Lavender Au is a writer from London currently based in Beijing. She has written for The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Times, and Vogue. She studied Mandarin at Tsinghua University and is a graduate of the University of Oxford.
Last Updated: March 24, 2020
The NYRB China Archive
05.22.21
The Protest Families of Pro-Democracy Hong Kong
from New York Review of Books
They met at a crossroads in October 2019. That day, Hong Kong’s people came out in their tens of thousands, to protest the proposed Extradition Bill, which would allow the territory to detain and transfer citizens to mainland China. Hoikei was there...
The NYRB China Archive
01.12.21
China’s First Big #MeToo Case Tests the Party
from New York Review of Books
In November, a court at last notified Zhou Xiaoxuan, known more commonly by her nickname, Xianzi, that it would try her case, a civil lawsuit filed in 2018 against television host Zhu Jun, who she alleges sexually harassed her. But when the trial...
The NYRB China Archive
03.02.20
Evacuation from China, Quarantine in the UK: A COVID-19 Dispatch
from New York Review of Books
I had missed the first British evacuation when my embassy didn’t get me a permit for the checkpoints in time, but I was trying to make the second. My send-off gifts: two instant-noodle pots (hot food safer than cold), a tub of alcohol-soaked cotton...
The NYRB China Archive
02.04.20
Stuck in Central China on Coronavirus Lockdown
from New York Review of Books
Before Shiyan, a city in Hubei province, went into quarantine, the sum of 30 yuan (about $4) could buy two cabbages, enough spring onions for two soups, a large white radish, two lettuces, a potato, and 10 eggs. Not any more. Wanting to record the...