https://wadeinchina.com en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Wade in China What communism actually did in China, from 1848 to the present day. Drawn from primary archives and the people who lived through it: who gave the orders, what it cost, and what it meant for the individual. Every claim can be checked against its source, and every moral judgment comes with its reasons. What communism actually did in China, told from the archives and the people who lived through it. Wade in China What communism actually did in China, from 1848 to the present day. Drawn from primary archives and the people who lived through it: who gave the orders, what it cost, and what it meant for the individual. Every claim can be checked against its source, and every moral judgment comes with its reasons. Wade in China info@wadeinchina.com false Suppressing Counter-Revolutionaries: The One-Per-Thousand Quota by Province 20 1 full Unlike Land Reform, the 1950 to 1953 campaign to suppress counter-revolutionaries left an exact central ledger: 712,000 executed on the Party own count, driven by one-per-thousand telegram quotas. Unlike Land Reform, the 1950 to 1953 campaign to suppress counter-revolutionaries left an exact central ledger: 712,000 executed on the Party own count, driven by one-per-thousand telegram quotas. https://wadeinchina.com/data/zhenfan wadeinchina-ep20-zhenfan-how-many-executed Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 796 false Data Stories The Great Famine: How Many Starved Across the Provinces? 19 1 full From Sichuan to Anhui and Henan, how county gazetteers, census deficits, and central grain ledgers reconstruct the human cost of the 1958 to 1962 Great Famine. From Sichuan to Anhui and Henan, how county gazetteers, census deficits, and central grain ledgers reconstruct the human cost of the 1958 to 1962 Great Famine. https://wadeinchina.com/data/great-famine wadeinchina-ep19-great-famine-how-many-starved Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 813 false Data Stories Dr. Li Wenliang: The Admonition Letter and the Midnight Whistle, Wuhan, 2020 18 1 full Summoned to the Zhongnan Road police station on January 3, 2020 for warning fellow doctors about seven SARS-like cases, Wuhan ophthalmologist Li Wenliang signed under his red thumbprint: I can, I understand. Summoned to the Zhongnan Road police station on January 3, 2020 for warning fellow doctors about seven SARS-like cases, Wuhan ophthalmologist Li Wenliang signed under his red thumbprint: I can, I understand. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/lives/2020-covid-19-and-the-wuhan-lockdown--li-wenliang wadeinchina-ep18-li-wenliang-wuhan-whistle Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 592 false Lives Ding Zilin: A Mother Search for June Fourth Victims, Beijing, 1989 17 1 full After her seventeen-year-old son Jiang Jielian was shot through the heart at Muxidi on the night of June 3, 1989, philosophy professor Ding Zilin began knocking on doors across Beijing to write down the names the state ordered forgotten. After her seventeen-year-old son Jiang Jielian was shot through the heart at Muxidi on the night of June 3, 1989, philosophy professor Ding Zilin began knocking on doors across Beijing to write down the names the state ordered forgotten. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/lives/1989-the-1989-protests-and-the-june-fourth-crackdown--ding-zilin wadeinchina-ep17-ding-zilin-tiananmen-mothers Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 573 false Lives Wu Xiaoping: Sent Down to the Northern Wilderness, 1968 16 1 full Seventeen million urban middle-school students were loaded onto trains for the frontier and countryside. Wu Xiaoping recalls the day the train pulled out of the station. Seventeen million urban middle-school students were loaded onto trains for the frontier and countryside. Wu Xiaoping recalls the day the train pulled out of the station. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/lives/1968-the-down-to-the-countryside-movement--wu-xiaoping wadeinchina-ep16-wu-xiaoping-sent-down-youth Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 240 false Lives Nien Cheng: The First Day of Red August, Shanghai, 1966 15 1 full When Red Guards smashed her Ming porcelain and Shanghai interrogators demanded a false confession for six and a half years in solitary confinement, Nien Cheng refused to sign a single lie. When Red Guards smashed her Ming porcelain and Shanghai interrogators demanded a false confession for six and a half years in solitary confinement, Nien Cheng refused to sign a single lie. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/lives/1966-red-guard-mobilisation-and-red-august--nien-cheng wadeinchina-ep15-nien-cheng-red-august Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 485 false Lives Bian Shaofeng: The Diary of a Starving Cadre, Xinyang, 1960 14 1 full In Xinyang Prefecture, Henan, where over a million peasants starved beside full state granaries, a local cadre recorded what happened when villagers tried to walk out alive. In Xinyang Prefecture, Henan, where over a million peasants starved beside full state granaries, a local cadre recorded what happened when villagers tried to walk out alive. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/lives/1959-the-great-famine--bian-shaofeng wadeinchina-ep14-bian-shaofeng-xinyang-famine Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 451 false Lives Sheng Chong: With the Land Reform Work Team in Guangdong, 1951 13 1 full A twenty-year-old university student sent into Guangdong villages with a Land Reform work team discovers that the quota for landlords must be met even where no landlord exists. A twenty-year-old university student sent into Guangdong villages with a Land Reform work team discovers that the quota for landlords must be met even where no landlord exists. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/lives/1950-land-reform-killings--sheng-chong wadeinchina-ep13-sheng-chong-land-reform Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 699 false Lives The Courage of the Solitary Voice: From Scar Literature to the Underground River 12 1 full A mimeograph cranked in a freezing Beijing courtyard, a banner unrolled over Sitong Bridge, and blank sheets of white paper raised in the dark. Why an apparatus of a million censors still trembles before a single citizen who refuses to recite. A mimeograph cranked in a freezing Beijing courtyard, a banner unrolled over Sitong Bridge, and blank sheets of white paper raised in the dark. Why an apparatus of a million censors still trembles before a single citizen who refuses to recite. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/the-courage-of-the-solitary-voice wadeinchina-ep12-the-courage-of-the-solitary-voice Sat, 19 Dec 2026 00:00:00 GMT 882 false Good things Steel from Cooking Pots: Backyard Furnaces and the Ruin of the Harvest 11 1 full In the autumn of 1958, ninety million peasants were pulled from the fields to melt their woks, door hinges, and plows in mud-brick furnaces. How a political war against thermodynamics burned China's forests and left the bumper harvest to rot. In the autumn of 1958, ninety million peasants were pulled from the fields to melt their woks, door hinges, and plows in mud-brick furnaces. How a political war against thermodynamics burned China's forests and left the bumper harvest to rot. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/steel-from-cooking-pots wadeinchina-ep11-steel-from-cooking-pots Sat, 05 Dec 2026 00:00:00 GMT 989 false China Actually The Monopoly on Memory: Three Historical Resolutions and the Rewriting of the Past 10 1 full In 1945, 1981, and 2021, the Central Committee convened as a supreme court of history to declare which catastrophes were necessary and which dead must be forgotten. Why a regime built on infallibility must perpetually police yesterday. In 1945, 1981, and 2021, the Central Committee convened as a supreme court of history to declare which catastrophes were necessary and which dead must be forgotten. Why a regime built on infallibility must perpetually police yesterday. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/the-monopoly-on-memory wadeinchina-ep10-the-monopoly-on-memory Sat, 21 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT 945 false Power Games Complicity by Attendance: Struggle Sessions and the Universal Raised Hand 9 1 full In a traditional autocracy, the ruler asks only that you remain quiet while his executioners do their work. Under the Chinese Communist Party, silence was abolished: every colleague, neighbor, and child was required to raise a hand. In a traditional autocracy, the ruler asks only that you remain quiet while his executioners do their work. Under the Chinese Communist Party, silence was abolished: every colleague, neighbor, and child was required to raise a hand. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/complicity-by-attendance wadeinchina-ep9-complicity-by-attendance Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT 890 false Right and Wrong The Bill Comes Due: The Twilight of China Land Finance 8 1 full A Hong Kong liquidation gavel, eighty trillion yuan in municipal off-balance-sheet debt, and concrete forests of unfinished apartments. How thirty years of selling the earth beneath citizens' feet reached its mathematical end. A Hong Kong liquidation gavel, eighty trillion yuan in municipal off-balance-sheet debt, and concrete forests of unfinished apartments. How thirty years of selling the earth beneath citizens' feet reached its mathematical end. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/the-bill-comes-due wadeinchina-ep8-the-bill-comes-due Sat, 17 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 1133 false What's Going On? Land Reform: How Many Died? 7 1 full Six historians. Six numbers. From a hundred thousand to five million. What the competing estimates for China Land Reform killings rest on. Six historians. Six numbers. From a hundred thousand to five million. What the competing estimates for China Land Reform killings rest on. https://wadeinchina.com/data/land-reform wadeinchina-ep7-land-reform-how-many-died Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 1025 false Data Stories Lin Zhao: Two Hundred Thousand Words in Blood 6 1 full Deprived of paper and ink in Shanghai Tilanqiao Prison, Peking University student Lin Zhao pricked her fingers with hairpins and wrote two hundred thousand words in her own blood. Deprived of paper and ink in Shanghai Tilanqiao Prison, Peking University student Lin Zhao pricked her fingers with hairpins and wrote two hundred thousand words in her own blood. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/lives/1957-the-anti-rightist-campaign--lin-zhao wadeinchina-ep6-lin-zhao-blood-letters Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 784 false Lives What the Flame Could Not Burn 5 1 full Ancient poetry hidden under floorboards, hand-copied novels read by kerosene lamps, and flatbed pedicab drivers pedaling into gunfire. Why human decency survived the totalitarian machine. Ancient poetry hidden under floorboards, hand-copied novels read by kerosene lamps, and flatbed pedicab drivers pedaling into gunfire. Why human decency survived the totalitarian machine. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/what-the-flame-could-not-burn wadeinchina-ep5-what-the-flame-could-not-burn Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 1021 false Good things The Hunger Nobody Could Name: Granaries Full and Roadsides Littered with the Dead 4 1 full State granaries filled to the rafters, padlocks guarded by bayonets, and grain ships departing for foreign ports while thirty-six million peasants starved in silence. State granaries filled to the rafters, padlocks guarded by bayonets, and grain ships departing for foreign ports while thirty-six million peasants starved in silence. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/the-hunger-nobody-could-name wadeinchina-ep4-the-hunger-nobody-could-name Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 1169 false China Actually Why Power Needs You to Lie 3 1 full A sign in a shop window, an ancient deer led into court, and a unanimous vote of 2,958 green lights. Why totalitarian rule requires not your belief, but your public repetition. A sign in a shop window, an ancient deer led into court, and a unanimous vote of 2,958 green lights. Why totalitarian rule requires not your belief, but your public repetition. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/why-power-needs-you-to-lie wadeinchina-ep3-why-power-needs-you-to-lie Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 1226 false Power Games The Arithmetic of Guilt: When Killing Became a Percentage 2 1 full In 1951, criminal guilt ceased to be a question of fact and became an industrial production target. How bureaucratic murder quotas mathematically manufactured counterrevolutionaries. In 1951, criminal guilt ceased to be a question of fact and became an industrial production target. How bureaucratic murder quotas mathematically manufactured counterrevolutionaries. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/the-arithmetic-of-guilt wadeinchina-ep2-the-arithmetic-of-guilt Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 1020 false Right and Wrong The Quiet Migration: Why People Run 1 1 full The modern exodus from China is neither an accident nor an economic cycle. It is a calculated vote of no confidence delivered on foot, across jungles, and in empty classrooms. The modern exodus from China is neither an accident nor an economic cycle. It is a calculated vote of no confidence delivered on foot, across jungles, and in empty classrooms. https://wadeinchina.com/essays/the-quiet-migration wadeinchina-ep1-the-quiet-migration Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT 1243 false What's Going On?