China

A History of China’s Claim to Taiwan

Mao Zedong once said that Taiwan should be independent, but the Chinese Communist Party has since changed its mind on the ‘renegade province’. How Chinese is Taiwan?

The Invention of Chinese

Believing language would unify their struggling nation, Chinese officials began a project to create a national language and define what it meant to speak Chinese. 

Distortions and Omissions

Chinese history is dominated by a nationalist interpretation that owes much to British ideas of the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

The Shanghai Race Club

Though horse racing was a symbol of British colonialism, it became a surprisingly inclusive pastime in China’s major International Settlement. 

Behind the Mask

The Chinese government’s reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic reveals much about its memory of the humiliations of the 19th century.