Wanqing Chen

p.s. we also read works of Gao Xiaoxian 高小贤 and Li Xiaojiang 李小江, two pioneering scholars in China’s gender studies who both passed away earlier this year. I’ll share more reading notes soon, and will also write an English piece on this topic.

系列｜北京“九五“世界妇女大会30周年（一）：共读《女性的反响》 关于三十年前在北京召开的最大国际会议，我们了解多少，记得多少？

This is the first piece (in chinese) in a series on what the last generation of Chinese feminist activists have done domestically and how China’s feminist movement has changed over the past three decades.
likeawildvine.substack.com/p/30

who took part in the conference. What touched us most was that how they reflected on china’s gender issues after connecting with women from around the world for the first time, and their writings are so genuine and personal.

系列｜北京“九五“世界妇女大会30周年（一）：共读《女性的反响》 关于三十年前在北京召开的最大国际会议，我们了解多少，记得多少？

last month I joined a Chinese reading club online+offline in London marking the 30th anniversary of UN fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. We read Reflections & Resonance (《女性的反响》), a collection of personal essays/letters published in 1995 by Chinese women who

Yes it’s me :( If you know of cool opportunities, please be in touch!

清零结束两年半，边城瑞丽的疫后复苏困局 经济下行，边防和移民管控收紧，缅甸持续内乱带来国际局势变化。瑞丽疫后复苏之路因此充满曲折。

And it’s also been published on WeChat - mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KdOmPLlc3g...

清零结束两年半，边城瑞丽的疫后复苏困局 2022年12月7日，国务院发布优化新冠疫情防控的“新十条”，标志着“动态清零”政策的结束。然而，刚从长期封城状态中挣脱的瑞丽，又面临着三重夹击：经济下行，边防和移民管控收紧，缅甸持续内乱带来国际局势变化。瑞丽疫后复苏之路因此充满曲折。

Read the story here - open.substack.com/pub/aquarius...

speaking with locals, migrants from across China, Burmese workers, and Rohingya people to explore how the pandemic has shaped their lives to this day, how they are seeking ways forward, and why it has been so difficult for this border hub to recover more than two years after reopening.

I spent two months working on a long-form story (in Chinese) in Ruili, a small city bordering Myanmar that has been battered by China’s strictest lockdowns and kept its border crossings closed from 2020 to 2022.
I stayed there for nearly a month,

i’ve always been thinking about new storytelling format on substack, and this is a tryout.

I recently visited a local “ghost market” in Kunming, Yunnan, and created this short visual story about the place and its people. Read more here: likeawildvine.substack.com/p/fun-stack-...

Notice from Fudan: 讣告 著名古文字学家、古文献学家、历史学家，第八、九、十届全国政协委员，第六、七、八届北京市政协委员，复旦大学文科杰出教授、出土文献与古文字研究中心教授裘锡圭先生，因病医治无效，于2025年5月8日1时45分，在上海新华医院逝世，终年90岁。 遵从裘锡圭教授意愿，不举行遗体告别仪式和任何形式的悼念 活动。 特此讣告 裘锡圭教授治丧工作小组 2025年5月8日

Qiu Xigui, who hand-wrote the first paleography textbook I ever used, has died at 90.

野生藤蔓 wild vine | Wanqing Chen | Substack let's make mistakes and keep creating. Click to read 野生藤蔓 wild vine, by Wanqing Chen, a Substack publication. Launched 7 hours ago.

If that sounds appealing to you, pls subscribe and support my work here. Thanks! likeawildvine.substack.com

grow like a wild vine｜如野藤般生长 let's make mistakes but keep creative. 试错，创作。

For more details about what this newsletter will look like, read this article here: likeawildvine.substack.com/p/grow-like-...

i.e. sometimes i will write in English, but for some pieces, i will write entirely in Chinese (no English translation) when i think they are better told in my mother tongue. But I guess this will sound fun for language enthusiasts (like me), and ai translators can help.

I’ve always desired a space to write some non-newsy but fun and nuanced stories, so I launched this substack. Here I will share personal narratives and local stories from China and beyond, with no set patterns. Please note that this will be a bilingual newsletter.

hello, my bluesky friends. Between all the news about trump and tariffs, I’d like to share my substack called “wild vine” here.
After freelancing, I’ve traveled a lot in China this year from Hubei to Shanghai, Yunnan, Guangdong, Sichuan, meeting a wide range of strangers, friends, and scholars.