May 19,
2016

ISSUE
No. 74

AMS Weekly Newsletter
Dedicated to the development of the future stewards of U.S.-China relations
Weekly Readings

Legal reform is one of the major areas of the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to reform how China is currently governed, politically and economically. One concern ordinary Chinese have about the rule of law is what happens in police custody, and a recent case took Weibo and WeChat (and even traditional media) by storm last week. Beijing police reportedly arrested Lei Yang during a sting operation at a brothel and, after he allegedly tried to escape custody, "forcfully constrained him."
俗语 in Xi Jinping's  Speeches

生搬硬套
shēng bān yìng tào

On May 17, Xi Jinping gave a speech about the past, present, and future of Chinese philosophy. This is an important read for anyone interested in the underpinnings of CPC ideology and Xi Jinping's thinking. In it he uses this chengyu to emphasize that China needs to adapt foreign ideas to fit Chinese culture. 生搬硬套 means to copy mechanically, without adapting to local conditions. You can find a few more with similar meanings in the original below. 

Original: 我国哲学社会科学应该以我们正在做的事情为中心,从我国改革发展的实践中挖掘新材料、发现新问题、提出新观点、构建新理论,加强对改革开放和社会主义现代 化建设实践经验的系统总结,加强对发展社会主义市场经济、民主政治、先进文化、和谐社会、生态文明以及党的执政能力建设等领域的分析研究,加强对党中央治 国理政新理念新思想新战略的研究阐释,提炼出有学理性的新理论,概括出有规律性的新实践。这是构建中国特色哲学社会科学的着力点、着重点。一切刻舟求剑、 照猫画虎、生搬硬套、依样画葫芦的做法都是无济于事的。



Video of the Week

This week's film is the last part of "Five-Year Plan [五年规划]", which surveys the Chinese economy across a range of industries from traditional iron/steel work to 3D printing. Slick propaganda the video may be, but it does illustrate the dynamism and potential in the Chinese economy. The film and the series writ large, however, do less well at highlighting the challenges faced by China and Beijing's postponement or slow-rolling of reforms. The central questi
on is, with such latent Chinese potential, why are the five-year plans so necessary?

五年规划 第六集 五年之后 
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