Kinaforum

mandag 7. september 2026

Reading My Own Life - The Choices and Contradictions of a Generation of Urban Chinese Women

A few months ago, a book with a slightly torn ticket on its lilac cover began emerging on my Instagram feed. A small, faint Chinese translation of the title and the author’s last name, Lin, hinted it had something to do with China. I was intrigued because the cover had no trace of red, no stars or dragons, cranes or bamboo that scream CHINA!

The Memory Museum, is a collection of nine short stories by New York-based writer M Lin. Some stories felt so real they read like nonfiction. They are, in a nutshell, about the collective experience of the generation of urban Chinese women who came of age in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I had never read a book like this—about us—in either Chinese or English. It would not have passed censorship in China. Yet it’s nothing like the English-language literary fiction about China I’ve read in the past, which tends to be set in periods more familiar to the West, such as the Cultural Revolution. Some of the most established writers from China, Ha Jin and Yiyun Li for instance, write out of complicated political and personal relationships with a China distant from the one I have lived in. Reading The Memory Museum felt like reading my own life. It was almost alarming to find myself and my friends, our memories, feelings, and choices, laid bare like that.

The Trishuli Catastrophe: Himalayan Flood, Chinese Hydropower, and the Risks of a Seismic Frontier

The August 2026 Trishuli catastrophe is a stark reminder that the Himalayan environment remains capable of producing disasters on a scale that can overwhelm even major infrastructure networks. The immediate trigger appears to have been a glacial collapse and associated ice-rock debris movement rather than the failure of an existing hydropower dam. That finding should prevent premature claims about the role of dams in causing the disaster.

At the same time, the destruction of hydropower, transport, and border infrastructure shows the vulnerability created when critical assets are concentrated along narrow Himalayan valleys. The issue is not simply whether China is building dams, or whether Nepal needs hydropower. The larger issue is whether the current model of Himalayan infrastructure development adequately accounts for a landscape undergoing simultaneous geological and climatic change.

Dalai Lhama back in Dharamsala after over two months in Ladakh

The Dalai Lama returned to his exile home in Dharamshala, India, on Sep 4 morning to a rousing yet solemn welcome by the Tibetan and local host community after a knee surgery in Delhi followed by over two month’s summer stay in Ladakh, during which he gave audiences to more than 21,500 devotees, said the Central Tibetan Administration on its Tibet.net website Sep 4.

While in Ladakh, the Dalai Lama attended celebrations marking his 91stbirthday on the Kalachakra Teaching Ground in capital Leh, located near his Shewatsel residence. He also attended prayer ceremonies at the Buddha statue in Stok and at the Buddha statue and stupa in Gonpa Village, besides visiting the Buddha Garden at the Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre.

Phuntsog Wangyal: The Living Flame of Tibet

When I was in a Chinese school in Lhasa in the 1950s, we were all required to sing the song Dōngfāng hóng, tàiyáng shēng. At the time, we did not fully understand what the song meant. Later, I learned that it meant, “The East is red, the sun is rising.”

The song expressed the idea that the Communist Party was like the sun: wherever the Party was present, it would bring light, liberation, and a better future. But during the 1960s, through the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese people experienced enormous suffering and devastation. For many, the promise of light and liberation became associated instead with tragedy and repression.

Mao Zedong, once celebrated as the great saviour of China, remains one of the most consequential and controversial figures of the twentieth century. His portrait still hangs above the great gate of the Forbidden City, facing Tiananmen Square. Yet the enormous human suffering associated with his rule has profoundly changed how his legacy is viewed, both within China and around the world.

China Sinicizing Tibetan Education

China suppressing information, silencing victims, even as it takes a foreign media group to flood-ravaged Kyirong

As families of pilgrims visiting Tibet from abroad who went missing after the devastating flash floods of ice, rock, and mud on Aug 26 morning demand answers on what was being done to find out about their fate or whereabouts, China has, for the first time, opened Gyirong (Tibetan: Kyirong) County in Tibet to a select group of foreign journalists, including the CNN and PTI, on Sep 6. However, it is a carefully arranged visit in an effort to show the rescue operations going on at the Gyirong Port, said edition.cnn.com Sep 6.

The visit to Kyirong County – which was jointly organized by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Council Information Office, with the itinerary planned by the officials to access this restricted area – was aimed only at showing the destruction caused by the floods and the relief and reconstruction work now under way, said the PTI report Sep 6.

Nuclear-capable warship that capsized when launched finally joins North Korea’s fleet

North Korea has commissioned its second modern guided-missile destroyer, a remarkable recovery for a vessel that capsized when it was launched in May 2025, infuriating the country’s leader Kim Jong Un who called it a “criminal act.”

Kim said Sunday’s commissioning of the destroyer Kang Kon was a result of the country’s “self-respect, will and strong spirit.” He added that the nuclear-capable warship would send a strong message of deterrence to North Korea’s enemies, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

It’s quite a turnaround from last year when the Kang Kon was being launched, a malfunction in the mechanism caused the stern to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway, KCNA reported at the time. A day later, state media reported the damage was not as bad as initially feared.

On the ground in China’s wiped-out border zone, the fate of hundreds is still unknown

A rock-strewn crevasse is all that remains of what used to be Gyirong Port.

The high-altitude hub has been completely washed from existence, leaving a moonscape of stones, gravel and sludge still being searched by emergency workers, as witnessed by a CNN team that gained access to the site on Sunday as part of a government-organized visit. Reporters were given hard hats and boots, to contend with the still-unstable mud-caked ground, and the ever-present risk of further landslides.

This border crossing was once a bustling nexus for tourists and traders moving between China and Nepal. Hundreds of people would typically pass through each day going to or from Nepal’s Rasuwa port, just across the river.

Nepal holds a day of mourning after floods kill 1,300

Nepal held a day of mourning Monday to remember people who died in the Aug. 26 floods with government offices lowering flags and family members concluding mourning rituals. Monday is the 13th day since the flooding that has killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left some 5,000 missing including foreigners, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency.

In Hindu-dominated Nepal, mourning periods last 13 days, in which close family members stay home and relatives visit to pay respect. On the final or 13th day, rituals are held to pray for the departed souls.

China exerts tight grip on information after floods along the border with Nepal

It’s been more than a week since deadly flash floods killed hundreds and left thousands missing along the China-Nepal border — and practically nothing is known about the victims on the Chinese side.

The disaster, which has killed more than 1,000 people and left more than 4,500 missing in the two countries, has once again highlighted China’s tight grip on information surrounding disasters and its efforts to control what is — and is not — said about them.

The death toll is updated only once every few days, and access to the disaster area has been granted only to top-level state media outlets, which have avoided broadcasting the names or faces of the missing and their relatives in favor of videos showing the logistics of delivering aid or rescue dogs working hard.

Hong Kong court upholds convictions of Cardinal Joseph Zen and others over protester relief fund

A Hong Kong court on Thursday dismissed appeals brought by a 94-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal and four others over their convictions for failing to register a now-defunct fund that aimed to help people arrested during anti-government protests.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, a retired bishop and vocal advocate for democracy in the city, was a trustee of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which helped pay medical and legal fees for arrested protesters until it ceased operations in October 2021. The other defendants — singer Denise Ho, scholar Hui Po Keung, and former pro-democracy lawmakers Margaret Ng and Cyd Ho — also served as trustees.

The five were found guilty and fined 4,000 Hong Kong dollars ($512) each in 2022 for breaching the Societies Ordinance, which requires local organizations to register or apply for an exemption within a month of their establishment. Their convictions were the first of their kind.

Prince Hisahito turns 20 as Japan’s government reinforces male-only succession rules

Prince Hisahito turned 20 on Sunday as he faces growing attention as a future monarch in Japan following the government’s unpopular revision to the Imperial House Law that reinforces male-only succession rules. Hisahito, the nephew of Emperor Naruhito, is second in line to Japan’s 1,500-year-old Chrysanthemum Throne and the youngest of 16 members of the rapidly shrinking and aging imperial family.

The child who loved animals and bugs, especially dragonflies, is now a sophomore majoring in biology at the University of Tsukuba near Tokyo. He has been often spotted on campus with friends, sometimes carrying a bug-catching net or on his bicycle.

Asia looks to store oil, gas closer to home after Strait of Hormuz crisis

Asia suffered some of the worst economic fallout when the United States and Israel went to war with Iran six months ago.

The region is heavily reliant on Gulf oil and gas that normally flows through the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has been reduced to a trickle by Iranian attacks and a US naval blockade.Asian countries quickly imposed fuel conservation measures as oil and gas prices surged, ranging from price caps to alternate driving days and work-from-home mandates for civil servants.

In the months since, Asia has begun seeking a more permanent solution to the biggest energy disruption in history – keeping the oil and gas it needs much closer to home.

China’s support for Iran shows its limits as US ramps up pressure on Tehran

China has long been a rare partner to Iran, with the economic heft to blunt the United States’ efforts to strangle the Iranian economy.

Yet even as China opposes US President Donald Trump’s latest pressure campaign, few observers expect it to go much further than the modest economic links it has thus far forged with Iran to shield it.While China opposes the Trump administration’s military attacks and sanctions against Iran, Beijing’s relationship with Tehran is just one consideration in a foreign policy that seeks to balance relations with numerous countries, including the US and the Gulf states, limiting its appetite to prop up the Iranian leadership at any cost, analysts say.

“China, with broader global interests, can only actively promote de-escalation of the US-Iran conflict, and cannot and will not engage in fierce confrontation with the US for Iran’s sake,” said Hongda Fan, director of the China-Middle East Center at Shaoxing University in China.

With multilateralism in decline, what's next for the world?

Donald Trump's visit to UN headquarters in New York in September 2025 was rife with symbolism.

As the US president stepped onto the escalator in the lobby ahead of his address, it stopped working. Then, the teleprompter failed during his speech, prompting the former TV star to tell the assembled heads of state and government, half-jokingly: "These are the two things I got from the United Nations: A bad escalator and a bad teleprompter."

The United Nations is the central institution of the post-World War II order, shaped in part by the United States and based on multilateralism and the balancing of interests. When the UN was founded in 1945, its goal was to prevent wars. Its mandate later expanded to include countless other areas, such as global health, development and climate protection.

Today, more than 80 years later, the UN's institutions, above all the Security Council, are widely considered to be in need of an overhaul, much like the UN headquarters itself.

How China buried Tibet flood images after Nepal disaster

When a catastrophic flash flood swept through the rugged China-Nepal border on August 26, the physical devastation was immediate. In Nepal, a black torrent of mud and rock tore through communities, leaving hundreds dead and thousands more missing along the borderlands. But across the frontier in Tibet, an autonomous region of China, the physical disaster was almost instantly followed by a digital one: the rapid, high-tech erasure of the catastrophe's visual evidence.

As survivors tried to upload raw footage of the deluge, China's state-backed information control apparatus swung into action, executing a sophisticated, precision operation to shape the public narrative and bury inconvenient truths.

Himalaya: Can communities be proteced from melting glaciers?

Rising temperatures are increasing the risk of floods and avalanches in mountain regions. The disaster in Nepal and Tibet shows the urgent need for solutions, and the tools that could help save lives.

High mountain glaciers formed in the ice age are retreating and becoming unstable as the burning of fossil fuels heats the climate and leads to a decline in snowfall. The instability creates the conditions for large glacial sections to collapse, triggering ice and rock avalanches that can dam river valleys before tidal waves of water are released.

Following the glacier collapse that triggered what is known as a mountain tsunami in Nepal and Tibet on August 26, thousands are still missing and feared dead. Unlike the 2025 glacier avalanche that destroyed the town of Blatten in Switzerland — where nearly all inhabitants were evacuated — a lack of early warning systems in the Himalayas left locals and tourists at the mercy of flash floods.

India rejects Hague ruling on Indus waters: What's next?

The Indus Waters Treaty is facing a fresh dispute after India rejected a Hague-based Court of Arbitration ruling that the 1960 agreement remains in force. Pakistan has welcomed the decision and said India remains bound by the treaty.

India's Ministry of External Affairs described the tribunal as a "so-called Court of Arbitration" that was "illegally constituted." It said the body had been established by the World Bank in breach of the treaty and that India "categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body."

"The Court of Arbitration has no jurisdiction whatsoever to pronounce on India's sovereign decisions," the ministry said.

India offers help to end war in Ukraine

India is ready to help end the war in Ukraine, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said as he arrived in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Thursday.

"If India can be of any help, in any manner, we are there," Jaishankar said as he addressed the media alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. Sybiha welcomed Jaishankar for what he described as the "first-ever dedicated bilateral visit" of an Indian foreign minister to Ukraine.

"India is a global power and we welcome Prime Minister Modi's call to move from an endless war towards an end to the war. Ukraine stands ready for diplomacy," Sybiha wrote on X, referring to comments the Indian leader made during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan earlier in the week.