Jonathan Chatwin

In a very drizzly Oxford for my talk on Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour- open to all!

China Centre Talks: The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China’s Future

Anyone in Oxford or vicinity: I’m talking about Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour at the Oxford China Centre this Wednesday. Free and open to all.
www.ccsp.ox.ac.uk/event/china-...

The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China’s Future Jonathan Chatwin's book, The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China’s Future, explores Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour and the mythology around it. Drawing on archival sources, conte...

I’m looking forward to speaking again at the University of Oxford China Centre on Wednesday 29th October about Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour; the event is free and open to all.

@bloomsburyacad.bsky.social

talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/2be...

The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China’s Future Jonathan Chatwin's book, The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China’s Future, explores Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour and the mythology around it. Drawing on archival sources, conte...

I’m looking forward to speaking again at the University of Oxford China Centre on Wednesday 29th October about Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour; the event is free and open to all.

@bloomsburyacad.bsky.social

talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/2be...

From Robert Suettinger’s book on Hu Yaobang I learned that Hu, like Deng Xiaoping, preferred to live outside the confines of Zhongnanhai. Hu’s house was at 会计司胡同25号; now gated off from public view. There is apparently a reproduction somewhere in his home province of Hunan…

The Flying Tigers (American Volunteer Group) were U.S. pilots recruited in 1941 to aid China before America’s entry into WWII. Based in Yunnan, they flew Curtiss P-40s against Japan. Photos from Harrison Forman’s 1942 series show Col. Claire Chennault and pilot R.T. Smith at Kunming.

“The Party’s Interests Come First” by Joseph Torigian Writers have long found it useful to approach the tumult of modern China through the lives of those leaders born around or shortly after the turn of the twentieth century: men whose careers stretch…

“In particular, Torigian’s account of his life invites the question: why would anyone remain so dedicated to an institution that has treated you so badly?”

My review in the @asianreviewofbooks.bsky.social of ‘The Party’s Interests Come First’

asianreviewofbooks.com/the-partys-i...

“The Party’s Interests Come First” by Joseph Torigian Writers have long found it useful to approach the tumult of modern China through the lives of those leaders born around or shortly after the turn of the twentieth century: men whose careers stretch…

I love a doorstop CCP biog, and Joseph Torigian’s new book on Xi Zhongxun is a fascinating addition to the genre that offers insight into the party, his life - and of course, his son.

asianreviewofbooks.com/the-partys-i...

Today in the ARB: @jmchatwin.bsky.social reviews “The Party’s Interests Come First” by Joseph Torigian @stanfordpress.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/the-partys-i...

In March 1990, Deng Xiaoping invoked Mount Tai before Party leaders: “No matter how the international situation changes, so long as we can ensure appropriate economic growth, we shall stand firm as Mount Tai.” 1/3

Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to... Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research

I’ve used these archives and the BBC’s explanation of how they are changing access is just nonsense marketing speak. The only way to run an archive like this is to allow access based on specific queries.

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Others climbed for perspective. Confucius said from its peak “the world looked small.” The Tang poet Du Fu vowed: “One day I shall reach its highest peak / And hold the mountains below in a single glance.”
(Photo from the Splendid China Miniature Park, Shenzhen)

www.amazon.co.uk/Southern-Tou...

From the Qin onwards, rulers made pilgrimages to Taishan. Qin Shihuang performed the fengshan sacrifices there; Han emperors offered jade and silk at its altars; Tang Xuanzong left stone inscriptions on the slopes. 2/3

In March 1990, Deng Xiaoping invoked Mount Tai before Party leaders: “No matter how the international situation changes, so long as we can ensure appropriate economic growth, we shall stand firm as Mount Tai.” 1/3

The Great Wall at Shanxi Province, c.1923 by photographer RE Baber

On 19 Jan 1992, Deng Xiaoping stepped off the train in Shenzhen. After greetings from local officials, he was driven to the Shenzhen Guesthouse. His villa had just been refurbished: cream furnishings, floral fabrics, and a large desk with inkstone + brushes laid out. 1/3

Soon he was on the road. Where he’d once seen rice fields + fishponds, Shenzhen was now highways and towers of glass. In 1984 the SEZ had <350k people; by 1992, >1m. In the wider city: 2.3m. “Shenzhen is developing so fast. It exceeds my expectations.” 3/3

www.amazon.co.uk/Southern-Tou...

Eight years earlier, on a 1984 visit, Deng had written the line: “The development and experience of Shenzhen prove that our policy of establishing the Special Economic Zones is correct.” That inscription was a crucial endorsement at a tricky time for the SEZs. 2/3

On 19 Jan 1992, Deng Xiaoping stepped off the train in Shenzhen. After greetings from local officials, he was driven to the Shenzhen Guesthouse. His villa had just been refurbished: cream furnishings, floral fabrics, and a large desk with inkstone + brushes laid out. 1/3

Glad to hear it!

The one on the plaza, also pretty run down if memory serves. Fridge full of slightly warm Yanjing & Tsingtao (plus Hoegaarden for the more discerning drinker)

Goodness me, Amilal takes me back. What was that run down pool place by Gulou called? I think @alecash.net hustled me out of some RMB there

An excellent piece—and equally true of literary travel writing about China, which has all but disappeared in recent years.

Yankai, Yunnan, ca 1943-45: A farmer poses with hoe in hand, wearing a well-worn leather cap unusual for the region. He was particularly proud of his beard, noted photographer Bert Krawczyk.

Jane Gardam: The Old Filth Trilogy | China Books Review A clever skewering of British colonials in pre-handover Hong Kong became a best-seller for its portrait of imperial ruin and class jockeying.

Thanks to China Books Review for the chance to write about (the sadly recently passed) Jane Gardam and her excellent Old Filth trilogy about colonial Hong Kong which, if you haven't read you really should....
chinabooksreview.com/2025/07/22/a...

Snow in Yunnan: Winter 1943–45. Locals insisted it be photographed—first snow in years. Rust-red earth, dark trees, wooden carts: a brief, surreal scene “like a Currier and Ives print,” noted US Army photographer Bert Krawczyk.

Precarious crossing: Frederic W. Carey, HM Customs officer, photographed life in Yunnan (1896–1902) while stationed in Szemao (Simao, in southern Yunnan).

University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: FC01-07

Liang Qichao: Reformer or Revolutionary? | China Books Review The legacy of the late Qing era intellectual, once exiled in Japan, is overlooked in the West. A new collection of his essays shows a revolutionary spirit that is still alive in dissidents abroad toda...

I wrote about Liang Qichao as a thinker, reformer, exile & influence on Mao & Lu Xun & others for @chinabksreview.bsky.social (thanks at @alexludoboyd.bsky.social for the well thought out initial big edits & @alecash.net for the good final polishing ones) chinabooksreview.com/2025/07/17/l...

Mist rolling off the Doom bar this morning.

University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: FD-s223