That's what I am saying. David Held first wrote Models of Democracy nearly 40 years ago. We have had the solutions for a long time.

Oooo. I hope I remember this for next year.

爱国有罪，你卖国有理吗？

youtube.com/clip/UgkxyjU...

Nineteenth-century painting by Philipp Foltz depicting the Athenian politician Pericles delivering his famous funeral oration in front of the Assembly.

Now out in OA: "Can Democracy be Rehabilitated?" by John Dunn (@thecambridgeschool.bsky.social): "[It] will be a heroic challenge... The stakes in meeting it are the possibility of democracy itself, a citizenry that has recovered the capacity to keep itself free" www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

I have added at least one lecture on the history of education to nearly all courses I teach now. Most of my students really don't know what college is for.

Teachers became teachers to make better citizens. Not to make workers.

And now, to see them outsourcing thinking to AI -- it is a crisis.

LIVE: China's Xi Jinping attends top political advisory body meeting YouTube video by Associated Press

Live video from the CPPCC

www.youtube.com/live/t7Wg2-u...

Interesting conversation. I've seen several "Africa vacation" shows and such in recent years. Clearly also marketing Africa to the domestic audience. Not sure if any of it is working. But I am curious to see where this will go - is Chinese Media satisfied with the results? What's the ultimate goal?

When there is a new book by a famous historian of modern China with many words about primary sources...

but then the whole book is only 180 pages, and barely even mentions the Third Force...

Well I still get to write my dissertation.

Now, if only I could access those archives... Something NEW!

CONFUCIUS AI - 儒家孔子 CONFUCIUS AI - 儒家孔子

And another

confucius.infinitiesai.com

You can also chat with Confucius if you like :D

36ba93.smartapps.baidu.com?_swebfr=1&_s...

"Our movement expresses the spirit of social justice. In this dark China, there is no effective law, and politics are so reactionary that a group of traitors can feel safe having numerous guards to protect them. People feel outraged but do not dare say anything." -- Luo Jialun, 1919

Lu Xun, "More Roses without Blooms" after the massacre of students in Beijing in March of 1926.

Resonating with anyone else out there????

"Twentieth-Century Chinese Historiography: One Hundred Years of Changes and Return of New Historiography and New Sinology" by Xuedian Wang and Feng Chen and translated by Liwen Li and Yunwei Wang has just been published!

Check it out here: brill.com/display/titl...

@degruyterbrill.bsky.social

And also, if work want students to be skilled they should pay them -- it's called on the job training. It is not the responsibility of a student to take out loans to get a piece of paper for a job. Education is not at all about work. It's about self betterment. I hate their argument entirely.

China’s Policy and Intellectual Debates | Sinification: January 2026 International Relations | Chinese Economy | Society and Governance | Technology

Great collection of quotes to stay up to date with the latest thinking

"Rethinking China’s Diplomatic and Economic Strategy | Digest: January 2026"

www.sinification.org/p/rethinking...

Is historical institutionalism bunk? Published in Review of International Political Economy (Vol. 17, No. 4, 2010)

Although there are critics as well.

"Is historical institutionalism bunk?"

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Historical Institutionalism and International Relations Anyone seeking to forward an historical-institutionalist agenda faces a basic problem: the approach doesn't have what many would consider a coherent core.

Coming from an IR background and now working on domestic Chinese constitutions and congresses, this is still relevant reading.

"Historical Institutionalism and International Relations"

www.e-ir.info/2012/04/16/h...

Epistrophy: Chinese Constitutionalism and the 1950s Imagine, for a moment, interpreting the American Constitution ignorant of The Federalist Papers, Marbury v. Madison, the New Deal, or the Warren Court. How would we comprehend English Common Law absen...

Why did the evolutionary socialist and liberal democratic ideas of the "Third Force" actually fail? Or was it that the institutions failed them?

"Epistrophy: Chinese Constitutionalism and the 1950s," by Glenn D. Tiffert

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

"Chinamaxxing" has come and gone in the past. Oftentimes the vibe quickly became belligerent, not infatuated. Sound familiar?

For many, many years people asked me why I study China. Now it's suddenly a big fad? Somebody tell the hiring managers!!!

Economic actors make economic decisions. #Marxism

Resolving to read more in 2026? We have you covered with five recommendations, from an essay collection of Tibet to a colloquial history of China’s hot-button issues.

Read editor Alec Ash's latest picks for the New China Books column: chinabooksreview.com/2026/01/13/n...

Canonizing Hu Yaobang: Memory, Discipline and Power in Xi Jinping’s China – chinaobservers On November 20, in Beijing ’ s Great Hall of the People, the Chinese Communist Party marked the 110th anniversary of Hu Yaobang ’ s birth. Xi Jinping ’ s decisi

What's the point?🤔By absorbing Hu into the official canon, Xi reassures #CCP elites while issuing a clear behavioral message: reform is allowed - but only within strict ideological boundaries. 👉 Read the full analysis: chinaobservers.eu/canonizing-h...

Democracy Without Liberalism? | Journal of Democracy We have long assumed democracy and liberalism went hand in hand. But in truth there have always been tensions between them, and the rise of illiberal democracy cannot be ignored.

We have long assumed democracy and liberalism went hand in hand. But in truth there have always been tensions between them, and the rise of illiberal democracy cannot be ignored.

31 December 2025 — Lao Shu at Year’s End The Other China  年終總結   In this chapter of The Other China, we join the artist Lao Shu as he bids adieu to the year 2025. For our farewell to 2024 and welcome to 2025, also

chinaheritage.net/journal/31-d...

Thanks for this insight. I haven't been following contemporary politics among the Democratic parties. But considering Xi Jinping having a lot more grey hair lately, this topic is worthy of consideration. When I am done writing my dissertation on the civil war period 民盟, this will be my next focus.

In the season of grading finals it is easy to lose sight of the fact that everything is progressing towards the ultimate goal.

These are the books that live on my desk. I stare at them everyday patiently waiting for the time when I can focus solely on them and nothing else.

Jin Guantao and the Authentic Mind Jin Guantao, “The Mentality of Many People Today Marks a Return to the 19th Century” [1]   Introduction and Translation by David Ownby   Introduction   Jin Guantao (b. 1947) is without a...

I just finished reading a stellar essay by Guantao Jin and Qingfeng Liu, titled: "From 'republicanism 'to 'democracy': China's selective adoption and reconstruction of modern Western political concepts (1840-1924)."

Then I found this:
www.readingthechinadream.com/jin-guantao-...

Two Thousand Years of Chinese History Were Directed and Starred by Ruffians Yi Zhongtian (易中天)

Two Thousand Years of Chinese History Were Directed and Starred by Ruffians by Yi Zhongtian (易中天)

ctexp.substack.com/p/two-thousa...

This is very similar to my PhD topic and I am super excited to read it.

Thanks for your hard work!!!

...

Zhang Xuecheng went further, arguing that, “Lying between heaven and earth, all writings are the study of history (shixue). The Six Classics are merely the work of the Sage [Confucius] selecting six kinds of history and presenting them as moral teachings. (via Shimada Keji)

More from Zhang Binglin (1908):

“for the independence of a national group (minzu), an initial study of its national essence (guicui) was essential. In national essence, history was the primary thing. Next to historical research, all the other scholarly disciplines were merely ordinary skills.”