Mao the scholar
Most people are under the impression that Mao is a coarse and illiterate leader, perhaps because of his round and big Hunan facial features. That…
The Hungry Ghost Festival – Part 1
In Peking, 1939: Lu Hsing Yuan (HY Lowe) described how the Ghost Festival was celebrated in Peking in one of his installments in the English…
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Behind the Fall of the Gang of Four
Who prevented the Gang of Four from seizing power? When Mao died in 1976, it would appear to many that his wife Jiang Qing and…
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Jiangnan
South of the Yangtze evokes a mythical place in Chinese culture. The Chinese call the area Jiangnan ( literally, south of the Yangtze) river. It…
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From Mao to Modernity
On 2 Sep 1945, Japan formally surrendered. China designated 3 Sep 1945 as “Victory Day” to commemorate its victory over Japan. This year, on 3…
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Tibet in Its Own Words
The Tibetan History Reader is an anthology of essays on Tibet. It complements Sources of Tibetan Tradition, which is a collection of 180 mainly Tibetan…
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Two Characters, One Identity Lost
Why is a Chinese name wrongly transliterated in Hanyu Pinyin? A Chinese name is in three characters: surname and two characters for the given name.…
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A Father’s Journey that Influenced a Nation
The Life of Xi Zhong Xun by Joseph Torigian (2025) is a very interesting biography of one of the key lieutenants of Mao. He also…
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Mao and the Dilemmas of Victory
In March 1949, Mao left for Beiping, where last-minute peace negotiations were taking place between the Communists and the Nanjing regime. He told Zhou Enlai,…
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Zhao and the “Liberation” of Tibet
In Dilemmas of Victory (hardcopy 2007), Chen Jian, who wrote the chapter The Chinese Communist ‘Liberation’ of Tibet, mentioned very briefly the role played by…
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Beijing Record
Beijing Record: A Physical and Political History of Planning Modern Beijing by Wang Jun (2003 Mandarin, 2011 English) is a mundane title used to hide…
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