Godfree

In 1910…a series of bad harvests in Hunan led to outbreaks of famine. Some desperate Hunanese united under the slogan, ‘Eat Rice Without Charge,’ seizing stores of rice from wealthier farmers. Among the shipments they seized was one that Mao’s father was sending to the county seat of Xiangtan. Mao later recalled the ambiguity that

A decade ago, many prominent Chinese hoped that Xi Jinping would usher in openness and reform. Today, some of them say he has created a totalitarian state. Moving Backward: In Xi’s China, Some See an Era of Total Control. New York Times, October 18, 2022. Total Control? China has had Chief Censors for 2000 years,

Imagine the impact on European civilization of a series of Imperial dynasties maintaining the self-same style and significance from Caesar Augustus until the First World War. Now imagine such a civilization existing on the other side of the planet – unaware of Greek philosophy, the alphabet, Roman governance, Christianity, feudalism, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment or

There’s a powerful technical and institutional apparatus we’ve come to accept as having the final word on what we can and cannot do/share/see/say online, and it’s not the legal system. Rather, decisions about what billions of users can do on a handful of large tech platforms are left to the “trust and safety” teams inside

I’ve been chasing reports of deserted towns and have yet to find one. Over and over, I would read articles in the international press claiming that China is building towns that are never inhabited–only to find something very different upon arrival. Ordos, the most famous ‘ghost city,’ took ten years to populate but now has