Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in XI Jinping’s China

An intimate, deeply reported investigation into the battle over identity in China, chronicling the state oppression of those who fail to conform to Xi Jinping’s definition of who is ＂Chinese,＂ from an award-winning NPR correspondent.

＂Emily Feng’s focus on ordinary people--bravely determined to shape their own lives--captures the mood of the Xi Jinping era more essentially than reams of statistics ever can.＂--Evan Osnos, National Book Award winner, author of Age of Ambition

The rise of China and its great power competition with the U.S. will be one of the defining issues of our generation. But to understand modern China, one has to understand the people who live there - and the way the Chinese state is trying to control them along lines of identity and free expression.

In vivid, cinematic detail, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom tells the stories of nearly two dozen people who are pushing back. They include a Uyghur family, separated as China detains hundreds of thousands of their fellow Uyghurs in camps; human rights lawyers fighting to defend civil liberties in the face of mammoth odds; a teacher from Inner Mongolia, forced to make hard choices because of his support of his mother tongue; and a Hong Kong fugitive trying to find a new home and live in freedom.

Reporting despite the personal risks, journalist Emily Feng reveals dramatic human stories of resistance and survival in a country that is increasingly closing itself off to the world. Feng illustrates what it is like to run against the grain in China, and the myriad ways people are trying to survive, with dignity.

Emily Feng is currently China correspondent for NPR. She was previously a freelance reporter for The New York Times, The Economist, and Financial Times. At NPR, her radio coverage of the pandemic in China earned her a Human Rights Press Award, was recognized by the National Headliners Award, and won her a Gracie Award twice. She was also named a Livingston Award finalist. She’s a regular contributor to NPR podcasts and member stations, including WBUR’s Here and Now, WAMU’s 1A podcast, The Indicator, It’s Been a Minute, and Rough Translation. She is also a frequent guest on U.S. and BBC radio and television programs, including Business Matters and BBC World News and Vox’s Today Explained. She lives in Beijing, China.