Ian Johnson's The Souls of China: The Return of Religion after Mao, released in 2017, is often cited as one of the best books on modern China. Johnson found a yearning for spiritual belief in a China run by the Communist Party. His new book, Sparks, is just as good. Like Souls, it approaches modern China at an oblique angle, investigating what at first seems insubstantial but by the end feels a significant moral challenge to the party.
Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer, tells the stories of people who feel compelled to record a truth in opposition to the official one.
They put the stories on YouTube videos, in scrapbooks and makeshift magazines, similar to what were known as the Eastern Bloc samizdat of the Cold War.
Sparks, which gives the book its name, was one such magazine. It was published by a group of young people exiled after raising concerns during Mao's brief phase allowing criticism during the doomed "Let one hundred flowers bloom" campaign. They later produced the magazine from a tractor shed trying to warn people about the Great Famine in the late 1950s. It ended badly they were hunted, imprisoned and executed.
この記事は New Zealand Listener の February 10-16 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は New Zealand Listener の February 10-16 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.