Archives

Showing 157 - 168 of 206

Minxin Pei on China’s Surveillance State

China's surveillance capabilities are often presented as feats of futuristic technology. But its true advantage lies in human networks of informers and state workers.

Yiyun Li: ‘You’re Always Chinese’

The Chinese-born writer of fiction and memoir left in 1996 and has moved on to other settings in her work. But can a writer ever...

Alec Ash on Rural Escape in Dali

From dissidents to drop-outs, why are some Chinese seeking a rural escape hatch from the promises of the modern urban state? An Asia Society book...

All We Have to Fear

The Western world has held an outsized fear of Chinese power for centuries. But why? A new book argues that alarmism began in the late...

Peter Goullart: Forgotten Kingdom

20 years after “Shangri-La” was coined in the Western imagination, a Russian adventurer published a memoir from the valley of Lijiang, southwest China, that is...

China’s Lexicon of Digital Resistance

Netizens on the Chinese internet have been using buzzwords and memes for decades, to express obliquely what they cannot directly. From the “river crab” to...

Ep. 6: Spy Novels, True Thriller

The China Books podcast talks to Adam Brookes, author of a China spy novel trilogy and a WWII non-fiction thriller, about writing on China for...

The Reverse Migrants

After decades of urbanization and economic development, a cohort of China's population is seeking rural refuge and personal development instead — moving back to the...

Jianying Zha’s China Bookshelf

The writer and cultural commentator picks five titles from her shelf, from Henry Kissinger’s transcripts to a Cultural Revolution memoir — and tells us what...

From the Mines to the Glaciers

Coal energy fired China’s explosive growth. But its emissions contributed to the melting of Himalayan ice. In photographs from a new exhibit, a picture speaks...

How Past Reflects Present

Chinese literature has a long tradition of using history to discuss contemporary affairs. Our columnist picks five recent titles that do just that, from Shang...

A Game of Cat and Mouse

In a graphic novel rendition of his life, the acclaimed artist reflects on the Chinese zodiac, its connection to his own family story, and the...

China Books Review