So over the past year or two I’ve read a LOT on china. I thought it might be a bit inappropriate not to share with ya’ll. I’ve definitely read much more, but these are the ones that are the most memorable/I’ve saved. These won’t be organized in any sort of way, but each article will be accompanied by a short description.
Personally I wouldn’t treat this as a checklist to read, but just read what you find interesting and go from there. I think it would be incredibly cool if people drop more resources here in the comments and this becomes a one-stop shop for China resources.
I just made an effort-comment and I thought, huh I haven’t made an effort-post in quite a bit, so here we are.
Qiao Collective
I’ve practically read every single article published by qiao collective and I cannot recommend it enough as a place to get started. https://www.qiaocollective.com/ A few in particular I will point to
Shattering the Iron Wall about China, Palestine, and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
This is a Great Struggle About lenovo, compradors, and socialist construction.
The Revival of Capital and the Left Turn of the Mental Laborer. Amazing piece on the history and development of chinese capital, and how material conditions radicalize(or de-radicalize?, because becoming a commie in china is conforming rather than being non-conformist?) people. Material analysis of internal contradictions and the contradiction of capitalist and marxist thought in China itself. If you can’t tell by how long this description is I love this article.
Why Rebel? A chinese person looks at america and goes like god damn ya’ll’s contradictions r bad there.
American “Revolution”: The “Black Hole” of American Electioneering and the Lessons China Must Draw A (different) chinese person looks at america’s electoral system, goes god damn, and gives a very good analysis of how it serves to placate dissent.
I love the chinese person looks at america and writes an analysis genre, there’s another on the texas snowstorm and american covid response, but for the sake of brevity I won’t delve into them.
How Chinese Socialism is Defeating the Coronavirus Outbreak
The Metamorphosis of Yuangudui, a piece on poverty alleviation.
I linked a bit more of Qiao Collective than I intended, but I truly stand by my statement that they’ve done some truly good work translating and writing articles.
Inside China Business
I really do quite enjoy his channel and analysis. I’ve heard from some other people here that he has some bad takes, but those bad takes don’t make it onto his analysis videos. I am a regular viewer of the channel and would recommend if you like stuff on industry.
CGTN Documentaries
The lockdown: One month in Wuhan , on the Wuhan pandemic response.
China’s war on poverty (Must watch), a documentary behind the process of the campaign on poverty alleviation. It’s genuinely incredibly well thought out and incredibly uplifting to see the amazing work being done. Again, please watch this it’s incredible I think.
Gay Leap Forward: LGBT in China
More Articles
Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom: My Experience of China Today (2024) good account of the development that china has gone through
Article on Xi Jinping Thought .
“Managed competition” in China’s state firms
How a Chinese Engineer on the Ground Reveal About China-Africa Relation?
For my chinese-american comrades, a poignant reflection on chinese-americanness in the modern day.
Giving immigrant workers urban identities: what can be done?. On the Hukou system.
Is High-speed Rail in China a “Gray Rhino”?, tl;dr, no.
Ma Dugong: glad that we are all clowns in different makeup. Not directly related to Communism but a good read.
How Chinese TVs chip away at U.S. market shares
How China Is Like the 19th Century U.S.
Chinese economy hinges on market reform & rule of law, NOT monetary or fiscal policy, says Zhang Weiying. Very interesting take that I haven’t had the time to re-read and digest but interested to hear other people’s thoughts on.
shanzhai. on counterfeit, and open source
Authors/Blogs to check out
CriticalResist. CriticalResist, in the case that you are reading this, love your articles and keep up the good work. Your article about design has actually helped me in college as well, it’s always a treat to see you pop up in my inbox.
Construction Physics, not exclusively about china, but some good writing about china, and just construction in general.
East is Read Good articles to keep up with china news.
Bejing Channel, just some news.
Crossing the River. Very much a blog type author. Hear about china and real chinese people through the author’s experiences.
Ginger River Review. Explainers and things about chinese society.
Threadings not about china(sorry!), but I absolutely adore their work.
Red Sails, good articles would reccomend
dessalines. Not about china but very good primer to people to, hey maybe capitalism isn’t all that great.
The East is Still Red - Book. decent. Red Star over China. Account of the CPC before the revolution.
In Defense of the Soviet Union. Not about china either, but good video.
Dongsheng news, but their website seems broken… I believe some of their stuff can be seen here, but I have not really checked it out yet.
Jerry’s Take on China, chill dude i like him good videos, disclaimer: apparently transphobic according to a commenter below. Do approach videos with care and take what he says with a grain of salt, but good source to send to libs and introduce people who might not know much about china.
EDIT: somehow I forgot about ben norton, https://www.youtube.com/@GeopoliticalEconomyReport very good analysis on china, and the broader world highly reccomend
___
yeah the struggle is real… I think diaspora who are supportive have been quieter about it in this age of renewed sinophobia. It’s very easy to become socially ostracized for “simping for an authoritarian regime”. (edit: obviously this kind of ostracization isn’t unique to just chinese or even asians. after all why call any of us ‘tankies’. but there’s a certain expectation for western sino diaspora that you’re anti-china…) tbh I rarely broach the topic irl for this reason. Also many supportive diaspora, who are able to, have moved back to the motherland (particularly the reverse brain drain class).
I don’t think Jerry himself is overtly transphobic, he’s just an older gentleman who used to live in the UK and/or Australia and has an interest and positive view on China where he’s lived for a while. I don’t think he has much contact or exposure to lgbt communities or people, much less trans ones. Given all that, it’s not totally surprising. I think he has some awareness that he’s not connected to them so he doesn’t talk about it often… I don’t even know if he has awareness that rainbow-washing or dissent manufacturing is a concern among the domestic Chinese lgbt community.
I doubt the podcast guest thought of himself as transphobic, and in that video, complained about his points being censored in the west! The guy had very typical bathroom or sports stuff from bioessentialist talking points, and was very adamant and About that flavor of transphobia… no self awareness, I guess. The discussion veered into western censorship a la “woke” scourge, I recall comparisons being made where China was being praised as a traditional society, not dissimilar to how Jackson Hinkle et al love to claim China is a homophobe’s paradise. 0 mention of where China is more progressive (or rather, neutral, just treating trans people as people) than the west on trans “rights”. Yes there are parents who don’t accept their trans kids in China, yes some of those parents make their trans kids go to conversion-theory-style boot camps. But there are also trans youth clinics and expanded support networks reaching out to parents of trans kids who might not understand trans gender means.
I still sometimes check in to see what he’s posting but I unsubscribed after seeing that podcast. He doesn’t really talk about LGBT or trans topics regarding China, so it’s unlikely to come up, I think you’re overall “safe” in recommending him to lib-ish friends and family.
edit: yeah, Ben Norton is great, thanks for adding him to the list. He recently moved to China and has been posting videos and articles from there, excited to see more of his astute reporting and analysis. Old news, but I’m glad he’s free of blumenthal…