Historian Ian Johnson, who was born in Montréal and later worked in the United States and East Asia, launched The China Unofficial Archives as a US-registered non-profit in late 2023. He says his role is to describe people’s lives by observing them closely and letting them speak, and the archive reflects that approach by preserving censored modern Chinese history for readers inside China and for non-Chinese speakers.
The project collects books, magazines, blog posts, documentary films and a database of independent Chinese thinkers. Most items were banned inside China. Each entry carries neutral descriptions in Chinese and English and is searchable by theme, era or format. The archive began with material linked to Johnson’s book Sparks and is thus weighted toward three major disasters:
- Anti-Rightist Campaign/Great Famine (1957–1961)
- Cultural Revolution (1966–1976)
- Tiananmen massacre (1989)
The collection also contains samizdat-style publications from the 1950s and 1960s and censored blogposts from the White Paper protests of 2022. It has gaps on ethnic minorities, gender issues and many current events, and the team is adding material on the COVID-19 outbreak and feminism. Analytics installed for a month show about a quarter of users are from China, a quarter from the United States, and the rest mainly from East Asia and Europe. Users are primarily Chinese or overseas Chinese communities, including overseas bookstores, podcasts and publications. Johnson rejects an ideological aim; the archive seeks to make independent work visible and useful for people who want to think about China’s future.
Difficult words
- archive — Collection of historical records kept for access.Archives
- censor — Officially remove or block information from public.censored
- non-profit — Organisation that does not distribute profits to owners.
- samizdat-style — Underground self-published material shared secretly.
- analytics — Analysis of user data and website statistics.
- ideological — Related to ideas or political beliefs and goals.
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How might preserving censored materials help people inside China and non-Chinese speakers think about China’s future?
- What challenges could the archive face because it currently has gaps on ethnic minorities, gender issues and many current events?
- Do you think an archive should avoid having an ideological aim? Explain using the text's description of Johnson's approach.
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