Caixin

Pedestrians walk past a tram featuring an advertisement celebrating the centenary of the Chinese Community Party and the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule in Hong Kong, China on 1 July 2021. (Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg)

What’s stopping Hong Kong from fixing its housing crisis?

Home to 7.5 million people, Hong Kong has the world's least affordable housing market. While the Hong Kong government has put many housing policies in place, and see the importance of solving the housing issue, why is it so hard for Hong Kong to make progress in this area? Caixin journalists Zhou Wenmin and Wang Duan report.
This handout photo taken on 20 June 2021 and released on 24 June by Yunnan Provincial Command of the Safety Precautions of the Migrating Asian Elephants shows elephants, part of a herd which had wandered 500 kilometres north from their natural habitat, walking near Yuxi city, Yunnan province, China. (Handout/Yunnan Provincial Command of the Safety Precautions of the Migrating Asian Elephants/AFP)

Death follows as people push into elephant enclave

Caixin journalists Kang Jia and Han Wei note that balancing modern human activities with protection of wildlife is becoming increasingly challenging, especially in Xishuangbanna, which is known as a safe haven for wild Asian elephants. What are the authorities doing to improve the situation?
Workers pull a rope as a cargo ship carrying containers docks at the Lianyungang Port Container Terminal in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China on 24 March 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP)

Demand swells for Chinese shipping crews amid global shortage

Amid worsening Covid-19 outbreaks in India and many Southeast Asia countries, ship operators are turning to China's massive workforce of 1.65 million crew members to fill the global shortage of crew members. Why are Chinese crew members in such high demand? Caixin journalists Jia Tianqiong and Yang Ge find out.
A man stands next to Houhai Lake during the sunset in Beijing, China on 16 May 2021. (Jade Gao/AFP)

Chinese economics professor: How I fell for a scam

After a good laugh over falling for a phone app scam, Chinese economics professor Li Jingkui says seriously that the scammers’ tactics involved simple economics and he should have caught on to it sooner. But perhaps he was just being human and some knowledge of psychology would have been more helpful in this case?
In this picture taken on 11 January 2021, young gymnasts train at the Li Xiaoshuang Gymnastics School in Xiantao, Hubei province, China. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP)

A Chinese education: Why are Chinese parents and kids going to extremes?

As children cram for their studies, their parents are cramming along with them, believing that they should be good role models. Is all this hyper-learning normal or good? Chinese economics professor Li Jingkui will let others be the judge, but he says that economically speaking, this is a sign that social mobility is shrinking; everyone feels compelled to grasp the last inch of rope that will airlift them to a better life.
People walk near the Bund, in front of Lujiazui financial district in Pudong, Shanghai, China, 10 May 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters)

China's top infectious diseases expert Zhang Wenhong: Division stands in the way of defeating the pandemic

Zhang Wenhong, director of the infectious diseases department at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, delivered a commencement speech in English at New York University Shanghai on 26 May. He observed that in China's fight against Covid-19, a consideration for others in the community helped people follow mask-wearing and social distancing protocol in the early stages. Writ large, a globalised problem can only be solved through human solidarity. The world, especially the young of the future, need to a find a way to work together.
Why must gifts be reciprocated? (iStock)

Chinese economics professor: Why we exchange gifts, from ancient China to the present

Have you ever received a gift that you did not like? Economics professor Li Jingkui notes that when there is a mismatch between the gift and its recipient, the giver and receiver suffer a "deadweight loss". But still, many of us continue to exchange gifts. After much thought and research, Li found the answer for such persistent human behaviour in a Maori myth — you give a part of yourself along with your gift, which is something more valuable than the gift itself. 
This photo taken on 24 April 2021 shows a farmer walking along terraced rice paddy fields in Congjiang, Guizhou province, China. (STR/AFP)

Chinese economics professor: My grandmother and the kind, gentle souls of rural China

Li Jingkui remembers his grandmother and her generation of kind, gentle souls who survived through wars, famines and heartache. The indomitable spirit of the rural folk is the secret of China’s meteoric progress. As new generations today overlook these unsung heroes and economists tinker with models and facts, never forget the kind, gentle souls of the countryside, he says, for their sacrifice is the country’s moral compass.
Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army, built to protect the emperor in his afterlife. (iStock)

Why were Chinese imperial families prone to fratricides and tragedies?

Throughout Chinese history, imperial families were some of the fiercest battlegrounds. Emperors stopped at nothing to hold on to power. At the instigation of wily courtiers, they might even have executed their kin without batting an eyelid. Li Jingkui says economically speaking, this has to do with the logic of contract theory — there was no neutral arbiter in leadership transitions. Without a third party to oversee the proceedings, family members were often subjected to the tyranny of the “lion king“. But under those circumstances, could anyone else other than the emperor have held court?