Ann Scott Tyson

4 weeks ago | csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson

Moving nimbly between clacking looms, Chinese textile worker Li Xiaojuan switches spools and ties loose threads, keeping machines humming as they weave white and lavender towels. “I like working here,” says the mother of two teenagers, pulling off her safety mask and wiping back a strand of hair. Ms. Li says her job pays $1,300 a month and allows her and her husband, a shopkeeper, to make ends meet – for now.

4 weeks ago | csmonitor.com | Laurent Belsie |Ann Scott Tyson

When representatives from the United States and China meet for talks in Geneva on Saturday, they will take the first step toward normalizing a key economic partnership that has spun out of control since the first Trump administration’s trade war measures in 2018. Now, in a series of tit-for-tat escalations initiated by President Donald Trump, the world’s two biggest economies have imposed tariffs so high that trade between the two is dwindling.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson |Ali Martin

Sitting behind her cramped stall inside China’s sprawling Yiwu wholesale market, Huang Youping pours another cup of oolong tea, and waits for customers. Surrounded by shelves of colorful Christmas crèches, carousels, and snow globes, Ms. Huang says that under normal circumstances, half of the exports from the factory she represents are bound for the United States.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson

The way Beijing sees it, a resolution of the current trade war with the United States will take more than simply lower tariffs. It will require a significant increase in the value of an all-important Chinese commodity: “face.”In traditional Chinese culture, face, or mianzi, means pride, honor, and prestige. Losing it amounts to shame. “Trees can’t live without bark, men can’t live without face,” goes a Chinese saying.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson

As Myanmar’s civil war enters its fifth year next month, the conflict has claimed more than 50,000 lives, including several thousand civilians. The fighting has displaced some 3.3 million of Myanmar’s 54 million people. Worsening their plight, a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the country on March 28, killing more than 3,600 people and leaving a wave of destruction. Where is the troubled, multiethnic Southeast Asian state, once known as Burma, headed now?