Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, is working on his next book documenting how writers, thinkers, and artists are dealing with the new, more repressive policies in China. He visited citizen journalist Zhang Shihe near Xi’an for an extensive interview. First, he describes Zhang’s position for the New York Review of Books.Read More →

State TV has been pulling a set of historical dramas from their channels because they were having a negative influence on their audiences, according to state media. Journalist Zhang Lijia, the author of Lotus, a novel, a bestseller on prostitution in China, understands the ratio behind this action, she tells in the South China Morning Post.Read More →

Beijing’s Forbidden City tried to follow international cultural centers by developing itself as a brand. But business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, wonders if the effort has been very successful, he says in the South China Morning Post.Read More →

Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, did spend much time with pastor Wang Yi and his Early Rain Covenant Church during his research of his book. Now the government is cracking down, it means a drastic change of attitude by the authorities, but Johnson does not expect the religious revolution in China is over, he writes on his website.Read More →

China’s recent troubles with Islam and unruly provinces like Xinjiang are not new, nor typically for communist rule, writes journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, for the New York Review of books. “It would be tempting to say that all of this is just typical Communist excess, something in the party’s DNA that forces it to turn to repression and violence to solve problems. But the long history of Islam’s persecution points to older, deeper problems in the Chinese worldview.”Read More →

Internet giant Alibaba might have sold for close to 31 billion US dollar at China’s Single’s Day, but author Zhang Lijia notices also growing concern on the massive shopping festival, she tells Upm Pulp. Consumerism and environmental concerns emerge with the growing turnover.Read More →