China flexing

This is hardly surprising: Two Chinese officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning, for the first time, that Beijing may use its $1,330bn (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks …

New Qinghai-Tibet railway

Following the meme of my previous post, we can probably add another spot to the ‘dramatically changed by tourism’ list. New Qinghai-Tibet railway: “Traveling overland through snow-capped mountains and high-land meadows to visit mysterious Tibetan Buddhist shrines on the world’s highest plateau will soon no longer require the grit and resolve of an adventurous backpacker. …