'How China’s New Left Embraced the State'
China’s leftist intellectuals, once regime critics in the 1990s, have shifted from their socialist origins to support statism and the China model. Where does that leave their thinking now?
Read David Ownby's essay:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/05/16/how…

'Dali Yang: How Covid Wasn’t Contained'
The author of a new book on the early spread of Covid in Wuhan lays out what political factors prevented alarm bells from going off.
Read Andrew Peaple's Q&A: chinabooksreview.com/2024/05/14/dal…

'The history of Kashgar and its Old City stretches over 2000 years, and the Chinese Communist Party is the most recent in a long line of its occupiers.'
Read Henryk Szadziewski's review:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/05/09/a-r…

'A Record of Old Kashgar'
The Uyghur city in Xinjiang has been disrupted by outside forces through history — of which Chinese rebuilding is the latest change. A book of images and stories records what it once was.
Read Henryk Szadziewski's review:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/05/09/a-r…

'We believe, as long as we’re alive, we’re never going to lose our hope.'
- Gulchehra Hoja
chinabooksreview.com/2024/05/07/ep-…

'Ep. 8: Uyghur Women Speak Out'
The authors of two recent memoirs talk to the China Books podcast about ongoing cultural repression in Xinjiang, and their own lives in exile outside of their homeland.
Listen to MaryKay Magistad's podcast:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/05/07/ep-…

We're honored to be a finalist for a The Society of Publishers in Asia award, in Excellence in Opinion Writing, for Perry Link's inaugural cover essay for us, 'Mao to Now.' Wish us luck in June.
sopawards.com/the-sopa-award…

'My father had a long career in the Chinese army. … And yet he took photos of the disasters that the CCP brought to his beloved homeland. I cannot help but wonder: Why?' འོད་ཟེར།唯色Woeser😷💙💛🎗️
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/25/tib…

'Tibet’s Cultural Revolution'
The brutality of Maoist Red Guards is well documented, but lesser known in relation to Tibet, where its spiritual damage ran deep. Few records remained — until a Tibetan writer found a trove of photos taken by her father.
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/25/tib…

Edgar Snow's 1937 account of meeting Mao influenced a generation who saw China through rose-tinted glasses as late as the 1970s — until the illusion could not survive emerging realities. Sam Crane's review essay of Red Star Over China is up today: chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/23/edg…

'Corky Lee’s Chinatown'
Since 1970, a Chinese-American photojournalist has been capturing images of street life in New York’s Chinatown. Here are twelve of them, from protest to pandemic.
See our photo essay:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/18/cor…

Chinese writers have long used fiction to process trauma. In these five newly translated titles, the trend continues in modern settings, from sexual abuse in Taiwan to linguistic displacement in Hong Kong.
Read Jack Hargreaves' list:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/16/tra…

'England empowers the subaltern, recentring the Eurasian community as a key source of power and influence in late 19th and early 20th century Hong Kong.'
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/04/in-…

Heads up bookworms: we're off posting this week but will return next week. In the meantime check out what's upcoming in the China book space: chinabooksreview.com/upcoming-china…

'In the face of an ethno-nationalist narrative ascendent in mainland China, England’s account reminds us that Hong Kong is different from China.'
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/04/in-…

'In-Between City'
Hong Kong has been caught between empires — and narratives — for almost two centuries. The diversity of its early migrants made the city what it is today. But that is changing.
Read Antony Dapiran's review-essay:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/04/in-…

Ep. 7: China’s Green Energy Gold Rush
The race to go green is as much a business opportunity as a climate imperative. And China is winning. We asked a leading expert why — and how the rest of the world can catch up.
Listen to MaryKay Magistad's podcast:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/02/ep-…

'Once you’re Chinese, you’re always Chinese. They put a mark on you. … And I don’t want to be owned.'
- Yiyun Li
chinabooksreview.com/2024/03/21/mot…

Brave Attempt
A new account tells the story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, and their failures, through four individual lives. But we need more unmediated voices to speak for themselves.
Read Rhoda Kwan's review:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/03/28/bra…

Minxin Pei: China’s Surveillance State
China's surveillance capabilities are often presented as feats of futuristic technology. But its true advantage lies in human networks of informers and state workers.
Read Rachel Cheung's Q&A:
chinabooksreview.com/2024/03/26/min…