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A dangerous future

A dangerous future

Moral certitude, wrong-headedness, and ignorance inform what passes for debate about China in Australia today. There’s so much grandiose proselytising born out of flawed history and tired tropes. Considering how ill-informed the most prominent Australian commentators...
A portrait of state power: Ai Weiwei’s ‘Coronation’

A portrait of state power: Ai Weiwei’s ‘Coronation’

Ai Weiwei’s new documentary Coronation opens with an aerial shot of Wuhan station, its trains grounded, the typically chaotic surrounds deserted. Rising electronic beats puncture the sound of static, heightening the sense that it’s not quite real, that we’re...
Donald Trump and the ‘soulstealers’

Donald Trump and the ‘soulstealers’

In 1768, during the most prosperous period of the Qing dynasty’s rule, mass hysteria broke out in Jiangnan, the region of the lower Yangtze River that was the empire’s commercial capital, over rumours that a band of sorcerers were roaming the countryside chanting...
Reds Under The Bed: A Review Of Peter Hartcher’s Quarterly Essay

Reds Under The Bed: A Review Of Peter Hartcher’s Quarterly Essay

In 2012, Perry Anderson identified a growing body of literature that, rather than being Sinology proper, sought to answer the question: ‘China – what’s in it for us?’ It ‘consists of works that appear to be about China, or some figure or topic from China,’ he wrote,...
Hypocrisy and hysteria over Chinese influence

Hypocrisy and hysteria over Chinese influence

In 2012, Mo Yan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and was widely criticised by western writers who accused him of accepting and working within the bounds of China’s state censorship program. He had a duty, they argued, to speak out against the...