Many in China have nothing but admiration for America’s new President-elect Barack Obama. Still, the Republicans were safe because they were predictable. With a Democrat in the White House, Beijing doesn’t know what to expect.

he name Obama is on everyone’s lips in China; the country closely followed the campaign in the United States. The American decision, after all, has great meaning on the Asian side of the Pacific Ocean as well.

Finance institutions in Beijing have invested $500 billion in US treasury bonds in recent years, going a long way toward financing the debt-laden lifestyle led by America and Americans. The US, for its part, has for years depended on China to produce every product imaginable, doing its part to fuel China’s astonishing economic rise. The two countries are as mutually dependent as an elderly married couple.

People in China are looking at Tuesday’s election of Barack Obama with a mixture of admiration and skepticism…

An interview with Chinese lawyer Li Fangping:

SPIEGEL: Some provincial governments have allegedly instructed lawyers not to take on cases related to the powdered milk scandal. Will this inhibit your work?

Li: Such cases exist, and we criticize them. The authorities have also called us in to tell us we should trust the party and the government.

SPIEGEL: Has state pressure had the desired effect?

Li: Yes, some colleagues already announced that they will leave our lawyers’ consortium…

Bavaria’s Oktoberfest, Made in China:
“The Munich Oktoberfest, the annual showcase of Bavarian culture, got off to a rousing start with almost a million visitors downing 450,000 liters of beer over the opening weekend. But folk societies are warning that the region’s proud heritage is under attack from cheap Lederhosen made in China, India and Eastern Europe. …
One might think, therefore, that everything is in order in this Alpine state that accounts for so much of Germany’s national identity.
Not so, say Bavarian purists, who have warned that Bavaria’s proud heritage is under threat from cheap imported Lederhosen and Dirndl dresses made in China, India and Eastern Europe. …
For the protectors of Bavarian heritage, that is sacrilege.”

The life of Bao Tong, a dissident and friend of the ‘89 students, still on the outs with China:
“Bao Tong, a former member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, fell out of favor and wound up in prison. Now he lives under house arrest in Beijing, watched by the government because he continues to push for more democratic freedom.
Nowadays, it isn’t easy to visit the old man who, less than 20 years ago, was one of China’s most influential politicians. His former friends and colleagues now try to prevent him from meeting foreigners. They also try to keep him from talking to Chinese journalists and historians. Not even his friend, philosopher Liu Xiaobo, is permitted to see Bao Tong, who is considered a threat…”

Is it a “new, gentle area” for China and Taiwan?

“Though the Communist Party in Beijing is still standing firm on its ‘One China’ policy, it has stopped provoking Taiwan with military maneuvers. Taiwan has also suspended its demonstrations for independence and seems satisfied with the status quo. China and Taiwan are both counting on their people, on winning their hearts and minds. Who knows, say the Taiwanese, perhaps people on the mainland will soon start wondering why the people of Taiwan are allowed to elect their government, while they are not?

‘Beijing has realized that Taiwan will continue to drift away if China doesn’t establish contact,’ says Lin Chong-pin, President of the Institute for International Studies. After nearly 60 years of separation, a generation has grown up in Taiwan seeing the People’s Republic of China as a foreign country. Beijing now wants to draw the 23 million Taiwanese closer to the “motherland.” The time is ripe, too: New Taiwanese President Ma Yingjeou got elected partly on a platform of wanting to improve relations with China, thus breaking with the policy course of his political predecessor. The main hope is that improved ties will translate into benefits for Taiwan’s economy.”

When Beijing is bad, it’s really bad:

“When smog forms the Forbidden City disappears behind a wall of gray. Only vague outlines can be seen from the new futuristic television center on the 3rd Ring Road despite its proximity. The western mountains are just a distant memory.

The city’s residents cough, their eyes burn, a sticky wet film forms on everything. Dust particles, nitrous oxide, and sulfur dioxide concentrations rise to dramatic levels. The authorities send out text messages to warn asthma sufferers to stay indoors and close the windows.

‘My five-year-old son has had a chronic sore throat since he was two years old. He has to clear his throat all the time,” says Beijing secretary Wang Hongmei. “That’s because of the air pollution.’”