Editor’s note for Monday, April 26, 2021

My thoughts today:

Two Chinese women made global news and are covered in our newsletter today: Chloé Zhao (Zhào Tíng 赵婷) received top awards at the Oscars and Mixed Martial Arts fighter Zhāng Wěilì 张伟丽 lost a championship fight — read on for details on both these stories.

If you want amusing and sometimes caustic commentary on these events in clear northern Mandarin, listen to the latest show from the podcaster Gǒugē 狗哥 a.k.a. DogChinaShow, sadly available only on Youtube.

Since the ascent of Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 to power in 2012, his rule has been characterized by a years-long campaign to bring ideological discipline to, and root out corruption from, the Communist Party and all the organs of state power from companies to educational institutions.

That campaign is not easing up. Two recent examples:

• There’s a section in the newly revised rules for Party organizations in universities that, according to scholar Patricia M Thornton, assigns school Party committees “the role of ‘implementing the Party’s leadership in all aspects of the entire process of running schools and universities to ensure the Party’s educational policy and central decision-making are implemented.’”
• Last week, the Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission was ordered “to ramp up its crackdown on graft by law enforcement and judicial officials,” per Caixin, and urged “to do more to monitor and prevent potential sources of social instability, such as by using big data analysis as an early warning mechanism.”

Upcoming online events:

• April 27: Professor Erika Lee on immigration and the Asian American experience at Sidwell Friends.
• April 29: An Indiana-based company working with China in rare earth materials with The China Project.
• May 12-13: The 2021 The China Project Virtual Women’s Conference. ACCESS Members can receive free entry on May 12 or 50% off entry on May 13 by using the promo code WC21ACCESS.

Our word of the day is Oscars Best Director Award (奥斯卡最佳导演奖 àosīkǎ zuìjiā dǎoyǎn jiǎng), which this year went to Chloé Zhao (赵婷 Zhào Tíng).

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief