Editor’s note for Wednesday, December 2, 2020
A note from the editor of today's The China Project Access newsletter.
My thoughts today:
With fraying political, business, and cultural ties between China and the West, it is all too easy for people outside the Peopleโs Republic to start seeing the country as a monolith, where a dictatorial Xรญ Jรฌnpรญng ไน ่ฟๅนณ has crushed all independent thought.
Itโs not for lack of trying on Xiโs part, but amazingly, alternative voices persist that consider and critique the country in ways that the Party does not necessarily approve of. Naturally, to understand what is happening in China and how its leaders think, you also have to understand how pro-establishment intellectuals in China see the world.
So I thoroughly recommendย something we published today by Ian Johnson which we titled, โWhat is China thinking?โย Itโs a review of an online translation project by scholar David Ownby that aims to make up for the absence of Chinese voices in Western discussions. Ianโs article also provides a whirlwind tour of Chinaโs contemporary intellectual landscape.
Upcoming event: Tomorrow, December 3: Learn how to make spicy, tingling Chongqing noodles.
Our word of the dayย is the crime of inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assemblyย (็ ฝๆไปไบบๅ่ๆช็ถๆนๅ้็ต shฤnhuรฒ tฤrรฉn cฤnyรน wรจijฤซng pฤซzhวn jรญjiรฉ).
โJeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief
