Book Reviews, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge

A 1930s novel of manners with evocative descriptions of Old Beijing offers surprisingly timeless observations about what it means to be an expat in China.

Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge
Audio, Contemporary China
Jeremiah Jenne
Let Only Red Flowers Bloom, with NPR ...

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we talk with Emily Feng about her new book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China.

Let Only Red Flowers Bloom, with NPR Correspondent Emily Feng
Book Reviews, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Lin Yutang: My Country, My People

In 1935, the Chinese author Lin Yutang offered Westerners an insider’s guide to China's society. It endures today despite his own cultural contradictions.

Lin Yutang: My Country, My People
Audio, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Is this America's Cultural Revolution Moment?

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, Jeremiah and Chris Stewart of The History of China Podcast ask the question, "Is this America's Cultural Revolution moment?"

Is this America's Cultural Revolution Moment?
Contemporary China, Audio
Jeremiah Jenne
Experiencing the World of Jazz in China

Our latest episode explores jazz in China—from its revival in 1980s Beijing to today's talented performers. David Moser discusses how musicians with limited recordings mastered the medium and laid the groundwork for generations of skilled jazz players from China.

Experiencing the World of Jazz in China
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2017 Year in Review: Beijing's Changing Urban Landscape and a Few Predictions for the Coming Year

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2017 Year in Review: Beijing's Changing Urban Landscape and a Few Predictions for the Coming Year

2017 was a year of change for Beijing, but then again what year since 1421 hasn’t been a year of change for the city?

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Dangerous Benevolence

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Dangerous Benevolence

The Beijing municipal government threatening organizations that assist displaced migrants is bad policy, but official ambivalence toward private charity dates back at least to the imperial era

The Woman who Built an Empire

The Woman who Built an Empire

A review of Alice Poon's historical novel The Green Phoenix, a love triangle set during the time of the Ming-Qing transition

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Imperial-Era Tombs Discovered on Site of New Beijing Mega-Airport

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Imperial-Era Tombs Discovered on Site of New Beijing Mega-Airport

Workers building Beijing’s mega-airport of the future have stumbled over a bit of the city’s past.

Massacre and Memory: 80 Years Later, the Battle over Nanjing Rages On

Massacre and Memory: 80 Years Later, the Battle over Nanjing Rages On

The Nanjing Massacre is a poignant example of how history and memory can become contested battlegrounds, even decades later

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Postcards From Dashilan: Retracing the Development of Beijing’s Former Commercial Hub

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Postcards From Dashilan: Retracing the Development of Beijing’s Former Commercial Hub

Beijing has seen a lot of changes this year, but is this something new? Beijing has always been in a state of flux.

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The Beijing Migrants Crackdown: A ChinaFile Conversation

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The Beijing Migrants Crackdown: A ChinaFile Conversation

Since mid-November, police and security officials have evicted tens of thousands of migrants from their apartments, and pictures of the newly homeless from all across China sitting outside in the Beijing winter have spread widely on social media. Why did the city government take this step? And what does this mean for the rights of China’s so-called “low-end population”? 

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Voices from the Past: Child Abuse and Suppressed Rumors, Then and Now

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Voices from the Past: Child Abuse and Suppressed Rumors, Then and Now

The case of the RYB Kindergarten scandal is not the first time rumors have overwhelmed official denials in a case involving child abuse in China

How to Avoid Getting Evicted in the Latest Round of Housing Demolitions

How to Avoid Getting Evicted in the Latest Round of Housing Demolitions

The forced eviction of some of Beijing’s most vulnerable residents has sparked a backlash with even Chinese state media offering (albeit tepid) criticism of the city’s handling of this latest round of “urban renewal.”

But it’s not just Beijing’s poor and migrant communities which are being affected. Many international residents are feeling the pinch as well. 

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A Tale of Two Tragedies

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A Tale of Two Tragedies

A devastating fire which killed 18 migrant workers in Daxing and a child abuse scandal at a kindergarten in an upscale neighborhood expose the fault lines of economic class in China’s capital

Above the Law? Extraterritoriality and the Gucci 3

Above the Law? Extraterritoriality and the Gucci 3

A little stroll down Chinese legal history after the detention of the UCLA “Gucci 3” this past week.

Changing the Guard

Changing the Guard

Coverage of China has always been a reflection of our own expectations and hopes, cast onto the tabula rasa of the high walls which surround the palace.

Will Beijing Enforce the New Restrictions on Traffic and Parking in the Hutongs?

Will Beijing Enforce the New Restrictions on Traffic and Parking in the Hutongs?

After a year of steadily taking away all our nice things, the Municipal government has decided to throw us a bone.

Double Ninth Day: Spend Today in the Mountains or With Your Elders (Or Both)

Double Ninth Day: Spend Today in the Mountains or With Your Elders (Or Both)

In Chinese numerology, the number nine is associated with the principal of Yang, the masculine complement of Yin in the Yin/Yang system. Today is the ninth day of the ninth month in the Lunar-Solar calendar (hence the name “Double Yang/Double Brightness”). While Yang is generally considered a good thing, too much of anything can throw a system out of balance. When systems are out of balance, as the 84-year-old auntie who lives on your hutong will remind you every day this winter, people get sick.

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Xi Writes Himself into the Narrative of China’s Modern Rejuvenation

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Xi Writes Himself into the Narrative of China’s Modern Rejuvenation

The Developed West ignores the message emerging from the 19th Party Congress at its own peril

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