Editor’s note for Thursday, April 8, 2021

My thoughts today:

Good news! Physical bookstores are making a comeback in China: see our story today for details.

The grave of Jiāng Qīng 江青, Cultural Revolution leader and wife of Máo Zédōng 毛泽东, is now open to the public, reports RFA, “in stark contrast to the tight security cordon around the grave of late, liberal premier Zhào Zǐyáng 赵紫阳.” Jiang was convicted of attempts to seize power, counter-revolutionary activity, and treason in 1980. She died by suicide in 1991 after being released from prison on medical grounds.

If true, says Australian scholar Adam Ni, it’s “a big sign that something unusual is afoot.” Historian and The China Project columnist James Carter called it “an alarming signal…Especially alarming given I was just writing this week” about some of the violence she was responsible for in the Cultural Revolution.

Our word of the day is strategic ambiguity (战略模糊 zhànlüè móhú).

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief