We're pleased to announce a shortlist of five books for the Baifang Schell Book Prize in literature: the 2025 Award for Outstanding Literature from or on China or the Sinophone World — selected by an independent jury.
Read the shortlist: chinabooksreview.com/2026/03/31/s...
Come listen to my book talk (Chinese edition!) about my Dali book, 大理一年, to hear why people are leaving Chinese cities to move to the mountains. Sunday Apr 12, 6pm at Accent Sisters (right by Union Square, 89 5th ave 702), Luma link to register and support the venue, only $10: luma.com/042mtzx2
Read my translation of Fei Dao's sci-fi story "The Storytelling Robot" (plus a Q&A with the author) @chinabooksreview.com chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/18/s...
Last chance to register to listen to @danwwang talking about Chinese Engineers vs. US Lawyers and his NYT bestselling book "Breakneck" at @AsiaSocietyNYC tonight, I'm introducing for @chinabksreview! asiasociety.org/center-us-ch...
Thrilled to be featured in an interview on《大理一年》(Chinese edition of Mtns Are High) for the excellent 界面世界: jiemian.com/article/1322... and first podcast recording in Chinese for 忽左忽右 which was a treat: ximalaya.com/sound/909478...
This was a real question in the New York state pre-licensing course quiz to get a driver's license. There was no other information on the page. I'm stuck in the twilight zone.
A filthy archive pick from Paul French @chinarhyming.bluesky.social chinabooksreview.com/2025/07/22/archive-old-f...
“You cannot live in the world acting like the world is going to end in five years, even if it is, in fact, going to end in five years,” they said. “You’re just going to go insane.” great piece by @jcbeam www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/b...
For those in DC, come next Friday to JF Books to hear me talk about my Dali book (and upcoming Chinese edition of it) with Emily Feng
"The Chinese typewriter as an exotic impossibility is but one cultural manifestation of the long, charged debate over the relationship between modernity and the Chinese script."https://chinabooksreview.com/2025/04/17/chinese-type/
dammit nobody is being fooled by my photoshop skills
Shocking news
Did you wake up this morning wondering what Pontius Pilate has in common with Mao Zedong? Sure you did! Come to this @asiasocietyny event on Weds to feed the brainworm asiasociety.org/center-us-china-relation...
China Books Review: Read China Books Review, an award-winning digital magazine on all things China and bookish. Explore our reviews, essays, excerpts, profiles, podcast and book lists. Chinabooksreview.com Upcoming Book Talk: Emily Feng on Identity in Xi Jinping's China Tue Mar 25, 6:30pm Asia Society, New York
🔔🔔🔔Alert for those in NYC! Don’t miss @alecash.bsky.social's upcoming book talk at @asiasociety.org with @npr.org's @emilyzfeng.bsky.social about her new book “Let Only Red Flowers Bloom”
For more info visit: chinabooksreview.com
Link to tickets: asiasociety.org/center-us-ch...
Don't miss our upcoming book talk with NPR correspondent Emily Feng, discussing her book "Let Only Red Flowers Bloom," identity in Xi Jinping's China, and her own journey as a journalist – in conversation with China Books Review editor Alec Ash. Register now to secure your seat!
buff.ly/r73hVTg
We've updated our comprehensive listings of China books! Browse our lists of recent, upcoming and bestselling books, and editor's picks from the pack.
RECENT: buff.ly/GoD7XfJ
UPCOMING: buff.ly/kXWHeeJ
BESTSELLING: buff.ly/LN9brus
EDITOR'S PICKS: buff.ly/IGy1mGH
"According to Fulda, Germany’s relationship with China was shaped by decades of flourishing trade at the expense of its values." Michael Laha weighs in on Germany's China strategy at this critical moment, in our new review essay at @chinabksreview chinabooksreview.com/2025/03/06/g...
Discovered Zhang Chu's 1991 rock version of the 1957 red tune "Socialism is Good!" (社会主义好) - think Johnny Rotten - thanks to my conversation with Lijia Zhang on the China Books Podcast (ht @alexludoboyd.bsky.social):
www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Sk4...
Original: www.youtube.com/watch?v=By9n...
When I left China I was looking forward to not needing to show my ID and answer a hundred pointless questions whenever I entered a university campus. Now I live in America and have to do the same every time I enter Columbia University campus.
Finally giving up on X and trying to post more here, if only occasionally or cross-posted. Will mostly be a read account, to see if it can capture that magic of early Twitter
Thrilled to make it onto NPR's list of their fave books of 2024. "In this beautifully written book, Ash introduces us to [the urban escapees who] fittingly call Dali “Dalifornia,” for its chilled vibes." More press at alecash.net/the-mountain...
apps.npr.org/best-books/#...
yep. didn’t hear about the farm exploits. always wondered why he had it in for me, i’m just a freelancer not a big journo or bestseller
The same author (I'm 90% sure who it is) also posted a short story about me being raped by Xi Jinping, tho that got deleted from Reddit. "Xi Jinping pushed the boy's face into the jaws of the lion statue, grunting in exertion. ... "Come on you dirty little foreign expert. Give it to me.' "
Recently discovered this (pretty funny, if bitter and stalkery) 2017 piss-take of me and some of my friends, “Beijing’s Expat Brat Pack”. "Ash, who is only five foot two (157 cm), nonetheless stands as a vivid prototype of the expats he seems to lead." www.reddit.com/r/China/comm...