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...
Showing 13 - 24 of 163
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...