The South China Morning Post has been up to big things recently — and faced big doubts from those who worry about its editorial independence as Hong Kong’s paper of record.
In late 2015, it was announced that the paper would be acquired by Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, bringing the paper both a huge infusion of cash and a wave of questions about whether the new owners would maintain the SCMP’s editorial independence from Beijing.
Gary Liu, formerly CEO at content aggregator Digg and head of labs at streaming music service Spotify, was appointed CEO of the SCMP a year after the Alibaba acquisition. He aims to adapt the 114-year-old newspaper for an age of technology disruptions, and talked to Jeremy and Kaiser about the paper’s editorial independence, its plans to evolve and build out digitally, and how it plans to contribute to the global conversation on China’s rise. This podcast was recorded in front of a live audience at the China Institute in New York on October 9.
Recommendations:
Jeremy: The WeChat app of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), a good way to get real news about China because spitting out propaganda is not a priority of the NDRC. Just search “国家发改委” (guójiā fāgǎiwěi) on WeChat.
Gary: The Party, a book by Richard McGregor that gives a fascinating exploration of how the Communist Party of China wants the world to perceive it, how it plans to stay in power, and how it manages to affect everyone’s life in China. Also, Destined for War, by Harvard professor Graham Allison, which discusses the Thucydides Trap, China’s rise, and the history of great power rivalries.
Kaiser: A research paper from the Mercator Institute for China Studies titled “Ideas and ideologies competing for China’s political future,” which identifies really interesting clusters of people in China who have diverse ideological alignments. A Sinica podcast on a similar subject can be found here.
Psychologist George Hu of the United Family Mental Health Network on mental health in China
The worldview of Wang Huning, the Party's leading theoretician
Bonus Episode: Introducing the China Sports Insider Podcast
It's Complicated: Getting our heads around a changing China
Did tariffs make a difference in Trump’s trade war?
How Taiwan propelled China’s economic rise, with Shelley Rigger
Can China meet its ambitious emissions targets?
How the Chinese state handles labor unrest, with Manfred Elfstrom
The benefits of engagement with China, defined: An audit of the S&ED
What's the deal with the Red New Deal?
The state of the field: U.S. China programs, with Rosie Levine and Jan Berris of the NCUSCR
The paradox of vast corruption and fast growth in China's "Gilded Age"
Harvard’s William Overholt on Esquel, cotton sanctions, and forced Uyghur labor
Historian Adam Tooze on why China’s modern history should matter to Americans
Peter Martin on ‘China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy’
A conversation with Ambassador Huang Ping, consul general of the P.R.C.'s New York Consulate
Reflecting on China's poverty reduction with Bill Bikales
A data-driven dive into Chinese politics, with Stanford's Yiqing Xu
Avoiding ideological conflict with Beijing: Thomas Pepinsky and Jessica Chen Weiss
How China escaped shock therapy: Isabella Weber unpacks the debates of the 1980s
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