“Some see in his critique of the Mao era parallels to today: the arbitrary rule of an aging leader, harsh treatment of dissent, and government programs that encourage people to inform on one another.” My profile of the octogenarian essayist Gao Ertai, who lived for years in the deserts of western China and now resides in Las Vegas.

Read the article  in The New Yorker online here.

Read the Chinese translation in the Boston Review of Books (波斯頓書評) here.