Good evening. For both Chinese expats and the China-watching community in D.C., the hottest new bookstore in Dupont is a reboot of a Shanghai institution that was forced to close in 2018. What does its second life say about the new Chinese diaspora? As our cover story this week shows, the post-Covid cultural émigrés have a lot to say — and the means to say it.
Elsewhere, we have infographics on a dismal year for China’s box office; an interview with Miles Yu, a key policy advisor in the first Trump administration; a reported piece on the dramatic rise of China’s mini-dramas; and an op-ed from Paul Triolo on Biden’s legacy on U.S.-China tech competition.
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Finding China’s Voice — Abroad
The new Chinese diaspora is wealthy, educated and professional. And it has things to say. Yi Liu reports on how the new wave of Chinese émigrés is so different from — and potentially more influential than — the post-Tiananmen generation.
The Big Picture: Has the Curtain Dropped on Chinese Cinema?
Ticketing revenue is set to fall by 25 percent this year, the largest year-over-year drop in China’s history as a major movie market, excluding the years of zero-COVID. Noah Berman has the infographics on a dismal year for the Chinese box office.
A Q&A with Miles Yu
Miles Yu has lived his version of the American dream. Born Yu Maochuan in Anhui province, he became intrigued with the U.S. after listening to Ronald Reagan’s calls for freedom broadcast over Voice of America. He arrived in the U.S. as an exchange student in 1985, remained and became a hawkish China scholar at the U.S. Naval Academy. In the first Trump administration, he served as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s chief China policy advisor and helped shift U.S. policy from engagement to confrontation. ”If Miles didn’t sign off on a policy recommendation, it wouldn’t move ahead for my approval,” Pompeo wrote in his book, Never Give an Inch. In this week’s interview with Bob Davis, Yu discusses how Trump might handle key issues with Beijing, and why Covid changed the first Trump administration’s approach.
Miles Yu
Illustration by Lauren Crow
The Dramatic Rise of China’s Mini-Dramas
Series with multiple minutes-long episodes have taken off on China’s internet, although the industry is still struggling to make money from their popularity. Yi Liu reports.
Biden’s Legacy on U.S.-China Tech Competition and the Challenges Facing Trump
The outgoing administration is leaving behind a complex situation on chip export controls, argues Paul Triolo in this week’s op-ed.
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