After meeting in Berlin, historian Ian Johnson explained why he and his team launched The China Unofficial Archives. Registered as a US non-profit in late 2023, the archive aims to preserve censored modern Chinese history and keep hidden works available to people inside China and to non-Chinese speakers.
The archive collects books, magazines, blog posts, documentary films and a database of independent Chinese thinkers. Most items were banned inside China, and staff select works they judge important for understanding recent history. The collection includes samizdat-style publications from the 1950s and 1960s and censored blogposts from the White Paper protests of 2022, but it is not complete.
Analytics for one month show about a quarter of users are from China and a quarter from the United States, with the rest mainly in East Asia and Europe. Johnson says the project rejects an ideological aim and seeks to make independent work visible and useful for those who want to think about China’s future.
Difficult words
- archive — a place to collect and keep recordsArchives
- preserve — to keep something safe for the future
- censor — to remove or hide parts of a textcensored
- samizdat — an underground printed publication shared secretlysamizdat-style
- ban — to officially not allow somethingbanned
- independent — not controlled by other people or groups
- reject — to say no to an idea or offerrejects
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Do you think it is important to keep banned or censored works available? Why or why not?
- How might people inside China use this archive to learn about recent history?
- What other types of materials would you add to the archive, and why?
