ARTICLES
WILD GRASS OUT IN CHINESE
It took eight years but my book Wild Grass: Three Portraits of Change in Modern China (Pantheon 2004, Vintage 2005) is out in Chinese.
THE NEW OLYMPICS ARMS RACE
I actually enjoy the Olympics a lot and have spent a fair amount of time in front of the TV over the past 10 days but I can't help notice a worrying trend--that countries are spending absurdly large amounts of money on elite sports in a bid to best others.
YU JIE ON LXB BIO, MEDIA-AI WEIWEI LOVEFEST
Here's the latest installment on the NYRB Blog of my interviews with prominent Chinese authors.
TOWARD A POST-COMMUNIST, POST-CONFUCIAN CHINA
Excerpts from a talk with Harvard Professor Rod MacFarquhar and Asia Society head Orville Schell.
“PRESSURE FOR CHANGE COMES FROM THE GRASSROOTS”
I had a long-ish interview with Chen Guangcheng in the New York Review of Books and focused on his views on what is driving change in society and how he sees this playing out in the coming years.
“IN THE CURRENT SYSTEM, I’D BE CORRUPT TOO”
Interview with 79-year-old political reformer Bao Tong in the New York Review of Books blog. Bao is a funny, engaging gentleman with insights into China’s problems of corruption and political reform.
POLITICS AND CHINA’S AIR QUALITY
A short, fun interview with Jeff Wasserstrom about the upcoming Asia Society event.
Is China Stable?
For friends in the NYC area on June 21, I'll be speaking at the Asia Society with Orville Schell and Rod MacFarquhar, hosted by the New York Review of Books' Hugh Eakins.
FINDING ZEN AND BOOK CONTRACTS IN BEIJING
Not all books in China are pirated, thanks to China’s growing middle class. A good example is the American translator of Chinese poetry Bill Porter (Red Pine) who has become a mini-celebrity in China for his books on Chinese culture. A profile here in the NYRB.
CHINESE MURDER MYSTERY
Paywall alert, but if you’re a subscriber, I have a piece in the current issue of the NYRB about the Bo Xilai scandal.
CHINESE OFFICIALS WIRETAPPING EACH OTHER
Most attention has focused on the death of a British businessman as the trigger for China’s ongoing political, but in this article in the NYT a colleague and I posit that it was also due to leaders’ penchant for wiretapping each other.
DEBACLE IN BEIJING: THE BLIND LAWYER SAGA
What’s the best course for the blind lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, and what can western countries do when human rights are violated? I take a skeptical look in this New York Review of Books blogpost.