Peter Goullart: Forgotten Kingdom
20 years after “Shangri-La” was coined in the Western imagination, a Russian adventurer published a memoir from the valley of Lijiang, southwest China, that is...
Ellen La Motte: An American Nurse in Peking
In 1916, an American activist and writer traveled to China from the frontlines of World War I. What she saw in the city delighted her;...
One for the History Books
How Endymion Wilkinson’s encyclopedia of Chinese history grew from 70,000 words in 1973 to 1.75 million words for its 50th anniversary edition.
Marco Polo: Travel Writer? Fraud? Sexpat?
‘The Travels of Marco Polo’ is often held up as the earliest Western account of China and Asia. What’s actually inside the covers might surprise...
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...
Ep. 3: How China’s Future Looked in the Past
A 20th century Chinese public intellectual fell for the socialist dream, only to become disillusioned. His biographer tells us the full story.
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...
Yasheng Huang on Autocracy vs. Creativity
From its earliest imperial history, China's bureaucratic system and civil service exams have ensured homogeneity and control. But at what price?
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...
Ep. 2: American Correspondents in China
Foreign correspondents have been instrumental in telling the story of how China has changed since World War II. So, we turned the microphone on them.
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...
Peter Fleming: News from Tartary
The British adventurer’s 1936 account of his journey across the Tibetan Plateau and Xinjiang shows its age but remains a classic of travel writing.