Every time they fly in and out of Mumbai, tourists, businesspeople, and politicians can see blue-tarp and cardboard rooftops squeezed between condominiums and luxury hotels. The irony of Mumbai’s slums is that the urban poor are ubiquitous, simultaneously visible and invisible. But seeing slums from the perspective of those who inhabit them — and not […]
Posts in the China category:
New book, now on Tumblr
The book I am co-editing with China historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom will be published next year by UC Press. In the meantime, we’ve started a Tumblr to highlight the work of contributors and provide updates, Enjoy!
Changing the China News Narrative
“China is a breeding ground for heroes,” Foreign Policy contributing editor Christina Larson said at a roundtable discussion at the University of California, Irvine hosted by The China Beat yesterday. Larson has done a lot of reporting on China’s environmental movement, where she has found great stories about a dynamic country. Environmentalists in China, she […]
Where will you be on June 7?
Southern California friends, I’d love to see you at this event. If the chance to hear from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Johnson doesn’t convince you, maybe this cool poster from Maritess Santiago at the UCI Humanities Collective will: If you have any questions for Mr. Johnson, please leave them in comments.
Weekend Reading
If you are looking for downtime reading, here are a few of my favorite, most enjoyable nonfiction choices from my reviews for Zócalo Public Square:
Upcoming Events
While I am working on, well, all the different things I am working on, I am excited to be a part of two upcoming events in Southern California. One is a UCLA Extension writing seminar, “Writing in the Digital Age” on May 8. On June 7, I’ll be in conversation with Ian Johnson at UC […]
Writing is Rewarding
One of the best feelings I have as a writer is when something I’ve worked on sparks a conversation I could have never even imagined. That’s why I was so thrilled to find this post at the China Beat: Learning from Lai Changxing? Last year, Angilee Shah wrote a review at China Beat of Oliver […]
Global Lives #3: Anka Lee’s Hong Kong Perspective on Tiananmen Square
It’s June 4th today. 20 years ago, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing a huge protest movement was violently suppressed. The numbers are disputed, but hundreds, if not thousands were killed in clashes with the military. Tiananmen Square Massacre, June 4 Incident, or just Six-Four — whatever you call it, the event had a big impact […]
This Week: Follow-ups to terrorist attacks in India and the earthquake in China, perspectives on Iraq and North Korea
I’m starting a weekly post that rehashes some of the most interesting and unusual reports on Asia (in English) and the world. Let me know what you think, and if you find this kind of feature useful. For more interesting things on the web, from newspapers and blogs, see my shared stories page. First, two […]
the China bloggers post
I’ve been a loyal reader of Tim Johnson’s McClatchy Newspapers blog, China Rises, since it started three years ago. It’s only today that I thought about it, though, because Johnson is leaving the blog behind. He writes: All good things come to an end, and that is true today for myself and China Rises. This […]