‘The authorities will step up control’: where next for China after protests? After mass demonstrations against Covid lockdowns, experts say Xi Jinping’s response will be a further gradual crackdown The Guardian - UK · Dec 10, 2022
Cocoon by Zhang Yueran review – families warped by the state China’s generational trauma and the long shadow of the Cultural Revolution are brought into the light in this precise and gripping novel The Guardian - UK · Nov 17, 2022
Fracking: banned | Braverman: back | Fiscal black hole: shrinking but still massive Have you noticed that virtually all male leaders – from elected prime ministers to murderous tyrants – wear a suit and tie these days? Whatever happened to juntas in military attire adorned with made-up medals or the classic Mao jacket? Evening Standard · Oct 26, 2022
The increasingly Leninist Xi Jinping must be talked down from confrontation The coronation of Xi Jinping at the 20th Party Congress was both expected and dramatic. It makes him the most powerful leader of Communist China since Mao. He could be there for another 10 years at least. Evening Standard · Oct 26, 2022
No women named to China's powerful Politburo for first time in 25 years The new leadership is also packed with Xi loyalists. Axios · Oct 24, 2022
China: echoes of authoritarian past as Xi Jinping cements his place at the heart of a Communist Party now entirely built around him It has been suggested that the removal of Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping’s predecessor, from the closing ceremony of the 20th Communist Party congress could overshadow all other news from Beijing during the past week. Was there a health reason for this dramatic development – or was it a live purge,… The Conversation · Oct 24, 2022
As Xi Jinping made a bid for power, his charismatic rival Bo Xilai loomed. Then came a murder in a hotel room As Neil Heywood lay dying from cyanide poisoning, he could not have known the plot to kill him would shake the Chinese Communist Party to its core and dramatically alter the rule of Xi Jinping. ABC News · Oct 17, 2022
What’s on the agenda for China’s 20th Communist Party Congress? China’s economic woes and a historic third term for Xi Jinping will dominate Communist Party’s Congress agenda. Al Jazeera · Oct 16, 2022
I found the best Chinese in Greater Manchester and it ruined crispy duck for me This bronzed, shining beast arrives on a trolley in proud ceremony Manchester Evening News · Oct 8, 2022
William Kentridge at Royal Academy review: Overstretched show doesn’t play to the artist’s strengths A solo show in the RA’s Main Galleries is an honour – but one that doesn’t come without a degree of risk The Independent UK · Sep 20, 2022
Retrospective by Juan Gabriel Vásquez review – Mao, movies and me From Red Guard in China to guerrilla fighter in Colombia … the extraordinary life of a film-maker is barely fictionalised The Guardian - UK · Sep 15, 2022
Grant McCracken: The Rise of Artisanal Everything and 'Cruelty-Free Capitalism' In Return of the Artisan, anthropologist Grant McCracken explains how we've shifted from an industrial to a handmade economy. Reason · Aug 31, 2022
The Gate of Heavenly Peace I hoped my aunt had found peace, even if the revolution hadn’t The Walrus · Jul 22, 2022
Brainwashed: A New History of Thought Control by Daniel Pick review This brilliant exploration of psychological manipulation takes in both Mao’s China and the American dream The Guardian - UK · Jun 29, 2022
The Guardian - UK · Apr 13, 2022 Where tourists seldom tread, part 2: five great UK towns left out of the guidebooks From Cumbernauld to Guildford, we celebrate more unheralded but revelatory areas
Reason · Mar 15, 2022 Tibet's armed resistance to Chinese invasion Part 4: 1958—the Chushi Gangdruk unify the uprising
The Hindu · Jan 30, 2022 Amid chill in relations, new PLA history returns spotlight to 1962 war The downturn in ties has coincided with greater interest in China in the 1962 war, which hasn’t been covered as extensively in the media as Korean War or war with Japan