Excerpt Archives | China Books Review

A Day in the Life of an Internet Censor

China’s social media boom let its people speak out — but the censorship network silenced them. One of those censors reveals what happens behind the...

The Revolution Will Be Illustrated

In a graphic novel depicting a dystopian future Hong Kong, three former democracy activists struggle to come to terms with a dark new reality.

How the iPhone was Made in China

When the iPhone launched in 2007, Apple's supply chain in China was still nascent. Yet as the product took off, China profited from the creation...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Thief Who Became a Celebrity

When Zhou Liqi went viral for stealing scooters to protest lack of opportunity, he sparked a debate between the popular movement of “lying flat” and...