New Books in East Asian Studies Jeffrey Wasserstrom, "Everything You Wanted to Know about China*: * But Were Afraid to Ask" (Brixton Ink, 2025)
Mar 31, 2026
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a historian of modern China with decades of research and time in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, answers tough questions about contemporary China. He explores personality cults and Confucian revival. He discusses censorship tactics, youth culture and rock concerts as political signals. He reflects on soft power, Hong Kong’s crackdown, and why accessible history matters.
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Pop Concerts Turn Into Diplomatic Flashpoints
- The cancelled 2025 Ayumi Hamasaki Shanghai show shows how pop culture and diplomacy intertwine.
- Consumer boycotts and patriotic campaigns turn concerts and goods into symbols in diplomatic disputes.
Go To Chengdu To See China's Local Variation
- Visit cities distant from Beijing to spot divergence from centralized control.
- Wasserstrom recommends Chengdu for bookstores and cultural indicators that reveal more local variation and pockets of openness.
Bookstore Slogan Revealed Uneven Cultural Space
- A Chengdu bookstore once advertised dystopian works with Big Brother is Watching You on display.
- The slogan's persistence contrasted with Shanghai's 1984 bookstore where such nods later became subtler.
