Review Essay

How to Hide a Chinese Empire

After millennia of imperial history, China today has distanced itself from the concept of empire. But the new forms of Chinese imperium are more subtle than territorial conquest.

Winston Lord's China Bookshelf

The diplomat reflects on books that have guided his thinking ever since he flew to Beijing for a secret meeting that would spark the U.S.-China rapprochement.

Joseph Torigian on Xi Zhongxun

The author and academic discusses his new biography of Xi Zhongxun, father of Xi Jinping, and the hidden history of the Chinese Communist Party.

What Xi Jinping Learnt from his Father

Xi Zhongxun was once a reformist voice within the Communist Party — and was purged multiple times for it. So how did his son Xi Jinping become such a loyalist?

James Mann: Selling Jeeps in China

The autopsy of an American automaker’s failed dream of making and selling jeeps in China reveals much about the delusional thinking of joint ventures in the 1980s.

Why “All Under Heaven” is Wrong

Tianxia, Beijing’s favorite theory of global power, is held up by Chinese scholars as an alternative to West-centrism. The latest work of its loudest cheerleader is as empty as ever.

Ep. 21: Jenna Tang on Taiwan's MeToo Movement

We talked to the translator of a novel that helped launch #MeToo in Taiwan, about why both the movement and the book are having a second wind.

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Automating Governance in China?

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The Master Jeweler

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New Story of the Stone

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Asia Society Texas

The Cities of Song China

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Routledge

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Bestselling books

Apple in China

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Never Thought I’d End Up Here

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Scholastic Press

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Doubleday

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Ten Thousand Miles of Clouds and Moons

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Honford Star

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Strangers Press

Sinophagia

Ed./Tr. Xueting Christine Ni

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Simon & Schuster

Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet

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From the Archive

The Life of Saint Xi

China’s official Party press has published a series of oral histories about Xi Jinping’s career, from sent-down youth in Shaanxi to Party Secretary of Shanghai. They read more like hagiography than history.

Barbara Demick on the One-Child Policy and International Adoption

The foreign correspondent talks about her new book on child trafficking and the adoption market in China, and the story of twin girls separated at birth.

How China’s Adoption Market Led to Child Trafficking

In 1991 China allowed foreigners to adopt its children, supposedly abandoned by parents because of the one-child policy. But some had been taken or trafficked to feed a growing demand.

What China’s Reading: Uncertain Times

China’s economy is unsteady, its publishing industry facing hard times — yet interesting books continue to come out. Here are five of them, from psychotherapy to mountaineering.

An American Marine In China’s Red Army

In 1937, a U.S. military officer set off with Mao Zedong’s troops to raid Japanese-occupied territory in the north of China. The Communist guerillas, he felt, could be a model for America's military to emulate.

Announcing the 2024 Winners

Presenting the winners (and honorable mentions) for the 2024 Baifang Schell Book Prize, with awards in both nonfiction and translated literature.

Dancing in Chains

Squeezed by both political and commercial pressures, China’s book publishers face an existential crisis. How can the industry survive, let alone publish anything interesting?

Ep. 20: Linda Jaivin on the Cultural Revolution

The writer and China watcher talks us through her microhistory of Mao’s last decade in power, and its relevance to Trump’s MAGA movement.

Yan Geling: Crossing the Red Line

The acclaimed novelist and screenwriter built an audience in China for her powerful historical narratives. Then, somewhere, she crossed a line. What is it like to be banned from publishing in your homeland?

Translated Chinese Literature: Short Fiction

Short stories are all the rage in Chinese, but get short shrift in the West. We picked five recent translated collections, from riveting horror tales to irreverent queer fiction.

For All the Trees in China

For over a century, Chinese rulers have launched tree-planting campaigns, to benefit the environment and build the nation. But did their rousing rhetoric actually lead to more forests?

Ann Bridge: Peking Picnic

A 1930s novel of manners with evocative descriptions of Old Beijing offers surprisingly timeless observations about what it means to be an expat in China.

From the Archive

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