Assoc. Curator, Penn Museum Views are mine, not my employer's UK (1970-1993) PRC (1993-2001) US (2001-) https://xitter.gq/t.co/U4KRI8CejO @adsmit.bsky.social
Joined July 2013
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Adam Smith retweeted
Pete Hegseth and his entourage were reprimanded by an Army guard after laughing during a Veterans Day visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Wow
Adam Smith retweeted
New substack post on my conclusions from my recent trip to Xinjiang. Link below:
Adam Smith retweeted
Rahile Omer, the youngest detainee photographed in the Xinjiang Police Files, has died in a Chinese prison at 23.
RFA Uyghur Service reports that officials in Konasheher County, Kashgar, had confirmed by phone that she died one to two months earlier.
Her case is documented in my 2022 study of the Xinjiang Police Files. She was the youngest of the 2,884 photographed persons confirmed as detained.
Xinjiang’s mass surveillance platform flagged her as a “Type 12 person,” meaning someone connected to an existing police case. Both of her parents had been detained on July 3, 2017. Her father was a government official. The records note that she was first spared because she was “14 years old, a non-adult student.” Police detained her on September 28, less than three months after her parents.
RFA has now reported what followed. A judicial official said that in 2019 she was moved from the camp to a detention center because the “education” had not taken effect, she had given no information about others in her case, and she had prayed through gestures in her dormitory. In October 2021, after she turned 18, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison. An officer said she died of a heart condition but gave no further details. These statements cannot be independently verified.
Rahile spent more than a third of her life in custody because of her family. Beijing should release her medical and prison records and disclose what has happened to her parents.
Report links below.
Adam Smith retweeted
Iso Kern (Geng Ning 耿寧, 1937–2026), Swiss philosopher and distinguished scholar of Chinese philosophy, has passed away a few days ago. His unusual intellectual journey connected European phenomenology with Chinese Neo-Confucianism and Yogācāra Buddhism,
1/13
"The Qing Doctor (卿大夫) was the bulk of a family."
Oops.
See also the review by Yuri Pines. And the authors' response.
Bridging Two Worlds: Comparing Classical Political Thought and Statecraft in India and China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2023).
Adam Smith retweeted
Many people in tech have made, or are about to make, large sums of capital. I want to make a petition for more philanthropy towards historical buildings- specifically Churches
Every year, dozens of historical Churches fall into disrepair around Europe. Hundreds of these deconsecrated buildings are up for sale
I don't believe you need to be Christian to recognise the value in saving these buildings. You just have to respect history. It is a travesty to see these buildings- that were the cradle of communities and our civilisation- fall into disrepair or even get demolished
These Churches should not become financial assets- not yoga studios, not backdrops for light shows, not a rental opportunity. We should allow them to remain as sacred spaces- the preservation of our history is enough
When you take on these sorts of projects, people will say, "Oh, but these are money drains! They will just need continuous repair- and you'll have nobody to sell them to!" Consider perhaps that in this you will find the whole point
You could save a Church for low six figures. A very wealthy person could save a lot of them. I have taken on one, and it has been one of the most beautiful and meaningful projects of my life
Adam Smith retweeted
views from inside the government building
Nov 9: a man drove an excavator through Fengdong New City (沣东新城) in Xixian New Area (西咸新区), a new district between Xi’an and Xianyang in Shaanxi province, and tore down the exterior facades and other structures of the government office complex there out of anger and frustration over arrears totalling 20 million yuan — all owed by the relevant government unit.
💥 Nov 9: a man drove an excavator through Fengdong New City (沣东新城) in Xixian New Area (西咸新区), a new district between Xi’an and Xianyang in Shaanxi province, and tore down the exterior facades and other structures of the government office complex there out of anger and frustration over arrears totalling 20 million yuan — all owed by the relevant government unit.
Adam Smith retweeted
A man has driven an excavator into a Chinese government affairs centre in Shaanxi, demolishing entrances and damaging several buildings amid an alleged dispute over unpaid villagers’ compensation.
Exit polls suggest a red tsunami.
Chinese President Xi Jinping cast his ballot at a polling station in Beijing on Friday to elect deputies to a local people's congress. Read #XiFocus for more: xhtxs.cn/bgfn
Adam Smith retweeted
Chinese-themed Imperial Court Masquerade in the Anichkov Palace, Russia, 1837.
Watercolor painting by Nikolay Becker.
Last two paragraphs of a less-than-positive review by Zeb Raft of Edward Shaughnessy's Odes translation:
cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Adam Smith retweeted
There's no such thing as a "defensive strike" when you're illegally attacking another country.
BREAKING: The U.S. has conducted defensive strikes on some Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official says. apnews.com/article/iran-us-t…
