The Other China 向前看 Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, its tenor, whimsy and profundity evoke what for decades we have called The Other China — a cultural noosphere that is as undeniably local as it is universal.… Read

The Other China Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the literary sobriquet Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese Study 中國書房.… Read

Contra Trump 道高一尺，魔高一丈 This chapter in Contra Trump, our series about the second presidency of Donald J Trump and its relationship with Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium, we feature two essays on evil.… Read

聚朋友 The Fifteenth Day of the Eighth Month of the lunar calendar, a day that in 2026 — the Bingwu Year of the Horse 丙午馬年 — falls on the 25th of September, marks the Mid Autumn Festival 中秋節.… Read

秋分到，蛋兒俏 According to the traditional Chinese calendar, the Autumn Equinox 秋分 Qiū fēn of 2026 starts on 23 August 2026. It will end on the 8th of October and be replaced by Cold Dew 寒露 Hán lù.… Read

The Other China 禍起蕭牆   This is the latest in the series ‘Dasheng’s Calligraphic Comments on Current Affairs’. For a full list of these comments, see below. *** Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the literary sobriquet Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher.… Read