CCP History

How the Whampoa Academy Gave Birth to Famous Enemies in Chinese Political History

How the Whampoa Academy Gave Birth to Famous Enemies in Chinese Political History

When classes first convened on June 16, 1924, China’s first modern military academy aimed to reunite a divided nation. It didn’t quite work out that way.

The “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Guide to 40 Years of Reform and Opening

The “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Guide to 40 Years of Reform and Opening

What can the beloved (if warped) Christmas classic “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” teach us about China’s Reform and Opening Era?

The Party Struggles to Keep Control of its Own History

The Party Struggles to Keep Control of its Own History

A series of controversial social media posts claim the Party is censoring the past to preserve its legitimacy in the present. Why is the Cultural Revolution such a sensitive topic these days?

Military Ghosts of Modern China

Military Ghosts of Modern China

The Republic of China Military Academy, better known as the Whampoa Military Academy, only spent six terms on Changzhou Island, but those six terms between 1924 and 1927 were a crucible from which some of China’s most influential 20th-century political and military leaders emerged.

The Secret Sexual Life of Zhou Enlai and the Limits of Historical Knowledge

The Secret Sexual Life of Zhou Enlai and the Limits of Historical Knowledge

Retroactively outing a historical figure remains problematic, not because of the sex — Zhou Enlai may well have had erotic relations with other men — but because such studies are often methodologically flawed.

Historical Responsibility: The Yasukuni Shrine and Mao Zedong

Historical Responsibility: The Yasukuni Shrine and Mao Zedong

The CCP calling somebody out for being unable to accept historical responsibility is like Chris Brown putting his arm around your shoulder in a club and saying, “Dude, you really need to chill around your lady.”