ARTICLES
A BLESSING FROM HEAVEN?
While copy-editing my new book on China's religious revival, I came across this photo in my files of a 2011 trip I took to the heart of underground Christianity in Xinyang.
CHINA IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In late August I participated in a very unusual but fascinating conference in Los Angeles.
DOPING AND DISSENT
My New York Times Saturday Profile of Yang Weidong and his quixotic effort to document the soul of China.
TALKIN’ THE DAO
In this Q&A with Terry Kleeman for the NYT’s Sinosphere blog, we talk about the origins of religious Daoism, common western misperceptions of this religion, and how the government still tries to control it.
NEW DOPING NEW GAMES
In this post for the NYR Daily, I specuate on how the Rio doping scandals are further evidence of the rise of new rogue states with no real interest in international laws and norms.
CRIME, RELIGION, AND HISTORY
This should be the title of a very eclectic conference I'll be attending in August.
CHINA’S MEMORY MANIPULATORS
In this excerpt, the Guardian reprints part of my concluding chapter–the “coda”–of The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China. This book just came out in the UK and comes out in August in the US.
DECAPITATED CHURCHES
My report in the Sunday New York Times from China’s Christian heartland on the government’s cross-removal campaign and what it means for China’s religious revival.
BURIED BOOKS
In this NYRB article, I look at the political implications of new archaeological finds in China.
GOODBYE TO DAHLEM
My skeptical take on closing the famous Dahlem museums in Berlin. NYR Daily unpaywalled here.
“MY PERSONAL VENDETTA”
As part of my ongoing series of Q&As with Chinese intellectuals and writers, I interview the Hong Kong publisher Bao Pu about his movtivation for tackling some of China’s most sensitive issues.