Why are women in China not having more babies?

Mar 17, 2023
In China, each woman went from having about three children in the late 1970s to now one. Decades later, the Chinese government wants women to have three children again but is meeting resistance.
A woman holding a baby girl lines up for a PCR COVID test in Shanghai in 2022. Birth rates continued to fall during China's strict zero-COVID policy during the pandemic.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Russian oil prices are climbing — here's why

Mar 9, 2023
Small independent processors in China are being joined by larger Chinese refiners, driving prices higher.
Since the start of war in Ukraine, Russia has shifted some crude exports to markets in Asia, like India, Turkey and China. Above,  an oil refinery near Moscow.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images

In China's most locked-down city, business can resume but recovery is a long way off

Feb 21, 2023
The Chinese city of Ruili, on the border with Myanmar, has had more lockdowns than almost any other place in China.
A jade seller and two women stare at their cellphones in Ruili. Vendors are trickling back to the Jiegao jade market, but customers are few and far between.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

China's big question after ending "zero-COVID" rules: How many have died?

Feb 7, 2023
David struggled to help his 83-year-old father before he died of COVID. Will his father's death be counted in China's official toll?
Hundreds of millions of people in China were infected within weeks of the abrupt end to "zero-COVID" rules, experts say. Above, patients are cared for by relatives and medical staff in the atrium of a busy hospital on Jan. 13 in Shanghai.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Businesses keep close watch on Blinken China visit

Feb 3, 2023
U.S.-China tensions have put Chinese businesses on edge.
Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, is expected to meet with senior Chinese leaders in a visit that could set the tone for the wider U.S.-China relationship.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Inside the push to limit China's access to advanced chip-making tech

What's motivating the multinational effort to restrict China from chip-making tools.
Chris Miller, a professor of history at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, says these controls are all about national security.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

For business owners in China, a touch-and-go reopening after zero-COVID

Jan 30, 2023
While China's most high-profile executives express unflagging optimism on TV, for small business owners, the picture is more complicated.
Food vendors at the Muslim quarter in Xi'an seem bored without customers in late December 2022. That was when COVID infections swept across China.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Rising debt is “sand in the wheels” to the world’s poorest countries

We explain why rising debt payments owed by low-income countries are a U.S.-China issue.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (C)  during the opening ceremony of the Morodok Techo National Stadium, funded by China's grant aid under its Belt and Road Initiative.
Lon Jadina/AFP via Getty Images

Surging demand for copper means its price is rising too

Jan 24, 2023
The metal is crucial renewable energy technology and the transition away from fossil fuels.
Copper is often referred to as “Dr. Copper,” because it’s considered a barometer for the health of the global economy.
Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images