Coal Hill, Peking, c.1920s

HistFest 2026 | British Library From Ancient Greek naval commanders and Egyptian queens to the history of motherhood and LGBTQ+ social histories – this year, we bring you a raft of fascin

We still have a few tickets available for this weekend's @histfest.bsky.social at the British Library! Day passes are £35 for all four events, AMAZING £12/18 tiers available for students and general youths!!!

Discount if you book both days!

SO MUCH GOOD HISTORY:

events.bl.uk/events/histf...

Glad to hear some things don’t change

Absolutely etched on my memory!

The poplars (Populus tomentosa) that produce these seed clusters were planted in the 1960s and 70s when Beijing suffered from such severe dust storms the city was on the brink of desertification.
The female trees (which vastly outnumber the male) produce about a kilogram of this white fluff.

#China #archive #photography #filmphotography #35mm #monochrome

'Mount Tai engraving of 1954 Mao Zedong quotation'*

Taishan 泰山, May 1980

📷© @gblee.bsky.social

*The core force leading our cause is the Communist Party of China. The theoretical foundation guiding our thinking is Marxism-Leninism.

It seems the Strait of Hormuz is on its way to becoming the nautical equivalent of Schrödinger’s cat

Cow with a view

Shanghai - Yale University Press London A comprehensive new history of Shanghai, revealing its vital place in Chinese history and politics across the centuries   Home to 25 million people, Sha...

On holiday and desperately trying to distract myself from the mad king, I am thoroughly enjoying Michael Dillon’s new book on Shanghai from @yalepress.bsky.social

yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

Losing contact with the Earth for 40 minutes sounds ideal

Extremely pricey now if I recall rightly?

Trump has now reached the banquet scene stage of Macbeth’s mental derangement, obviously mad whilst others call his insanity but a ‘thing of custom’

For mine own good,
All causes shall give way. I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.

The biggest story in the world right now is that the president of the United States is a demented old man who takes pleasure in torturing and killing people and is committing crimes with impunity. And yet most legacy media outlets are too cowardly to tell it like it is.

Happy Easter from west Wales!

‘City of Parasites’ or ‘Glamorous Metropolis’? China’s Cosmopolitan Contradiction.

"While Shanghai embodied everything the Communist Party hated — capitalism and imperialism — it also showcased China’s early mastery of modern ways." Andrew Higgins takes a look at preserved and reworked architecture from early 20th-century Shanghai.

Shortlist: 2025 Nonfiction Award | China Books Review Announcing the jury’s shortlist of five books for the Baifang Schell Book Prize: Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Book on China or the Sinophone World.

My sense was that it hadn’t been a great year for China NF, but this is an excellent shortlist. I recently heard Michael Dobson talk on Shakespeare’s power in Ukraine; Nan Z Da’s book also echoes Jonson’s idea that he was ‘not of an age but for all time’.

chinabooksreview.com/2026/04/02/s...

What a difference to the old days - can still taste the diesel smoke!

Sad to see this. My first teapot was a Denby. They’ve been going for over 200 years and employ 500+ people.

They’ve launched a #SaveDenby campaign if you want to support or share.

www.denbypottery.com/pages/save-d...

In Dali, got my bike, some Yunnan coffee and the route guide … and great weather 😃

I have a chapter in this volume: "Portable Penguins? On the History of Penguin Eggs"

Antarctic Materialities | Berghahn Books Independent Publishing since 1994

Officially on the @berghahnbooks.bsky.social website: "Antarctic Materialities," which I co-edited with Ximena Senatore, featuring chapters by @medievalpenguin.bsky.social, @fwinckel.bsky.social, @sarahmpicks.bsky.social and more! #histsci #envhist #polar
www.berghahnbooks.com/title/McCahe...

中国卷烟博物馆 · Chinese Cigarette Museum The only comprehensive English-language archive of Chinese cigarettes — 3,200+ SKUs across 200+ brands with pack imagery, specs, pricing, and ratings. Browse Zhonghua, Panda, Liqun, Yellow Crane Tower...

‘I've been fascinated by Chinese cigarettes for years — the sheer variety of pack artwork, the regional brands, the history embedded in each design. Walking through a Chinese convenience store is like visiting a gallery.’
Have a browse of the Chinese Cigarette Museum: www.ciggies.app

中国卷烟博物馆 · Chinese Cigarette Museum The only comprehensive English-language archive of Chinese cigarettes — 3,200+ SKUs across 200+ brands with pack imagery, specs, pricing, and ratings. Browse Zhonghua, Panda, Liqun, Yellow Crane Tower...

‘I've been fascinated by Chinese cigarettes for years — the sheer variety of pack artwork, the regional brands, the history embedded in each design. Walking through a Chinese convenience store is like visiting a gallery.’
Have a browse of the Chinese Cigarette Museum: www.ciggies.app

How Communism Won China | China Books Review The CCP presents its victory in 1949 as historical inevitability, hard-won after years of struggle. A new book suggests it had more to do with the Soviets, luck and brutal tactics — but overlooks some...

‘Feign, lie, deceive, retreat, hit, run, sabotage; view everything as a means to achieving the end.’
Frank Dikotter on how the CCP prevailed in China’s civil war - long essay by me on his new book in the @chinabooksreview.com

chinabooksreview.com/2026/03/05/h...

Postcard of the ‘South-east tower of the Tartar city’, or Dongbianmen, 1901, after the Boxer Uprising and arrival of the Eight Nation Alliance.

Good book post today: Cultural Mavericks by Zheng Liu (on the business and politics of independent bookselling in China) and Parallel Journeys: Eurasian history through Travelers’ Eyes.

Read Jonathan Chatwin's review essay on Frank Dikötter's Red Dawn Over China: chinabooksreview.com/2026/03/05/h...

The CCP presents its victory in 1949 as historical inevitability. A new book suggests it had more to do with the Soviets, luck and brutal tactics — but overlooks some other key context.

Read Jonathan Chatwin's review of Red Dawn Over China: chinabooksreview.com/2026/03/05/h...

How Communism Won China | China Books Review The CCP presents its victory in 1949 as historical inevitability, hard-won after years of struggle. A new book suggests it had more to do with the Soviets, luck and brutal tactics — but overlooks some...

My piece for the China Books Review on how communism won - a long essay on Frank Dikotter’s new book, ‘Red Dawn over China’.

chinabooksreview.com/2026/03/05/h...

Sorry for your loss Mike; that must be incredibly tough.