‘It’s all ruined by the politics.’

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium Appendix XXXVI 你儂我儂   In early March 2023, the ‘dual congresses’ representing China’s civilian government are convened in Beijing. Known by the shorthand expression the ‘Two Sessions’ 兩會 liǎng huì they are the annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.… Read

High Peaks, Translucent Torrents

The Other China 山川之美   This addition to our series The Other China was inspired by a calligraphic work by Liu Chan 劉蟾, artist, editor and educator, written for a friend by the name of Zhu Maoyuan 朱茂元.… Read

Dizzy with Success — snatching victory from the jaws of Covid defeat

Viral Alarm   The expression 勝利衝昏頭腦 shènglì chōnghūn tóunǎo — ‘dizzy with success’ should be familiar to anyone who knows about the folies de grandeur of the Stalino-Maoist era (c.1927-1977). As part of the First Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union, from the late 1920s, Stalin supported forced collectivisation in the belief that agriculture production would increase dramatically.… Read

Other People’s Thoughts, XXXIII

Other People’s Thoughts is a section in the Journal of the China Heritage site. It is inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during his reading life.… Read

Praise for the Orange Tree, Remembering the Plum

The Other China 詩言志   In early February 2023, the calligrapher and cultural commentator Liu Chan 劉蟾, whose work features in The Other China, republished a handwritten version of ‘The Orange Tree’ 橘頌 jú sòng, one of the Nine Pieces 九章 jiǔ zhāng in Songs of the South 楚辭 Chǔ cí, an ancient collection of poems attributed to Qu Yuan 屈原.… Read