Essays

China’s State of Warring Styles

In modern China (as in so many other countries), changing fashions have reflected the shifting political and cultural landscape of the country. The success of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution not only saw the abdication of the last Chinese emperor, it also ushered in the Zhongshan Suit 中山裝 (known in the international media as the Mao Jacket) designed for the revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan), an item of clothing replete with revolutionary symbolism.… Read

China Heritage Annual Launched

China Heritage Annual is a new series produced by China Heritage, the online home of The Wairarapa Academy for New Sinology 白水書院. Along with the China Heritage Journal it is a successor to China Heritage Quarterly, an e-publication produced under the aegis of the China Heritage Project from 2005 to 2012.… Read

The Man With the Key

The Man With the Key Is Not Here 管钥匙的人不在 Karin Malmstrom & Nancy Nash   The Man With the Key is Not Here 管钥匙的人不在 offers ‘Sixteen Chinese Key Words’ (pun intended), or ‘Everyday Mantras’, and their layered meanings, that Chinese watchers of China know to be on the watch out for.… Read

The Teddy Bear Chronicles of Xi Xi

In 1989, the Hong Kong writer Xi Xi 西西 was diagnosed with breast cancer. Post-operative treatment damaged the nerves in her right hand, but she taught herself to write with her left and, in 1992, published Elegy for a Breast 哀悼乳房 (adapted for the screen as 2 Become 1).… Read

The Dragon Raises its Head 龍抬頭

The Second Day of the Second Month 二月初二 in the Lunar Calendar was traditionally celebrated in Northern China as the day when the ‘Dragon Raises its Head’ 龍抬頭. In 2017, this falls on the 27th of February.… Read