The Forgotten ‘Jeep Babies’ of China

An Excerpt from ‘The Adoption Plan’

Jack Neubauer

The Adoption Plan: China and the Remaking of Global Humanitarianism tells the story of how the cause of saving children in China ignited a new global humanitarian imagination and precipitated a transnational struggle for control over the vast quantities of aid that flowed into China on their behalf. In this excerpt, I look at the mixed-race children of Chinese women and U.S. soldiers in post-WWII China. Referred to as “jeep babies,” the fate of these children briefly became a cause célèbre in... Read full story>>

Trains: A Chinese Family History of Railway Journeys, Exile, and Survival

Part IV

Zha Jianying

19.My little uncle Lusheng’s youngest son, Congo (thus nicknamed, in those less-informed times, because he was born in 1964 with very dark skin), told me another revealing detail.During a period when Grandpa lived with them in Jiangxi in the 1970s, Uncle Lusheng begged him to give French lessons to Congo: The boy was clever, full of energy and mischief, but he was bored at school. Grandpa refused flatly. Learning a foreign language was useless, and potentially dangerous. The boy should love... Read full story>>

Cautioning His Students to Stay Quiet, A Scholar of China Hears Echoes of Its Past in America's Present

Michael Berry

For several generations now, the overriding philosophy of life for many Chinese intellectuals and average citizens has been “mingzhe baoshen,” (明哲保身) which dictionaries define as “a wise man looks after his own hide” or “put one’s own safety before matters of principle” but can be also be rendered more colloquially as “keep your head down, mouth shut, and stay out of trouble.” After decades of political movements that have targeted intellectuals and citizens for speaking out, alternately... Read full story>>

ChinaFile Presents: ‘The Party’s Interests Come First’

A Conversation About Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping’s Father

Joseph Torigian & Jeremy Goldkorn

Joseph Torigian discusses the life of Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, and how his legacy shapes the worldview of one of the world’s most powerful leaders today. Torigian’s new book, The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, examines the elder Xi’s role as a revolutionary and early leader in the Chinese Communist Party. The book, due to be published in June, is the first English-language biography of Xi Zhongxun. Read full story>>

Is Donkey Business Worth It for Pakistan?

Akbar Notezai

Every Friday, at an open air market in the outskirts of Quetta, the mile-high capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, locals gather to buy and sell donkeys. For generations, these animals have been the primary means of transporting goods and people. Donkey carts have remained a popular form of transportation for Pakistan’s poorest people, even as motorbikes, cars, trucks, and buses have clogged up the streets of Pakistani cities. Now there’s a new buyer for Quetta’s donkeys—and... Read full story>>