China

NY Times reporter David Sanger says the world's leading producer of telecom equipment will be central to the spread of a global 5G network — which could pose a major threat to U.S. national security.

Author Robert Kuttner says the decline of social contracts in Western democracies has led to the rise of right-wing populism. His new book is Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism?

New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos says Chinese leaders think of President Trump as a "paper tiger" who makes promises he can't deliver and who can be "managed" with flattery.

Historian Frank Dikötter says newly opened archives offer fresh details about the chaos China experienced in the 1960s, when Chairman Mao urged students to take to the streets.

Journalist Mei Fong tells Fresh Air that China's one-child policy drastically reshaped the country's demographic make-up. "China has 30 million more men than women," she says. Her book is One Child.

Virginia furniture owner John Bassett III was determined to beat out foreign competitors. Author Beth Macy documents him, and the collapse of the U.S. furniture industry, in her new book, Factory Man.

On the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, author Evan Osnos discusses his new book that explores the tensions between China's economic expansion and its commitment to authoritarian rule.

In China's Second Continent, Howard French explores the Chinese presence in 15 African countries. The relationship goes beyond economics: more than a million Chinese citizens have migrated to Africa.

The NSA managed to penetrate the networks of the giant Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, documents show. Journalist David Sanger says cyber-espionage is an "entirely new field of conflict."

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry follows the famous artist around the world as he repeatedly irks Chinese authorities with his art and political critiques. Fresh Air's John Powers says the documentary casts important light on the fight for greater freedom in China.

A new book follows an American basketball veteran as he coaches a struggling Chinese pro basketball team. Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Yardley has a courtside seat from which to observe China's frantic capitalist expansion and its ambivalent fascination with all things American.

Filmmaker Lixin Fan's Last Train Home documents the journey 130 million migrant workers make back to their rural villages every Chinese New Year. But the movie is not only about families traveling home -- it's about China's modernization. Critic John Powers says the images in the "epic and intimate" movie are absolutely ravishing."

NPR host Scott Simon became a father for the first time at the age of 50, when he and his wife Caroline adopted the first of their two daughters from China. He describes how he felt becoming a father relatively late in life, how his family changed — and how his daughters continue to inspire him, in a new memoir, Baby We Were Meant For Each Other.

A new biography tells the story of Buck's Chinese childhood, as the daughter of zealous missionaries. In Pearl Buck in China, Hilary Spurling makes a compelling case for a reappraisal of Buck's fiction -- transforming her from dreary "lady author" into woman warrior.

China expert Orville Schell explains to host Terry Gross how the gates of United States and China are connected, and how the protectionist policies of the past are no longer viable.

In 1993, a freighter with 300 terrified, half-starved Chinese immigrants went aground off the shore of Queens, New York. Author Patrick Radden Keefe chronicles the incident in his new book The Snakehead.

Journalist James Fallows explores China's recent rise to power and what it means for the US in his new book of essays, Postcards Tomorrow Square.

Critic John Powers says the beautifully shot films of Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke register what's getting lost in China's transformation — and why Jia is one of the most eminent directors of our time.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan picked out two debut books by young writers that mix personal history and social commentary

Film critic John Powers reviews Lust, Caution, the new film by Taiwanese director Ang Lee. Set in 1942, during the Japanese occupation of China, the film tells the story of a resistance fighter who has an affair with a Chinese collaborator.