"The strange thing with fertility is nobody really knows what’s going on. It’s not primarily driven by economics or family policies. It’s something cultural, psychological, biological, cognitive.” Financial Times ft.com/content/500c0f…

I hate that there have been Chinese social media trolling of Yiyun and sharing of her private IG. Instead, read this lovely remembrance of a remarkable young person, by his friends and teachers. dailyprincetonian.com/article/2024/0…

没机会又不是这些人的错。当年许志永也当选过人大代表。陈光诚的事几乎传遍了互联网，10多年前是有一些空间的，和现在完全不一样。

"On most political matters...it is an abdication of personal responsibility to allow our opinions to be unreflectively determined by our social position." nytimes.com/2024/03/24/opi…

nytimes.com/2024/04/25/opi…

Xi’s Historical Revisionism: Censorship and Amplification chinatalk.media/p/xis-historic…

The life story of Gao Ertai, whose memoir "In Search of My Homeland" is both a precious historical document of the Mao campaigns of the 1950s and 60s, and an astonishingly beautiful piece of literature. newyorker.com/news/persons-o…

"Some see in his critique of the Mao era parallels to today: the arbitrary rule of an aging leader, harsh treatment of dissent, and government programs that encourage people to inform on one another." My profile of Gao Ertai in The New Yorker newyorker.com/news/persons-o…

For decades, China’s economic miracle was powered by a widespread belief that failure was simply a consequence of not working hard enough. Now, Chinese increasingly blame their frustrations on a system they see as fundamentally unfair. Lingling Wei 魏玲灵 wsjchina.cmail19.com/t/d-e-ehhtyut-…

newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

In Rural China, ‘Sisterhoods’ Demand Justice, and Cash - fascinating article by ⁦Vivian Wang⁩ about rural women fighting for what is rightfully theirs. nytimes.com/2024/09/08/wor…

Knifing incident across the street from my parents’ place this afternoon, at the gate of Zhongguancun No. 3 elementary school. Five injured, including three minors.

Many people have been puzzled by the strong support Trump, a transparent autocrat aspirant, has enjoyed from the Chinese dissident diaspora. There is no puzzle. Many of these people oppose particular autocrats as individual autocrats, not necessarily autocracy per se as a system

《光明日报》资深编辑董郁玉因“间谍罪”被判刑七年。董郁玉两年前在北京与一名日本外交官共进午餐时被捕。他的家人表示，定罪是在惩罚对他过去发表的批评政府的文章，也是对中国公民与外国人的交往做出警告。cn.nytimes.com/china/20241129…

It comes down to Gaokao (College admission exam) as well. Each college has different grade requirements for different majors. Studying a niche language may be the only way to get into a more prestigious school for an ambitious underperformed student.

The writer of this post has impressive Chinese for someone who only finished elementary school in China.

Love this one by my friend Lingling Wei 魏玲灵, growing up in the 80s and 90s, I used to scorn at Chiung’s cheesy and corny romance novels, but it provided the reform generation much needed liberating spirit of love that was long lost in a country just coming out of its darkest days!

Rush Doshi on ChinaTalk. He gets it Rush Doshi

.Dan Wang: “China’s influencer culture is much more intense than America’s. It’s easy to see, in public spaces, how many people are glued to their phones. Anywhere charming, whether a café or a mountaintop, is full of people intently taking photos.” danwang.co/breakneck/