It used to be that the United States would use Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to transmit truth across the borders of repressive regimes. Now the work of American reporters, having been censored, is being smuggled across the border to reach Americans.

“Chinese analysts have interpreted the new strategy as evidence of American retreat.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/b...

Selena Simmons-Duffin at NPR broke the news about the trans kids’ health care ban, and now she’s following up. Note that she actually talks to doctors and trans kids, not just politicians. www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Great list of books www.semafor.com/article/12/1...

Yesterday night I was dissecting with fellow audio lovers the genius sound design behind Jad Abumrad’s new series on Fela Kuti. It offered lessons on how to write around music, which I tried to incorporate in stories like this one, from Syria www.npr.org/2025/12/12/n...

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

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...

Can't wait to see this film "Bi returned to Guizhou after graduation and set up a wedding-videography studio. At one point, he considered quitting film altogether and becoming a demolition man." www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...

"Have you ever in your life encountered a character as wretched as Donald Trump?" David Remnick in the New Yorker www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

"Chinese authorities arrested dozens of Tibetans who were protesting a mining project in one of their communities, according to Tibetan activists and the government in exile, an act of defiance by a community that has been tightly controlled by Beijing." www.wsj.com/world/asia/t...

I can't really think of another billionaire who has been so popular among ordinary people www.npr.org/2025/12/15/n...

“An increasing number of “crazy rich” clients are commissioning dozens, or even hundreds, of U.S.-born babies with the goal of “forging an unstoppable family dynasty,” he said.” www.wsj.com/us-news/chin...

“Might one say the word neijuan … has made a full involution?” www.npr.org/2025/12/10/n...

"the term has come full circle to its roots describing unproductive economic activity. Might one say the word neijuan … has made a full involution?" www.npr.org/2025/12/10/n...

Here at NPR we are mourning at our editor Kevin Drew suddenly dying I am in shock. He never let on he was sick. Remembering NPR's Kevin Drew one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5639...

NPR wants to speak with swing voters across the political spectrum.

"The United States cannot allow any nation to become so dominant that it could threaten our interests." www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

"t the back of the minds of many people who asked this question is the result of the passing of the Hong Kong national security law of 2020. And the way how government in Hong Kong seems to be approaching the issue appears to have changed." www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...

So cool Former 'Morning Edition' host on his newest venture — a local newspaper www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...

“Growing calls for him to establish an independent inquiry — echoing the “five demands” that galvanized demonstrators back then — are testing the extent to which Hong Kong’s separate legal system is being transformed by Beijing’s playbook” www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

on.ft.com/4p8yTSG Chinese parts supplier takes stake in leading Russian drone maker

The images are apocalyptic Dozens killed in Hong Kong high-rise residential fire www.npr.org/2025/11/26/n...

"I need to believe that there is more to this world than what we know. I need to believe there is magic out there... I needed to walk through a minefield to feel protected" www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adve...

"The Americans had arrived frustrated by leaks to the media in the days leading up to the meeting and the public debate around origins of the first draft proposal.  “The first hours were totally . . . ” he said, pausing for several seconds, “hanging by a hair.”" www.ft.com/content/883e...

Trump and China's Xi Jinping have had a phone call - no details yet from either Beijing or Washington view.inews.qq.com/a/20251124A0...

A tale of two Chinas: Tech industry booms as workers face dim prospects www.npr.org/2025/11/24/n...

This is exactly the kind of content I want How one group is turning mushroom's bioelectricity into music one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5606...

I’m honored my book Let Only Flowers Bloom is a notable book of the year from the @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...

“We can’t stress enough how abnormal this is for an economy of any significant size,” noted economist Jonathan Anderson in a report this year.” www.ft.com/content/5b9e...

CPB revives $36 million NPR deal killed after Trump’s pressure www.npr.org/2025/11/17/n...

'“He is the liberal gentleman, coming from the civilised, wealthy, modernised, free world – but from China, this time, rather than the United States or the United Kingdom.” The old vantage points fall away." www.equator.org/articles/kin...

Syria's foreign minister is visiting Beijing today. A top issue during his meeting earlier with Wang Yi was the presence of Uyghur fighters in Syria. Contrary to reports, Syria has said emphatically today that it will not deport the Uyghurs to China. www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xw/f...

“Over half of all those displaced are under the age of 18,” Fletcher said. “I challenge anyone who is boasting about aid cuts to come here and speak to these people.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

A public TV and radio station in Western Alaska serves dozens of villages damaged by Typhoon Halong. But with federal funding eliminated, KYUK makes severe cuts to its staff and news department. n.pr/4qVulQV

In the 1970s, National Public Radio, with generous funding from the N.E.H., staged a yearlong series of three-hour Saturday-morning call-in programs called the “American Issues Radio Forum.” .lhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/17/what-was-the-american-revolution-for

“That muscular facade is punctured here in China, where despair about dimming economic and personal prospects is pervasive.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/o...

On Here and Now with the fab Scott Tong to talk broadly about transnational repression and economic coercion globally www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

The case of She Zhijiang could have been lifted from the pages of a spy thriller - and in fact, She claims he was a spy for China. Beijing tried to extradite him...now Thailand has complied, the day before the Thai king visit to China. www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/gen...

First came the call from his own parents. Then dozens of cancellations came pouring in. How the director of an inaugural film festival in New York City...came under pressure from China to cancel the festival in the U.S. www.npr.org/2025/11/13/n...

Wild story www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Just finished part 1 and part 2 of this very moving, 10-year long saga @quillawrence.bsky.social has been reporting with a U.S. war vet www.npr.org/2025/11/09/n...

Sharing from a colleague on today's Veterans' Day: an old interview about a very moving film on her father, a Vietnam vet, and the PSTD he was burdened with www.npr.org/sections/par...

Terrible news...I love this museum and found great joy in visiting at the end of long reporting trips this year in Syria. apnews.com/article/syri...

Great to be at University of Chicago on such a fine fall day before the first snows

For decades, Tibetans built a capital in exile in Dharamshala, India, and sent their kids to a school founded by the Dalai Lama. That's now changing.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/b... "In 1976, Song Ying swam for eight hours from Shenzhen, then a small fishing village, to Hong Kong... Today, at 72, she is a New Yorker who voted for President Trump three times and voted early for Andrew M. Cuomo in Tuesday’s mayoral election."

this is the best story I've ever read on what it's like working (as a PRC citizen) in state media in China, and also extremely good on Mongolian ethnic tensions. www.equator.org/articles/the...