Michael Szonyi

5/ Oh, and did I forget to mention: this week the author won the Nobel Prize.

4/ Well, the book is forthcoming, and last week I ordered an exam copy (legit, because I will assign it to my seminar next year).

3/ Or it might be interesting to write a review of the book when it came out, if only to discuss how a China historian could never get away with similar claims about the historiography of Europe.

2/ I thought it was amusing that he cited the work of several colleagues to make an argument that seemed to be diametrically opposed to what they were arguing.

1/ About a year ago I went to an interesting talk about Europe-China comparisons. I was disappointed that the speaker talked a lot about kinship in China without, apparently, having read my work.

情系母院，爱心捐赠 | 历史与文化遗产学院举行傅衣凌史学发展基金捐赠仪式 历史与文化遗产学院举行傅衣凌史学发展基金捐赠仪式

mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4bYXqBvk5w...

Reporting on Identity in Today's China: A Conversation with Emily Feng | CSIS Events Scott Kennedy hosts a virtual event with Emily Feng and expert panelists to discuss her new book, "Let Only Red Flowers Bloom," on identity and free expression in modern China.

www.csis.org/events/repor...

Gail Hershatter, Gao Xiaoxian: A Short Remembrance - positions politics I first met Gao Xiaoxian in 1992 at a conference at Peking University, but even before that I had heard about her extraordinary work with the Women’s Federation and her deep knowledge of life in the S...

"For me, she became the model of an ethical engaged scholar-activist, devoted to getting to the root of problems that continue to make women’s lives difficult, but also delighted by the variety and creativity that she found among women in the villages." positionspolitics.org/gail-hershat...

MSU college abruptly cancels Lunar New Year event, citing Trump DEI orders - The State News MSU cancelled an annual Lunar New Year celebration following new executive orders targeting DEI and concerns from students.

Obeying in advance — this is how the anaconda in the ceiling works in America. Cancel anything non-western, non-white
statenews.com/article/2025...

and an interview on why I think it is important: x.com/i/status/187...

A cool honor - "keys to the village" x.com/HolaFujian/s...

I’m always glad to be asked to name China books of the year by @fivebooks.com (as challenging as the selecting is—I see it as just picking 5 of the many recent worthy books on the topic broadly defined that I’d like more readers to know about). Here are my 2024 choices fivebooks.com/best-books/t...

Congratulations! Look forward to reading this

On the Agency of Environmental History Abstract. Twenty years ago, Walter Johnson warned historians not to rely on a concept that let both user and audience alike feel better without doing better. Th

A while back the great people at the Journal of Social History asked me to write a piece about agency and environmental history as part of a retrospective on Walter Johnson’s tremendous article. It’s now live in the world in case you need a nerd-read
#envhist #envhum
academic.oup.com/jsh/advance-...

The Milk Tea Alliance Why are activists in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Burma willing to court danger to help one another? The political situations in Burma, Thailand, and Hong Kong are radically different. Only Burma is in a ...

Book news, my short one that moves between Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Burma via profiles of activists and exiles, is in copy editing now, has a release date (June 10) & has a cover ( @columbiagr.bsky.social keeping up its tradition of eye catching covers here) indiepubs.com/products/the...

Comgratulations!

Remaking the Earth, Exhausting the People State-led conservation transformed Gansu's landscape—rural communities bore the costsFrom the 1940s to the 1960s, soil and water conservation measures tran...

The design department at @uwapress.bsky.social created a great cover. Forthcoming spring 2025.
uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

The most essential #China starter pack is our #PIPFellows: the next generation of American specialists on China in diverse fields, from U.S.-China subnational relations to technology in Sinophone theatre.

Check out the people we're following:
go.bsky.app/5QojsQC

I'll be speaking tomorrow about Kinmen/Quemoy with Oscar-nominated director Leo Chiang at the Freedom Crossing Film Festival. Details/online reg here: freedomcrossing.org

Some personal reflections about the Taiwan elections, and very thoughtful analysis by my brilliant
@FairbankCenter
colleagues: fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/research/blo...