Jonathan Mirsky, Journalist and Historian of China, Dies at 88

Dr. Mirsky managed to dictate his article by phone. The next morning he cycled back to Tiananmen, where he saw soldiers shoot parents who were trying to enter the square to look for children who had not returned home. He said he also saw soldiers shoot doctors and nurses who had come to the scene to help the injured. (Many China scholars still regard as unresolved how many people were killed in the crackdown and where they died; estimates range from the hundreds to the thousands.) “Tiananmen Square became a…

Li Guangman’s Essay Ignites Guessing Over Xi’s Plans for China

After Mr. Xi took power, many of them embraced him as their great hope, and his recent emphasis on “common prosperity” — a phrase dating to the Mao era that suggests reducing inequality — has raised their expectations. China’s Tightening Grip Xi’s Warning: A century after the Communist Party’s founding, China’s leader says foreign powers would “crack their heads and spill blood” if they tried to stop its rise. Behind the Takeover of Hong Kong: One year ago, the city’s freedoms were curtailed with breathtaking speed. But the clampdown was years…