Your questions, answered. In-depth interviews with the minds and makers shaping today’s China.

Q & A

q-&-a

Deciphering Dunhuang

Hao Chunwen has spent years trying to decode the thousands of manuscripts uncovered in Dunhuang. Now he wants to involve scholars from other fields in the work.

Wu Haiyun

Fuchsia Dunlop on the Past, Present, and Future of Chinese Food

The cookbook author and food writer’s new book, “Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food” looks back at the long arc of Chinese cuisine — and ahead at what the future might hold.

Cai Yiwen

A New History of the Chinese Zodiac 

Horses, pigs, goats, and oxen all played crucial, if largely forgotten, roles in the development of early Chinese civilization. Now, a leading zooarchaeologist is trying to piece that history back together, one bone at a time.

The Historian Rewriting China’s Understanding of the World

Qian Chengdan is one of China’s best-known historians. In a new book, he and his team attempt to produce a comprehensive Marxist history of the world.

Witches and ‘Poisonous Cats’: A Scholar’s Search for Society’s Scapegoats

Wang Mingke has spent his life studying marginalized communities in China’s far west. That work has helped him better understand everything from anti-Asian hate to social media polarization.

Peter Hessler’s World of Words

The acclaimed author on generations, his approach to writing, and how China has changed since the 1990s.

Xue Yongle

What Makes a Myth?

The head of the China Mythology Society on the “Creation of the Gods” trilogy and the low status of mythological studies in China.

What Was China’s First Museum?

According to historian Xu Jian, the answer is more complicated — and more controversial — than you might think.

The Making of Yunnan

Historian Yang Bin shares his thoughts on Yunnanese history, his unique approach to the region, and how border areas shape a state.

What’s Love to a Feminist?

The feminist cultural critic Dai Jinhua shares her thoughts on intersectionality, love, and the shrinking space for alternative lifestyles in contemporary China.