ARTICLES
MOSQUE IN MUNICH IN CHINESE
In this interview with Beijing Youth Daily, I talk about the upcoming publication of A Mosque in Munich in China, the Paris talks, and accessing US archives.
XI’S APOGEE OF POWER
In this piece for the New York Review of Books Daily, I take issue with the idea of Xi as a strong leader, instead seeing him as hobbled by the same problems facing his predecessors.
OUP ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF CHINA
I'm very excited that the Oxford Illustrated History of China has a pub date: Aug 2016
OLD MEDICINE, NEW DEBATE
Awarding the Nobel Prize for medicine to a researcher in traditional Chinese medicine has rekindled a century-old debate over whether the practice is superstitious nonsense or a valuable contribution to the nation’s future. My take in the Sunday New York Times.
HOPES OF A 3RD-TIER CHINESE CITY
In this “Journal” for the New York Times I look at the strange fate of Baoding. From provincial capital, it declined to a backwater, and now hopes for a revival under the Jing-Jin-Ji urbanization plan.
“I TRY TO TALK LESS”
My Q&A with Ai Weiwei and Liao Yiwu in the NYRB, discussing Ai’s new-found desire to keep a lower profile, the role of history and so on. You can read it here.
SPOTLIGHT ON CHINA’S “FORGOTTEN PEOPLE”
My NYT Sinosphere blog Q&A with writer Nick Holdstock on his new book on the Uighurs of China’s far-western Xinjiang province.
OFFICIAL CHURCHES STRIKE BACK
China’s cross-removal campaign has hit a snag: its own government-backed churches, which increasingly are speaking out against the measures. My article in the NYT.
BIRTH OF A SUPERCITY
This is another in a loose series I've been doing for the New York Times on creating a mega-city of more than 100 million in North China.
LIFE UNDER MAO
How much do we really know about the Mao era? In this Q&A with Stanford University’s Andrew Walder, we talk about his new book “Revolution Derailed.”
LAND OF ATHEISM?
Are Chinese really as atheistic as a recent Gallup poll suggests? I take a closer look.
PODCAST: WRITING ON CHINA
Can journalism capture the complexity of change in a place like China?