MCLC: Changpian no. 22

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Changpian no. 22
长篇 // Changpian // Longform
Welcome to the 22nd edition of Changpian, a selection of feature and opinion writing in Chinese. With other resources devoted to the many interesting sound bites from Chinese social media, this newsletter focuses instead on some of the wealth of longer writing that is produced in Chinese, both in traditional news media and on platforms like WeChat.
Changpian includes any nonfiction writing, from stories and investigations to interviews and blog posts, that I found worth my time -- and that you might like as well. It aims to be relevant to an understanding of Chinese society today, covering topics in and outside the news cycle.
The selection is put together by me, Tabitha Speelman, a Dutch researcher currently based in Shanghai. Feedback is very welcome (tabitha.speelman at gmail.com or @tabithaspeelman). Back issues can be found here.
猪年好! This 元宵 edition of Changpian reaches you two months after the last one (in which I wrote it was back to monthly). As I’m realizing this newsletter might continue to be an enjoyable but irregular affair for me, thank you for reading anyway. You might also be interested in the growing number of other Chinese nonfiction selections, including Chinarrative, No Talking Head, SupChina’s weekly Chinese Corner, and 累版’s frequently updated list of “最好看的长文章”.
干货// Ganhuo // Dry Goods
归去来
返乡笔记, the writing about the countryside most of which appears around the Spring Festival, often focuses on the depth of the rural-urban divide. But in this year’s 返乡 series, ambivalence about variously sized cities is also a theme.
To Shanghai-based insurance worker 齐翔翔, returning to the grandparents in Anhui who raised her is now more an “仪式” than a home-coming, but she wouldn’t want a Shanghai 户口 either. “返城青年” and 县城 shop owner Zhang Yue might keep moving now that online shopping is reaching her customers. Media worker-turned-local official 殷乐 is still conflicted about his move five years ago. Meanwhile, some 返乡青年 are happy or committed, while in urban areas like Shanghai’s high-tech district Zhangjiang “节奏并未如外界想象的那般快”.
Still, many returners are critical of what they see in their rural home regions, where closed-down villages live on as 微信群, 扶贫 methods don’t help (or benefit village elites), and the effect of 打黑 campaigns is debatable. Wuhan University’s Zhou Xuelin, who is part of sociologist He Xuefeng “回乡记” program, finds improved infrastructure but social tragedy, and keeps hoping for a time that “城市和乡村的区别仅仅是对不同生活方式的选择”.
Finally, for 小山, 过年 is about being with her mother, which is why she spent a week in an elderly home in Guiyang.
Long 2018
2018’s “independent film almanac”. The results of the 2018单向街书店文学奖 (see also the list of 100 independent bookstores at the end) and 网易新闻’s nonfiction award. “文学的理想国” 完整书单. FT中文’s annual round-up of cultural events. More social science books (49本). 四十年四十部非虚构. And a preface author and poet Bei Dao wrote on the occasion of literary magazine 今天’s 40th anniversary last December, asking “从语言暴政的长夜到“美丽新世界”，靠的是什么？”
其他好故事 // Gushi // More stories
Some other interesting stories.
709律师妻子的1000天：走不完的寻夫路 – 端传媒 –Well-known journalist Jiang Xue talks to 李文足 and 王峭岭about their activism in the years following the 709 crackdown in which their husbands disappeared.
在最初的慌乱之后，王峭岭开始冷静下来了。但她和她的同伴们显然还没有做好准备。是抗争吗？还是忍受着，等待着，“保护好自己”？王峭岭说，一开始她不敢发出自己的声音。她知道。在中国，当你在公共领域发声，当你开始抗争，这意味这一切都要改变了。
楼道里的考研族：马扎、暖气、保温杯相伴的日子 – 剥洋葱people – Pictures of university students during the tense preparation for their graduate entrance exam last December, in which a record 2.9 million students participated.
再创新高的报考人数背后，是年年攀升的高校毕业人数。2019届全国普通高校毕业生预计达834万人，比去年增长14万人，就业创业工作面临复杂严峻的形势。考研族中的一部分学生正是因为认为学校压力较小，不想很快进入社会，将读研作为缓冲带。
以命换钱：一个底层青年的搏命逆袭 – 谷雨实验室 – Shaanxi-born Bai Xiaobao spent four years as a military contractor in Iraq. Also good on why he went.
白晓保所在的小队有12人，大多是中东人，也有的来自非洲、孟加拉。有人牺牲后，会有新的人补进来。没有任务的时候，他们的日常工作是巡逻，巡视范围是方圆50公里，每天负重三十公斤，执勤将近18个小时。回到营地也入夜了。偶尔有空闲，他们会一起娱乐，无非是玩玩枪，聊聊天，没有别的方式。白晓保听不懂他们说什么，只看见对方朝自己笑啊喊，他用陕西话回过去，“就像神经病似的，都听不懂对方说什么，但都玩得很嗨。”更多的时候，白晓保自己待着，躺在集装箱的床上拆了枪又装上，独自趴在黄沙地上练习枪法。
“我不是贪官”：福建宁德反贪录音风暴 (back-up) – 李宾客 – Disturbing account of how an anti-corruption investigation derails a Fujian family. Long but hard to stop reading.
六天前，林小华在北京接到电话，宁德市纪委的赵男通知他，马上到福州配合调查，林小楠有给他写一封信。忙完北京的事，林小华坐夜航飞回厦门。这是他第一次接触纪检办案，有点紧张，特地找同学陪他驱车赶到福州。
海外买房记 – 正午故事 – Interesting story following people who bought homes in Thailand and Japan, two popular countries among Chinese buyers of overseas real estate.
做好决定，永强再到海外旅游，总会看看当地的学校，观察当地居民的生活。欧洲的生活成本太高，而泰国是个折衷的选择，生活成本低，有不少收费相对低廉的国际学校，空气好，食品比国内的安全，社会上不太见得到戾气。而且，他常去东南亚，那边天空蔚蓝。
专访王占黑｜一个90后作家眼中的下岗潮、老龄化和社区变迁 -- 澎湃新闻 – Great conversation with fiction writer Wang Zhanhui, who writes about social life – heavy and light – in inner-city neighborhoods.
王占黑：我觉得我对这个空间还有它里面的东西感兴趣是形成了一种审美上的喜好，比如说一个旧沙发放在小区门口，我就觉得很好看，衣服在阳台上晾得花花绿绿的，我会愿意一件一件去看，还有老人穿什么衣服，小区里面时髦什么，豹纹啊，V领啊，还有男人的汗背心、凉皮鞋。
栗宪庭：我现在特别想离开宋庄 -- 滏岸传媒 – Curator Li Xianting on his work promoting independent art and film, a new generation of Chinese artists and feeling restless.
90年代，中国行为艺术非常强调自虐，运用身体、肢体的语言、像张洹、马六明这样一批人，而现在年轻一代艺术家的行为艺术特别强调介入社会和公众视角，非常具有事件性，我觉得这算是比较触动我的一点新东西吧！
2018：妈妈回北京扫地了 – 徐潜川 – A journalist’s honest take on the strained relations with his migrant worker parents.
总之，我爸妈就是你们在路上看到的小商贩，他们的电动三轮车永远鼓鼓囊囊堆起来一大包。他们经常被城管赶。有时候要飞快地跑，有时候跑不过，电动三轮车会被没收。刚开始他们会跟我说，让我想办法（就是找关系），后来发现我确实没有用，就干脆都不告诉我了。
一个人、一本杂志与一个时代 – 海外汉学研究 – 北外professor Guan Yongqian on the history of The China Quarterly, reposted after the passing away of its founding editor Roderick MacFarquhar last week.
《中国季刊》是在20世纪60年代初西方毛泽东研究的高潮期，由美国中央情报局支持，文化自由联盟出资，麦克法夸尔任主编，在英国伦敦创办起来的。麦克法夸尔是当代西方著名的中国问题专家，英裔美籍，现任美国哈佛大学教授，以研究中国“文化大革命”史著称于世，国内学界对其成果多有译介。
104岁李锐 | 人生在世，总要对得起自己的良心，更要对得起历史 – 野火2018 – Deleted on Wechat, a powerful account of X Li Rui’s eventful life in his own words.
我这一百年大致分可为五个阶段：第一个二十年上学读书；第二个二十年投身革命；第三个二十年被革命踩在脚下；第四个二十年复出工作；第五个二十年思考研究。
旧文// Jiuwen // Classic：
A piece of nonfiction writing that seems worth a read months, years or decades after its initial publication.
读者来稿：那些“世界上最幸福的穆斯林”们难以承受的“幸福” -- 端传媒 – This translation, published last December by The Initium (no paywall), first appeared in English last summer. For his research on Uyghur restaurants, author Gene Bunin estimates that he talked to over a thousand Uyghur individuals throughout China. As the escalating repression of the last years hits their lives, Bunin decides to write up those conversations too. The result is worth close reading. // See also these two translations on NYT中文 onthe government officials who stay in Uyghur homes and a 1999 profile of well-known, now detained singer Abdurehim Heyit (and NYT中文’s translated coverage in general, such as this article from yesterday featuring a testimony database about individuals in Xinjiang’s internment camps in which Bunin is also involved).
一方面是难以承受的抑郁，另一方面是难以承受的恐惧..在餐馆工作的小伙子，前一天似乎还很轻松地如常生活，第二天就突然明显地开始焦虑，因为他们收到了警察的命令，要立即返回新疆的老家（对大多数人来说，这意味着三、四天的火车旅途）。一次，一位厨师让我出主意，接下来应该去哪家餐厅打工 —— 他两个月前拿到了离开新疆的许可，但最后没有在任何一家餐厅落脚。他听了我的建议，决定第二天就买张火车票，前往一座沿海城市。然而，仅仅三个小时之后，他就又一次发消息告诉我，老家的警察打电话了。因为他还没找到稳定的工作，他们想让他尽快回去“重新办许可”。于是，他第二天上的火车，目的地变成了新疆。
Changpian by tabithaspeelman
Cellebroedersweg 5 Kampen, Netherlands
by denton.2 at osu.edu on February 19, 2019
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