The Other China   Yao Bo (姚博, 1972-) is a former Beijing-based journalist and influential blogger who offers a running commentary on contemporary Chinese affairs from his base in Kyoto, Japan.… Read

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

A Lesson in New Sinology 顛倒：羅剎海市   Within days of its release on 19 July 2023, the song ‘Land of the Rakshasas & the Sea Market’ 羅剎海市, featured in There Are Few Folk Songs 山歌寥哉, a new album by the popular singer Dao Lang 刀郎 (羅林, 1971-), had become the equivalent of a Chinese summer hit.… Read

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium Appendix XLV & Xu Zhangrun Archive   今夜越獄，詩詞為羽   ‘Tonight, Taking Flight on Wings of Poetry I Soar Out of My Confinement’ 今夜越獄，詩詞為羽 is the title of a poem composed by Xu Zhangrun on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the fateful day on which he released his jeremiad ‘Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes’ — a Beijing Jeremiad 我們當下的恐懼與期待.… Read

The Other China 活到老學到老   The study of the languages of China — be it Standard Chinese, Literary Chinese, Classical Chinese, various topolects (such as Cantonese, Hokkien or Wu-Shanghainese), or the non-Han languages of the People’s Republic — presents the student with numerous challenges.… Read

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium Chapter II
Part I ∓ 加減   The Sixth of July in the Year of the Dog —
I was reborn, from a sacrificial offering on an exquisite altar
Detention set me on a course to join a broader humanity
After my lustration, I share the embrace of a different fellowship 七月六日，歲在庚子
我重生於一場優美的獻祭
因為囚禁，從此奔向了全人類
人類用泯於眾人將我緬懷 This is the first stanza in a pair of poems composed by Xu Zhangrun, formerly a professor of jurisprudence, on the eve of 6 July 2023.… Read