Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 1d

a guy who makes cookies & posts about it in insta came up to me while recording on his raybans in Minneapolis and frankly it was quite invasive. he was sweet but if he'd asked to record me I would've given a real review of the cookie. instead it was a "no thanks, best of luck."

Matt @tiredgenerally.bsky.social · 1d

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 2d

this is awesome.

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 2d

The day I left for America.

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 19d

very cool translated short story + interview combo, give it a read!

China Books Review @chinabooksreview.com · 19d

Read Fei Dao's Q&A on Chinese sci-fi, and his story "The Storytelling Robot," translated by Alec Ash: chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/18/s...

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Reposted by Alexander Boyd

China Books Review @chinabooksreview.com · 19d

Read Fei Dao's Q&A on Chinese sci-fi, and his story "The Storytelling Robot," translated by Alec Ash: chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/18/s...

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 21d

The Dark Knight

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 21d

he does need to work on his stroke order though — and characters aren't ideograms!

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 21d

Three Days of the Condor was almost an all-time Secret China Movie™.

RIP Robert Redford

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 26d

“be right there, dude, I’m on the L. Ron Hubbard express.”

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 28d

That teacher was fired. Another teacher who defended her on WeChat was confined in a mental facility by local security forces.

What pathetic students.

chinadigitaltimes.net/2022/01/afte...

After "Being Mentally-Illed," Teacher Li Tiantian Chooses Self-Exile

Li Tiantian, the pregnant Hunan elementary school teacher forcibly committed to a psychiatric ward after voicing support for a fired Shanghai professor, has been released from the hospital—and chosen ...

chinadigitaltimes.net

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 28d

Texas A&M has as much free speech as Shanghai. None.

In 2021, a Chinese student secretly recorded his teacher questioning the Nanjing Massacre's death toll — a Party taboo.

He also said she's a "walking $500k," a reference to the award money for turning in traitors to secret police.

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Reposted by Alexander Boyd

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 28d

The Shiji abounds with examples of corrupt, venal, or stupid rulers getting cosmic comeuppance. In today's timeline, it's almost quaint to believe in a universal order that punishes terrible leaders.

Read more in my latest for @chinabooksreview.com

chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/09/s...

Sima Qian: Records of the Grand Historian | China Books Review

History is supposedly written by the victors. Sima Qian, author of China's original historical classic, showed it could also be written by the condemned.

chinabooksreview.com

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 29d

reading a very popular book right now and....

Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 29d

the 不也是吗 construction + the 地盘 ...

but reason I'm not criticizing translator is... I couldn't do better.

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · 29d

Translating literature is a brutal and impossible task, so this is not a criticism of the translator.

But am I insane for saying that translating this line, "香港不也是中国的地盘吗，所有需要证件的地方，她一概不能去" as "Hong Kong was part of China" is a real loss?

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 8

DC house parties are fun, actually, and everyone hating on them here is talking about a small subset of staffer functions that wrap up by 8:30...

Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 8

This line the only one that raises eyebrows: "我希望自己也能为中国篮球的发展贡献力量。"

Not objectionable on its face, but in fact is propaganda phrase deployed across industries and fields to exhort others to dedicate themselves to 发展 (i.e. develop in the Party's desired direction) an industry.

Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 8

LeBron James' essay in the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Party. An odd move for such a image-minded man, especially as the essay was actually written by a People's Daily journalist based on an interview.

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 6

We’re post peak for sure — your shirt guys are the true weather vane

Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 4

HAHHAHA and missed it — brilliant. Maybe I’ll whip some up in solidarity toda…. definitely solidarity… definitely not because I’m now so hungry…

Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 4

The Red Wind Howls, states @bennoweiner.bsky.social in this magnificent new review, "is a monumental literary achievement, an act of defiance that helps pierce a regime of forced forgetting."

Tsering Döndrup's magnum opus is now available in English — read it!

chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/04/i...

Ill Winds In Tibet | China Books Review

A banned Tibetan novel, now published in English, recounts the devastation of Mao's campaigns in the wake of the Amdo Rebellion of 1958.

chinabooksreview.com

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Reposted by Alexander Boyd

Benno Weiner @bennoweiner.bsky.social · Sep 4

Please check out my review of Tsering Döndrup’s magnificent and important novel, *The Red Wind Howls* (tr. Chris Peacock) in @chinabooksreview.com
(then read the book!)

Thanks to editors @alexludoboyd.bsky.social and @alecash.net

chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/04/i...
@columbiaup.bsky.social

Ill Winds In Tibet | China Books Review

A banned Tibetan novel, now published in English, recounts the devastation of Mao's campaigns in the wake of the Amdo Rebellion of 1958.

chinabooksreview.com

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 4

The Duivenbond in my hometown

Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 4

this story could not be more tailored to me. How Chinese pigeon passion has fueled a crime wave in the Flemish countryside…

www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

The pigeon heist: How racing birds became the target of organized crime

Pigeon races in Chinese cities became opulent symbols of China’s economic boom, with purses over $100 million — exceeding most of the world’s major sports.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Alexander Boyd @alexludoboyd.bsky.social · Sep 2

Another podcast! Was wicked fun to chat with bossman @alecash.net about the worst China books around — tune in to the China Books Podcast and check out our other episodes too while you're at it!

chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/02/e...

Ep. 24: China Conspiracy Theories | China Books Review

From Covid as a bioweapon to Chinese soldiers infiltrating America, Alexander Boyd discusses the right-wing conspiracy theories that lead our ranking of bestselling China books.

chinabooksreview.com

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