Melinda Liu

The legacy of "Yellowbird" inspires unlikely new networks to transport dissidents to freedom

A top diplomat on a tough assignment.

Car ownership is out of control. So is pollution.

Beijing's new communist party boss, Xi Jinping is inspiring his countrymen with talk of a Chinese renaissance.

Among china's greatest art treasures are the Buddhist caves near Dunhuang, an oasis on the fabled Silk Road that once linked China and Europe. Their ancient frescoes, sculptures, and other relics date as far back as A.D. 430 and have survived wars, environmental damage, antiquities hunters, and the chaotic Cultural Revolution. But their biggest threat today is tourism.

China's fabled Mogao Grottoes turn to digital tourism. By Melinda Liu

A love affair culminates in the Galaxy SOHO.

A glamorous spouse shrinks from the limelight.

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," Mao Zedong once famously said. Though China's post-Mao leaders have struggled to keep the military brass under tight civilian control, in recent months, as factions have divided the leadership of the Communist Party, political rivals have vied for military support.

Nobel winner Mo Yan and the magical realism of China's micro-blogging platform Weibo. By Melinda Liu.

Beijing's new leaders must put out the fire.

Can a new president in China bring much-needed reforms?

China Remains Divided Over Reviving its Ancient Sage

A bribery probe casts a spotlight on an ancient Chinese term.

Bargain hard at a frenzied open-air market, taste the world's most succulent duck, and venture into the Forbidden City.

In China, crooked governance takes its toll.

China sends a woman to the final frontier.

Meet our man in Beijing—the calm in the China storm.

The true story of a dissident's life–and daring escape.

Hong Kong's new headman.

Meet Xi Jinping of China's communist party who will lead Beijing's new political generation.

An edgy new trend in Chinese dining turns the Cultural Revolution into dinner theater.

The protective wife of Rupert Murdoch.

The City of Dali is a traveler's Dream: a taste of old China in an idyllic setting. But is it destined to be ruined by tourism?

Artist Ai WeiWei is freed. But China continues its harshest crackdown on political dissidents in decades.

The Chinese repressed personal style during the Mao Years. Now they're ready to express themselves with élan.

Jin Xing was once a man and a soldier. Then he had a sex-change operation, and became a mother and one of china's premier dancers.

It's probably best not to even try making sense of Beijing's pronouncements on the 14th Dalai Lama and other Tibetan spiritual leaders: you'll only make your head hurt. Last week the officially atheist Chinese government's State Administration for Religious Affairs disclosed plans to enact a new law forbidding the 75-year-old Buddhist deity to be reborn anywhere but on Chinese-controlled soil, and giving final say to Chinese authorities when the time comes to identify his 15th incarnation.

Parallels between Tahrir Square in 2011 and Tiananmen Square in 1989 haven't been lost on China's media censors. Last week two of the nation's biggest Internet portals, Sina.com and NetEase.com, blocked keyword searches of the word "Egypt." So did Weibo, China's Twitter equivalent. (China's Great Firewall already blocks access to the real Twitter, as well as Facebook and YouTube.) The party warned that websites refusing to censor comments about Egypt would be "shut down by force."

"Chinese moms" in China aren't raising superior kids, actually. U.S. author Amy Chua's book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"—and The Wall Street Journal extract of her memoir headlined "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior"—has sparked huge debate inside China.