In Denver? Suisheng Zhao will host me for a book talk on The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, on February 11 crimsonconnect.du.edu/KOR/rsvp_boo...

I'm happy to be quoted in this long read from the @financialtimes.com but in general it's a great overview of the tension between Takaichi's popularity and what's waiting when the campaign is over. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Big thanks to @usni.org magazine Proceedings for publishing this very generous review of The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping www.usni.org/magazines/pr...

New podcast I did about Xi Jinping. The chat happened before the Zhang Youxia Incident, but it’s a rare China podcast in which Pontiac Vibes and Stroh’s come up. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

Xi stürzt seinen mächtigsten Soldaten. Vielleicht der Letzte, der sich traute, ihm zu widersprechen. Unser @spiegel.de Report über Chinas größte Führungskrise seit Jahren. Thanks to Dennis Wilder, @josephtorigian.bsky.social, @ktristantang.bsky.social for weighing in www.spiegel.de/ausland/chin...

If you're near Princeton, I'm giving a book talk on Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, on February 2 politics.princeton.edu/events/josep...

Thanks Simon Miles for hosting me for a book talk on the Party’s Interests Come First at Duke and all the students for coming out despite the cold and snow

Thanks Simon Miles for hosting me for a book talk on the Party’s Interests Come First at Duke and all the students for coming out despite the cold and snow

Spoke to @nytimes.com about the Xi-Zhang family connections, but I had to be frank that we actually know little about the Xi Jinping/Zhang Youxia relationship. (brief thread) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/w...

My initial reaction:

Until I'm able to write about the latest PLA purges, I've updated this chart showing the CMC's span of control during Xi's tenure. His reorganizations stretched the CMC and then his purges broke it. It was a fundamentally different organization even before the latest purge, and now the future

@josephtorigian.bsky.social asks a key question. We know Xi thinks in terms of hardening systems against risk, but is also a student of Maoist politics. Putting the fear of God into the PLA could be both. In a world where 2027 is a key year, Xi may see it as a final forging of the sword.

A big thanks to Chris Mittelstaedt for writing this very thoughtful review of Party's Interests for @chinaquarterly.bsky.social. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

It was great to have a full house for yesterday's event with @jkynge.bsky.social, @josephtorigian.bsky.social and Yu Jie, chaired by Ben Bland, to discuss China's vision for a new world order. You can watch the recording here ⤵️ www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/s...

Delighted to see my chapter on Historical Memory in Hong Kong in The Sage Handbook of Interpreting Chinese History in print! Truly honored to have my essay published alongside such fantastic authors, and extremely grateful to the brilliant editors for their hard work uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/th...

Thank you so much to La Repubblica's Filippo Santelli for interviewing me about "The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping" (in Itailan) www.repubblica.it/venerdi/2026...

In light of recently released video of the trial of Chinese general Xu Qinxian, Prof. @josephtorigian.bsky.social revisits the events of Tiananmen Square for @warontherocks.bsky.social https://warontherocks.com/2026/01/obedience-ambiguity-and-punishment-the-chinese-military-at-tiananmen-revisited/

For War on the Rocks, @josephtorigian.bsky.social writes about the recently leaked video of Xu Qinxian's post-Tiananmen trial and what we can learn—about the Party-state in both 1989 and today—from watching it.

New from me: I write about what we can learn from the remarkable leaked trial video of a Chinese general punished for his behavior before the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown @warontherocks.bsky.social warontherocks.com/2026/01/obed...

Nie Weiping has died. A famous Go player, he was a close friend of Xi Jinping when they were teenagers. Nie was one of the three young boys I wrote about in "Party's Interests Come First" in this paragraph, which is based on Nie's memoirs (it was a third boy that was beaten)

Great book. "Its pages are suffused with love for her mother and for the myriad anonymous Chinese sources and academics who help Chang in researching her historical projects — and suffered blowback as a result." www.npr.org/2026/01/13/g...

I spoke to @reuters.com about Chinese foreign policy and the Mark Carney trip to Beijing www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Thanks so much to @tomstevenson.bsky.social for writing this thoughtful review of The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping for London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk

"China’s Church Divided: Bishop Louis Jin and the Post-Mao Catholic Revival"⁠ by Paul Mariani is one of my favorite recent books on China. Very much looking forward to listening to this Pekingology @csis.org podcast with Henrietta Levin www.csis.org/podcasts/pek...

In DC? Come to a discussion of The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun @AU_SIS. Panelists include Patrick Jackson, Evan Medeiros, and @katiestallard.bsky.social. Thrilled Mike Froman of @cfr.org, where I just became a senior fellow, will moderate. www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launc...

Thanks so much to @josephtorigian.bsky.social for inviting me to moderate his book talk at Three Cats in Clawson, MI last weekend—as I told the audience, I was excited to see THE PARTY'S INTERESTS COME FIRST enter the world and am glad that others have appreciated the book as much as I did!

Article with @jimgoldgeier.bsky.social "NATO Did Not Cause Putin’s Imperial War” is now available for free @twqgw.bsky.social website: twq.elliott.gwu.edu See 🧵below for preview.

Great crowd yesterday for my hometown book talk in Clawson, Michigan. Thanks so much to @mauracunningham.bsky.social for doing such a terrific job moderating!

Thanks so much to DC's Jifeng Books for naming The Party's Interests Come First a top book of 2025. On January 31, I'll be moderating a book talk there with Benjamin Nathans on his wonderful To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement

Really excited about this one: a special hometown discussion, with the terrific @mauracunningham.bsky.social, of "The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping," in Clawson, Michigan on January 4 www.eventbrite.com/e/book-event...

The Party's Interests Come First by Joseph Torigian @josephtorigian.bsky.social (2024) - this biography of Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhongxun, has justifiably won lots of plaudits. Not only a great insight to the man, but lots of Party history here also!! 3/6

Big thank you to @emilymatson.bsky.social for this very thoughtful review of "The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping" in Studies in Intelligence www.cia.gov/resources/cs...

A huge thank you to @admiralstav.bsky.social for naming "The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping" one of his three favorite books of 2025 @opinion.bloomberg.com

Thanks to Giorgio Cuscito of the Italian magazine Limes for speaking to me about The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (in italiano) www.limesonline.com/rivista/ered...

I went on @liyuan6.bsky.social @bumingbaipod.bsky.social to talk about Xu Qinxian, the commander of the 38th Group Army who was removed during the Tiananmen Square protests. A video of his trial was recently leaked online (in Chinese) (中文） youtu.be/Y9yaQuV1rUc?...

One week from (checks calendar) *right now*, @josephtorigian.bsky.social and I will be at Three Cats Restaurant in Clawson, MI talking about THE PARTY'S INTERESTS COME FIRST. You, too, could be eating brunch (cornflake French toast!!) and learning about the life of Xi Zhongxun. Join us.

On my Substack, I wrote up a summary of the last year, whereby I assess the proverbial international climate, look back on various accomplishments, and reflect on the predictions I had made for 2025. open.substack.com/pub/alanoszk...

Big thanks to Lucas de la Cal for reviewing "The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping" in @elmundotoday.com (en español) www.elmundo.es/internaciona...

Chongqing, laboratoire de la puissance chinoise @lepoint.fr www.lepoint.fr/monde/la-met...

Very much enjoyed this @merics.bsky.social podcast with Alex Davey on Chinese Communist Party history merics.org/en/podcast/x...

Thanks Amy Hawkins @theguardian.com for writing about the Xu Qinxian trial video. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Amy Hawkins in @theguardian.com on leaked video of secret trial of general who refused to follow orders regarding sending troops into Beijing in 1989 (with comments by @josephtorigian.bsky.social among others) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

. @susanbk.bsky.social on @josephtorigian.bsky.social's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦’𝑠 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡: "Torigian reflects on Xi Zhongxun’s post–Cultural Revolution years—a single paragraph that encapsulates his decades-long career in the CCP..." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: chajournal.com/2025/07/16/x...

The Essential China Reading List of 2025 by @semafor.com. With books by Patrick McGee, Dan Wang, Eva Dou, Emily Feng, me, and others www.semafor.com/article/12/1...

An administration lawyer argued on Monday Guan should be deported to Uganda, a country he has absolutely no ties to. www.npr.org/2025/12/17/g...

The fiction list is (also) really excellent; my reading list is set for the next few months

Best China Books of 2025 @chinabooksreview.com: great list with @emilyzfeng.bsky.social Dan Wang @evadou.bsky.social @patrickmcgee.bsky.social Barbara Demick and others. I just ordered the book by Minxin Pei. Huge thanks to @vicshih.bsky.social for including me chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/18/b...

I spoke to the BBC World Service Newshour about the Xu Qinxian video (around 34:50) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

So much fresh information, and yet so many new questions, emerge from the recently leaked trial video of General Xu Qinxian, who was removed during the Tiananmen protests. Chris Buckley with thoughts from Jeremy Brown, Wu Renhua, and me: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/w...

Tony Saich @harvardash.bsky.social reviews The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping muse.jhu.edu/article/975956