Recommendations you can check.
American historian of modern China; Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, and author of China in the 21st Century, Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink (2020) and The Milk Tea Alliance.
15 things
Let Only Red Flowers BloomBook Emily Feng
Let Only Red Flowers Bloom is about how this period of rule by the Chinese Communist Party is one that is increasingly intolerant of diversity of cultural forms and of language uses.
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2025
2025-12-30·fivebooks.com ↗
Forever Hong KongBook Ching Kwan Lee
Forever Hong Kong is a deep dive into one particular place where this intolerance for variation has been strikingly clear.
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2025
2025-12-30·fivebooks.com ↗
BreakneckBook Dan Wang
I also tried to steer clear of books that were as much about the United States as about China (I partly violated the two last rules with Breakneck, but it is really about Chinese phenomena much more than American ones).
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2025
2025-12-30·fivebooks.com ↗
Fragile CargoBook Adam Brookes
Like Fragile Cargo, I think Agents of Subversion is a book that you can easily imagine being filmed, being turned into a television series or being discussed with gusto by members of a book club made up of history lovers.
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2022
2022-12-09·fivebooks.com ↗
Agents of SubversionBook John Delury
Like Fragile Cargo, I think Agents of Subversion is a book that you can easily imagine being filmed, being turned into a television series or being discussed with gusto by members of a book club made up of history lovers.
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2022
2022-12-09·fivebooks.com ↗
Indelible CityBook Louisa Lim
It was a daringly researched, wonderfully done book, and I feel Indelible City can be described with those same terms.
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2022
2022-12-09·fivebooks.com ↗
Accidental Holy LandBook Joseph W. Esherick
Accidental Holy Land is a culmination of this.
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2022
2022-12-09·fivebooks.com ↗
In the CampsBook Darren Byler
What’s important about In the Camps is that there hasn’t been a short, deeply informed book about Xinjiang that you could point somebody to who says, ‘I don’t have a lot of time to devote to this subject, but I want to go deeper than I can even through a long-form journalism piece’.
Five Books interview: the best books on The Best China Books of 2021
2021-12-16·fivebooks.com ↗
AftershockBook Holmes Chan (editor)
Aftershock has that same feel.
Five Books interview: the best books on Best China Books of 2020
2020-12-10·fivebooks.com ↗
Eurasian CrossroadsBook James Millward
Yes, it’s called Eurasian Crossroads and it’s by James Millward who is, I think, the preeminent American scholar of Xinjiang, certainly among historians.
Five Books interview: the best books on Best China Books of 2020
2020-12-10·fivebooks.com ↗
Forbidden MemoryBook Susan Chen (translator) & Tsering Woeser
Forbidden Memory is about the Cultural Revolution era, and the Mao years in general.
Five Books interview: the best books on Best China Books of 2020
2020-12-10·fivebooks.com ↗
Champions DayBook Jim Carter
Champions Day is a wonderful foray into this kind of historical recreation and does it via a single day at the Shanghai races when the Japanese are about to shut down horse racing.
Five Books interview: the best books on Best China Books of 2020
2020-12-10·fivebooks.com ↗
American Born ChineseBook Gene Luen Yang
I think it’s better known in the United States because of the splash he made with a book called American Born Chinese.
Five Books interview: the best books on Best China Books of 2020
2020-12-10·fivebooks.com ↗
New Ghosts, Old DreamsBook Geremie Barme & Linda Jaivin
New Ghosts, Old Dreams: Chinese Rebel Voices is a series of collections of speeches and writings of the time, pulled together by Geremie Barmé and Linda Jaivin.
Five Books interview: the best books on June 4th, 1989
2014-06-03·fivebooks.com ↗
The Gate of Heavenly PeaceOther Carma Hinton
That whole debate is a central part of the film, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, that I mention as my final choice.
Five Books interview: the best books on June 4th, 1989 (a documentary film)
2014-06-03·fivebooks.com ↗
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