Culture Archives | China Books Review

Ep. 37: What China’s Writing with Na Zhong

Sally Rooney’s Chinese translator and our own “What China’s Reading” columnist talks to us about Chinese tastes in literature and her own debut novella.

J. G. Ballard’s Dystopian Shanghai

How the English novelist J. G. Ballard’s boyhood in war-torn Shanghai influenced his darkest fiction.

John Minford’s China Bookshelf

The veteran literary translator tells us how his collection began, why his library is called “Three Dog Hall,” and that New Zealand pine is the...

Red Pine: Channeling Silent Voices

Over 50 years and 30 books, the American Bill Porter — better known as “Red Pine” — has followed the trails and trials of China’s...

Ep. 36: Food Writing with Clarissa Wei

The author of a new book of postpartum recovery recipes tells us what to eat while “sitting the month,” and how Taiwanese food is distinct...

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...

Ep. 32: Ancient Chinese Politics with Daniel Bell

The Legalists and Confucians still run the show in today’s China, argues a scholar of classical Chinese thought — but the Mohists and Daoists still...

Ep. 31: Confucius and Women with Erin Cline

Misogyny and patriarchy are a later misreading of The Analects, argues the author of a new translation of the Confucian classic.

How China’s Independent Bookstores Survive

Even as restrictions tighten in Beijing, independent bookstores in Chengdu have flourished — showing how offline community and public debate can thrive. But it’s hard.