Are We Welcome Here, Part II

Barbarians at the Gate

In this episode Jeremiah and David are pleased to talk with veteran New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Ian Johnson. Ian is one of our most prolific and wide-ranging China writers, over the last decades amassing a vast catalogue of articles covering Chinese politics, religion, language, history and media. His most recent book, The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao is a fascinating in-depth account of the resurgence of religious activity in the PRC. Ian is one of several veteran Beijing-based journalists who were expelled from China on March 17 of this year, a tit-for-tat response to the Trump administration cancelling the visas for dozens of Chinese journalists working in the US. On the podcast we discuss the challenges faced by China scholars and reporters in continuing to carry out research and reporting in the PRC under the new quasi-Cold War environment. We also catch up with events in Ian’s life, including the arrival of his new-born son, and his future writing projects.

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