I love this city dearly. It’s home to me in every sense of the word. Having spent my early childhood there I’ve seen Beijing in all its contradictions: the dazzling and the decaying, the hopeful and the hard edged. I still think about those long bus rides I used to take every weekend for math camps and violin classes (the classic weekend itinerary of a dutiful grade school Chinese kid lol... though I was an epic fail at violin...) From the suburb then through Qinghe, Zhong Guancun, and Gu Lou and back, the route passed empty lots, migrant towns, the heart of China’s Silicon Valley, and the old hutong neighborhoods where time itself seems to move slower. You see the full spectrum of life. It’s a city of immense complexity, impossible to capture in a single narrative.

Very sad news. The brilliant BBC lawyer Roger Law has died. So many BBC producers & reporters will be eternally grateful to Roger for getting their films on air over last four decades. He was a legendary figure, perhaps the best-ever lawyer in history of broadcast journalism.

The full interview with Labour MP Natalie Fleet on the statutory rape that she was subjected to, when she was 15, after being groomed by an older man. #Newsnight

CHINA JOB @ChathamHouse We are seeking an energetic and intellectually driven young China watcher to join @CHAsiaPacific team in supporting our EU-funded project work and wider research on the China's political economy, working closely with yours truly 😄 please apply

In Sep 2021, China #MeToo journalist Sophia Huang vanished en route to the airport to the UK, where she was due to study. Now, she’s expected to face trial for subversion. Please watch our BBC Eye film on her story, which represents so many in China today youtube.com/watch?v=V2_ttvND…