To all of the students who took my Search for Modern China class this last spring: THANK YOU~ 非常感谢O~ Reading the course feedback reminds me of why I spent decades of my life on the path to becoming a professor. Stay curious!! 「 致知在格物。物格而後知至，知至而後意誠，意誠而後心正，心正而後身修，身修而後家齊，家齊而後國治，國治而後天下平。」《大學》

Voters around the world are losing faith in democracy’s ability to deliver and increasingly turning toward more authoritarian alternatives. To restore citizens’ confidence, democracies must show they can make progress without sacrificing accountability.

It is articles like this that immediately get tagged for my dissertation research. If anyone was wondering.

I love this. I wish more and more people saw that democracy can be better. And that fixing democracy can provide solutions for other problems too.

Truly the best commencement address ever. Dr. Nathan Thadeo Yoashi, upon receiving his doctorate in environmental engineering from Natl Taiwan U, on growing up impoverished in Tanzania, how meeting Dr. Jane Goodall led him to Taiwan, and how he intends to pay it forward. tinyurl.com/mr33decw

Are democracies failing to deliver for their citizens, or is there another, broader reason for democratic backsliding? muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Why do elected leaders sometimes subvert democracy? muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

A revolution in political participation is underway: Political players and advocacy groups are using AI to draft ballot initiatives, gather signatures, and persuade voters—undermining democratic legitimacy in the process.

Screenshot says it all...

Today, the principal challenge to democracy is coming not from coups but from democratic erosion driven by elected leaders. What is behind this shift, and how can prodemocracy forces push back? muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Hands up 🙋‍♂️/💓 if you'd like us to publish a full book-scan /Pdf of our Wang Xizhi from 'Calligraphy of Ancient Masters of Various Periods', Section V of the 'Calligraphy Compendium of the Chunhua Era', 1616 (ink rubbing on paper) c. early/mid Qing with annotations in yellow & white ink c. $ 9.99usd

Yes! Class should be fun. No AI in school~ www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

MORE OF THIS PLEASE www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWN4...

There are over 120 issues of 觀察, 1946-1950 on Internet Archive for reading and download. archive.org/search?query...

It's here! _Orphans of the Times_, translations from the pathbreaking Bei Dao and Li Tuo-edited book 《七十年代》. Fiction writers (Han Shaogong! Ah Cheng), poets (Zhai Yongming!), and artists (Xu Bing!) reflecting on their lives in memoirs of the PRC's turbulent 1970s. cup.cuhk.edu.hk/CUHKP/Orphan...

If democracy’s defenders want to push back against authoritarianism, they must learn to tap into patriotic language and a sense of national identity. Such emotional appeals shouldn’t be left to autocrats and demagogues.

The world’s “middle powers” were once bastions of defense for a liberal rules-based international order. But no more. A new kind of authoritarian middle power has emerged, undermining democratic norms and safeguards.

What Is Competitive Authoritarianism?

Ancient Chinese Politics with Daniel Bell The Legalists and Confucians still run the show in today’s China, argues a scholar of classical Chinese thought — but the Mohists and Daoists still have a voice in the debate. Listen to the podcast: chinabooksreview.com/2026/05/05/d...

Today, the principal challenge to democracy is coming not from coups but from democratic erosion driven by elected leaders. What is behind this shift, and how can prodemocracy forces push back? muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

This is awesome!!!

爱国有罪，你卖国有理吗？ youtube.com/clip/UgkxyjU...

Now out in OA: "Can Democracy be Rehabilitated?" by John Dunn (@thecambridgeschool.bsky.social): "[It] will be a heroic challenge... The stakes in meeting it are the possibility of democracy itself, a citizenry that has recovered the capacity to keep itself free" www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

I have added at least one lecture on the history of education to nearly all courses I teach now. Most of my students really don't know what college is for. Teachers became teachers to make better citizens. Not to make workers. And now, to see them outsourcing thinking to AI -- it is a crisis.

Live video from the CPPCC www.youtube.com/live/t7Wg2-u...

When there is a new book by a famous historian of modern China with many words about primary sources... but then the whole book is only 180 pages, and barely even mentions the Third Force... Well I still get to write my dissertation. Now, if only I could access those archives... Something NEW!

"Our movement expresses the spirit of social justice. In this dark China, there is no effective law, and politics are so reactionary that a group of traitors can feel safe having numerous guards to protect them. People feel outraged but do not dare say anything." -- Luo Jialun, 1919

Lu Xun, "More Roses without Blooms" after the massacre of students in Beijing in March of 1926. Resonating with anyone else out there????

"Twentieth-Century Chinese Historiography: One Hundred Years of Changes and Return of New Historiography and New Sinology" by Xuedian Wang and Feng Chen and translated by Liwen Li and Yunwei Wang has just been published! Check it out here: brill.com/display/titl... @degruyterbrill.bsky.social

Great collection of quotes to stay up to date with the latest thinking "Rethinking China’s Diplomatic and Economic Strategy | Digest: January 2026" www.sinification.org/p/rethinking...

Coming from an IR background and now working on domestic Chinese constitutions and congresses, this is still relevant reading. "Historical Institutionalism and International Relations" www.e-ir.info/2012/04/16/h...

Why did the evolutionary socialist and liberal democratic ideas of the "Third Force" actually fail? Or was it that the institutions failed them? "Epistrophy: Chinese Constitutionalism and the 1950s," by Glenn D. Tiffert link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

"Chinamaxxing" has come and gone in the past. Oftentimes the vibe quickly became belligerent, not infatuated. Sound familiar? For many, many years people asked me why I study China. Now it's suddenly a big fad? Somebody tell the hiring managers!!! Economic actors make economic decisions. #Marxism

Resolving to read more in 2026? We have you covered with five recommendations, from an essay collection of Tibet to a colloquial history of China’s hot-button issues. Read editor Alec Ash's latest picks for the New China Books column: chinabooksreview.com/2026/01/13/n...

What's the point?🤔By absorbing Hu into the official canon, Xi reassures #CCP elites while issuing a clear behavioral message: reform is allowed - but only within strict ideological boundaries. 👉 Read the full analysis: chinaobservers.eu/canonizing-h...

We have long assumed democracy and liberalism went hand in hand. But in truth there have always been tensions between them, and the rise of illiberal democracy cannot be ignored.

In the season of grading finals it is easy to lose sight of the fact that everything is progressing towards the ultimate goal. These are the books that live on my desk. I stare at them everyday patiently waiting for the time when I can focus solely on them and nothing else.

I just finished reading a stellar essay by Guantao Jin and Qingfeng Liu, titled: "From 'republicanism 'to 'democracy': China's selective adoption and reconstruction of modern Western political concepts (1840-1924)." Then I found this: www.readingthechinadream.com/jin-guantao-...

Two Thousand Years of Chinese History Were Directed and Starred by Ruffians by Yi Zhongtian (易中天) ctexp.substack.com/p/two-thousa...

This is very similar to my PhD topic and I am super excited to read it. Thanks for your hard work!!!

More from Zhang Binglin (1908): “for the independence of a national group (minzu), an initial study of its national essence (guicui) was essential. In national essence, history was the primary thing. Next to historical research, all the other scholarly disciplines were merely ordinary skills.”

子曰：「鳳鳥不至，河不出圖，吾已矣夫！」 Originally found in the Analects of Confucius. Also found in Zhang Binglin's 1903 Prison Essay, which goes on to say: "Others will follow me to renew the golden flame." (via Shimada Kenji, 1990 and ctext.org)

"This family is doomed! We will see it rot, bit by bit." Ba Jin, Family. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk56...

Now that classes are over for the summer I am greatly looking forward to reading this. 历史的先声 minjian-danganguan.org/s/china-unof...

This is a drama about the life of Zhang Lan 张澜. Called "The Democracy of Lan." Zhang Lan was one of the core leaders of the Chinese Democratic League during the Chinese Civil War, and one of the major characters in my research. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

#茶馆 One of my favorite Chinese films. Based on the play by Lao She. youtu.be/7lEzLUH7_Bw?...

#SummerReading #ChineseHistory #ModernChina #Democracy #GlobalIntellectualHistory Here are some of my favorite books for the summer. 1/x