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The Perfect Dictatorship?

A new book argues that “smart authoritarianism” enabled China's economic growth while keeping draconian control over its society. But is it really possible for the...

Love is a Losing Game

A new documentary on young Chinese men’s romantic struggles shows the underbelly of a society where the winners take all.

Colonial Adventures

When a British diplomat was found murdered in southwest China in 1875, near the Burmese border, a political spat was triggered that would have wide-ranging...

The Totalitarian Gene

A new theory of China’s political DNA advances a dark thesis: that totalitarianism is institutionally encoded in the nation-state, and cannot be reformed.

The Runaways

Young Chinese have been moving away from big cities into rust-belt towns with cheap housing and less pressure. A new book asks what they’re running...

Logging Unpaid Hours

When a state-run sawmill from the Mao era privatized and eventually closed, its female workers were denied fair compensation. Its story doubles as an alternate...

Ill Winds In Tibet

A banned Tibetan novel, now published in English, recounts the devastation of Mao's campaigns in the wake of the Amdo Rebellion of 1958.
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28 Oct, 6:30-8pm; Asia Society, NYC

Emily Feng: Uyghurs in Syria

Hear NPR correspondent Emily Feng talk about her new book on the untold story of Uyghur exiles who fled China only to become a pivotal force in the Syrian Civil War, moderated by NYT journalist Michael Forsythe. Use code CBR15 for half-price discount as a China Books Review reader.
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