Chun Han Wong

China Ups Surveillance of Troubled People to Quell Rising Unrest The Communist Party’s new ‘society work’ agency helps with emotional and economic setbacks while monitoring dissatisfied people.

An in-depth @wsj.com look at how China’s Communist Party tries to tackle rising unrest with a new Central Society Work Dept that helps and surveils left-behind communities and social castoffs, using social-control tools to ensure public order. w/ @shen-lu.bsky.social
www.wsj.com/world/china/...

A year ago, China's Communist Party issued new rules against red tape and excessive bureaucracy, as part of Xi Jinping's crackdown on "formalism" that @wsj.com wrote about last year. The full directive has now been made public.

See: www.gov.cn/zhengce/2025... and www.news.cn/government/2...

A Buddhist Monk’s Alleged Indulgence in Money and Sex Transfixes China An official probe into the jet-setting abbot of China’s Shaolin Temple has fueled cynicism about capitalism and religion.

An investigation into the longtime abbot of China's Shaolin Temple, accused of financial and sexual misconduct, is fueling cynicism over perceived moral decay in religious institutions. One comment left on the abbot's most recent Weibo post says, “If you don’t descend into hell, who will?”

China’s Xi Gives Up Air Miles for More Time at Home The leader has scaled back travel plans and skipped some key summits, but continues active diplomacy—as a host.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping isn’t quite the frequent flier he used to be. The most well-traveled leader in China’s history has reduced his international journeys in recent years, but he continues active diplomacy—as a host.

A @wsj.com analysis on Xi's travel patterns since he took power in late 2012.

A Family Feud Is Rocking One of the World’s Richest Hotel Dynasties As the elder son, Sherman Kwek was the chosen successor at a Singapore real-estate empire. Then he tried to push out his billionaire father’s adviser, a Juilliard-trained pianist.

As the elder son, Sherman Kwek was the chosen successor at a Singapore real-estate empire. Then he tried to push out his billionaire father’s adviser, a Juilliard-trained pianist.

A @wsj.com yarn on the boardroom drama that has engulfed City Developments and its revered chairman, Kwek Leng Beng.

China’s Communist Party Now Has 100 Million Members. Many Are in It for the Paycheck. In a sluggish economy, membership is seen as a path to a stable state-sector income.

As China grapples with a sluggish economy where the private sector isn’t creating enough jobs, the government is getting a boost. Millions are trying to join a political party that is more populous than most countries and secure jobs in the vast bureaucracy that it runs.

Xi Targets Petty Corruption on a Giant Scale to Soothe China’s Masses The Chinese leader is battling petty corruption through a nationwide campaign that has swept up more than half a million low-level officials over the past year.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is battling petty corruption as Beijing grapples with rising public resentment over a sagging economy. Over the past year, the campaign has snared more than 500,000 low-level officials and state workers—known as ‘flies and ants’—for graft affecting ordinary citizens.

Update: The Atlantic Council has now received notification from the State Dept formally terminating several China-focused research and capacity-building projects. “We are currently assessing the impact of this loss of funding on our ability to continue this work,” Atlantic Council says.

U.S. Foreign-Aid Halt Is Making Scrutiny of China Even Harder A funding freeze is rocking nonprofits that collected increasingly scarce information in a country that Trump has deemed a competitor.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, is already one of the most impenetrable countries. Now, the Trump administration’s move to suspend foreign aid is starting to derail nonprofit efforts to unearth data on business and social trends—which was already hard to track. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Xi Is Trying to Secure the Devotion of China’s Military After the Chinese leader purged dozens of military commanders, he launched a new indoctrination campaign.

Amid a broad purge of China's defense establishment, Xi Jinping is trying to secure the loyalty of the People's Liberation Army through political indoctrination, using study sessions and red pilgrimages to reshape the minds of 2 million soldiers, sailors and airmen. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Xi Tells Officials Scared of Being Purged: It’s OK to Make Mistakes Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s decree to the Communist Party: Enforcing strict discipline shouldn’t fuel a climate of fear that saps the can-do spirit that once helped power China’s economic rise.

Xi's decree: Enforcing strict discipline shouldn’t fuel a climate of fear that saps the can-do spirit that powered China’s rise. The Communist Party should “combine strict control with loving care,” Xi says, to “encourage cadres to forge ahead and be enterprising.” www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Xi Tells Officials Scared of Being Purged: It’s OK to Make Mistakes Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s decree to the Communist Party: Enforcing strict discipline shouldn’t fuel a climate of fear that saps the can-do spirit that once helped power China’s economic rise.

Xi Jinping's war on corruption has punished officials in record numbers and left many cadres too fearful to act. With China's stagnating economy on the line, Xi wants to reinvigorate the Communist Party by promoting the message that some mistakes are acceptable.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...

China Reins In Its Once-Freewheeling Finance Sector With Purges and Pay Cuts Xi’s campaign against capitalist excess ushers out internationally experienced financiers for a new generation of loyal functionaries.

Xi Jinping is bringing China’s financial sector to heel, one banker at a time. Through purges, pay cuts and political study sessions, he is ushering in a new generation of loyal functionaries willing to carry out Communist Party edicts and disavow capitalist excess.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...

China Races to Squelch Unrest as Signs of Economic Malaise Spread Knife attacks and car rammings have officials unnerved about widespread societal discontent.

Faced with rising social frustrations and public unrest, China’s leaders are ramping up security measures and squelching discordant views on the country’s economic health. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun appeared in Shanghai on Dec. 5, at a symposium on the security situation in the Gulf of Guinea, where he met heads of visiting delegations.
www.mod.gov.cn/gfbw/qwfb/16...

Chinese Journalist Sentenced to Seven Years on Spy Charges Dong Yuyu is a liberal voice who had engaged frequently with diplomats, scholars and journalists from the U.S. and Japan.

A Chinese court sentenced Dong Yuyu, a veteran journalist at state-run Guangming Daily, to 7 years‘ jail on espionage charges, a case his family described as an effort to deter dissent and unsanctioned exchanges with foreigners. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

China Targets Senior Admiral in New Round of Defense Purges The investigation into Adm. Miao Hua, a protégé of leader Xi Jinping, follows a spate of disciplinary cases that have targeted senior military officials.

Admiral Miao Hua, a Central Military Commission member who oversaw PLA political indoctrination, is under investigation for alleged disciplinary violations. A Xi protégé, Miao is the latest scalp in a high-level antigraft purge rocking Beijing’s defense establishment. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

China’s Plan B to Save the Economy: A Crusade Against Busywork When China’s top leaders pledged to act more aggressively to stimulate economic growth, they rounded off their remedies with a political order: Have fewer meetings and cut the busywork.

China’s Plan B to Save the Economy: A Crusade Against Busywork. While growth stutters, the Communist Party steps up a long-running campaign to curb excessive bureaucracy and liberate officials from drudgery. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

The Chinese intelligence agency accused of likely steering vast cyberattacks on the U.S. has made rapid gains in power and profile, driven by China’s Minister of State Security, Chen Yixin, whom Xi Jinping put in charge of Beijing’s espionage efforts against the West. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

#PartyOfOne is now available in Dutch, published by Uitgeverij Prometheus under the title “Eenmanspartij.”
uitgeverijprometheus.nl/boeken/eenma...

Xi Jinping: The Man, the System, the Icon A review of Chun Han Wong, “Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China’s Superpower Future” (Simon & Schuster, 2023)

"In explaining how Xi has become both system and icon in Chinese politics, Wong therefore underscores the importance of Xi’s transformative leadership for understanding China’s ultimate superpower ambitions."
@jagevans.bsky.social reviews @chunhanwong.bsky.social's "Party of One."

China's quest to produce an official history of the Qing dynasty falls into limbo, as the ideological tightening under Xi Jinping further sets back the publication of the epic tome already more than a decade overdue.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...

My WSJ colleague Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia a year ago. That’s 52 weeks of his life that he cannot get back—unlived moments he couldn’t experience and untold stories he couldn’t write. We call for his immediate release. #IStandWithEvan
www.wsj.com/world/russia...

My colleague Evan Gershkovich has been arbitrarily detained in Russia for 44 weeks. We at the WSJ continue to call for his immediate release.
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
#IStandWithEvan

China’s Xi Is Resurrecting Mao’s ‘Continuous Revolution’ With a Twist The Chinese leader has made his corruption purge—with millions punished—a pillar of his rule. It risks paralyzing his party.

China's rulers have long used anticorruption campaigns to consolidate power. Xi Jinping is tying his authority to a new variation: a purge that never ends. For, as he argues, only a continual cleansing can ensure the party remains potent and pure.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...

My colleague Evan Gershkovich has been detained in Russia for 250 days. We at @wsj continue to call for his immediate release. #IStandWithEvan

Weekend - Aid agencies say Gaza fuel deliveries do not go far enough - BBC Sounds Aid groups say allowing two fuel trucks a day won't remove the threat of starvation

Spoke to BBC World Service’s Weekend programme about Xi Jinping’s leadership and #PartyOfOne. The segment starts at the 41m 30s mark of the episode linked below. Feel free to tune in!
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

It’s been 31 weeks since our colleague @evangershkovich was arbitrarily detained in Russia. We at @wsj continue to call for his immediate release. #IStandWithEvan

Book Event - Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China's Superpower Future | CSIS Please join the Freeman Chair in China Studies for a roundtable discussion on the new book, Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China's Superpower Future, featuring author Chun Han Wong, Neil Tho...

Discussed #PartyOfOne with some esteemed China watchers in a book talk hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Many thanks to Jude Blanchette, Neil Thomas and Sheena Chestnut Greitens for the very insightful and thought-provoking conversation!
www.csis.org/events/book-...