ARTICLES
FIRST PASS
My essay in the NYRB on a raft of fascinating new books on the Cultural Revolution, many by Chinese scholars who keep plugging away despite censorship and harassment.
THEY CAN’T COVER IT UP
My essay in the NYRB on a raft of fascinating new books on the Cultural Revolution, many by Chinese scholars who keep plugging away despite censorship and harassment.
TIGHTER CONTROLS OVER RELIGION?
My piece in the New York Times on Xi’s efforts to keep a lid on China’s explosive religious growth..
TALKING NON-FICTION IN CHINA
I recently attended a remarkable conference on narrative non-fiction in Beijng and came away impressed....
MASTER OF CHINESE MEDICINE
In this Saturday profile for the New York Times, I talk about the work of Paul Unschuld, probably the West’s most famous scholar of Chinese medicine.
NON-FICTION IN BEIJING
What are the conditions of writing non-fiction in China today? Come join our talk at the Horizon Salon.
“THE SONGS OF BIRDS”
In this essay in The New York Review of Books, I review books of poetry by Liu Xia and look at her life under house arrest.
RICHARD WILHELM’S “THE SOUL OF CHINA”
In this insightful review as a Weixin post, the Chinese Christian author Promise Hsu gives an early review of my book in Chinese. Below, my discussion of it and parallels to Richard Wilhelm's own book on China's soul.
THE PEOPLE IN RETREAT?
In this New York Review of Books interview with the filmmaker Ai Xiaoming, we talk about everything from the lack of public intellectuals to the filmmaker Hu Jie
THE PROPHET AND THE PARTY
China’s sometimes-pragmatic approach toward shariah law: my Q&A in the New York Times with Oxford scholar Matthew Erie. Read it here.