Given the sheer size of China, its development has the ability to impact the world. With its rapid growth, China is often put under the international spotlight. However, China is very different from many countries in terms of its cultural traditions, social system, development path, and value systems.

With nearly 250,000 Chinese students studying in the United States, conflicts have arisen between students when discussing politics, raising into question the overall efficacy of direct political exchange. Based on extensive research, Henry Chiu Hail suggests that universities can do more to approach Chinese issues with nuance and diplomacy, and encourage friendly socialization between Chinese and Americans. Only then can universities establish the solidarity upon which weightier issues can be discussed.

Substantial international attention has been focused on this year’s meeting of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC), much of it misguided and/or malicious. But there is a real reason for the Congress’s importance.

Crowded cities, interrupted Internet, pollution and lower job prospects are among the reasons for an apparent exodus of foreigners from China. The Chinese government is attracting a new generation of adaptable, entrepreneurial expats with innovations like the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, which circumscribes red-tape business registration, and free work spaces for start-ups.

In this premiere episode of a new Chinese Youku series produced by Guancha.cn, Shanghai scholar/entrepreneur Eric X. Li talks with political scientist Francis Fukuyama about his latest book: “Political Order and Political Decay.”

Singapore’s record of rising from the ashes serves as a source of inspiration to China. The similarity of governance between Singapore and modern China has received mixed commentary, including some critical, but Lee Kuan Yew and his successors stood ground and, arguably, have prevailed.

Hannah Lincoln describes the initial challenges of understanding Chinese political opinions and forming an identity as a U.S. citizen living in China. After reading and imagining Bei Dao and Li Tuo’s experiences in The 70s《70年代》a sense of shared spirit was stirred. Art, literature, and cinema are the entry points to a meaningful relationship and understanding of China.

For three years, Micheal Meyer rented a home in the rice-farming community of Wasteland, Jilin, hometown to his wife's family. Their personal saga mirrors the tremendous change most of rural China is undergoing, in the form of a privately held rice company that has built new roads, introduced organic farming, and constructed high-rise apartments into which farmers can move in exchange for their land rights.

Casual observers of the proceedings of the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) may be tempted to dismiss them as a ritualistic exercise with little impact on the lives of the Chinese people. Such a conclusion, while not totally groundless, nevertheless misses an important public policy debate revealed during this year’s NPC session – reforming China’s troubled retirement system. The challenge confronting Beijing is simply the lack of money to fund the explosive growth of pension benefits.

In Western media, the National People's Congress -- China's legislative body which just ended its annual three week session -- is perfunctorily conjoined with the phrase "rubber stamp." This characterization is less and less true every year and does a disservice to understanding the most significant historic shift taking place in China today: the long march toward "rule according to law" from administrative fiat.