Nan Z. Da, author of "The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear," and Stephen Greenblatt explain what Shakespeare can tell us about tyranny in China, in a China Books Review event at Asia Society. Watch now: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/17/n...

Listen to @xuetingni.bsky.social discuss Chinese horror on that latest episode of the China Books podcast: chinabooksreview.com/2026/01/06/e...

Horror writing has an unsavory reputation in China, but comes with a long history and is full of biting social commentary. The translator of a recent collection explains what lurks beneath. Listen to @xuetingni.bsky.social in conversation with Alec Ash: chinabooksreview.com/2026/01/06/e...

An award-winning novel set in Japanese-ruled Taiwan explores the relationship between colonizer and subaltern, translator and translated — and how some distances can’t be closed. Look back at 2025: chinabooksreview.com/2025/02/13/t...

The Chinese typewriter was thought to be an impossible invention. Then they made one. In the computer age, creating a digital input system for Chinese characters proved even more challenging — and changed the way we use language. Look back at 2025: chinabooksreview.com/2025/04/17/c...

Women in China have suffered abuse, silencing and erasure — despite Communist Party slogans about women's liberation. Two novels by the Chinese writer Fang Fang show how gendered oppression persists throughout political change. Look back at 2025: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/09/f...

China’s official Party press has published a series of oral histories about Xi Jinping’s career, from sent-down youth in Shaanxi to Party Secretary of Shanghai. They read more like hagiography than history. Look back at 2025: chinabooksreview.com/2025/05/29/s...

The best books of 2025, as chosen by experts and the editors. See the full list: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/18/b...

The best China books of 2025, across nonfiction and literature, as selected by experts and the editors. Read the full list: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/18/b...

Identity issues. Migrant stories. Company profiles. Lost daughters. Daddy issues. The 2025 edition of our annual year-end round-up of notable China books in both nonfiction and literature, nominated by experts and the editors, is here. Read the full list: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/18/b...

Donate to CBR and Receive Our Yearbook! Support our work at China Books Review by giving a tax-deductible donation this giving season — we'll send you a complimentary issue of our printed yearbook. chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/16/d...

Join us at Asia Society tomorrow, Dec. 16, at 6:30pm for a special event: Shakespeare, Tyranny and China Stephen Greenblatt joins Nan Z. Da to discuss her book "The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear" in a conversation moderated by Orville Schell. Ticket available now: asiasociety.org/center-us-ch...

Read Zheng Churan's review of "From Forest Farm to Sawmill: Stories of Labor, Gender and the Chinese State" by Shuxuan Zhou: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/11/s...

When a state-run sawmill privatized and eventually closed, its female workers were denied fair compensation. Its story doubles as an alternate history of China’s feminist protest movement. Read Zheng Churan's review of From Forest Farm to Sawmill: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/11/s...

2025 has seen a bumper crop for Chinese literature in translation. We recommend five recent titles, from gritty tales of the northeast to conjoined fiction from Hong Kong. Read Jack Hargreaves' latest Translated Chinese Literature column: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/09/t...

2025 has seen a bumper crop for Chinese literature in translation. We recommend five recent titles, from gritty tales of the northeast to conjoined fiction from Hong Kong. Read columnist Jack Hargreaves' latest Translated Chinese Literature column: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/09/t...

Our best-seller list for November has dropped! "Breakneck" leads the pack for the fourth month running, with "Apple in China" still going strong, a revival for "Strangers in the Land" and a new entry in the top five for Michael McFaul's "Autocrats vs. Democrats." chinabooksreview.com/bestselling-...

Read Lijia Zhang's profile of Jung Chang, author of "Wild Swans," only at China Books Review: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/04/j...

Jung Chang, the author of “Wild Swans” and its new sequel, made her name by introducing China to readers through personal history — but her later biographies were criticized for historical inaccuracy. Read Lijia Zhang's profile of the "grande dame": chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/04/j...

Listen to Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea talk about their new translation, "More Swindles from the Late Ming," on Episode 27 of the China Books Podcast: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/02/e...

This Giving Tuesday, consider supporting our work at China Books Review with a tax-deductible gift: chinabooksreview.com/donate/ Help us keep showcasing those who tell China's story best. Every gift of $50+ receives a complimentary copy of our 2024 yearbook in the mail!

Tales of trickery were popular in the late Ming dynasty. We invited Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea, translators of "More Swindles from the Late Ming" by Zhang Yingyu, to guide us through this literary underworld. Listen to Ep. 27: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/02/e...

Five times a year, we hold a free book club in both NYC (Asia Society) and DC (JF Books), discussing the latest Chinese fiction in translation. On Jan 21/26, we're branching into nonfiction to discuss Hu Anyan. Email [email protected] to save your seat! More info: chinabooksreview.com/club

We're off for Thanksgiving this week, but regular posting will resume next week. In the meantime, why not save your spot for our next book talk at Asia Society NYC on December 16, with Nan Z. Da and Stephen Greenblatt talking about Shakespeare, China and tyranny? asiasociety.org/center-us-ch...

Read our excerpt from "You Must Take Part in Revolution" by Melissa Chan and Badiucao: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/20/r...

In a graphic novel depicting a dystopian future Hong Kong, three former democracy activists struggle to come to terms with a dark new reality. Read our excerpt from "You Must Take Part in Revolution" by Melissa Chan and Badiucao: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/20/r...

Read Na Zhong's latest "What China's Reading" column: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/18/w...

Read Na Zhong's latest "What China's Reading" column, her bimonthly roundups of the latest in sinophone literature. This edition takes us around Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and elsewhere — each work grappling with escape from confinement: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/18/w...

What do King Lear, Mao Zedong, Richard III and Donald Trump have in common? Join us to hear literary scholar Nan Z. Da, author of “The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear,” in conversation with Shakespeare expert Stephen Greenblatt, moderated by Orville Schell. Register:

Check out NüVoices' virtual writing workshop with essayist and academic Yangyang Cheng on December 6! You may have seen her work in China Books Review, The New York Times or WIRED — and now you can learn directly from her writing process, too. Reserve your spot: nuvoices.com/2025/10/27/v...

Read Rana Mitter's review essay on The Party's Interests Come First by Joseph Torigian: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/13/x...

Xi Zhongxun, an early communist revolutionary, tried to balance reformist instincts with loyalty to the Party. His failure left an indelible mark on his son, Xi Jinping. Read Rana Mitter's review essay on The Party's Interests Come First by Joseph Torigian: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/13/x...

Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick, "From Heaven Lake," a travelogue by the acclaimed Indian novelist Vikram Seth's recounting his overland journey from Nanjing to New Delhi via Tibet in 1982: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/11/h...

Before he became an award-winning novelist, the Indian writer Vikram Seth was an exchange student in China. In the 1980s, he traveled overland from Beijing to Delhi. Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...

We've updated our monthly list of bestselling China books with the October 2025 bestsellers! BREAKNECK tops the list for the third month in a row, with APPLE IN CHINA hot on its heels. Tech in China books overtaking the Red-Scare books. Explore the full list: chinabooksreview.com/bestselling-...

Nominate up to three titles for the 2025 Baifang Schell Book Prize: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/p... Last year the jury selected at the "Edge of Empire" by Edward Wong as the winner in Nonfiction and "Taiwan Travelogue" by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (author) and Lin King (translator) in Literature.

Our book prize returns in its second year, celebrating exceptional books on or from China and the Sinophone world. Nominate now! chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/p...

Listen to Chris Horton talk about his new primer on Taiwan, "Ghost Nation," on Episode 26 of the China Books Podcast: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/04/e...

Colonized by the Dutch Republic, Qing China and Japan, Taiwan's complicated past led to a multi-layered identity today. We invited Chris Horton, author of the new book "Ghost Nation," to lay it out for us on the China Books Podcast. Listen to Ep. 26 here: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/04/e...

Read Sabina Knight's review of "City of Fiction" by Yu Hua: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/30/f...

The bestselling Chinese novelist Yu Hua foregrounds individual suffering in the chaos of modern Chinese history. In his latest novel in translation, gratuitous violence shows the limits of fiction. Read Sabina Knight's review of "City of Fiction": chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/30/f...

Watch the video of our book talk at Asia Society about "Apple in China" by Patrick McGee, with Zeyi Yang: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/28/p...

The author and journalist Patrick McGee explains how China captured Apple's business and learnt from its technology, in a China Books Review event at Asia Society, moderated by Zeyi Yang. Watch the video: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/28/p...

Book club is back! Join us on November 5 at Asia Society NYC (or November 10 at JF Books in DC) to discuss Yu Hua's latest novel, "City of Fiction," translated by Todd Foley. Email info[at]chinabooksreview.com now to nab your spot, with your city and a brief bio. chinabooksreview.com/book-club/

Read the Q&A with Hongbin Li on "The Highest Exam," ungated here from our sibling site The Wire China: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/23/h...

The U.S.-based academic discusses why China’s college entrance exam system retains popular support despite its hardships, and how the gaokao’s influence can spread overseas. Read the Q&A with Hongbin Li on "The Highest Exam," ungated here from The Wire China: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/23/h...

Read the excerpt from Patrick McGee's bestselling new book "Apple in China": chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/21/i...

When the iPhone launched in 2007, Apple's supply chain in China was still nascent. Yet as the product took off, China profited from the creation of its own advanced electronics industry. Read the excerpt from "Apple in China" by Patrick McGee: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/21/i...

COMING THIS WED 6:30pm: Register now to hear business journalist Patrick McGee talk about his book on how Apple became dependent on China for its manufacturing at an Asia Society event moderated by Wired senior writer Zeyi Yang: asiasociety.org/center-us-ch...

China Books Review was delighted to celebrate our second year anniversary last week, hitting 180 articles, with this double review of two novels by the Wuhan writer Fang Fang: chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/09/f... We're off this week and will return to regular Tue/Thu posting next week.