China

In 2014, Leta Hong Fincher published her first book, Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China, which used the lens of home ownership and marital property rights to examine women’s rights in China and the broader social, political, and economic factors that have prevented Chinese women from achieving full equality. Hong Fincher interviewed

Crater Lake of Changbai Mountain, by Joe Jiang (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Current affairs blogger Xiang Dongliang has had his Weibo account banned for reporting Hu Xijin, a nationalist blogger and retired editor-in-chief of the Global Times, for using a VPN to circumvent the Great Firewall of China (GFW). Hu Xijin has long been known for his “wolf-warrior-style” rhetoric on social media, including on overseas platforms such

In a recent essay, Lu Dewen (吕德文, Lǚ Déwén)—a sometimes controversial Wuhan University sociologist whose research focuses on rural governance—argues that bureaucratic formalism, meaningless busywork, and technological hegemony have made it virtually impossible for grassroots cadres to perform any meaningful work. Despite Chinese Communist Party pronouncements over the years about keeping bureaucracy in check and

扬州 东关街, by song zhen (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Mao Anying, Mao Zedong’s son, was killed by American bombers on November 25, 1950 while fighting in the Korean War. A persistent, unfounded, rumor (officially tagged as “historically nihilist”) holds that the younger Mao gave away his position by making egg fried rice on the battlefield. In some corners of the Chinese internet, November 25

Le bouilleur d’eau, by Gongashan (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

In the latest installment in our interview series focusing on Tibet, we talk to Tenzin Norgay, a Research Analyst at the International Campaign for Tibet, where he has written reports on surveillance, propaganda, and the political leadership of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. He previously worked at the Tibet Policy Institute and the Tibetan Centre for

Great Wall, by cotaro70s (CC BY-ND 2.0)

In this poetic essay, first published in Matters, author Lola muses on the various types of walls that restrict our freedom of speech, thought, movement, and association:  Article translated by Little Bluegill. Poem translated by Cindy Carter.