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Kevin Wei Luo

@kevinweiluo.bsky.social
855 followers 495 following 91 posts

assistant professor of political science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. China / Taiwan / Asia, politics of state building. usual caveats. 中英俱劣. www.kevinweiluo.com

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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
There 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
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
implications: 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
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Ultimately, 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
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
The 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
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Regionally, 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
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Pleased 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
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 14/05/2026
Q: 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.ly
FAQ: The “Snake Fight” Portion of Your Thesis Defense
March 13 2022 4/24/23 5/8/24 5/13/26 CALENDAR 2027
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Ed BooOOooOOmila @edburmila.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Class 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.
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
congrats! sounds like a super interesting project!
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
To be frank, Clifford geertz probably had some CIA connections
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
yes, I am sure 'neijuan' / 'involution' is also a CIA plot too
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Looking 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!
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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
now you know what I'll be doing my entire summer...
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Jeremy 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 Eco
theanarchistlibrary.org
Ur-Fascism
Umberto Eco Ur-Fascism June 22, 1995
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
get drunk on ice wine
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
you start by writing a strongly worded post on the Sinologists fb page
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
AAS 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!
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
this is what OCR-ed archives look like!
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
you should make a flyer at AAS lol
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
would love to know too! Did Michigan not have a full catalogue?
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Characters build character!
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
imagine being a psychiatrist and having to write 鬱 a million times
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
back 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.
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
200 for me today lol
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
my two worlds collide
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
also, the unfortunate effect of having lived in Toronto is that you confuse leaves with leafs 😅
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
It 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!
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Minneapolis 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.com
My Minneapolis
An ode to a city that knows who it is
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
"in communist China, fried pork falls from the sky"
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Stephen McDonell @stephenmcdonell.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
The People’s Liberation Army is in crisis… a piece from me. #China. CLICK link to read: www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Zhang Youxia: Purge of China's top general leaves military in crisis
Zhang Youxia had been seen as a close ally of China's leader, Xi Jinping.
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Spooky Back From The Dead Lazarus @jlazarus.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Twice 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."
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Message from the University of Minnesota leadership, in response to the killing of our alum Alex Pretti today.
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I stayed for 45 minutes and left because my ears were burning in the cold. Props to Minnesotans for braving the weather.
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
thank you comrade
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
I teach a class called Democracy Under Threat. I also live in Minneapolis.
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Daniel Bell has always been weird. Here's another crazy recent essay from him: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
China in the Year 2050: A Look Backwards - Society
This 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...
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Chhiū-ông-kong 樹王公 @shuwanggong.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
The 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.com
Constitutional crisis
For 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…
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Xiaobo Lü | 吕晓波 @xiaobolu.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Along 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...
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Sheena Chestnut Greitens @sheenagreitens.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Delighted 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.org
China’s Foreign Police Training: A Global Footprint
New data reveal how China’s foreign police training programs have become an integral part of Beijing’s strategy to remake global security.
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
What a loss, but his timeless work will continue to inspire the next generation of China scholars. 5/5
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
I 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... 4/5
scgrc.sais.jhu.edu
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
His 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... 3/5
cambridge.org
Forging Leninism in China
Cambridge Core - East Asian Government, Politics and Policy - Forging Leninism in China
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
I 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... 2/5
cambridge.org
China since Tiananmen
Cambridge Core - Asian Studies - China since Tiananmen
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
I'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
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Clyde Yicheng Wang @clydewang.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
My 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.
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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.""
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Cool 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."
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
the Cuomintang has lost the mandate of heaven
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Kevin Wei Luo @kevinweiluo.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
finally official
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