A happy New Year of the Monkey!

This time I won't post any of the incredibly dramatic pictures & graphs showing the effects of the 'largest human migration' that is routinely taking place around Chinese New Year.

I'm quite sure many of you have already seen the nightmarish photos depicting thousands of stranded travellers in Guangdong province or other places in China. Just let me wish you all the best for the Year of the Monkey instead.

Celebrating the upcoming New Year :: Singapore (Feb. 4, 2016) :: © aotaro

If you want to know more about the auspicious year of the monkey and the various political and other intricacies it may bring for the Chinese (and, probably, the rest of the world), read Geremie Barmé's (Australian Centre on China in the World / independent scholar) recently posted article '2016: The Golden Monkey 金猴, a Year to Remember'.

Reflecting on the country's troublesome last century and the upcoming year of the 'Golden Monkey', Barmé lists major historical incidents that may, or may not, be commemorated during the year 2016.

Artfully connecting modern Chinese history and the heavy psychological and political burden it entails with contemporary politics in the PR China, he concludes his insightful and beautifully illustrated essay: 'This Year of the Monkey has been over a century in the making.'

May all of you have a peaceful, healthy, prosperous and exciting New Year!

Why China should matter to us

In an earlier post about professional China watching in Germany, I've mentioned the non-profit 'MERICS Mercator Institute for China Studies'.

The Institute was founded in 2013 by private European 'Stiftung (Foundation) Mercator' and is based in central Berlin.

High on the agenda of the new player in the field of contemporary China studies is to spread up-to-date knowledge of Chinese foreign relations, domestic politics, economic, technological and social trends or European China policy in a way that appeals not just to academics but to stakeholders in European politics and business circles as well as a wider general public.

The Mercator Institute provides a wealth of online publications and offers regular fellowships in seven fields of research.

The extensive use of multimedia and multi-channel presentation is a smart (if sometimes overblown) move by MERICS' President Sebastian Heilmann and his team (and long overdue in the academic business in Germany) to reach a more diverse and international clientèle.

Another laudable venture is to build a platform for exchange where Chinese and non-Chinese voices from varied professional fields can be heard. Visiting the site a few days ago (beware: don't use Firefox; other browsers do better with ill-fated Flash), I came across the podcast & video sections and decided to share a few highlights.

The first one is kind of an introductory video produced by the new research and analyses institute that asks an age-old question: Why should China matter to us after all? ('us' meaning in this context Germany / Europe).

The (German-language) video presents several German specialists from different backgrounds stating their views on crucial questions regarding the future of the PR China and the manifold economic, political, social or environmental challenges ahead - not just for the country itself but the whole world.

 

In case your attention span is rather limited or you are very busy these days, you might be elated to hear that MERICS' videos are very short (around three minutes each) but expertly produced. The interviews conducted so far introduce a few of the more renowned members of the academic & professional China watcher guild in Germany (sorry, in German only).

The second video I chose to embed here sheds a new light on the ever-evolving digital start-up scene in China by focussing on three intriguing examples of up-and-coming young entrepreneurs (in Chinese language with English subtitles).



Last but not least, there is an interesting series of podcast episodes produced by MERICS' Simon Lang in cooperation with 'China Sandwich (Zhongguo Sanmingzhi 中国三明治)' that is available on the Institutes's site as well as on SoundCloud.

Four episodes of 'MERICS Experts', as the programme is called, have been completed so far, and the results are quite enjoyable. Hear the following one, No.4 of the series, with well-known American China scholar Scott Kennedy who specializes in economic policy, global economic relations and political economy.