出國趣

China | A hawkish turn Public opinion in China is hardening on America and Taiwan A rare poll shows the views of ordinary Chinese are changing Mar 19th 2026|3 min read CHINA IS having a moment in Western public opinion. Communist Party mouthpieces crow that the country is increasingly “cool”. Young Westerners on social media are “Chinamaxxing”: adopting Chinese habits like drinking hot water (not...

On the front lines, Russian soldiers pay officers to stay alive The war against Ukraine has created a corrupt economy of blood money Apr 1st 2026|Altai and Luhansk|5 min read The newly built one-bedroom flat is nicely decorated, with parquet floors, an aquarium, a shower cabin and a full kitchen. The downside is the location: underground in the trenches near Baihavka, a village in the occupied reg...

Why women, more than men, are abandoning rural Japan Bigger cities are, in turn, skewing more female Apr 1st 2026|NANTO|4 min read KOYASU MIWA traverses Japan, from Sapporo in the north to Miyazaki in the south, with one goal: to make the countryside less hostile to women. Ms Koyasu runs a consultancy that advises local governments, lectures businessmen on discrimination and runs workshops urging...

Self-driving cars will transform urban economies A robotaxi boom is coming. The impacts might be broader than you expect Nov 27th 2025|San Francisco|6 min read Urban Economies reflect how their residents get around. And before long, that will start to change—more dramatically than at any time since the automobile was invented over a century ago. The robotaxis now autonomously shuttling passengers...

Meta and Google face** a reckoning **over *social-media addiction* A landmark verdict in California could have far-reaching consequences Mar 25th 2026|3 min read Among the 17m American children who use Instagram, the average time spent scrolling the app each day is 30 minutes. But for Kaley, a 20-year-old who started using social media aged six, it became an hours-a-day addiction. Spending time on...

War in Iran is making Donald Trump weaker—and angrier By diminishing the president’s political superpowers, his reckless campaign may make him more dangerous Mar 19th 2026|6 min read NEVER BET against Donald Trump. No politician can defy political gravity like the man whose supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6th 2021, only for him to be re-elected in 2024 with a bigger share of the vote. An...

Obituary | God’s dictator falls Ali Khamenei hoped his legacy might last for ever Iran’s Supreme Leader was killed on February 28th, aged 86 Mar 3rd 2026|5 min read Across the decades, Ali Khamenei built up countless reasons for his hatred of the West. They began with a fiery speech he heard at 13, when at school, inveighing against the monarchy that was backed by America and its allies. As a youn...

The biggest band you’ve never heard of If you want to impress your children, tell them you listen to this South Korean boyband Feb 26th 2026|6 min read WHO MADE the second-highest-selling album in the world last year? (There are no prizes for correctly guessing who claimed the top spot—it was  Taylor Swift .) You may be tempted to name a pop juggernaut such as Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber. Country-m...

Master’s or Mandarin? China’s graduates face a whole new set of gruelling tests They prefer certainty to good pay Feb 5th 2026|4 min read Around 2024 Mr Wang, a tutor for people taking** graduate-admissions tests**, saw the number of students in his classes plummet by more than half. At first he thought something had gone badly wrong with his teaching. But comparing notes with others in the indust...

How Poland can keep its place at the heart of Europe If it turns inward, the country and continent will lose out May 22nd 2025|5 min read TWICE IT** VANISHED** from the map, swallowed up by its rapacious neighbours. After it emerged from the second world war as a Soviet satellite, it endured decades of oppression. Today, Poland has transformed itself into Europe’s most overlooked military and econ...

How Japan’s prime minister will use her massive new mandate A remarkable election victory that will reshape Japanese politics for years to come Feb 8th 2026|TOKYO|4 min read TAKAICHI SANAE gambled her position as Japan’s prime minister by calling a snap election. Her bet has paid off. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) triumphed on February 8th. The LDP won a commanding two-thirds supermajo...

Taiwan’s new opposition leader wants to talk to Xi Jinping Cheng Li-wun tells The Economist she hopes to meet China’s president early this year Jan 29th 2026|TAIPEI|5 min read RISK COMES naturally to Cheng Li-wun, Taiwan’s opposition leader. She began her career as a student activist in the 1990s, seeking independence for her homeland and castigating the Kuomintang (KMT), the ruling party at the t...

1) Donald Trump again defended the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis. The president said that  ICE agents’ killings  of Alex Pretti and Renee Good were caused by “Democrat ensued chaos”. Braving freezing temperatures, protesters took to the streets across America. Tim Walz, Minnesota’s governor, urged Mr Trump to withdraw federal agents from the state “before they kill...

Does Japan have a “foreigner problem”? Yes—but it is not what populist politicians say it is Jan 8th 2026|4 min read JAPAN is consumed by talk of a “foreigner problem”. The story goes that the country has been overrun by ill-mannered migrant workers, misbehaving tourists and opportunistic foreign investors. But Japan’s real problem is not that it hosts too many foreigners. It is that it has too fe...

China and Taiwan both see lessons in America’s** raid** on Venezuela It won’t change China’s calculus but is a case study for “decapitation” strikes Jan 8th 2026|Taipei|4 min read China’s public is used to seeing flashy footage of its armed forces parading new weaponry through Beijing, conducting peacekeeping patrols in Africa or staging elaborate drills around disputed territory, especially Taiwa...

Leaders | Generation AI How AI is rewiring childhood The technology presents (3 meanings) dazzling opportunities—and ominous risks Dec 4th 2025|5 min read CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS may contain more surprises than usual this year, as children open presents that can talk back. Toymakers in China have declared 2025 the year of artificial intelligence (AI) and are producing robots and teddies that can teach...

"Watch who you’re calling childless Women in America are having as many babies over their lifetimes as they did two decades ago A set of public signs showing women, pregnancy, baby care, strollers, and children playing Dec 18th 2025 | 5 min read **A colony of **sentient lizards, living on a distant planet. It comprises 100 females and 100 males. Each lives for 100 years. There is only one male and...

Christmas Specials | Single men in possession of good fortunes Was Mr Darcy the richest of all Jane Austen’s characters? It depends how you count their wealth Dec 12th 2025|2 min read Mr Darcy is handsome, smouldering and rich. According to the 1995 television adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice”, he is also an excellent swimmer. But in Austen’s next novel, “Mansfield Park”, she introduces a man **...

He Yanxin was the steward of a women-only language The last natural inheritor of nushu died on October 23rd, aged 86 Nov 27th 2025|5 min read In the summer of 1949, the year the Communists came to power in China, you might have found He Yanxin, then ten, sitting with her grandmother under a tree. It was cooler there, in the heat of the day. An ordinary scene, except that her grandmother was** insc...

Nov 10th 2025 4 min read By Tom Standage, Editor, The World Ahead 2026 This is Donald Trump’s world—we’re all just living in it. The disruptor-in-chief was the biggest factor shaping global affairs in 2025, and that will be the case for as long as he remains in the White House. His norm-shattering approach has caused turmoil in some areas (as in trade) but has also delivered diplomatic results (as...

The hidden risks in Taiwan’s boom A weak-currency policy is punishing consumers and storing up financial risk Taiwan is ENVIED for its exporting prowess: it is home to all of the world’s cutting-edge chipmaking. Just as extraordinary, but much less appreciated, is its towering current-account surplus, the result not just of a trade boom but of a long-undervalued currency. This aided Taiwan’s expor...

All over the rich world, fewer people are hooking up and shacking up Social media, dating apps and political polarisation all play a part Nov 6th 2025|New York and Singapore|14 min read “I don’t date conservative or moderate men,” says Nancy Anteby, a 30-year-old New Yorker who works in social media. “I only date** liberal **men.” Politics is not her only concern. She is also looking for someone a...

Hong Kongers support gay marriage. Their leaders, not so much The city has rejected** reform** even as other places in Asia embrace it Nov 6th 2025|Hong Kong|3 min read In 2023 Hong Kong’s highest court ordered the city’s government to introduce rules offering a degree of legal recognition to unions between people of the same sex. That Hong Kong had no legal framework relating to civil partnership...

What is Taiwan’s plan B? It is starting to hedge against the risk that America abandons it Oct 23rd 2025|Taipei|6 min read Officials in Taiwan were quietly optimistic when Donald Trump was re-elected. Among his advisers were several diehard China hawks determined that America stand by its vow to help Taiwan defend itself against any attack from the Chinese mainland. Taiwanese diplomats and militar...

United States | Build, baby, build California tries to fix its housing mess The YIMBY movement wins a big victory Oct 14th 2025|Los Angeles|4 min read ONE OF THE most contentious and consequential housing reforms in California’s history was almost sunk by a former reality-TV star. American millennials might remember Spencer Pratt as the blonde bad boy they loved to hate on “The Hills”, an MTV show...