This translation of Lan Bozhou’s groundbreaking 1987 narrative interview of two survivors of the White Terror provides a deeply personal look into the period of martial law and mass anti-communist violence in Taiwan. Lan traces the history of Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism—and its suppression by the KMT—in Taiwan through the biography of Dr. Guo Xiucong, a martyr of Taiwan’s martial law period.

Reflecting on Chinese company Lenovo’s controversial decision to back a U.S. 5G system standard in 2016, Chen Xianyi passionately describes a resurgent socialist ethos, encapsulated in the CPC’s call for common prosperity and the masses’ growing insistence on the role private capital must play in China’s socialist construction.

Originally anonymously published on Zuoyi23’s WeChat and Zhihu pages, this essay explores the rise and fall of the capitalist class in China. The author takes a critical look at how the relationship between the state and capital continues to shape the relationship between the capitalist and working classes in China—and how young workers are returning to Marxist critique to shape the future.

The political speech of the Chinese diaspora has a long history as a site of critique and co-optation by U.S empire and its enabling discourses. Amidst a new apex in Cold War Sinophobia, we trace the discursive circumscription of “overseas Chinese” as a political category, from Qing-era anti-colonialism to 20th century Cold War liberalism and beyond.

On the occasion of the 100 year anniversary of the Communist Party of China’s founding, we share comments solicited from our Weibo followers reflecting on the historic juncture.

Chinese blogger 红色卫士 (Red Defender) criticizes displays of national chauvinism during India’s COVID-19 pandemic, declaring the need for both critique of the right-wing Modi regime and solidarity with the working class and low-caste peoples who suffer most under this reactionary government.

Yu Kuang unpacks the tragic February 2021 Texas snowstorm through a socialist lens. Far from a “natural” disaster or an exceptional state failure, Yu reads the tragedy as the logical outcome of a superstitious U.S. devotion to small government, “state’s rights,” and the abdication of political responsibility under a diffused federalist system.  

Can fintech be corralled in service of China’s people-centered development? With Jack Ma’s Ant Group as a case study, Chinese blogger Li Xuran offers a compelling analysis of the role of capital in modern China. The halting of Ant’s bombshell IPO in November 2020, Li argues, must be seen in the context of the socialist state’s role in restraining the “wild beast” of capital for the sake of socialist development.

The 70th anniversary of China’s entrance into the Korean War bears new meaning amidst a renewed phase of “protracted war” against U.S. aggression.

To mark Vladimir Lenin’s 150th birthday, Chinese blogger Zi Qiu offers a Leninist analysis of the U.S. pandemic response, the nature of U.S. financial hegemony, and the parasitism of the U.S. capitalist class’s advances on China. 

Chinese leftist blog Jiliu (激流) investigates recent Black Lives Matter protests through a Marxist, data-driven lens that offers a dialectical approach to the question of race and class often missing in Western left-leaning debates.

The assumption that the US political system is "perfect" prevents systemic critiques of American liberalism and individualism pertinent to the country’s failed pandemic response, Chinese blogger Tu Zhuxi argues.

Puerto Rico provides a tragic case study of US imperial parasitism that fundamentally challenges the Hong Kong pro-democracy camp’s presumption that “Western imperialism’s colonial governments are not only ‘more free’ but also ‘more democratic.’”

Chinese novelist Qin Ling’s rich depiction of how one village, as part of the CPC’s national poverty eradication efforts, have transformed the “bitterest place under heaven” into a symbol of China’s ascent towards a “moderately prosperous society.”