Proof of Life — Xu Zhangrun in Barbed Wire

Xu Zhangrun Archive 千里冰封,萬里雪飄   On 4 November 2025, Jingzhou Tao 陶景洲 told his online followers that he had met up with his old friend, Xu Zhangrun, one of China’s most famous ‘internal exiles’, a man sequestered both by the state and his former colleagues and friends for having spoken out against Xi Jinping’s autocracy.… Read

The Ji Clan at Mar-a-Lago

Celebrating New Sinology & Contra Trump 碩鼠 In The Shame of Mar-a-Lago, reproduced here with the permission of China Thought Express, the cultural critic Ren Jingjing 任晶晶 offers a commentary on Mar-a-Lago《海湖》a poem by Jianli 漸離 (Chen Li 陳力, aka 陳漸離) that was composed in the wake of the Gatsby-like party held by US President Donald J.… Read

Going off the Rails with Jianying Zha

The Other China 脫軌餘生   Should fish suddenly start to talk, I suppose that ichthyology would also have to undergo a dramatic revision of its basic approach. A certain type of ‘instant sinology’ was indeed based on the assumption that the Chinese people were as different from us in their fundamental aspirations, and as unable to communicate with us, as the inhabitants of the oceanic depths; and when they eventually rose to the surface and began to cry out sufficiently loudly and clearly for their message to get through to the general pubic, there was much consternation among the China pundits.… Read

When Cats Sleep, Perchance to Dream

The Other China 吾貓臥遊 Eaten my fill, drank to the lees,
now nothing for it but sleep.
Why bother with all the rest
when things are this ridiculous? 吃飽喝足之後,
主要就是睡覺。
還能做點什麼?
現實這般可笑。 — Lao Shu 老樹 *** The cat is a recurring presence in the work of Lao Shu 老樹 (aka Liu Shuyong, 劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications.… Read