Viral Alarm   The following excerpt is taken from Professor Xu Zhangrun’s analysis of China’s coronavirus predicament titled: ‘China, a Lone Ship of State on the Vast Ocean of Global Civilisation —
the coronavirus pandemic and the political and civilisational prospects for the world system’ 世界文明大洋上的中國孤舟——
全球體系背景下新冠疫情的政治觀與文明論 The full version of Xu Zhangrun’s essay appeared on Mainland China, in Hong Kong and here, in China Heritage, on the morning of Thursday 21 May 2020, the day before the long-delayed third session of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress (NPC) and the third session of the Thirteenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) were to be convened in Beijing.… Read

Viral Alarm   The two poems published here were translated from Russian by Roger Pulvers. I first encountered Roger when I attended an introductory talk he gave on Japan in March 1972.… Read

Viral Alarm The 4th of May 2020 marked the one-hundred and first anniversary of the May Fourth demonstrations in Beijing 1919. Commemorations of that event, and the era to which it has given a name, at a time when the world is stricken by Covid-19 pandemic has given ideologues of various persuasions, and different climes, a particular opportunity.… Read

Viral Alarm The 4th of May 2020 marked the one-hundred and first anniversary of the May Fourth demonstrations in Beijing 1919. Commemorations of that event, and the era to which it has given a name, at a time when the world is stricken by Covid-19 pandemic has given ideologues of various persuasions, and different climes, a particular opportunity.… Read

Viral Alarm This chapter in our series ‘Viral Alarm’, which takes as its focus the 2019-2020 coronavirus epi- / pandemic originating in Wuhan the provincial capital of Hubei province in China’s People’s Republic, was first published by China Digital Times on 29 April 2020.… Read

The Best China   Margaret Ng (吳靄儀, Ng Ngoi-yee) is a noted politician, barrister, writer and columnist. She was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1995-2012. She has previously featured in two essays by Lee Yee published in our virtual pages:

 ‘The End of Hong Kong’s Third Way’, China Heritage, 22 April 2020; and,

‘The Road Not Taken by Margaret Ng 吳靄儀’, China Heritage, 24 April 2020

And, Ng was also one of the fifteen prominent democracy activists arrested on 18 April 2020 by the Hong Kong authorities for alleged illegal participation in the Anti-Extradition Bill protests of 2019.… Read