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Factory cloth samples.

Chinese Production, American Consumption

The convergence of economy and politics in the Sino-US relationship via Jonathan Chatwin’s “The Southern Tour” and Elizabeth O’Brien Ingleson’s “Made in China.”
by Kate Merkel-Hess via Los Angeles Review of Books on July 28, 2024
The sixty-four hexagrams from the King Wen sequence of the I Ching.

The I Ching in America

Europeans translated the "Chinese Book of Changes" in the nineteenth century, but the philosophy really took off in the West after 1924.
by Livia Gershon, Richard J. Smith via JSTOR Daily on May 4, 2023
Paul Robeson in 1960, London, performing on stage in front of a crowd.

Black King of Songs

His communism brought the great American singer Paul Robeson trouble in the US, but helped make him a hero in China.
by Gao Yunxiang via Aeon on December 18, 2021

The New China Scare

Why America shouldn’t panic about its latest challenger.
by Fareed Zakaria via Foreign Affairs on December 9, 2019
The port of Canton

China and the American Revolution

Explaining the global impact of British-Chinese relations during the colonial period.
by Simon Hill via Journal of the American Revolution on December 7, 2017
Lin Taiyi takes dictation from her father, Dr. Lin Yutang, on a typewriter he invented.

Lost and Found: The Unexpected Journey of the MingKwai Typewriter

Its ingenious design inspired generations of language-processing technology, but only one prototype was made and had long been assumed lost.
by Yangyang Chen via Made In China Journal on May 2, 2025
Volunteers at a camp for internally displaced people in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, carry wheat flour donated by USAID in 2021.

USAID’s History Shows Decades of Good Work on Behalf of America’s Global Interests

USAID started in the 1960s as a way to offset the spread of communism. Since then, it has had various other soft-power benefits for the US.
by Christian Ruth via The Conversation on March 5, 2025
Richard Nixon and Zhou Enlai
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How Nixon’s 1972 China Visit Set the Stage for Today’s Tensions Over Taiwan

The legacy of Nixon's strategic ambiguity of acknowledging China's claim to Taiwan without fully committing.
via Retro Report on February 18, 2025
A magnifying glass and Francis Fukuyama's book "The End of History and the Last Man."

Francis Fukuyama Was Right About Liberal Democracy

For all of its faults and weaknesses, no serious competitor has emerged to capture people’s imagination or seriously challenge it.
by Michael A. Cohen via The New Republic on February 18, 2025
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, flanked by the U.S. and Chinese flags.

Back to the ’80s?

Trump, Xi Jinping, and the tariffs.
by Andrew Liu via n+1 on January 30, 2025
Donald Trump wearing a MAGA hat.

The Panama Question

Trump’s canal comments resurrect a forgotten American interest.
by Joseph Addington via The American Conservative on December 29, 2024
Young people running through the streets of Taipei; a middle aged businessman in Houston.

Texas’ Hotbed of Taiwanese Nationalism

For decades, Houston families like mine have helped keep the flame of independence burning.
by Josephine Lee via The Texas Observer on November 25, 2024
Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinxing looking away from each other.

The Bipartisan Origins of the New Cold War

Starting with Obama, American presidents embraced the idea of arresting China’s rise, opening the door to Trump’s trade wars and hawkishness.
by Michael Brenes, Van Jackson via Jacobin on November 25, 2024
Chinese immigrants and American immigration officers at Ellis Island.
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The Perils of Vilifying Chinese Migrants

As Chinese migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border, politicians are reviving old anti-Chinese rhetoric that has done lasting harm.
by Meredith Oyen via Made By History on August 13, 2024
Hazel Ying Lee (right) and fellow pilot Virginia Wong (left).

This Chinese American Aviatrix Overcame Racism to Fly for the U.S. During World War II

A second-generation immigrant, Hazel Ying Lee was the first Chinese American woman to receive her pilot's license.
by Susan Tate Ankeny via Smithsonian on April 23, 2024
A top hat with poppies and the words "Merchants of Addiction", and pictures of wealthy American opium smugglers.

The Blue-Blood Families That Made Fortunes in the Opium Trade

Long before the Sacklers appeared on the scene, families like the Astors and the Delanos cemented their upper-crust status through the global trade in opium.
by Amitav Ghosh via The Nation on January 23, 2024
Political cartoon of a column with the United States, Chile, and China; United Kingdom falling.

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers Redux

The author of the 20th century’s most influential history book anticipates the coming world order.
by Paul Kennedy via New Statesman on September 20, 2023
Sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 5.

Spy Balloons Evoke Bad Cold War Memories for China

Covert U.S. intrusions into Chinese airspace were common for decades.
by John Delury via Foreign Policy on February 13, 2023
Black and white photograph of crowd in China holding pictures of Mao Zedong in celebration.

U.S. Relations With China 1949–2022

U.S.-China relations have evolved from tense standoffs to a complex mix of intensifying diplomacy, growing international rivalry, and increasingly intertwined economies.
via Council On Foreign Relations on May 26, 2022
Two giant pandas eating bamboo

A Chinese Cigarette Tin Launched D.C.’s 50-year Love Affair With Pandas

Fifty years ago, first lady Pat Nixon admired a tin of Chinese cigarettes. Then China sent the U.S. a pair of giant pandas.
by Michael E. Ruane via Retropolis on March 16, 2022
President Harry Truman at a podium, giving a speech at NATO's inception in 1949.

Containment Can Work Against China, Too

There are important differences between Xi Jinping’s China and the Soviet Union, but the Cold War still offers clear strategic guidance for the U.S.
by Hal Brands via The Wall Street Journal on December 3, 2021
Falling apart neon sign for Lotus Chop Suey, a restaurant in Chicago

The Hidden, Magnificent History of Chop Suey

Discrimination and mistranslation have long obscured the dish's true origins.
by Miranda Brown via Atlas Obscura on November 30, 2021
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping walking down a red carpet past a row of Chinese military guards.

Can Cold War History Prevent U.S.-Chinese Calamity?

Learning the right lessons of the past.
by Odd Arne Westad, Li Chen via Foreign Affairs on November 29, 2021
Visitors sit next to displays of missiles and a sea defense weapon system at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Airshow China, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China, on Sept. 29
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Fear About China’s New Space Weapon Echoes Older Worries About War From Space

And that’s exactly why there is no need to overreact.
by Stephen Buono via Made By History on October 26, 2021
Marine handing water to evacuees

The End Of Nation-Building

History offers a guide for why the American project in Afghanistan went wrong — and for the future of foreign engagement in the country.
by Timothy Nunan via Noema on August 24, 2021
Tarred as a “coolie race,” the Chinese were cast as a threat to free white labor. Train with fire around it and a face in the back.

America Was Eager for Chinese Immigrants. What Happened?

In the gold-rush era, ceremonial greetings swiftly gave way to bigotry and violence.
by Michael Luo via The New Yorker on August 20, 2021
American Imperialism

Warfare State

Democrats and Republicans are increasingly united in an anti-China front. But their approaches to U.S. foreign policy diverge.
by Thomas Meaney via London Review of Books on October 28, 2020

A Historian of Economic Crisis on the World After COVID-19

A leading expert on financial crises explains how the pandemic is upending economic orthodoxy and raising the stakes of the 2020 election.
by Eric Levitz, Adam Tooze via Intelligencer on August 7, 2020

Whose Century?

One has to wonder whether the advocates of a new Cold War have taken the measure of the challenge posed by 21st-century China.
by Adam Tooze via London Review of Books on July 22, 2020
Guar standing in front of a building with a large painting of Mao Zedung above the entrance.
partner

Turn Out the Lights: When the Last American Diplomats Fled China

Untold stories of American diplomats who "lost" China.
by Joe Renouard via HNN on May 10, 2020
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