political limits. But that observation doesn't begin to capture the tensions and incongruities of modern...

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Can China's Legal System Change?

China's Communist Party will introduce a new slate of leaders this month to run the world's most populous country for at least the next five years.

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In Rural China, New Leaders Aren't Familiar Faces

An elderly couple is winnowing rice in the front yard of their home in the tiny village of Dongjianggai, about 200 miles northwest of Shanghai. They've just watched China's incoming leaders— including...

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How Ordinary Chinese Are Talking, And Fighting, Back

Never have so many Chinese people spoken so freely than on Weibo, China's answer to Twitter. Just 4 years old, the series of microblog services now has more than 400 million users.And, increasingly,...

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OK, North Korea's Leader Isn't 'Sexiest Man Alive,' Chinese Media Concede

NPR Shanghai correspondent Frank Langfitt sends in an update on one of this week's more amusing stories:China's Web surfers have had a lot to say about how People's Daily Online — the internet version...

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A Rare Visit Inside A Chinese Courtroom

After years of covering China, I finally set foot in a Chinese courtroom last week. Foreign reporters need government permission to enter Chinese courts and past attempts had gone nowhere.The last case...

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Nationalist Rhetoric High As Japanese Head To Polls

As Japanese head to the polls Sunday, Shinzo Abe is expected to become Japan's prime minister for the second time.The election takes place as nationalistic rhetoric is on the rise, and while the...

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Japan's Conservative LDP Returns To Power

Japanese conservatives returned to power in a landslide election victory over the weekend. The Liberal Democratic Party, the LDP, ruled Japan for most of the post-World War II era until it was dumped...

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Japan's Economic Woes Offer Lessons To U.S.

In the 1980s, Japan appeared to be a world beater — the China of its day. Japanese companies were on a tear, buying up firms in the U.S. and property around the world.But these days, Japan is...

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Foxconn Investigated For Bribery Allegations

Transcript RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: And there's more trouble for Foxconn, the electronics giant which makes Apple products in China. The company is acknowledging that Chinese police are looking into...

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In China, Beware: A Camera May Be Watching You

The first of two reportsChina is becoming a surveillance state. In recent years, the government has installed more than 20 million cameras across a country where a decade ago there weren't many.Today,...

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In China, The Government Isn't The Only Spy Game In Town

The final of two reportsIt all started with a local Chinese official.He couldn't figure out how his wife, who suspected him of having an affair, knew the contents of his private conversations."His wife...

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Move Over James Bond, China Has An Unlikely Box Office Champ

Movies are big business in China, and 2012 was another record year: Theaters raked in about $2.7 billion, pushing China past Japan to become the world's second-largest market.Those blistering sales...

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Auntie Anne's Pretzels In Beijing: Why The Chinese Didn't Bite

The lure of the China market is legendary. The dream: Sell something to 1.3 billion people, and you're set.The reality is totally different.Ask the MBAs from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton...

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A Chinese Army Outpost That's Tucked Into Modern Shanghai

Some people in Shanghai — especially the foreigners — think the city's new Pudong section of town is dull, without character and profoundly unfashionable.Twenty years ago, Pudong was mostly farms and...

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Ex-Inmates Speak Out About Labor Camps As China Considers 'Reforms'

Shen Lixiu's story is numbingly familiar.Officials in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing knocked down her karaoke parlor for development. She says they then offered her compensation that was less than...

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In China, Not Everything Has Changed

A lot of journalism about China focuses on the country's rapid and stunning changes, but equally telling are the things that stay the same. I did my first story on China's re-education through labor...

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How To Sneak Into A Chinese Village When Police Don't Want You There

On occasion my job requires me to sneak into a Chinese village as I did earlier this week to report a story on a rural uprising. This does not come naturally. I'm 6-foot-2 with gray hair and blue eyes...

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