ARTICLES
AWW’S TECHNOCRATIC NIGHTMARE
In his new documentary film, Ai Weiwei presents a China that can quickly crush the pandemic but “offers no answers to humanity’s questions.” See my piece in the NYT here.
NEH PUBLIC SCHOLAR
Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities for making me a 2020-2021 Public Scholar.
EXCAVATING CHINESE HISTORY
On June 30, the independent New York film distributor Icarus Films is releasing a documentary on the Chinese filmmaker Hu Jie, as well as releasing one of his classic documentaries, "Spark.".
CIRCUMAMBULATING BEIJING
In this mini vignette for the New York Review of Books Daily, I describe a moment during the Beijing lockdown when I broke ranks and ascended a mountain.
EVERYONE IS ISOLATED
In this Q&A, my 33rd for the New York Review of Books, I talk to the Chinese non-fiction writer Yuan Ling about the coronavirus and life under lockdown.
THE CORONAVIRUS, CHINA, AND THE WEST
In this oped for The New York Times, I take on a tricky subject: giving props to some of China's reaction to the coronavirus while taking the West to task for not learning from it.
WHICH VOICES FROM THE CHINESE CENTURY?
Who speak for the Chinese people? In this esssay for The New York Review of Books, I look at two groups of Chinese thinkers: those inside and outside the system, and try to answer the question of who best reflects the diversity of opinion in China.
PRAYERS AND PROPHECIES
In this piece for the New York Times, I write about how religious groups are mobilizing to help fight the coronavirus.
THE PANIC EPIDEMIC
In this piece for the NYT's Sunday Review, I try to explain (with a bit of humor) why the government has implemented a sometimes absurd series of restrictions.
ROBERT B. SILVERS PRIZE
A huge thank-you to the jury of the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, for making me one of their inaugural class of grantees for work in progress.
CHINA’S NEW CIVIL RELIGION
In this piece for the NYT Sunday Review, I look at how the Chinese government, for the first time since the fall of the imperial system over 100 years ago, is constructing a new civil religion based on traditional faiths--and by explicitly rejecting Christianity and Islam.