Lisa He

Before coming to Shanghai, my knowledge of Muslim religion and culture in China was very limited. I often associated Uighur lamb shashliks as a cultural cachet of Islam. Despite my initial narrow impression, I have since learned that Muslim food in China is an integral factor in many different Muslim minorities’ practice of Islam.

In China policy reform related to environmental sustainability is largely bureaucratic. Change starts at the grassroots level, which is then delivered to the provincial government. Rarely are protests and concerns considered at the central state level. But if environmental pollution affects everyone, why hasn’t there been any nation-wide riots demanding for better policies? The answer is too simple: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is notorious for paying provincial governments to quiet the masses’ petty riots, satiating its economic agenda by developing industrial factories.