Editor’s note for Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Dear Access member,

The national security law that Beijing has decided to impose on Hong Kong formally passed last night, without anyone in Hong Kong knowing what was in it. We declared the death of “one country, two systems” in May, but now it’s really bye bye to Hong Kong’s autonomy — see our top story below for details.

If you were not already depressed, here’s something to help: A swine flu strain with human pandemic potential has been increasingly found in pigs in China, according to Science Magazine (or see Reuters).

But maybe you should stop doom scrolling, and read some summaries of Chinese academic journals by Walter Kerr. The latest epistle is themed: A new Cold War in U.S.-China relations or something else?

Our word of the day is a poetic term for midnight: 子夜 zǐ yè. It’s also the title of a novel by Máo Dùn 茅盾 rendered in English as Midnight: A Romance of China, 1930 which depicts life in Shanghai as China lurched toward civil war and revolution.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief