Chan Hiu explores Hong Kong’s playful past
With "Made in Hong Kong," artist Chan Hiu writes the history of the city’s “knock-off” toys and pays homage to a significant piece of culture that’s gradually disappearing from sight.
Editors’ picks — new and from the archives
- A weekend of summits: G7 ramps up pressure on China while Xi unveils big plans for Central Asia
- Embrace the pain? Epidural use in China remains low.
- After decades of bans, China is beginning to plant gene-edited crops
- ‘Punishing the innocent and the guilty in the same way’ — Phrase of the Week
- This week on TikTok: Capvision raids, musical theater, and LGBTQ organizations in China
Business and technology
China bans Micron — which Chinese companies stand to benefit?
As China bans the products of a major U.S. memory chipmaker, Chinese competitors are slowly stepping forward.
China’s top 15 electric vehicle companies
The future of road transport is being forged in China. These are its leading electric vehicle companies that are ready to take on the world.
China’s trade with Central Asia — mostly via Xinjiang — topped $50 billion in April
The backdrop of China’s Central Asia Summit today is rapidly expanding trade relations, driven by fossil fuel imports, that are now almost as large as China’s trade with the U.S.
Xinjiang and the global rise of mass surveillance
Many aspects of mass surveillance technology may have been perfected in Xinjiang, but its use is hardly exclusive to China. For companies, the security industry presents a “market opportunity.”
Featured articles
Review: ‘Born to Fly,’ China’s heavy-handed ‘Top Gun’ knockoff
Caught between a bare-bones script, bland visuals, and bellicose nationalism, the story of China’s elite test pilots is destined to crash and burn.
Rereading Eileen Chang’s spy thriller ‘Lust, Caution’
"Lust, Caution" is a masterclass in the short story/novella genre, a tale of high-stakes manipulation against the backdrop of “glossily rouged lips,” “sleeveless cheongsams of electric blue,” and “diamond studded sapphire button earrings."
What atrocity looks like: John Magee’s Rape of Nanking footage
A Life magazine cover in 1938 sought to rally American public support for the war in the Pacific. The images inside that front cover were much more horrifying, revealing war atrocities committed in Nanjing.
The rise and fall of an unconventional internet celebrity loved by queer Chinese
Guo Beibei, an internet celebrity beloved by China’s gay community for expressions of unadulterated weirdness as someone living on the fringes of society, was banned by Chinese internet censors for “performative ugliness.”
The China Project 2023 Red Paper
2022 was an annus horribilis for China, its people, and its reputation abroad: We look back on a year of lockdowns and slowdowns and make predictions for 2023, Year of the Water Rabbit.
Video from The China Project
‘Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests’ | The Signal with Lizzi Lee
In this week's episode of The Signal, Lizzi Lee speaks with Agathe Demarais, author of the book "Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests." She shares her thoughts on U.S. sanctions and how they fuel diplomatic disputes between the U.S. and its allies.
Society and culture
The battle against amnesia
For most of her life, Wang Youqin has strived to document victims of the Cultural Revolution, telling their stories without sentimentality or — in many cases, when the victims were also perpetrators of violence — remorse. For the first time, her work is now available in English.
How George Soros became China’s perfect nemesis
George Soros saw potential for political transformation in China's expanding economy in the 1980s. Under Xi Jinping, the PRC has become anathema to everything he stands for.
From the psyche to the canvas: Chinese art brut
“Art brut” is an artistic concept birthed in France in the mid-20th century, inspired by the art of outsiders, often those with mental health conditions. In China, one person has made it his life’s work to highlight the dignity and artistry of its practitioners.
Queer China deserves better journalism
Australian news outlet Crikey recently retracted a three-part series they called "China’s queer purge" after receiving backlash from the Chinese LGBTQ community. We asked two journalists passionate about reporting on LGBTQ issues to share their reactions.
Featured Categories
Business & Technology
- With mines, ports, and factories, China is set to dominate Latin America’s electric vehicle industry
- China-owned companies reckon with U.S. state, national land purchase bans
- The Party takes firm control of China’s financial sector
Society & Culture
- Taipei Pride celebrates queer diversity despite its challenges
- American innkeeper in rural China keeps a light on for guests
- Lao She’s greatest work, ‘Rickshaw Boy’
Editors' Picks
The United States’ China-centered existential crisis
This week on Sinica Jude Blanchette joins to talk about the House Select Committee on United States Competition with the Chinese Communist Party, and how its focus on the CCP as an “existential threat” adds up to an embarrassing moral panic that distracts from the serious issues the U.S. confronts when it comes to China.
Why do China books all look the same?
The color red, dragons, cropped Asian faces…when it comes to presenting China, book publishers often rely on a set of familiar tropes — to the detriment of the authors and the genre.
In search of spirit in China’s wild west
Through history, culture, and contemporary China: A motorbike trip from Xi'an to Dunhuang.
China looks to the Western classics
As American universities reevaluate the role of Western classical education, Latin and Greek courses are proliferating in China, where students see the Classics as a wellspring of wisdom that remains relevant regardless of hemisphere.