When to Cherish Virtue is an Indictment — the poet Jianli on Donald Trump’s America

Celebrating New Sinology 眾女嫉余之蛾眉兮
謠諑謂余以善淫 The Ji Clan at Mar-a-Lago, a chapter in our Contra Trump series, featured a poem by Jianli. Drawing on classical literary forms and allusions found in China’s hallowed language of moral approbation, the poet expressed his disdain for the burlesque by America’s late-imperial political class — in this particular instance, the Gatsby-like revelries organised by US President Donald J.… Read

On the ‘Epstein Class’

Contra Trump 獨夫無厭
殷鑒不遠   In Hemail Peril, a chapter in Contra Trump devoted to the ‘Epstein Files’ and the putrid core of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, we quoted Tina Brown: Jeffrey Epstein is the slug who will not die.… Read

My Father Bao Tong — Part II

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium 坦蕩怡天壽 ・ 其貳 This is Part II of My Father Bao Tong, a biographical essay by Bao Pu written to commemorate the life of Bao Tong.… Read

Hemail Peril

Contra Trump 君子豹變,小人革面 Jeffrey Epstein is the slug who will not die. His trail of slime sticks to everyone who ever crossed his path. — Tina Brown, Fresh Hell, 18 November 2025 In this chapter of Contra Trump, we offer a comment on the ‘Epstein Files’, the putrid core of Donald J.… Read

My Father Bao Tong

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium 坦蕩怡天壽 Bao Tong (鮑彤, 1932-2022), former Director of the Office of Political Reform of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (hereafter, CCP) and the highest-ranked party member of the CCP to be imprisoned after the June Fourth Massacre of 1989, died on 9 November 2022, at the age of ninety.… Read