ARTICLES
ONE SEED CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Chen Hongguo might be China's most famous ex-professor. In this Q&A for the NYR Daily, I ask him why he left academia to start a lecture space in the western Chinese metropolis of Xi'an.
SHELTER FROM THE STORM
In this essay for The New York Review of Books I look at a arts and culture space in Xi'an that is managing to keep the spirit of debate alive in China.
A SPECTER IS HAUNTING CHINA
Why the case of a Chinese law professor matters: In this piece for the NYR Daily, I tell the story of Xu Zhangrun, a Chinese law professor who has published a series of remarkable essays criticizing the government.
“AN INDISPENSABLE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT”
I'm honored to have written the introduction to Liao Yiwu's new book, which chronicles the "Tiananmen thugs"--the working-class people who tried to stop the tanks from entering the square 30 years ago and died.
TALKING SOULS OF CHINA IN CHINESE
It's one thing to write and talk about Chinese people's spiritual life in English; it's something else to address them directly in their own language.
HE RESEARCHED HISTORY, AND MADE IT TOO
In 2016 I published a long article in The New York Review of Books on a team at Tsinghua University that had made revolutionary discovery about ancient Chinese texts.
“I WANT TO EXPRESS WHAT’S IN MY HEART”
In another in my NYRB “Talking About China” Q&As, I speak with the devout Buddhist journalist Jiang Xue about her persistance in writing about her country’s dark corners. This is part of a larger series I’ve done from Xi’an, the western metropolis with a s
FROM MAO CONFIDANT TO PARTY CRITIC
In this obituary in the NYT, I describe the life of Li Rui, Mao's personal secretary who later became a convinced democrat.
“MY RESPONSIBILITY TO HISTORY”
In my latest installment of the "Talking About China" series in the NYR Daily, I talk to Zhang Shihe, aka Tiger Temple, on his exile back in his hometown, Xi'an.
SOULS IN CHINESE
I'll be traveling to Taiwan this month to help launch the first Chinese-language edition of The Souls of China.
HAS THE EXTREME BEEN REACHED?
On Monday, the Chengdu-based blogger Huang Qi was put on trial for leaking sensitive state documents to the public. In this short piece for the New York Times, I report the news.
SLOVAKS VS OLIGARCHS
How does a society fight the downward spiral into oligarchy and repression? The small European country of Slovakia provides some answers.