Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

Thanks for joining me this week.

Recommendations

China Stories

Helen Davidson and Chi-hui Lin, “Taiwan’s next generation takes on its fear of the deep”

Howard W. French, “What China Got Right About Big Tech”

In 2023 alone, over 55 million tourists were reported to have visited Tibet—more than 15 times the Tibetan population. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) latest five-year plan for the region promises to expand tourism even further. Tibet is now seen in the Chinese popular imagination as the spiritual and ecological heart of the country, even if many Tibetans still object to China’s presence and strive for Tibetan self-governance.

— Judith Hertog, “How Tourism Trapped Tibet”

Mara Hvistendahl, “As Washington Unveils Pandas, China Cracks Down on Their Biggest Fans”

Tiffany May, Isabella Qian, and Suhasini Raj, “China’s Large and Mysterious Dam Project Is Alarming Neighbors and Experts”

Alexandra Stevenson and Zixu Wang, “In China, Rare Dissent Over a Program to Save on Drug Costs”

Zha Jianying, “Trains: A Chinese Family History of Railway Journeys, Exile, and Survival — Part III”

Wanderings Around the World

When the coffin was brought back into the street, the procession moved on toward the walled Old City, at the heart of Damascus. By now, mourners filled the street, and the mood was cathartic: people chanted and yelled, and a few fired shots into the air. Many held up phones and filmed as they walked. It was the first time in thirteen years that they had been able to celebrate a dissident without being arrested, or even fired on by snipers. Hamada’s death, paradoxically, had provided some of his countrymen with a first breath of freedom.

— Jon Lee Anderson, “A Witness in Assad’s Dungeons”

John Delury, “Can South Korea’s Democracy Survive?”

Emily Feng and Jawad Rizkallah, “Syria’s new government is trying to rebuild. First it must keep the lights on”

Oz Katerji, “Hope Won in Syria”

Cristina Maza, “‘We’ve lost hope’: Afghans who helped U.S. forces stranded under Trump’s refugee ban”

Suhasini Raj, with photographs by Atul Loke, “India, a Big Source of Illegal Migration, Hopes to Navigate the Trump Storm”

Each of us needs to stand on principle, loudly, whenever, wherever we can. Used strategically, our voices can do a lot to preserve anti-authoritarian worldviews about facts, science, history, rights, justice and inclusion. In this moment, it matters to just be a person who, wherever the opportunity arises, affirms that the climate crisis is real and climate solutions benefit us all, immigrants are vital to our economy and their rights matter, trans people harm no one by their existence but face terrible harm, diversity strengthens enterprises and communities and our country, women’s rights and equality should be non-negotiable.

— Rebecca Solnit, “Fighting for justice doesn’t have to be a big dramatic act. It can be small”

Yaroslav Trofimov, with photographs by Manu Brabo, “On the Ground in Palmyra, Where a Syrian Archaeological Gem Hopes for a Revival”

Chloe Veltman, “A museum’s confession: Why we have looted objects”

Standout Story

Much of the world did not properly grasp what was happening in Syria. The regime and its allies maintained that the uprising was the work of foreign powers, sectarian elements and armed gangs who were trying to oust a popular secular leader. Disinformation was rampant, and even many well-intentioned commentators described what was happening in terms of a global cast of characters behind the unrest: Russia, Iran, the United States, Turkey, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State. Syrians, when mentioned, were usually described in terms of foreign-sponsored sects, factions, fighting groups, victims or refugees. The idea that they might be protagonists in their lives and not just pawns in geopolitical jockeying was lost.

— Alia Malek, “What Did the World Learn from Syria?”

Feature photo: Lion Dance, traditionally performed during Chinese New Year celebrations, at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference in Boston, MA, March 18, 2023.