Alec Ash

Below are selected clippings of Ash's magazine features and anthologised writing:

nationalism

China's New Nationalism

An essay on China's newly confident nationalism, where it comes from and how genuine it really is, in the Wire China

hong kong

Hong Kong's Brave Front

A reported feature from the frontlines of the 2019 Hong Kong democracy protests, tear gas and all, in The Spectator

sci fi

The Fantastic Truth About China

An essay-review of contemporary Chinese science fiction and the genre's storied past, in the New York Review of Books

xiaojun

Orphans of Progress

A feature about 'left-behind children' in rural China, and three generations of a single family, in 1843 magazine

gaokao student

The Toughest Exam in the World

A long read following one Chinese high school student as he takes the college entrance exam, in the Guardian

may4

China's New Youth

How the legacy of youth protest in China, from 1919 to 1989, interacts with the new generations today, in Dissent

hutong

Labyrinths of Memory

A longform story of unreckoned memory and intersecting communities in Beijing's historic hutongs, in Asia Literary Review

qinghai

Out of Tibet

A book chapter following a young Tibetan struggling to find his place in modern China, from Chinese Characters

cover

A BBC Book of the Week

"A talented young observer of today’s China" – Peter Hessler

"Lyrical ... a telling portrait" – Washington Post

"Alive with the full complications of truth" – Evan Osnos

"Compelling and beautifully written" – Prospect