The Chinese government needs hookers. All politicians are married to some women they don't like, because it was better for their career. The entire government would fall apart if they would ban prostitution. [Jeremy Goldkorn]

In China, much of life involves skirting regulations, and one of the basic truths is that forgiveness comes easier than permission. [Peter Hessler]

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. [Sun Tze]
知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆 [孙子]

Isn't it the most difficult thing to have an opinion in China? [Jeremy Goldkorn]

There are no artistically good movies coming out of China that are not dissident. [Kaiser Kuo quoting a Chinese flim critic]

If China wants to earn respect from the international community, it first has to earn respect from its citizens. [Orville Schell]

Sealing China off from Western ideas poses some practical problems. The Party has announced “rule of law” reforms intended to strengthen top-down control over the legal system and shield courts from local interference. The professor said, “Many colleagues working on civil law and that sort of thing have a large portion of their lectures about German law or French law. So, if you want to stop Western values from spreading in Chinese universities, one thing you’d have to do is close down the law schools and make sure they never exist again.” Xi, for his part, sees no contradiction, because preservation of the Party comes before preservation of the law. In January, he said that China must “nurture a legal corps loyal to the Party, loyal to the country, loyal to the people, and loyal to the law.” Echoing Mao, he added, “Insure that the handle of the knife is firmly in the hand of the Party and the people.”