Q&A Archives | China Books Review

Li Mingjie on Chinese Folk Belief

The academic and author walks us through Chinese folk religion today, from paper gods to ancestor worship, and explains how faith in China is fundamentally...

Wang Xiaoshuai on Chinese Cinema

The pioneering filmmaker discusses China’s movie industry from the 1990s to today, and what it feels like to be caught between the censors and the...

Xu Zhiyuan on Chinese Intellectuals

A journalist, author, bookstore owner and vlogger talks about the legacy of Liang Qichao, the changing nature of China’s intellectual scene, and whether studying history...

Xiang Biao on a Society at the Edge

An anthropologist with a wide youth following and a knack for popularizing academic terms explains how China’s stratified society led to social malaise amid economic...

Liang Hong on Youth Depression in China

An author famous for her observations on China's village life turns her attention to the mental health of its adolescents.

Zhang Feng on China’s New Media

The social media blogger explains how censorship works in the era of WeChat, and talks us through a changing media landscape, in our new column...

Hongbin Li: How the Gaokao Shapes China

The U.S.-based academic discusses why China’s college entrance exam system retains popular support despite its hardships, and how the gaokao’s influence can spread overseas.

Bob Davis on Broken Engagement

In a new e-book from The Wire China, Bob Davis interviews over two dozen Americans who have shaped U.S.-China policy, from Nancy Pelosi to Mike...

Hal Brands on the Axis of Autocracies

The foreign policy expert discusses his new book, why he thinks that China is the most formidable player in an emerging “axis of autocracies” and...

Kublai Khan, from Land to Ocean

Kublai Khan’s Yuan dynasty, like the Mongol empire, is thought of as a land power. A new work of popular history argues that its real...

Dali Yang: How Covid Wasn’t Contained

The author of a new book on the early spread of Covid in Wuhan lays out what political factors prevented alarm bells from going off.

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.

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