On Chinese social media, the phrase “weak spot” (软肋, ruǎn lèi) is often used metaphorically to refer to family members—particularly children—used as leverage by public security, state security, or ...

Over 26 months have passed since Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine. The current stalemate has given way to gradual advances by Russia, as political support for arming Ukraine waned in Western ...

The latest corruption investigation into a senior Ministry of Justice official has inspired schadenfreude among lawyers in China. The investigation into Liu Zhiqiang, a former Vice-Minister of Justice ...

In recent weeks, residents of the cities of Chongqing and Chengdu have been posting screenshots of their natural gas bills online and complaining of mysterious gas consumption spikes since the ...

Z-Library, an online database with tens of millions of pirated and uncensored books and articles available for free download, is closing its Chinese WeChat account. In a statement posted to WeChat, ...

Through combing over and pondering political philosophy, comparative politics, the history of development of liberalism and political science, the history of economics, and institutional economics ...

In December 2023, we published a revised edition of the Lexicon as an eBook, which includes updated entries for 104 of the most salient terms we have collected over the past 20 years. Please ...

This is the name of an online game called “Beat the Sheep that Calls to the Beast” (痛打羊叫兽). In the game players use a club to beat a person who is shown in the opening scenes using ...

Vague descriptor that is often used as code for towing the Party line. “Positive energy” was meme-ified in China during the 2010 trial of Song Shanmu, the founder of a well-known vocational ...

All entries are listed below in pinyin order. To search, type CTRL+F, then type in the term you want to find. You can search by character (Hànzì 汉字), pinyin, or English. Please note that ...

To drive backwards; to turn back history. This term, along with many others, became a sensitive word in February 2018, following the announcement of a proposed constitutional amendment that, once ...