This is the eighty eighth chapter in Other People's Thoughts, a China Heritage series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during...

The Other China 向前看 Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, its t...

The Other China Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the literary sobriquet Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese Study 中國書房.

Contra Trump 道高一尺，魔高一丈 This chapter in Contra Trump, our series about the second presidency of Donald J Trump and its relationship with Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium, we feature two essays on evil. In...

秋分到，蛋兒俏 According to the traditional Chinese calendar, the Autumn Equinox 秋分 Qiū fēn of 2026 starts on 23 August 2026. It will end on the 8th of October and be replaced by Cold Dew 寒露

The Other China 禍起蕭牆   This is the latest in the series ‘Dasheng’s Calligraphic Comments on Current Affairs’. For a full list of these comments, see below. *** Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by

This is the eighty seventh chapter in Other People's Thoughts, a China Heritage series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, durin...

西遊日記其二   In August 2026, Dasheng Liu Chan 大生劉蟾, the scholar, essayist, calligrapher and editor whose work features in The Other China section of China Heritage, was invited to accompany a study tour o...

西遊日記   In August 2026, Dasheng Liu Chan 大生劉蟾, the scholar, essayist, calligrapher and editor whose work features in The Other China section of China Heritage, was invited to accompany a study tour of ...

The Other China 打通上下古今   Teacher’s Festival 教師節, or ‘teacher’s day’, was originally celebrated in China on 6 June. Called 雙六節 — the ‘Double Sixth’ — is was gazetted by the national government of the

The Other China We travelled together for a time — we weathered a storm and stood together at that ferry crossing to watch the sunset. It was our connection. It would be well nigh impossible

Seeds of Fire at Forty Mao Zedong died fifty years ago, in the early hours of 9 September 1976. With his death, the Chairman entered history and China’s mythopoetic realm although, in a sense, he

This is the eighty-sixth chapter in Other People's Thoughts, a China Heritage series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during ...

Seeds of Fire Celebrating Four Decades 李白陸 In ‘Take Xi Jinping at his word’, the essay by Greg Sheridan, Foreign Affairs editor of The Australian, reproduced below, Pierre Ryckmans, Kevin Rudd and I a...

The Other China 夏去秋來，四時輪轉   夏去秋來，四時輪轉 — ‘Summer now gives way to autumn, the cycle of seasons in a changeful year’. Or, to quote Shakespeare: That time of year thou mayst in me behold When

Contra Trump   China Heritage has featured Gil Durán and his newsletter The Nerd Reich as part of our Contra Trump series since early 2025. Published in August 2026, Durán’s book The Nerd Reich: Silic...

This is the eighty-fifth chapter in Other People's Thoughts, a China Heritage series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during ...

The Other China 物の哀れ   On this first day of the northern autumn (and spring in the southern hemisphere), we follow a celebration of Lao Shu’s summer with some reflections on the new season. ***

The Other China 處暑   Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, its ...

The Other China 洪水滔天，無息壤以堙之   Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the literary sobriquet Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese

The Other China 輕搖一扇，驅散秋老虎   Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and person...

Celebrating New Sinology 十年河東，十年河西   It is ten years to the day since I drove from Wellington to the small town of Featherston in the foothills of the Remutaka Range leading to The Wairarapa. Feathers...

The Other China 週而復始   Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, it...

Contra Trump 赤心報國，何罪之有   IFLA (I Fucking Love Australia) writes about America and its Pacific cousin on Substack. In his inimitable Australian style of prose, IFLA chronicles the saga of a benighted n...

Seeds of Fire 40th Anniversary   In Perilous Peaks — July Seventh 2026, China Heritage celebrated forty years since my nuptials. At the time, China’s traditional festivals and the agrarian calendar we...

Seeds of Fire Fortieth Anniversary 别有天地 In 2026, China Heritage celebrates four decades since John Minford and I published Seeds of Fire: Chinese Voices of Conscience. It is also a year of multiple ot...

This is the eighty-fourth chapter in Other People's Thoughts, a China Heritage series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during...

The Other China 吾倦矣 Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, its t...

The Other China 朱公千古 atque in perpetuum   On 12 August 2026, it was reported that Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基, 1938-2026), premier of the Chinese People’s Republic from 1998 to 2003, had passed away. We commemora...

The Other China 毒瀆毒 殺閷杀 Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the literary sobriquet Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese

Contra Trump 愛屋及烏   IFLA (I Fucking Love Australia) writes about America and its Pacific cousin on Substack. In his inimitable Australian style of prose, IFLA chronicles the saga of a benighted Americ...

The Other China 何事值得你當真？ Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, ...

The Other China 伏天兒之鼓譟   Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the literary name Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese

This is the eighty-third chapter in Other People's Thoughts, a China Heritage series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during ...

The Other China 夫天地者，萬物之逆旅 This Heaven and Earth are the hostel for Creation’s ten thousand forms, where light and darkness have passed as guests for a hundred ages. But our floating lives are like a

Seeds of Fire Celebrates Forty Years 法日斯   In this chapter of Seeds of Fire: China Heritage Annual 2026 we continue our series on Hitler and Stalin Today, a lecture program devised and coordinated by ...

The Other China 岑然自在，惟心一途   Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and persona...

This is the eighty-second chapter in Other People's Thoughts, a China Heritage series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during...

Seeds of Fire 40th Anniversary 鬧房 —— 無限風光在險峰 This chapter in Seeds of Fire 40th Anniversary, published on 7 July 2026, marks four decades since Linda Jaivin and I affixed our red-inked thumb prints to...

Contra Trump 國破山河在，城春草木深 One of the featured essays in The Fourth of July 2026, — ‘Aussies Officially Hate Trump's Fucking Guts’ — was written by GMan. Here we reproduce another article by this redoub...

Celebrating New Sinology 維恆之蔭德 'Translating 里 as "trident" today in memory of Victor Mair, who was a generous scholar and a kind and decent man.' This note by Brendan O'Kane, characteristically arch a...

The Other China 幸有一片涼 Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, its...

The Other China 有貓，真好 Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, its...

Seeds of Fire 40th Anniversary   China Heritage was launched on 15 December 2016 at a conference about ‘Political Enchantments: aesthetic practices and the Chinese state’. Invited to present the openi...

The Other China 書房對聯   Lao Shu 老樹 is the nom de plume of Liu Shuyong (劉樹勇, 1962-), a Beijing-based artist, writer, critic and professor in communications. His artistic voice is unique and personal, it...

The Other China 首倡義舉 Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the pen name Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese Study

The Other China 首倡義舉 Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the pen name Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese Study

Seeds of Fire 40th Anniversary 一脈相承 The 4th of June 2026 marks thirty seven years since the Chinese authorities deployed the army to violently suppress the nationwide Protest Movement of 1989 and the ...

Seeds of Fire 40th Anniversary 一脈相承 The 4th of June 2026 marks thirty seven years since the Chinese authorities deployed the army to violently suppress the nationwide Protest Movement of 1989 and the ...

The Other China 玄之又玄 Liu Chan 劉蟾, who also goes by the pen name Dasheng 大生, is a writer, scholar and calligrapher. Born in Shaanxi, he lives in Beijing where he edits The Chinese Study