By Austin Dean On the first Saturday of June over nine million Chinese teenagers (and their parents) had something in …
The China Blog
LARB’s China Blog covers the life, culture, politics and literature of China. It is edited by Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Maura Elizabeth Cunningham. If you’re looking for blog posts prior to September 2013, please visit our China Blog tumblr page.
John Brown’s Body Crosses the Pacific
By Jeffrey Wasserstrom On the last two days in April, I got a pair of emails. Each asked me to …
Sexpat Memoirs of China: 5 of the Best
By Paul French Recently “sexpat” made it into the online urban dictionary — Sexpat (noun), a compound of sex and …
Berlin to Beijing and Back Again
By Tong Lam Near the northeastern edge of Berlin, in what was once part of East Germany (aka the German …
The Korea Conundrum and Chinese Soft Power
By Austin Dean Aarif Lee is a movie star. Born to a mother from Hong Kong and a father with …
The Red Guard and the Landlady
By Alec Ash My landlady drops by unannounced at eight in the morning. It’s a bittersweet surprise. I’m familiar with …
Copycat Travels
By Jeffrey Wasserstrom While traveling last summer, I asked for directions to get to the room in which I would …
In The Gulou Days
By Alec Ash Nostalgia is hard to keep up with in China. That old bar, that old neighborhood, that old …
The Man Who Stayed Behind—At Chinese Central Television
By Austin Dean Chinese Central Television (CCTV) likely provides more news to more people than any other media organization on …
Two Views of a Beijing Hutong
By Christina Larson “Two dogs?” A girl came up behind me wearing the bright blue and red track-suit school uniform …