Megan Shank is an editor, writer and translator living in New York City.
January 5th, 2012

For Dissent

On July 1, 2011, halfway through a speech commemorating the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, President Hu Jintao stressed the importance of a people-centered approach to governance. Going forward, he said, the Party must “follow the principle of putting people first…we must consult the people on policies, learn about their needs and seek suggestions from them. We must listen to their views, truthfully reflect their wishes, help alleviate their hardships, and protect their economic, political, cultural and social rights and interests in accordance with the law.” Hu called on officials to develop closer bonds with the communities they serve. Alienation from the people, he warned, “poses the greatest risk to the Party.”

That is true—but it also smacked of irony. For during the preceding four months, the Party had received many clear signals that multiple segments of the country’s population felt that it was ignoring their needs…


July 29th, 2011

Full Text

For Miller-McCune

As their peers elsewhere, young Chinese readers have devoured the Harry Potter series. They would doubtless flock to see the final film that debuted in dozens of other foreign markets July 13. But in China, the film’s release has been delayed — and not for the usual political reasons. Harry Potter, after all, features a story Chinese leaders should enjoy: a small band of committed followers triumphs over great odds (shades of the Long March and the road to the 1949 founding of the People’s Republic of China) and a time of chaos gives way to peace and prosperity (reminiscent of China’s Reform era rise to greatness after 100 years of foreign bullying and the ensuing traumas of the Cultural Revolution).


July 6th, 2011

Full Text

For the Washington Independent Review of Books

In one of many unnerving dystopian scenes in her debut book, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, Beijing-based Science magazine correspondent Mara Hvistendahl encourages the reader to imagine America without women.


June 17th, 2010

Full Text

For The Daily Beast

In many rural Chinese homes, a jar of pesticide—often a variety banned in Western countries—sits in the family outhouse. Even after harvest, farmers are loathe to throw out the remainder. Despite Chinese President Hu Jintao’s promise to create a “harmonious society” by improving people’s livelihood and reducing the gap between wealthy cities and the impoverished countryside, surviving in China’s rural areas still requires thrift.


January 9th, 2010

Abstract
PDF

For Ms.

As working hours wound down in Sichuan, a southwestern Chinese province, 29-year-old human-resources manager Liu Lun invited recent college graduate and new hire Chen Dan into his office and asked her to be his girlfriend. When she refused, he grabbed her by the neck and forcefully kissed her. Colleagues overheard and called police. Chen escaped.


January 1st, 2010

Full Text

Xiao lives with his father, mother, grandmother and older brother in a tiny village near Wuxi, an ancient city in the east of China. After learning of his father’s diabetes diagnosis, 17-year-old Xiao found a full-time job to support his family.

Xiao and his brother both work at a factory that produces machines that make ice cream. His mother works at a different factory and tends the family’s orange and peach orchard. His father is a part-time driver.


January 1st, 2006

Full Text
PDF

For Global Journalist

Recently released Internet dissident Huang Qi emerged from a five-year incarceration to witness that the Chinese Web had also suffered. Huang, first detained in 2000, angered officials with his Web site, which tracked down people missing after the 1989 pro-democracy movement. From 2000 to 2005, the party enforced surveillance of Web sites, chat rooms and e-mail, and it implemented new real-name registration requirements for Web logs, Internet bulletin boards, instant messaging services and online video games. It remains to be seen whether the tenacity of people like Huang — who upon his release to house arrest this July told Radio Free Asia that he plans to resume his site — can overcome the growing obstacles set up and policed by the party and supported by organizations with economic interests.