China Books Review is a digital magazine that publishes commentary on all things China and bookish. We are a literary review for all general readers interested in greater China and the Sinophone world (including Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora) covering politics, history, society, culture and fiction. Please read our opening letter for more context.

We are brought to you by Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and The Wire China. We publish reviews, essays, excerpts, profiles and curated book lists, as well as a monthly podcast and occasional videos of book talks. We also maintain dynamic lists of recent, upcoming and bestselling China books, alongside editors’ picks from the pack.

We were founded in 2023 by Orville Schell, a veteran China author, and David Barboza, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist. Our editor is Alec Ash, an author of multiple books and former editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books, who lived in China from 2008-2022. The site was designed by Ben Shmulevitch, with illustrations by Ellie Foreman-Peck.

Publishers

Our team

Columnists

Advisory board

FAQ

How often do you publish?

We are a biweekly publication, with new features (reviews, essays, excerpts, profiles) dropping on Thursdays, and columns (book lists, archive picks, podcasts, book talks) on Tuesdays. Every four articles there is a new cover story and newsletter mail-out, constituting a new “issue.” We take weeks off for Christmas and at the end of August.

What’s the best way to follow you?

Bookmark our homepage to see new articles and updates to our dynamic lists of upcoming, recent and bestselling books on and from China. Follow our X, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky for new posts and event listings, or plug into our RSS feed. Best of all, sign up for our biweekly newsletter for the full round-up, so as to not miss a beat.

How do you decide which books to cover?

We endeavor to list all new China books, broadly conceived, on our dynamic book lists. Feature articles (reviews, essays, excerpts, curated lists) then selectively cover certain books, with a view to publishing content that adds original value to the conversation around China and the greater Sinophone world, including lesser-known topics or angles. We aspire to highlight diverse voices, including Chinese-language books.

What do you mean by ‘China’?

Our remit is broad, including not just the People’s Republic of China — for which we use “China” as a well-established shorthand — but also Taiwan, the Chinese diaspora and the greater Sinophone world. Our definition of a “China book” is any English-language book whose subject or setting is China or the Sinophone world, including works translated from Chinese. By featuring or listing a work, we make no political claims about its territory.

How do you avoid favoritism?

We avoid publishing reviews by contributors with too close a personal connection to the author, or who have otherwise promoted their book. Please see our standards for more detail. Selections of which books to cover in feature articles are made solely with interest for the reader in mind. All contributors to the Review have full independence to voice their opinion of works, and we encourage both credit and criticism where due.

Do you make money?

No. We are a non-profit endeavor, and all content on the website is free to access. We make no money from advertisements or publishers, nor from affiliate commissions from book links. We sometimes use our announcement box (in the footer) to point readers to The Wire China, our sister site that does charge for access, but we are an independent outlet.

How are you funded?

We are jointly funded by Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations, a non-profit dedicated to promoting an open and collaborative relationship between the United States and China, and The Wire Digital Inc., a New York-based news and data startup that publishes The Wire China and runs WireScreen, a software analytics platform providing data on Chinese companies and individuals.

Where are you based?

We publish out of Asia Society’s headquarters in New York, with a roster of diverse contributors based all over the world, including many in China and other parts of Asia.

How can I get in touch?

Feel free to contact us, or see how to submit. ∎