Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium Chapter XXXII, Part 1 畫地為牢   The gestation of Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium, a series in China Heritage devoted to the dolorous rule of the man whom I dubbed the ‘Chairman of Everything’ in 2013, started with the release in November 2021 of ‘Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century’, the third ‘history resolution’ published by the Chinese Communist Party since it was founded in 1921.… Read

The Tower of Reading 石如飛白木如籀   The 10th of October Festival 雙十節, also known as Double Tenth or Double Ten Day, commemorates the start of the Wuchang Uprising of 10 October 1911 which led to the fall of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China in 1912.… Read

The Other China Liu Chan 劉蟾 is a Beijing-based writer and editor who uses couplets composed on a lapidary style to record the events of the day in a solemn calligraphic hand.… Read

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium Appendix LII 該怎麼辦   Featuring the band Wayina and Ren Suxi (任素汐, 1988-), a well-known actress, ‘Outsize Dreams’ 大夢 was a hit. Although it did not enjoy the eye-watering success of ‘Land of the Rakshasas & the Sea Market’ 羅剎海市, featured in There Are Few Folk Songs 山歌寥哉, an album released by the popular singer Dao Lang 刀郎 (羅林, 1971-) in the summer of 2023 (see The Topsy-turvy Country — China’s Summer Hit, 28 July 2023), it was soon downloaded and shared over 45,000 times.… Read

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium Appendix LI 好話說盡，壞事幹絕   On 1 October 2023 National Day, we return to the well-worn mendacity that underpins the Chinese party-state. We do so by recalling the ‘Golden Millet Dream’ 黃梁夢, an old story about the fleeting nature of success, the whims of autocratic fiat and frustrated aspiration.… Read

New Sinology Jottings The Same Fair Moon 千里共嬋娟   The Fifteenth Day of the Eighth Month of the lunar calendar, which in 2023 falls on 29 September, marks the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節.… Read