Walking the Pearl River Delta

Walking the Pearl River Delta

In 2015, The Guardian reported the Pearl River Delta region had overtaken Tokyo to become the world’s largest urban area in both geographic size and population. To find out what that looks like at ground level, I would walk 100 km from Guangzhou East Train Station to Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport. 

The Secret Sexual Life of Zhou Enlai and the Limits of Historical Knowledge

The Secret Sexual Life of Zhou Enlai and the Limits of Historical Knowledge

Retroactively outing a historical figure remains problematic, not because of the sex — Zhou Enlai may well have had erotic relations with other men — but because such studies are often methodologically flawed.

Out of Autocracy, Off the Shelves

Out of Autocracy, Off the Shelves

It is an unfortunate axiom of publishing in China that the best way for your book to gain international attention is to have the Chinese government make it unavailable to domestic readers. 

The Perils of Advising the Empire: Yuan Shikai and Frank Goodnow

The Perils of Advising the Empire: Yuan Shikai and Frank Goodnow

A century ago this month, Yuan Shikai, President of the Republic of China, ended a three-year-old experiment in republican government by announcing his decision to take the throne and rule as emperor.

Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: A Short History of the Opium War

Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: A Short History of the Opium War

A four-part history of the Opium War (1840-1842) for The World of Chinese Magazine.