Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

Recommendations

China Stories

“From Xinjiang With Love: China Show Tries to Give Region a Rosier Image”

James T. Areddy, “Mandarin Leaves a Manhattan Courtroom Lost in Translation”

In some ways, “vigilantes” are the opposite of what their name suggests: rather than rogue agents meting out street justice, they are individuals deemed trustworthy by authorities, working under the guidance of local police forces, deputized to surveil their fellow citizens. In recent years, as Beijing has encouraged the “masses” to take a greater role in public safety, vigilante groups—and their close cousins, “safety promotion associations”—have sprung up across the country, working with the police to conduct traffic stops, mediate disputes, or even “catch [suspects] on the spot.”

Jessica Batke, “‘The Police’s Strength Is Limited, but the People’s Strength Is Boundless’”

Helen Davidson, “China has renamed hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns, say human rights groups”

Ryan Ho Kilpatrick, “Notes from Underground” — an interview with Chen Lung-hao, owner of Tongsan Books in Taipei

Shibani Mahtani, Christian Shepherd, and Pei-Lin Wu, “China cultivated high-rolling crime families before turning on them”

Shai Oster, “How a Move to Bangkok Revealed China’s Economic Power”

Alexandra Stevenson and Zixu Wang, “Spicy Noodles and Pickled Fish: Chinese Eateries Move Into Hong Kong”

The urban development agenda of contemporary Xi’an has thus been shaped around a distinctly nostalgic vision of China’s past imperial splendor in which Xi’an, and China itself, lay at the center of global trade and influence. Despite its status as a second-tier city in today’s China, Xi’an’s development has and is now increasingly intertwined with Xi Jinping’s push for “cultural self confidence” and “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” This role for the Western metropolis was on full display in May 2023, when Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted the leaders of central Asian nations with a ceremony replete with decadent Imperial clothing and performances. The ceremony’s closing banquet occurred in front of the Tang Lotus Garden. Xi’an’s nostalgic cityscape had become a showcase for China’s revived international ambitions.

Andrew Stokols, “The ‘Xi’an Model’: Reviving Tang Chang’an and China’s Imperial Imaginaries”

Wanderings Around the World

Daniel Brown, “Willie Mays, baseball’s electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ dies at 93”

Jay Fielden, “The Strange Journey of John Lennon’s Stolen Patek Philippe Watch”

Priya Krishna, with photographs by Tommy Kha, “Don’t Call It an ‘Ethnic’ Grocery Store”

There is a sense now, just like it was when I was growing up. People are starting not to talk about it anymore. Everybody is, let’s look ahead to the future, let’s don’t dwell on the past. But I think every kid in this town should know what happened. And personally, I think they should be taught by someone who was on the right side of things.

Susan Levine, with photographs by Michael S. Williamson, “In 1964, the Klan killed three young activists and shocked the nation”

Artem Mazhulin and Shaun Walker, “‘This country gave me a lot’: the Vietnamese people staying in Ukraine”

Tiya Miles, “How Harriet Tubman relied on nature to bring the enslaved to freedom”

Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn, “Thailand passes landmark bill legalizing same-sex marriage”

It’s a precarious time for civil rights conservation in America, and Howard, 47, feels an urgency to discover forgotten places as fast as he can. In courtrooms and in classrooms, in state legislatures and corporate offices, people are reconsidering how the country’s most tortured moments should be presented. With the 60th anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery approaching next year, Howard wants to ensure that visitors to his state receive a more robust truth, one that goes beyond a paragraph written on a historical marker.

Robert Samuels, with photographs by Michael S. Williamson, “Public memories. Private struggles.”

Patrick Saunders, “Roman coins, Etruscan tombs and Cherry Creek grad Brad Lidge’s second act after All-Star baseball career: ‘How lucky am I?’”

In a quiet corner of a library at Mississippi State University, you’ll find a slim red volume that tells the story of what may be America’s first Juneteenth. It took place in New Orleans in the summer of 1864 to celebrate the day of liberation for the enslaved people living in the 13 Louisiana parishes exempted from President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued the previous January. It was actually a series of celebrations—or jubilees, as these were known—over two extraordinary months, with the largest occurring on June 11, a month after the Free State Convention abolished slavery across Louisiana.

Susannah J. Ural and Ann Marsh Daly, “Before Juneteenth”

Kim A. Wagner, “A Notorious Photograph From a US Massacre in the Philippines Reveals an Ugly Truth”

Standout Story

The class was taught in Mandarin, a language I’ve learned and quit learning a dozen times. Paradoxically, even though my speaking level isn’t fluent, the linguistic barrier created new kinds of connections. Imagine a teacher walking into your classroom and saying, in an accent you can’t place, “Don’t worry, you speak and write better than I do. We’re here to be together and learn together.” Maybe you’d think, Is this person even qualified to teach me? God, we get the worst teachers! But maybe, if you’ve had negative or traumatic relationships with school, or you associate it with punishment, it would be a little freeing to see a teacher cede power so openly.

Michelle Kuo, “Letting go of English and other language stories”

Featured photo: The Whirlpool Aero Car travels across the Niagara Gorge on the border between Ontario, Canada and New York State, June 18, 2024.