Yangyang Cheng

Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’

Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’

Episode 6 | Hong Kong in Protest, Redux In 2019, more than a million people poured onto the streets of Hong Kong, with many returning week after week. The song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ soon emerged as the movement’s unofficial anthem. What bega...

Great to get to talk about Hong Kong in 2019 & after with Ching Kwan Lee, author of the important new @harvardpress.bsky.social book Forever Hong Kong, podcast moderated expertly by @yangyangcheng.bsky.social for @madeinchinajournal.com madeinchinajournal.com/2025/11/24/e...

Episode 6 | Hong Kong in Protest, Redux In 2019, more than a million people poured onto the streets of Hong Kong, with many returning week after week. The song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ soon emerged as the movement’s unofficial anthem. What bega...

|| NEW EPISODE || Six years after Hong Kong’s mass protests, @yangyangcheng.bsky.social talks with sociologist Ching Kwan Lee and historian @jwassers.bsky.social about the struggle’s enduring significance, its transnational afterlives, and what it teaches us amid today’s democratic backsliding.

Nominate up to three titles for the 2025 Baifang Schell Book Prize: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/p...

Last year the jury selected at the "Edge of Empire" by Edward Wong as the winner in Nonfiction and "Taiwan Travelogue" by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (author) and Lin King (translator) in Literature.

Check out @nuvoices.bsky.social virtual writing workshop: Writing Across Borders with essayist and academic @yangyangcheng.bsky.social!

This workshop will examine the limitations of the dominant discourse on China, and discuss how to write against and beyond state-centric frameworks.

On official UC letterhead: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA James B. Milliken President Office of the President 1111 Franklin Street Oakland, CA 94607 universityofcalifornia.edu CAMPUSES Berkeley Davis Irvine UCLA Merced Riverside San Diego San Francisco Santa Barbara Santa Cruz MEDICAL CENTERS Davis Irvine UCLA San Diego San Francisco NATIONAL LABORATORIES Lawrence Berkeley Lawrence Livermore Los Alamos DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES November 18, 2025 Dear Chancellors: I'm writing with regard to the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) and the program's associated faculty hiring incentive. As you know, for more than 40 years, PPFP has provided postdoctoral research fellowships, professional development, and faculty mentoring to scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service advance the academic and research missions of the University of California. Since 2003, UC campuses that hire current and former PPFP fellows into ladder-rank positions have been eligible for a hiring incentive funded by the University that provides support for newly hired fellows for five years. Since the creation of the incentive, more than $162 million has been invested by the University to support PPFP faculty hires. This commitment has enabled our campuses to successfully recruit and retain outstanding faculty across a range of disciplines. Given the myriad challenges currently facing UC - including disruptions to billions of dollars in annual federal support, as well as uncertainty around the state budget- reasonable questions were raised in recent months about whether the University could maintain the commitment to current levels of incentive funding. After considering a recommendation to sunset the incentive program due to these significant fiscal constraints, I consulted with all of you as well as faculty and campus academic administrators and systemwide Academic Senate leadership. [continued on next image]

After learning more about the history and success of the program and weighing the thoughtful perspectives that have been shared, I have concluded that barring extraordinary financial setbacks, the PPFP faculty hiring incentive program will continue while the University continues to assess the program's structure as well as its long-term financial sustainability. As a result of our continuing consultation and review, there may be consideration of some changes to elements of the program including the total number of incentives supported, a number that has fluctuated significantly over the years, and how the awards are distributed among campuses. In the meantime, the University will continue to fund the PPFP faculty hiring incentive program and campuses may continue to take advantage of these incentives. We will have an opportunity to discuss any potential changes prior to adoption. As we look to the future, I will continue to engage with faculty leaders, program stakeholders, and UC community members about this important program. I especially appreciate the thoughtful perspectives shared in recent weeks by Academic Council Chair Palazoglu and Vice Chair Scott, the Council of Graduate Deans, UC faculty members, and you as our campus leaders. Sincerely, James B. Milliken President

WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)

Alice Wong on Instagram: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it ... 423 likes, 73 comments - alicatsamurai on November 14, 2025: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the t...

I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.

Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...

It’s been a pleasure working with Lex and everyone in the politics vertical at Teen Vogue. I’m heartbroken that my column, Disability Visibility, is gone. Teen Vogue was one of the few places that published disabled journalists regularly. I just spent the last 2 months working on my next column

Statement from The NewsGuild of New York and Condé United on illegal firing of four union leaders who demanded answers about this week’s layoffs at Teen Vogue, other brands Late Wednesday night, Condé Nast’s VP of Labor Relations notified the Guild that the Company was immediately terminating four Condé United leaders for engaging in the protected concerted activity of gathering in their 1 World Trade Center office to demand answers on this week’s abrupt layoffs at multiple brands including WIRED and the consolidation at Teen Vogue. These egregious terminations are a flagrant breach of the Just Cause terms of our contract and an unprecedented violation of their federally protected rights as union members to participate in a collective action. Through these illegal terminations, Condé Nast management is attempting to intimidate and silence our members' advocacy for the courageous cultural and political journalism of Teen Vogue, as well as diverting attention away from the obvious lack of corporate leadership at the company. Condé United members illegally fired are: Alma Avalle: Writer, digital producer at Bon Appetit; NewsGuild of New York first vice president, trans activist, and union leader Jake Lahut: Wired senior reporter covering the Trump White House Jasper Lo: Senior fact checker at The New Yorker and US Army veteran: outgoing first vice chair of The New Yorker Union Ben Dewey: Videographer at Condé Nast Entertainment, former vice chair of the CNE unit “Management’s attempt at union-busting, using intimidation and grossly illegal tactics to try to suppress protected union activity, will not stand,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “The NewsGuild of New York has zero tolerance for bad bosses who harass, target and disrespect our fellow Guild members. We represent nearly 6,000 media workers across the tri-state area and we stand firmly in solidarity, ready to fight for the rights of our members illegally fired from their jobs at …

Breaking News: Late last night Conde Nast illegally fired 4 union organizers who asked company execs to explain the downsizing of Teen Vogue and continued layoffs. We’ve filed a grievance.

“What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight.” —Mike Davis

I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.

certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.

Thank you!

Cover of “233 Celsius” by Ray Bradbury

The first (1955) Danish edition of Ray Bradbury’s FAHRENHEIT 451. Later editions did not convert the title, so this is the only SI-compatible edition! 🎢

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Episode 5 | Labour and (De)Industrialisation in East Asia | Made in China Journal Over the past few years, industrial policy and manufacturing capacity, especially in the high-tech sector, have been at the centre of great power rivalry between the United States and China. The White...

Beyond the headlines, why did manufacturing move to East Asia, who are the workers, and what are the social costs? I'm so honored to have Anru Lee and Ya-Wen Lei on Ep.5 of 开门见山 | Gateway to Global China @madeinchinajournal.com to discuss gender, labor, and (de)industrialization in China and Taiwan:

ALL HALLOWS' EVE In the great silence of my favorite month, October—the red of maples, the bronze of oaks, clear-yellow leaves here and there on birches— I celebrated the standstill of time.. The vast country of the dead had its beginning everywhere: At the turn of a tree-lined alley, across park lawns. But I did not have to enter, I was not called yet. Motorboats pulled up on the riverbank, paths in pine needles. It was getting dark early, no lights on the other side. I was going to attend the ball of ghosts and witches. A delegation would appear there in masks and wigs, And dance, unrecognized, in the chorus of the living. —CZESLAW MILOSZ (Translated, from the Polish, by the author and Leonard Nathan.)

I was going to attend the ball of ghosts and witches,
A delegation would appear there in masks and wigs,
And dance, unrecognized, in the chorus of the living.

Czeslaw Milosz, All Hallow's Eve
#everynightapoem

Thank you!

IOP Fellowship poster

So excited to return to my alma mater as a Pritzker Fellow with University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Among a long list of activities, I will host a seminar series on "The Development of Science & Technology Within Shifting U.S.-China Relations." Details: politics.uchicago.edu/fellows/curr...

Yu Hua: Fictional Cities | China Books Review The bestselling Chinese novelist foregrounds individual suffering in the chaos of modern Chinese history. In his latest novel in translation, gratuitous violence shows the limits of fiction.

@chinabooksreview.com just published my review of Yu Hua's 余华 *City of Fiction*《文城》(2021, tr. 2025).

"Along with other contemporary Chinese works with such graphic violence, Yu’s novel does political work by purging the traumas of China’s bloody 20th century."
chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/30/f...

Episode 5 | Labour and (De)Industrialisation in East Asia | Made in China Journal Over the past few years, industrial policy and manufacturing capacity, especially in the high-tech sector, have been at the centre of great power rivalry between the United States and China. The White...

Beyond the headlines, why did manufacturing move to East Asia, who are the workers, and what are the social costs? I'm so honored to have Anru Lee and Ya-Wen Lei on Ep.5 of 开门见山 | Gateway to Global China @madeinchinajournal.com to discuss gender, labor, and (de)industrialization in China and Taiwan:

📣 I am hiring a postdoc! aial.ie/hiring/postd...

applications from suitable candidates that are passionate about investigating the use of genAI in public service operations with the aim of keeping governments transparent and accountable are welcome

pls share with your networks

Episode 5 | Labour and (De)Industrialisation in East Asia | Made in China Journal Over the past few years, industrial policy and manufacturing capacity, especially in the high-tech sector, have been at the centre of great power rivalry between the United States and China. The White...

Why did Western firms move manufacturing to East Asia? Who are the workers behind the region's industrial rise, and what are the social costs? For our podcast, @yangyangcheng.bsky.social spoke with Anru Lee and Ya-Wen Lei on gender, labour, and (de)industrialisation in China and Taiwan.

So very looking forward to teaching this virtual workshop on writing across and beyond borders! Ticket sales go towards supporting @nuvoices.bsky.social, of which I'm a longtime reader and listener, and big fan😍
Details and sign-up:
nuvoices.com/2025/10/27/v...

If you love @yangyangcheng.bsky.social's writing as much as I do, check out her upcoming virtual writing workshop with NüVoices!

🥰Thank you so much!

So very looking forward to teaching this virtual workshop on writing across and beyond borders! Ticket sales go towards supporting @nuvoices.bsky.social, of which I'm a longtime reader and listener, and big fan😍
Details and sign-up:
nuvoices.com/2025/10/27/v...

No Country for a Woman | China Books Review Women in China have suffered abuse, silencing and erasure — despite the Communist Party’s slogans about women’s liberation. Two novels by the Wuhan writer Fang Fang show how gendered oppression persis...

Here, she reviews two of Fang Fang's novels, Soft Burial & The Running Flame, tr. @bairuiwen.bsky.social for @chinabooksreview.com, on how women in China have suffered abuse, silence and erasure.
chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/09/f...

Beyond Representation: On Being a Woman in Science in China | Made in China Journal In the autumn of 1995, Ye Shuhua made a speech. During the NGO Forum at the United Nation’s Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, the 68-year-old astronomer took to the microphone and cal...

@yangyangcheng.bsky.social has written insightful and powerful pieces on science, culture, and current events as it relates to China and the U.S.
Most recently, she traced the stories and struggles that face Chinese women in science for @madeinchinajournal.com madeinchinajournal.com/2025/10/08/b...

Poster of event: Presented by NuVoices, Virtual Workshop, Writing Across Borders. Crafting Essays on Science, Culture, and Current Events in and beyond China. Yangyang Cheng. December 6, 2025, 12:00-1:45p.m. U.S. EST. Location: Zoom. Much of Anglophone commentary about U.S.-China relations centers on the interests of Washington or Beijing, falls into Cold-War binaries, or repeats Orientalist tropes. We'll discuss how to shift the narrative from the state to the people, from the center to the margins, and to tell stories about the two superpowers across political divisions.

🚨How can we write about China-US relations without a Cold-War binary or Orientalist rhetoric? Check out our upcoming virtual writing workshop with @yangyangcheng.bsky.social!

📅6 December 2025, 12 – 1:45 PM
💲$40 USD ($20 for students/members/grads)

For more details: nuvoices.com/2025/10/27/v...

Novikoff was previously a math teacher in New York City, first in Harlem, and then at a highly rated public school, Stuyvesant High School. In an interview with TechCrunch, he said almost all the students at Stuyvesant received tutoring, whereas many of the students in Harlem didn’t, and the difference in their educational experience was stark. “[Tutoring] is by far the most effective intervention that can be provided to kids for education, and it’s not even close,” Novikoff said. “It’s really unfair that not everyone gets this opportunity. That’s why I’m pursuing a mission to democratize access to private tutoring.”

I’m going to “democratize” a thing by giving poor folks a bad approximation of the thing they need.