Review Essay

No Country for a Woman

Women in China have suffered abuse, silencing and erasure — despite the Communist Party’s slogans about women’s liberation. Two novels by the Wuhan writer Fang Fang show how gendered oppression persists throughout political change.

Ep. 25: Timothy Thurston on Tibetan Satire

Tibetans inside China have found various ways to push back against Beijing and voice their dissatisfaction. A lesser-known form of subtle resistance is the art of “zurza,” or satirical repartee.

What China's Listening To

We picked five albums that China’s Gen Z are listening to while lying flat, working, involuting, “running” abroad and pushing the envelope.

What Happened to "Engagement" with China?

Since 1972, the U.S. has hoped that engaging with China would benefit both nations. That dream has burst. A new book performs an autopsy on engagement policy — but is it really dead?

Dan Wang on Engineers vs. Lawyers

The technology analyst discusses his new book "Breakneck," explaining what America's lawyerly society could learn from China's quest to engineer the future.

The Storytelling Robot

A science fiction story by Fei Dao, translated by Alec Ash — plus a Q&A with the author on the importance of Chinese sci-fi.

David Moser on Performing Comedy in China

The sinologist talks about moving to China in 1989, his first appearance on the Spring Festival Gala in 1999, and learning xiangsheng from the masters.

Recent books

The Hong Kong Widow

Kristen Loesch

October 7, 2025

Berkley

Textiles of China and Central Asia

Eds. Mariachiara Gasparini, Jacqueline Simcox, Eiren Shea

October 7, 2025

Prestel

Love and Romance in China

Pan Wang

October 2, 2025

Bloomsbury Academic

Fashion Communications between Italy and China

Gaoheng Zhang

October 2, 2025

Bloomsbury Visual Arts

At the Same Time

Wang Jiaxin (tr. John Balcom)

October 1, 2025

Arrowsmith Press

Browse more recent
Upcoming books

The Colonial Screen

Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh

October 10, 2025

Oxford University Press

Spent Bullets

Terao Tetsuya (tr. Kevin Wang)

October 14, 2025

HarperVia

The Poetic Way of Xie Lingyun

Ping Wang

October 14, 2025

University of Washington Press

Seeing Through Abstraction

Anatoly Detwyler

October 14, 2025

Columbia University Press

Eastern Breezes

Georgio Antei, Hwee Lie Bléhaut

October 14, 2025

Franco Maria Ricci editore

Browse more upcoming
Bestselling books

Breakneck

Dan Wang

August 26, 2025

W.W. Norton & Company

168 Better Than Takeout Chinese Recipes

Mandy Fu

October 9, 2024

Souped Up Recipes

Apple in China

Patrick McGee

May 13, 2025

Scribner

Strangers in the Land

Michael Luo

April 29, 2025

Doubleday

Red Tide

M.P. Woodward

September 23, 2025

Naval Institute Press

Browse more bestselling
Editors' picks

You Must Take Part in Revolution

Badiucao, Melissa Chan

March 4, 2025

Street Noise Books

The Milk Tea Allianace

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

June 10, 2025

Columbia Global Reports

Breaking the Engagement

David Shambaugh

June 12, 2025

Oxford University Press

Religion, Secularism, and Love as a Political Discourse in Modern China

Ting Guo

February 13, 2025

Amsterdam University Press

Transplants

Daniel Tam-Claiborne

May 13, 2025

Regalo Press

Browse more picks

From the Archive

Empire of Engineers

China has been a nation of engineers, from imperial to communist rule. America’s lawyerly society could learn something from that — but civil and social engineering come at a human cost.

Sima Qian: Records of the Grand Historian

History is supposedly written by the victors. Sima Qian, author of China's original historical classic, showed it could also be written by the condemned.

Ill Winds In Tibet

A banned Tibetan novel, now published in English, recounts the devastation of Mao's campaigns in the wake of the Amdo Rebellion of 1958.

Ep. 24: China Conspiracy Theories

From Covid as a bioweapon to Chinese soldiers infiltrating America, Alexander Boyd discusses the right-wing conspiracy theories that lead our ranking of bestselling China books.

The Trouble with Chinese Cookbooks

Despite the difficulty of translating Chinese cuisine for Western readers, Chinese cookbooks continue to sell. But just as their form has changed over the decades, so too has their mission.

What America Reads About China

Conspiracy theories and alarmism about Cold War redux are the best selling China books on Amazon.com. We read them so you don’t have to.

Sex Sells

A book on prostitution in China asks sex workers how they see the industry, the state and themselves.

Ep. 23: Mark Kitto on Shanghai in the 2000s

The author and former media mogul explains why he chose fiction as the best way to capture Shanghai’s go-go years in his new novel.

What Happened to China Travel Guides?

Guidebooks for China boomed from the 1980s to the 2010s. Then the Covid pandemic hit. With fewer visitors, and travel guides going out of print in the digital age, what are we missing?

What China's Reading: Amateur Writing

After a plagiarism scandal upended China’s literati, a spate of bestselling books published by amateur writers has changed what Chinese readers consider as literature.

Who Will Be the Next Dalai Lama?

The Dalai Lama, who just turned 90, writes in his memoir that he will reincarnate in the “free world.” But will his political, religious and moral power transfer with him?

Jane Gardam: The Old Filth Trilogy

A clever skewering of British colonials in pre-handover Hong Kong became a best-seller for its portrait of imperial ruin and class jockeying.

From the Archive

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