Resources and

Reading Recommendations

Books, Reports, and Websites

BOOKS

Angle, S., and Svensson, M., (eds), The Chinese Human Rights Reader: Documents and Commentary, 1900-2000, M.E. Sharpe, 2001.

Bachulska, M. Leonard and J. Oertel The Idea of China: Chinese Thinkers on Power, Progress, and People, European Council on Foreign Relations, 2024. Available from The idea of China | ECFR

Franceschini, I., Loubere, N., and Sorace, C., (eds), Afterlives of Chinese Communism: Political Concepts from Mao to Xi, Australian National University Press, 2019.

Link, E.P., An Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics, Harvard University Press, 2012.

Mayer, M., Kavalski, E., Rudyak, M., and Xin, Z. (eds.), Routledge Handbook on Global China, Routledge, 2025.

Roth, H.I., P.C. Chang and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021.

Schoenhals, M., Doing Things with Words in Chinese Politics: Five Studies, Center for Chinese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1992.

Yu, H., China in Ten Words, Pantheon Books, 2011.

REPORTS

Drinhausen, K., Ohlberg, M., Karásková, I, Stec, G., “Image Control: How China Struggles for Discourse Power”, MERICS, 2023, https://merics.org/en/report/image-control-how-china-struggles-discourse-power.

Drinhausen, K., Shi-Kupfer, K., Sadeler, C., “China’s Fragile Online Spaces for Debate”, China Spektrum Report, MERICS, 2025, https://merics.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/ChinaSpektrum_Report05_FINAL.pdf.

Grünberg, N., Drinhausen, K. and Davey, A., “Serving the People by Controlling Phem: How the Party is Reinserting Itself Into Daily Life”, MERICS, 2025, https://merics.org/en/report/serving-people-controlling-them-how-party-reinserting-itself-daily-life.

International Civil Society Centre, “Scanning the Horizon: Sector Guide for China”, International Civil Society Centre, 2019, https://icscentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/StH-Sector-Guide-China-November-2019.pdf.

Lang, S., Lang, B., Ohlberg, M., Shi-Kupfer, K., “Ideas And Ideologies Competing For China’s Political Future, How Online Pluralism Challenges Official Orthodoxy”, MERICS Mercator Institute for China Studies, 2017, https://merics.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/171004_MPOC_05_Ideologies_0_web_1.pdf.

Oud, M., ‘Powers of Persuasion? China’s Struggle for Human Rights Discourse Power at the UN”. Global Policy,15 (Suppl. 2), 85–96, 2024. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13361.

Rolland, N., “An Emerging China-Centric Order, China’s Vision For A New World Order In Practice”, The National Bureau of Asian Research, 2020, https://www.nbr.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/publications/sr87_aug2020.pdf.

Rolland, N., “China’s Vision For A New World Order”, The National Bureau of Asian Research, 2020, https://www.nbr.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/publications/sr83_chinasvision_jan2020.pdf.

Schrader, M., “Friends and Enemies: A Framework for Understanding Chinese Political Interference in Democratic Countries”, Alliance for Securing Democracy, 2020, https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Friends-and-Enemies-A-Framework-for-Understanding-Chinese-Political-Interference-in-Democratic-Countries.pdf.

The National Bureau of Asian Research, “China Foreign Policy Lexicon Tracker”, The National Bureau of Asian Research, https://www.nbr.org/publication/china-foreign-policy-lexicon-tracker/.

Thibaut, K., “Chinese Discourse Power: Ambitions and Reality in the Digital Domain”, Atlantic Council, 2022, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Chinese-Discourse-Power-Ambitions-and-Reality-in-the-Digital-Domain.pdf.

Thibaut, K., “Chinese Discourse Power: Capabilities and Impact”, Atlantic Council, 2023, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Chinese-Discourse-Power-Capabilities-and-Impact-1.pdf.