The Great Palace of Ch’in — a Rhapsody

Translatio Imperii Sinici Conflagrations light up both ends of China’s imperial history. In 1860, the Garden of Perfect Brightness 圓明園, the de facto seat of the Qing dynastic court, was ransacked and put to the torch.… Read

Outside the Pigsty Looking In, Two Views

In 2019, the Fifteenth Day of the First Month 正月十五 falls on the 19th of February. It marks the first full moon of the Lunar New Year and it is a festive day generally known as Yuanxiao 元宵, literally ‘First Evening’.… Read

Sic transit gloria mundi — Ten Years of A Prosperous Age

Translatio Imperii Sinici It is a decade since the appearance in Chinese of the novel In an Age of Prosperity: China 2013 《盛世：中國、2013年》 (translated into English by Michael S. Duke and published under the title The Fat Years in 2011).… Read

My Puppy’s Death by Liu Xiaobo

Dog Days (X)   We conclude our series of Dog Days, serialised over that past year in China Heritage and featured in New Sinology Jottings, with a poem about a humble animal whose cruel fate contributed to greatness.… Read

Humble Recognition, Boundless Possibility — Part I

After the Future in China
Xu Zhangrun’s Triptych for Today   The Pirouette of Time introduced Xu Zhangrun’s triptych ‘After the Future in China’. As we noted there, these essays are a bold attempt by a courageous and insightful writer to consider ways in which the past holds promise for a future free of Communist Party control.… Read