Neil Heywood, former friend of sacked Chinese leader Bo Xilai, and possibly killed by Bo’s wife Gu Kailai, is not the first Briton to lose his life in China, writes author Paul French in The Telegraph. In his book Midnight in Peking he tried to solve at least one, the murder of Pamela Werner in 1937.Read More →

The US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 started to change the life of rock musician Kaiser Kuo, then part of the famous band Tang-dynasty. In “Americans in China” he explains how he became an American in Beijing, and spokesperson of the country’s search engine Baidu.Read More →

The US embassy in Beijing and US consulate in Shanghai tweet regularly their measurements of the pollution in those cities. No allowed, said a representative of the environmental authorities in China this week. Denying the problem is not going to help, tells business analyst Shaun Rein in Marketplace.Read More →

Celebrity author Zhang Lijia of “”Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China” recalled yesterday at her weblog the dramatic events of June 4, 1989, and looks ahead at the future of China in the years to come.Read More →

On Thursday 31 May the Beijing-based author Zhang Lijia will answer questions on political reform in China in an upcoming Hangout-on-air. Are we seeing merely window-dressing, or are there real options for change. Basis will be her opt-in in the New York Times, where she sounds rather pessimistic.Read More →

Every successful author needs to have his next book ready before the previous book is out. Celebrity author Paul French of Midnight in Peking has two in the making, while he is touring to promote his latest book, he tells The Scotsman. Read More →

Author Zhang Lijia was one of the first who helped to write stories about the blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng for Western media. Like the story in 2002 for Newsweek, reposted on her weblog. “We have to fight for our rights ourselves.” Read More →