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The Bomb is Back
The myth of China's nuclear restraint obscures the dangers of its rapidly expanding arsenal. A trio of recent books take us from the bomb’s origins...
Zero-Sum
A Chinese invasion or blockade of Taiwan is a constant, if not imminent, risk. Three new books consider Beijing’s options for force, Taiwan’s fractured politics,...
Keeping The Party Going
A French-language biography shows how Hua Guofeng, the oft-maligned successor to Mao, was pivotal in bridging the Party from the madness of the Cultural Revolution...
How Communism Won China
The CCP presents its victory in 1949 as historical inevitability, hard-won after years of struggle. A new book suggests it had more to do with...
Did Peng Zhen Rebel Against Mao?
A startling Chinese-language biography of Mao’s one-time enforcer reveals the folly of hoping that Party officials will break ranks — and the importance of revisionist...
King Lear And China’s Big Leader Kultur
Shakespeare has much to teach us about the hubristic fragility of despotic leaders, from the tyrants of the mid-20th century to those of today. But...
Sins of the Father
Xi Zhongxun, one of China’s early communist revolutionaries, tried to balance reformist instincts with loyalty to the Party. His failure left an indelible mark on...
Yu Hua: Fictional Cities
The bestselling Chinese novelist foregrounds individual suffering in the chaos of modern Chinese history. In his latest novel in translation, gratuitous violence shows the limits...
No Country for Women
Women in China have suffered abuse, silencing and erasure — despite Communist Party slogans about women's liberation. Two novels by the Chinese writer Fang Fang...
What Happened to “Engagement” with China?
Since 1972, the U.S. has hoped that engaging with China would benefit both nations. That dream has burst. A new book performs an autopsy on...
The Trouble with Chinese Cookbooks
Despite the difficulty of translating Chinese cuisine for Western readers, Chinese cookbooks continue to sell. But just as their form has changed over the decades,...
Liang Qichao: Reformer or Revolutionary?
The legacy of the late Qing era intellectual, once exiled in Japan, is overlooked in the West. A new collection of his essays shows a...
