ARTICLES
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.
HOW CHINA IS COOPTING RELIGION
A few weeks ago, Foreign Affairs asked me to revisit a piece I did for them in 2017 on China's amazing religious revival.
MUZZLING CHINA’S HOUSE CHURCHES
One of the main characters in The Souls of China is Wang Yi, a dynamic pastor in the southwestern city of Chengdu. In the book, I followed him and his congregation, Early Rain Covenant Church, for more than a year in 2012 to 2013, and was amazed at how he managed to walk a fine line, almost [&he
LESS THAN MEETS THE EYE
In this piece for The New York Times I investigate Beijing’s new airport in the suburb of Daxing.
FRENCH EXCERPT OF SOULS OF CHINA
Many thanks to the Catholic magazine Spiritus, which has excerpted part of The Souls and translated it into French.
PROPHET AND THE PARTY
Why has China had such a hard time accommodating Islam? In this piece for The New York Review of Books NYR Daily I look at this question.