Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026There are a lot of people I need to thank after this 5(!) year process and endless rewrites, especially the folks at the University of Toronto for inspiring the first ideas for this paper. Thanks to friends, colleagues, mentors, and those no longer with us - Xiaohong and Joe. 6/6 000
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026implications: 1. Revolutionary legacies have disparate effects on state capacity; 2. The strength of revolutionary regimes might not solely come from its origins, but rather from its ability in the long run to temper the anti-establishment impulses of the revolutionary public 5/n 100
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Ultimately, this sustained revolutionary paranoia that undermined bureaucratic capacity, and incited vigilante violence during the Cultural Revolution. An example of violent insurrection from Ruijin (瑞金), once the capital of the Central Soviet, is particularly illuminating 4/n 100
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026The need to search for counterrevolutionary enemies, while useful for social mobilization in state campaigns such as land reform, became a curse which planted widespread suspicions of potential counterrevolutionary forces in state and society, as memoirs like this reveal 3/n 100
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Regionally, I focus on the history of the Central Soviet revolutionary zone (中央苏区), the birthplace of the CCP’s rural pivot. The tortuous experiences of revolutionary reform and counterrevolution prior to 1949 left a legacy of social antagonism and thirst for vengeance 2/n 100
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Pleased to announce that my job market paper “The Sirens of Revolution” is now published at @comppol.bsky.social! In it, I ask why revolutions sometimes produce strong yet unstable states, using archival and quantitative evidence from post-1949 state building in China 1/n 130
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoMcSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 14/05/2026Q: Does my thesis adviser pick the snake? A: No. Your adviser just tells the guy who picks the snakes how good your thesis was.buff.lyFAQ: The “Snake Fight” Portion of Your Thesis DefenseMarch 13 2022 4/24/23 5/8/24 5/13/26 CALENDAR 2027 8258100
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoEd BooOOooOOmila @edburmila.bsky.social · 05/05/2026Class in the US is entirely a matter of aesthetics now. Rich suburban kids are “country”. Beard Dudes who look like they love IPAs are “working class.” Teachers who make $32,000 a year but have to dress up sort of nice in JCPenney clothes are “elites“. None of these words mean anything anymore. 9456211132
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 05/05/2026congrats! sounds like a super interesting project! 020
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 28/04/2026To be frank, Clifford geertz probably had some CIA connections 010
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 28/04/2026yes, I am sure 'neijuan' / 'involution' is also a CIA plot too 130
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 16/04/2026Looking forward to being a part of the unofficial ‘Harvard Taiwan Week’ this week, ending with a full day Friday symposium (4/17) that Kyle Shernuk, Yedong Chen, and yours truly have put together - and convened by David Wang. Hope to see you there! 020
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoThe Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 12/04/2026 212921
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 02/04/2026now you know what I'll be doing my entire summer... 010
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoJeremy Goldkorn @goldkorn.bsky.social · 25/03/2026“Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.” —From Ur-Fascism by Umberto Ecotheanarchistlibrary.orgUr-FascismUmberto Eco Ur-Fascism June 22, 1995 0163
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 11/03/2026you start by writing a strongly worded post on the Sinologists fb page 020
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/03/2026AAS Vancouver 2026: Will be presenting at the panel "People's Republic of Bureaucracy: The Politics of Classification and Personnel in the Chinese State" Saturday 10:30-12 at VCC Room 220. With @mt-b.bsky.social @ktai.bsky.social Yi Lu, Juan Wang and Daniel Leese as discussants. See you there! 052
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 04/03/2026would love to know too! Did Michigan not have a full catalogue? 100
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/02/2026imagine being a psychiatrist and having to write 鬱 a million times 140
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/02/2026back in Taiwan in elementary school the first assignment of the year was to write our names a hundred times. My name in traditional characters is 40 strokes. I remember passing out crying that night. So yeah put off writing as long as you can. 140
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 02/02/2026also, the unfortunate effect of having lived in Toronto is that you confuse leaves with leafs 😅 000
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 02/02/2026It was great talking with Lisa from CBC last week. I would also cautiously argue that the full implications of this latest purge of will not be understood until we know who Xi taps for the CMC to succeed Zhang. Back to reading tea leafs again! 140
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoBen Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 28/01/2026Minneapolis is a place that means a lot to me, so I wrote a short Substack about the city, its people, and what we all owe them. benansell.substack.com/p/my-minneap...benansell.substack.comMy MinneapolisAn ode to a city that knows who it is 612245
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 28/01/2026"in communist China, fried pork falls from the sky" 000
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoStephen McDonell @stephenmcdonell.bsky.social · 27/01/2026The People’s Liberation Army is in crisis… a piece from me. #China. CLICK link to read: www.bbc.com/news/article...bbc.comZhang Youxia: Purge of China's top general leaves military in crisisZhang Youxia had been seen as a close ally of China's leader, Xi Jinping. 24215
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoSpooky Back From The Dead Lazarus @jlazarus.bsky.social · 26/01/2026Twice this week when meeting a new person I've gotten an excited "Wow, it must be an exciting time to be a political scientist!" and both times I've answered "Not really. That's like telling someone it's an exciting to be a surgeon when there's a 63 car pileup on the highway." 20981136
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 25/01/2026Message from the University of Minnesota leadership, in response to the killing of our alum Alex Pretti today. 132
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 23/01/2026I stayed for 45 minutes and left because my ears were burning in the cold. Props to Minnesotans for braving the weather. 010
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 19/01/2026I teach a class called Democracy Under Threat. I also live in Minneapolis. 1111
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 19/12/2025Daniel Bell has always been weird. Here's another crazy recent essay from him: link.springer.com/article/10.1...link.springer.comChina in the Year 2050: A Look Backwards - SocietyThis article discusses China’s political history from 2025 to 2050. In 2025, there was strong support for the political system due to measures that curbed corruption, reduced pollution, and alleviated... 120
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoChhiū-ông-kong 樹王公 @shuwanggong.bsky.social · 17/12/2025The Sage of Nangang speaks! Is Taiwan now having a constitutional crisis? This: 'On a side note, one of the strangest things about this whole episode is how blasé society seems to be about it.' frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...frozengarlic.wordpress.comConstitutional crisisFor all the hand-wringing about the controversial recall efforts in early 2025, there was never any question about their legality. The procedures for our recalls were clearly laid out in the electi… 2135
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoXiaobo Lü | 吕晓波 @xiaobolu.bsky.social · 05/12/2025Along with wonderful colleagues @jeanhong.bsky.social, @dnsltr.bsky.social, @yuhuawang.bsky.social, and Ann C. Lin, we would like to call your attention to the Asian Political History Workshop to be held on May 4– 5, 2026 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Apply here by Jan. 20, 2026. forms.gle/H9zPa6r2H1Ke... 194
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoSheena Chestnut Greitens @sheenagreitens.bsky.social · 13/11/2025Delighted to share a new @carnegieendowment.org report on China’s Foreign Police Training: A Global Footprint. Over 50 entities in China have provided training to at least 138 countries, forming a major pillar of Beijing’s drive to reshape global security: carnegieendowment.org/research/202...carnegieendowment.orgChina’s Foreign Police Training: A Global FootprintNew data reveal how China’s foreign police training programs have become an integral part of Beijing’s strategy to remake global security. 21610
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025What a loss, but his timeless work will continue to inspire the next generation of China scholars. 5/5 000
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025I haven't known Joe for very long, but bonded with him over discussions of party history and the methodological challenge of 'studying China from afar' - some of his great insights are included in this compilation edited by Andy Mertha at SAIS: scgrc.sais.jhu.edu/wp-content/u... 4/5scgrc.sais.jhu.edu 100
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025His latest 2022 book Forging Leninism may seem like a weird pivot back to history, but as he argues the (violent) early years of the CCP's founding is instrumental for understanding recurring organizational dynamics in party history www.cambridge.org/core/books/f... 3/5cambridge.orgForging Leninism in ChinaCambridge Core - East Asian Government, Politics and Policy - Forging Leninism in China 100
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025I actually just assigned a chapter on neoconservatism from his 2001 book China Since Tiananmen this semester for my undergrads, which of course included some amazing foresight into elite intellectual trends today. www.cambridge.org/core/books/c... 2/5cambridge.orgChina since TiananmenCambridge Core - Asian Studies - China since Tiananmen 110
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025I've been sitting with this sad news the whole day. Many of Joe's students have written very touching stories about his life and mentorship, including my friend Clyde here. He is, to me, one of the scholars who took "China as method" seriously. As they say, will never find another like him. 1/5 120
Reposted by Kevin Wei LuoClyde Yicheng Wang @clydewang.bsky.social · 07/11/2025My dearest mentor, Professor Joseph Fewsmith, unfortunately passed away this week. I wrote this little tribute with great pain. But no writing is enough to express my love and gratitude for Joe. 4254
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 07/11/2025"this may change in the future: younger cohorts in our database tended to be more diverse with regard to gender, educational background, and geography."" 000
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 07/11/2025Cool paper: "An analysis of publicly available data of 2,200 experts on Chinese politics worldwide, compiled through a bottom-up snowballing nomination process, reveals that this China Watcher community is globally connected and diverse but also continues to be dominated by male US-based academics." 241
Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 05/11/2025the Cuomintang has lost the mandate of heaven 1369