Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

Thanks for joining me this week.

New Goodreads Reviews

Recommendations

China Stories

Chang Che, “‘I have to do it’: Why one of the world’s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China”

Beijing’s white paper on national security, published in May, pivots from emphasising the pre-eminence of internal and regime security to lauding China for having some of the world’s lowest crime, homicide and terrorism rates. China attributes much of that success to police technology and surveillance — which has enough public support that Chinese citizens watching the news of Charlie Kirk’s murder in Utah this month favourably compared their own surveillance state to the slow and initially ineffective US search for his killer.

— Sheena Chestnut Greitens, “How ‘Safe China’ Sells Its Security Strategy to the World”

Cathy Fan, “In This Ancient Chinese City, You Can’t Build a Subway Without Digging Up a Dynasty”

Jordyn Haime, “Taiwan Confronts its WWII Legacy”

Niharika Mandhana and Josh Chin, with illustrations by Alexandra Citrin-Safadi, “The Daring Caper of a Faithful Tibetan Who Outfoxed China”

Emily Matson, “Why Does China Care So Much about World War II?”

Vincent Ni, “‘Chinese Encounters with America’ argues U.S. and China lost shared interests”

Dalia Parete and Hsiaofan Su, “China’s Liberal Press and its Feminism Gap”

Andrew Stokols, “From Research Academy to State Venture Capitalist: The transformation of Chinese Academy of Sciences”

The phrase expresses a longing for an era when China’s economy was roaring ahead and, for many, optimism was almost second nature. It doubles as a commentary on the country’s mood today. It especially speaks to China’s younger generation, who are grappling with an economic slowdown, record youth unemployment and tighter social controls.

— Li Yuan, “China Is Longing for the ‘Beauty of the Boom Years’”

Wanderings Around the World

Tim Brinkhof, “How Japanese Anime Became a Global Protest Language”

Mark Condra, “Nepal’s Gen Z Revolution: A Foundation to Reform Government?”

Amelia Dhuga, “Inside Beirut’s Fight To Save Its Reading Culture”

Vandana Menon, “Nepal’s Youth Uprising Is Part of a South Asian Wave of Rebellion”

Featured photo: Valley Forge National Historical Park, September 25, 2016.