Revolution Isn’t a Party, but It Draws Tourists

Tourist attractions in Yan’an try to evoke the glory days of the Chinese Communist Party, and are profiting handsomely from “red tourism.”

STAYING POWER: Mao and the Maoists

Three new books — Patrick Wright’s “Passport to Peking” (Oxford; $34.95), Frank Dikötter’s “Mao’s Great Famine” (Walker & Co.; $30), and Timothy Cheek’s anthology “A Critical Introduction to Mao” (Cambridge; $27.99) — attest to the difficulty of definitively fixing Mao’s image, a project that amounts to writing a history of China’s present.

Finding the Facts About Mao’s Victims

Ian Johnson speaks with Yang Jisheng, author of Tombstone (Mubei), a groundbreaking new book on the Great Famine (1958–1961), which, though imprecisely known in the West, ranks as one of worst human disasters in history.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao begins Pakistan visit

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has arrived in Pakistan at the start of a three-day visit to boost trade and investment.

In India, Chinese Leader Pushes Trade

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China and Indian officials set ambitious economic targets, but made little progress on tough geopolitical differences.

As China Rolls Ahead, Fear Follows

Some economists worry that inflation, government debt and asset bubbles could stall China next year.

Puppet Masters Try to Bring Art Out of the Shadows

Feeling spurned, the owners and curators of a Beijing shadow puppet museum want to take their collection to the United States.

Winner’s Chair Remains Empty at Nobel Event

Over China’s loud objections, the Nobel Committee honored the imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo in his absence.

19 Countries to Skip Nobel Ceremony, While China Offers Its Own Prize

The number of countries declining to attend the Nobel ceremony on Friday has tripled; China schedules its own prize for Thursday.

Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators

Shanghai students outscored counterparts in dozens of other countries in China’s debut in global standardized testing.

Putting the Chinese in ‘Made in China’

The graphic artist Liu Zhizhi is in the forefront of a new generation of designers who are trying to define a visual language for contemporary China.

Opinion: Ancient Neighbors, Current Antagonists

The animosity between China and Japan belies centuries of affinity.

China Police Confine Prominent Artist

The artist Ai Weiwei was placed under house arrest on Friday in Beijing.

The Rise of the Tao

China is in the grips of a religious revival. But can the country handle the return of its most venerable faith?

The China Boom

A wave of Chinese undergraduates is choosing American colleges. Culture shock? Beer pong, anyone?

China Urges Europeans to Snub Nobel Ceremony

The Nobel award to a Chinese dissident is emerging as an early test of China’s newfound diplomatic clout.

China’s Fast Rise Leads Neighbors to Join Forces

China’s military expansion and assertive trade policies have set off jitters across Asia, prompting many of its neighbors to build alliances.

Europe’s Plagues Came From China, Study Finds

The waves of plague that twice devastated Europe and changed the course of history had their origins in China, a team of medical geneticists reported.

Needing Students, Maine School Hunts in China

A Maine high school hopes to solve its financial woes by persuading Chinese students to pay $27,000 a year there.

Pierced Fans, Stiff Cadres and Hip Rock

A shift in official sentiment has led to an explosion of music festivals across China.

The Most ‘Chinese’ Chinese Character?

Culled from an initial pool of 374 characters suggested by an unidentified committee of historians and linguists, the most Chinese of Chinese ideograms was identified as 和 (pronounced ‘huh’ and typically Romanized as ‘he’)—the character for an indistinct concept often (though clumsily) translated as “peace” or “togetherness.”

Ex-Chinese Officials Join in Call for Press Freedom

An unusually blunt letter, signed by retired Communist Party officials, says that government control of the press violate China’s Constitution.

A full translation of the letter can be found here.