Hell’s bittersweet end: Meng Po, goddess of forgetfulness
Meng Po, who resides in the underworld, could remove all the bad memories a soul might possess, giving little thought to skills wiped or knowledge of loved ones lost forever.
Alex Colville
Alex is an arts writer whose work has featured in The Economist and The Spectator.
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Liu Shaoqi, the Chinese president turned ‘capitalist roader’
Liu Shaoqi was president of China, the handpicked successor to Mao. But he was a bit too bold, too truthful — and flew too close to the sun.
Putting China back on track: Zhan Tianyou, father of China’s railroad
China has the longest high-speed rail network in the world and the second longest network of total railways. But only a century ago, the country actually feared the locomotive, believing it a devilish tool of foreigner powers. Zhan Tianyou helped change that perception.
Modernizing tradition: Shen Congwen and his literary classics
Shen Congwen was an author of the people, writing about everyday life in rural villages and peppering his stories with regional flavor. He was denounced during the Cultural Revolution and then forgotten, but rediscovered in the 1980s — and would have become China’s first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature if only he’d lived a few more months.
Wu Zetian, the most controversial woman in Chinese history
For some, Wu Zetian is a brilliant statesman slandered by Confucian misogyny; for others, she’s a blood-soaked usurper who schemed her way to power. China's only empress left behind quite the legacy — and a lot of bodies.
Wang Yibo, the heartthrob everyone wants a piece of
Wang Yibo is a 23-year-old from Henan whose raging popularity means everyone wants a piece of him, from multinational corporations to the state, all hoping he'll shill a product or promote core socialist values. His fans won't leave him alone, either.
China’s 10 richest people in 2020
The Hurun China Rich List annually recognizes China’s wealthiest. This year’s Top 10 includes familiar faces, mostly self-made billionaires who came of age when the country was poor. Who are they?
New China, new art? Xu Beihong’s realist revolution
Xu Beihong was a modernizer, believing that artists needed to have ideas and stop relying on imitation. But was Xu as guilty of imitation — of conservative Western art, in his case — as the Chinese artists he criticized?
China’s most Trumpian emperors
What are the ingredients of a bad emperor? This week, a special edition of Chinese Lives takes a look at the characteristics of three particularly bad rulers.
Zao Jun: Heaven’s eternally bribed bureaucrat
China's Kitchen God is that of the hearth in Daoism and Chinese folk culture, smiling benevolently down from his place above the kitchen stove. But his appearance belies his true power.