A national scandal exposes the struggles of impoverished local bureaucrats. Zhao Gongpin used creative fraud to get by. It didn’t work.
China
Death Toll of the Abrupt End of Zero COVID in China: Likely, Two Million
In December 2022, Xi Jinping declared victory over the virus and ended the restrictive policy overnight, fearful of unprecedented protests. It caused a disaster.
How Chinese Propaganda Erased Mongolian Identity—and Much More
Soyonbo Borjgin’s PropagandaScope provides an effective new lens on the CCP’s machinery of erasure.
Plato Goes to Beijing: Why Xi Jinping Wants China to Become a World Leader in Greek and Latin Studies
How the CCP weaponizes classic “non-democratic” Western culture to criticize modern Western ideas of human rights and democracy.
Buy a Chinese Cleaning Robot, Have Your Home Watched by Beijing
An incident shows that robot vacuums made in China might regularly collect and send data back to their country.
When the Esoteric West Sought the Dao—and Discovered Its Own Reflection
A volume edited by Lukas Pokorny and Franz Winter classifies and analyzes references by Western esotericists to China.
A Blueprint for “Harmony”: Reading Between the Lines of Tibet’s New Governance Gospel
The Chinese Communist Party spells out its program of total control: “Sinicize,” manage, guide, and punish.
China’s Battle for the Dead: Guangdong Villagers Oppose Crematorium Project, Clash with Police
Residents of Shuikou Town protest for days as authorities deploy riot police and tighten control. It is another chapter in a “war” about burial practices in rural China.
Women’s History Month Must Not Forget Uyghur Women
Detention in mass camps, forced sterilization, coerced birth control, and sexual abuse are rarely mentioned. Perhaps economic ties with China make criticism inconvenient.
China Hails Japan’s Dissolution of the Unification Church
The Chinese Communist Party celebrates Japan’s court ruling as a welcome boost to its global campaign against an unwelcome church.