In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

Last November, when a new leadership team stepped forward in Beijing, they confronted a very different set of challenges than their predecessors had faced. Among the most urgent of these is the challenge of providing adequate basic social services for all of China’s 1.3 billion people…

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When I first met Pandju Merali at his home in Seal Beach, California, in 2010, he told me a story about his life, which is recorded in his memoir, From Africa 2 America. Mr. Merali talked about what it was like growing up as a child of Indian descent in the Congo…

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Last month, local headlines in Vietnam announced the government’s much-welcomed decision to earmark an additional $119 million (VND2.5 trillion) to assist with loans to low-income university students in the upcoming academic year. This is certainly good news, because despite Vietnam’s strong economic growth…

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Dr. Scott Rozelle posed a difficult question during his presentation at Give2Asia’s 10th Anniversary Forum: What caused wages to rise in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea such that these once-booming manufacturing centers relinquished their first-place manufacturing titles in the 1970s and 1980s to China?

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Tadashi Yamamoto, founder and president of the Japan Center for International Exchange, passed away on April 15 at the age of 76. He was an extraordinary person whose career was marked by extraordinary accomplishment. He was a liberal internationalist, an optimist who believed wholeheartedly…

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In 1863, John D. Rockefeller sold his first kerosene to China and made his first gift to China missions. He was 24 years old. He could not have dreamed that both his future oil company and future foundation would one day dominate the American commercial and cultural presence in China.

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The streets of Vietnam’s biggest cities reveal unmistakable signs of wealth. Mercedes and Lexus luxury cars are common, and now and then, you can catch a glimpse of a Bentley or a Maybach gliding along the congested thoroughfares. Vietnamese “new rich” can now access the latest fashion and accessories…

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On Oct. 7, 2011, The Asia Foundation will host a delegation of leaders from China’s top philanthropic foundations and media outlets for a panel discussion with Asia Foundation and Give2Asia senior experts on China’s growing philanthropic environment and the role of the media in promoting transparency in the sector.

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