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Washing History

A new novel about the Chinese Civil War feels true to the author’s experience of it, but also amplifies the Party’s preferred version of the...

The Bones Remember

Three new books grapple with the suppressed histories of modern China, from the Cultural Revolution to the Covid pandemic. But for every state effort to...

The Shadow of Chiang Kai-shek

China’s nationalist former leader has a mixed legacy. Two new books present him in a revisionist light — but what inheritance did the Generalissimo really...

A Contested Century

In China, the 19th century is presented as an era of national humiliation. Two new books and an exhibition attempt to humanize it. But who...

A Spark Extinguished

At the height of the Great Famine in 1960, a group of students exiled to the countryside launched a magazine that dared to tell the...
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The Wire China

Mr. Magnet

Can a Japanese scientist loosen China’s grip on the rare earths supply chain needed for critical magnet technologies? Read Luke Patey's new cover story at The Wire China.