Louisa Lim

National Public Radio Shanghai correspondent

Louisa Lim appears in the following:

China's ex-leader Jiang Zemin, an influential reformer, has died at 96

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Jiang Zemin rose to power in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests and leaves a legacy of economic reforms — but also tight political control.

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Hong Kong's Rewritten Histories

Wednesday, July 06, 2022

The British myth that Hong Kong was a barren rock, Chinese revisionism, and more.

Australia's Prime Minister Is Ousted By His Own Party

Friday, August 24, 2018

Malcolm Turnbull was booted from his seat by conservatives in his party. It's the 4th time in the past decade that the country has removed its prime minister. Scott Morrison is the new prime minister.

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Inventor Who Made Chinese Easier To Read, Dies

Monday, January 16, 2017

The inventor of Pinyin, a system that converted Chinese characters into words with the Roman alphabet, died on Saturday. Zhou Youguang was 111 years old.

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In Australia, Decades Of Abuse Against Military Recruits Comes To Light

Thursday, June 30, 2016

A commission is investigating complaints by military academy students who say systematic sexual abuse was inflicted on new recruits dating back to the 1970s.

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25 Years in 25 Days (2008): A Big Year for China

Friday, October 24, 2014

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and former NPR correspondent Louisa Lim reflect on a year that brought the Olympics and heartache to China -- and complicated our vision of Beijing.

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Trouble at Home: Hong Kong's Path to Democracy

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Journalist and professor Louisa Lim explains what it's been like to watch the streets where she grew up erupt in chaos almost overnight.

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June 4: The Day That Defines, And Still Haunts China

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Suppressing its own people with tanks and guns 25 years ago was a pivotal act of modern China. Beijing hoped economic prosperity would make people forget. But the legacy of Tiananmen remains potent.

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For One Soldier At Tiananmen, A Day 'Never Forgotten'

Monday, June 02, 2014

Chen Guang is now an artist, and since early May, he has been held in police detention after staging a performance that was a comment on attempts to expunge the Tiananmen Square massacre from history.

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For Many Of China's Youth, June 4 May As Well Be Just Another Day

Sunday, June 01, 2014

They peered at the photo blankly, leaning to take in the details.

"Is it from South Korea?" asked a student studying for a doctorate in marketing, with no flicker of recognition.

"Is it Kosovo?" a young astronomy major guessed.

The photo they were staring at so intently was the iconic ...

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25 Years On, Mothers Of Tiananmen Square Dead Seek Answers

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The elderly woman carefully handed over the tissue-thin white paper slip. The flimsy invoice was her son's death notice. The words hurriedly scrawled on it in blue ink — "shot outside and died" — were proof to her of the crimes of the state.

Zhang Xianling's son, Wang Nan, was ...

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After 25 Years Of Amnesia, Remembering A Forgotten Tiananmen

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The bloody 1989 crackdown in Beijing changed China, NPR's Louisa Lim explains in a new book. She also chronicles the brutal repression that took place in another city — and remained hidden until now.

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For China's Youth, A Life Of 'Darkness Outside The Night'

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Xie Peng, a 36-year-old Chinese graphic novelist, spent six years working on his first book, Darkness Outside the Night. It's been praised by China's first Nobel laureate for literature, Mo Yan, as inspiring people on how to deal with life.

It's a psychological journey into the world of ...

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Belly Dancing For The Dead: A Day With China's Top Mourner

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

File under "one of the oddest jobs ever": professional mourner. China's funeral rituals date back 2,000 years to the Han dynasty, but were banned during the Cultural Revolution as superstition. Now these funeral rituals have become an income source to a select few who stage funeral extravaganzas, marrying ancient Chinese ...

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Calls For Justice For Tiananmen Met With Silence

Monday, June 03, 2013

Ding Zilin has spent the past 24 years on one mission: seeking justice for the death of her son, 17-year-old Jiang Jielian, who was shot in the back by Chinese soldiers on the night of June 3, 1989.

This year, her mood is one of black despair.

"It's possible that ...

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Targets Of Disgraced Bo Xilai Still Languish In Jail

Monday, May 27, 2013

It was 5 p.m. on an ordinary Tuesday, and Li Ping was finishing up the company accounts before going to have a facial. She was working for her brother, Li Qiang, who owned one of the biggest private transport companies in Chongqing, a major city in southwestern China.

Suddenly, five ...

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China's Artist Provocateur Explores New Medium: Heavy Metal

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The man ArtReview magazine named the most powerful artist in the world is trying his hand at rock stardom. In 2011, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei spent 81 days in detention. He was later let go and charged with tax evasion. Now, he has released his first ...

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Children Of China's Wealthy Learn Expensive Lessons

Monday, May 20, 2013

In China, having too much money is a relatively new problem. But the rapidly growing country is second only to the U.S. in its number of billionaires, according to Forbes magazine. And now an enterprising company has set up a course for kids born into wealthy families, who are learning ...

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After The Quake In China: A Survivor's Story

Monday, May 13, 2013

Zhang Ming lost her 5-year-old daughter, her parents and her home in the powerful earthquake that hit Sichuan province five years ago. She now operates a stall selling soft drinks, homemade tofu, popsicles and souvenirs. She and her husband had another child, a daughter who is ...

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Five Years After A Quake, Chinese Cite Shoddy Reconstruction

Monday, May 13, 2013

Five years after the massive Wenchuan quake in China's Sichuan province left about 90,000 dead and missing, allegations are surfacing that corruption and official wrongdoing have plagued the five-year-long quake reconstruction effort.

The official press is full of praise for how "all Chinese have a reason to be proud ...

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