唯紅花綻放: 習近平時代的認同與歸屬

by Emily Feng, 馮哲芸, 洪慧芳 (Translator)

A 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.

In the hot summer months of 2021, China celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party. Authorities held propaganda and education campaigns across the country defining the ideal Chinese ethnically Han Chinese, Mandarin speaking, solidly atheist, and devoted to the socialist project of strengthening China against western powers. 

No one can understand modern China—including its response to the pandemic—without understanding who actually lives there, and the ways that the Chinese State tries to control its people. Let Only Red Flowers Bloom collects the stories of more than two dozen people who together represent a more holistic picture of Chinese identity. The Uyghurs who have seen millions of their fellow citizens detained in camps; mainland human rights lawyer Ren Quanniu, who lost his law license in a bureaucratic dispute after representing a Hong Kong activist; a teacher from Inner Mongolia, forced to escape persecution because of his support of his mother tongue. These are just a few narratives that journalist Emily Feng reports on, revealing human stories about resistance against a hegemonic state and introducing readers to the people who know about Chinese identity the best. 

Illuminating a country that has for too long been secretive of the real lives its citizens are living, Feng reveals what it’s really like to be anything other than party-supporting Han Chinese in China, and the myriad ways they’re trying to survive in the face of an oppressive regime.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Asia, Audiobook, Memoir

150 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 18, 2025

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two forces converged when I was deciding whether or not to read Emily Feng's Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China. The first was my avoidance of titles which contain "identity" in their subtitles. I have seen too many books which purport to discuss identity that become extensive forms of navel gazing or having nothing to do with identity but are more like extended rants about a subject. The second, and more powerful force, was my curiosity about China and finding a book which can help me understand it today. My inquisitiveness won out and thank goodness it did because Feng does exceptional work meeting the potential of the book's title.

What I most appreciate about Feng's book is her willingness to cover the topics her readers will want to read about. It is all in here. It's the equivalent of going to see your favorite band and they somehow play every single song you have on the wish list in your head. Subjects like Taiwan, Hong Kong, COVID, the one child policy, and even Tiktok were on my list. Feng checked every box while adding others I had no idea about.

The bigger shock to me was how much I enjoyed how Feng actually tackled Chinese identity. Each chapter focuses on a different character or characters who are struggling to define what it is to be Chinese. Many characters are patriots in their own way who are caught by the changing tides of the Chinese government. Less frequently, chapters are about someone actively fighting against the government in a more direct way. All of these stories highlight how different cultures, ethnicity, and languages are all Chinese in reality, but are not seen that way by an increasingly oppressive government.

Feng herself is infrequently the focus of the narrative, but she does call out her own struggles with what it is to be of Chinese descent (she is American). Most poignantly, while reporting on the persecution of Uyghurs, she is given positive treatment by the government because of how she looks, but is constantly followed otherwise for being a journalist and American. It is these contradictions which lie at the heart of this excellent book.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Crown Publishing.)

[Bonnie G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary feat of reporting, telling the story of repression of thought and speech through the stories of individual Chinese people from throughout China (including Hong Kong, Mongolia, Tibet, Taiwan, which may or may not correctly be considered part of China) and the diaspora. Feng's choice of stories is brilliant, and makes comprehensible things I believe are largely incomprehensible to those who are not Chinese and who have not lived under the strictures of Chinese control -- which is not to say they do not remain abhorrent. One thing that became clear as I read was how fully Trump has taken a page from Xi Jinping's playbook. He creates an outward appearance of freedom, foments nationalism, represses dissent, rules through fear, and makes "concessions" to those who publicly oppose him to stay popular and appear reasonable while being at all times a despot. Reading this a year ago would have been an entirely different experience.

A personal note on something that made this more special for me, and which I want to highlight because it might nto be immediately apparent to some readers why it matters. The first time I lived in that region was in 1984-1986 (I was 21 when I got there, if you are doing the math -- I really am that old), and I was primarily living in Taiwan, though I spent a great deal of time in Hong Kong and in various parts of Mainland China. Taiwan is enjoying a moment of freedom and growth now, but when I lived there, we were under martial law. There were men with machine guns on most corners in Taipei -- the police and the army were the same. All residents were spied on, threatened, and any speech that did not fully support the Kuomintang was likely to earn you a late-night visit from said gun wielders and, in some cases, imprisonment or deportation. I speak from experience on the late-night visits -- I had two, and I was no political rabble-rouser. Feng addresses this and also talks about the split between the Communists and the Kuomintang and why it matters now. It has been my experience that most people outside the region don't know this history, and it is crucial to understanding modern China.

[David Frazier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by NPR reporter Emily Feng (formerly at the Financial Times and an NYT researcher), this is an often gripping read and excellent recap of China's major human rights and ethnic identity-related stories of the past decade--starting around 2015. Lots of great personal stories bring to life major trends: China's rights defense lawyers, anti-corruption campaign, the lie flat movement, crackdowns on feminists, Uyghurs, Hui Muslims, Mongolians, Hong Kong booksellers, Hong Kong democracy activists, overseas Chinese critics, and of course China's silent fury over the existence of an independent Taiwan. My criticism would be that while it is extremely well done, it feels a little bit too much like textbook journalism. There's a sort of FOMO by which the author can't leave out any major stories of her genre, regardless of which media broke them. There is also loads of context explaining and boilerplate encapsulations-all very well written to be sure, but the conclusions are fairly predictable. Also, while the book manages to be convincing, it doesn't necessarily feel all that personal, which is maybe the missing spark.

You can also see my full review in the Taipei Times: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat...

[Jeany Lin · Rating 3 out of 5]

《唯紅花綻放》的逆風感想

由於香港的獨立書店事件，我昨天就把一出版就買了的《唯紅花綻放》讀完了。

我的感想是雖然作者是美籍中裔第二代，但她其實非常中國/北京視角的看待這些事。所以他立場可能更像是同情被壓迫者的中國自由派人士，但首先他仍然是個中國人的視角。

這個 Emily Feng 雖然是美籍中裔第二代，但有一顆大中國的心。不過他當過紐約時報、金融時報、NPR等等的亞洲版記者，所以他的視角基本上就變成這些媒體的視角。但是這些報社要選跑去中國和亞洲新聞的人，會講中文並且對中國有了解（儘管是建立在中國敘事框架的了解）的美籍中裔，就是很適合的對象⋯所以就有點無解。

然後這次因為香港書店的關係，大家會假設這本書和中國的敘事是對立的，所以才會被禁，殊不知他其實是符合中國的敘事框架的。所以如果是基於這樣的信任去讀，然後看到其中呈現的香港和台灣，就會被帶偏的很厲害。而且他也不是沒講到不同的角度，他只是篇幅差很多，還有時間線刻意模糊了戒嚴前後的差異，以及主要篇幅放在國民黨和共產黨的敘事。

總之他在台灣住了兩年多來寫書，然後寫出來這樣的結果，我覺得他對於台灣不能說是因為不了解而寫錯，其實沒有打算理解台灣本土的視角，有所選擇的將素材剪裁成他要的樣子。

如果熟悉中國議題的，其實他也沒有太多新意；如果是不熟悉的，他作為基本入門，對於台灣香港的呈現又不行了。

總之，結論是我覺得他1-9章好看，10章講香港很微妙，10-11章講台灣讓我覺得他為了要塑造「自由中國」的敘事，斷章取義到有點罔顧事實。

比方說：
——

「國民黨將自身的政治正統性，追溯到一九一一年中國大陸革命後建立的中華民國政府。在這套歷史敘事中，共產黨統治整個中國只是一段短暫的插曲，遲早會被國民黨終結。即使國民黨撤退到臺灣，這兩個「中國」之間的對抗仍未停止。一九四九年，數千名中國士兵在攻打金門時陣亡。此後，金門及其他靠近中國的臺灣離島周邊不時爆發零星的戰火，隨後金門更是長年遭受炮擊。雙方相互炮轟的對戰一直持續到一九七九年才結束。後來幾年，兩岸形成一種心照不宣的平衡，只在隔日互相炮擊，有時發射的是填滿政治宣傳單的響彈。直到二〇一四年，金門才終於全面清除地雷與未爆彈。如今，當地的工匠把回收的炮彈殼打造成上等菜刀。」

——
拜託，被他講的好像1949-2014台灣都很堅持兩個中國⋯並沒有好嗎！不要把國民黨戒嚴時期的論述當成台灣普遍共識好嗎！

他雖然有採訪本土派代表王文宏，但敘事篇幅馬英九和放進中方發言人原話（關於108課綱原文節錄）的篇幅遠大過本土派論述，並且把本土觀點用「去中國化」一言以蔽之。（這一點真的非常呼應北京的中共大外宣）

關於他這本書關於台灣這整個部分可以參考黎胖的心得（我放到留言），我同意作者不但是對台灣有「中華凝視」，並且完全根據中國這一套論述框架來表現台灣，並且頗具敵意。

因爲論述框架把台灣當「自願且積極主動想持續」的「自由中國」，所以覺得「民主的自由中國」應該無條件接受被迫害的「中國同胞」⋯甚至還花了極大篇幅講戒嚴時代播放鄧麗君和拿黃金吸引反共義士。這也斷章取義的太厲害，那是哪個年代的事了，不要當成是台灣的一貫立場啊。

雖然也有談到台灣內部反對接受難民的考量，但剪裁和敘事篇幅顯不相當。怎麼不用同樣的標準去要求新加坡，或是世界其他自由民主國家呀。

包含香港抗爭的部分，我覺得他這裡也給我一個北京視角的感覺。人家和平抗爭那麼久，但他書裡寫的超級暴亂的。我相信前線抗爭可能是如此，但隻字不提整體長期的大量群眾的和平抗爭，實在太偏向中國宣傳的主流敘事了（亦即反送中暴亂癱瘓了整個香港）。但我不是香港人，我不知道香港本土視角如何。

事實上我是很好奇蒙古族的人來讀他蒙古那篇感想如何。比如說他把蒙古族說成最溫馴的模範少數民族，因為最早投誠受到文化上較好待遇，在書中寫起來一直都沒什麼大的反抗，直到2020罷課運動。我覺得寫了《没有墓碑的草原》講文革期間被迫害的蒙古族的楊海英，可能看法會不一樣吧⋯？

其實這本書他的故事，基本上有一個共同的特點，他們幾乎沒有人是主動想當反抗中共的鬥士，大部分是有點被逼上梁山不小心變成被肅清的對象。而且就算被肅清不得不逃出國外，也認為自己是中國人，以中國的視角看待事物。

⋯包含被禁止入境的作者本人。

像內蒙古的代表，是一個只是想要教小孩蒙古語順便上網搜集一下香港反送中新聞的課後輔導班老師。

新疆的故事，寫的其實是本來對維吾爾人遭受的待遇睜一眼閉一眼想要繼續在新疆賺錢的土耳其人及其維吾爾眷屬。

回族寫的是本來覺得維吾爾人發生什麼不干他們的事只想好好信教的一個中國人穆斯林。

香港他這裡採用的視角也是一個兩歲移民到香港的中國移民，對於北京奧運中國崛起與有榮焉。很年輕的抗爭者，並且後來偷渡到台灣，希望尋求政治庇護。

這裡面的每個人，如果不是剛好事情發生在他身上，對於整個體制（以及發生在別人身上的事），其實沒什麼太大意見。

總之看完之後，
想支持衛城和香港獨立書店的心
+ 不想支持作者
= 不算非常後悔但有點後悔買了這本書

心情有點複雜。

黎胖心得——我覺得他寫的很好，尤其超同意他提到本書討論台灣的部分。
https://waa.tw/NFGSgv

[Amz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nuanced and empathetic portrait of people representing different ways to be Chinese in today’s political climate. I particularly liked the chapter on the Hui scholar. Highly recommend for anyone interested in Chinese society

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking, well written and informative book; a succinct yet broad reaching portrait of China and people struggling to shape their own lives in a country imposing political conformity with often heart breaking consequences.

(Thank you to Crown publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC)

[Ange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow wow wow. Incredible accounts of people trying to find their way in scenarios where the government is actively oppressing them and/or they are fighting for a democratic China. Her examples of how the Chinese government can assert control, even beyond mainland borders, are chilling. She paints vivid pictures of passionate risk takers, spread across the world, making up their plans as they go along.

[Linda Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I initially was intrigued by the title. As opposed to Chairman Mao's saying of "let a hundred flowers bloom", I felt the title was a chilling indication of what China values-- you have to be the right ethnicity, speak the right language and of course obediently follow whatever the CCP says.

This book is a collection of reporting that spans multiple issues but it just left me flat. There's nothing new and the stories have multiple timelines that were confusing. Is it important to know what's going on in China? Of course, but I'm sure there are a lot better ways to learn than to read this book.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - I found the structure of telling individuals’ stories in order to create a broader picture of life in Xi’s China effective, and I learned more with each chapter. I did find it a little difficult to navigate the cross-cross of timelines across the stories until I reached the final chapters, which had a more sequential approach. This was probably due to my own limited knowledge base before reading the book. Recommend.

[Cici Yu · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! I heard of Emily because I listen to her NPR story all the time as a producer at a local NPR station. After reading the book, I wrote a letter to her. Here’s what I said:

“I love each individual story that you included in your new book, as if I were there reporting with you. I found myself crying multiple times while reading your book because all those big social events you documented brought me back to my political depression phase. I love how you explore people's identities in this book, and I found myself less educated than I thought. I felt embarrassed or even a little bit guilty as a majority Han Chinese because I felt like I had not done anything to fight against the system, as those Uyghurs and Hongkongers did to fight for a better democratic society.
I want to say thank you so much for your book and your reporting. It helped me figure out what else I can educate myself about as a Chinese person. I questioned my own identity while reading this book, but I found it inspiring and empowering, as I decided to learn more about people's identities and how the environment has shaped them after reading your book.”

My heart follows every character in this book. And this is the book that guide me to think about what else I should learn and want to learn after college education. It’s really thought provoking and inspiring. I felt lost for the past two years and now I think I find my purpose — to educate myself and learn more about ethnic minorities groups in my own country.

[Hanna Foreman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nuanced, raw portrayal of modern China and its melting pot of ethnicities, socio-economic standings, cultures, and politics. While much of China is discussed within the context of U.S.-China competition, we often miss the experiences of the Chinese role. Highly recommend this book for those looking to understand the complexities of China.

[Elena L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

FLOWERS BLOOM tells true stories collected by NPR reporter Emily Feng that portray modern Chinese society, in which Feng dissects the Chinese identity in their internal division.

Feng delves in religious, political and ethnic division/policies that translate into cyber censorship, deportation, exile and threat of human rights and freedom - the pages are plagued by fear and restraints of a society who also wrestles with gender inequality and the hidden horror of human trafficking.

China is not a monolith, thus, there is a diversity of people with different backgrounds and political visions, whose personal experiences are interwoven with historical events that add utter relevance. The stories incorporate a broader perspective as Feng touches on the complex relationship between Taiwan-Hong Kong-China while also shares some (complicated) moments during the pandemic. Ultimately, being of a Chinese diaspora, this book is a must-read for me.

"...protesting was about survival."

"Why should you care about identity in China? I argue that understanding how the Chinese state sees itself and who it waits its citizens to be are foundational to understanding China's policies, which, in turn, are increasingly influential in shaping foreign and economic policy around the world, especially in the United States."

FLOWERS BLOOM is nothing if not political. It's an eye-opening and informative non-fiction book that I urge everyone to read.

[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher - Crown publishing . All opinions are my own ]

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Kaitlyn,
I acknowledge that you are eagerly awaiting my review as you observed me silently finish this during lunch. I regret to inform you that I am speechless. I only have stars to give. I recommend this once you have finished Marcelus’ remarkably touching endeavors.
Kind regards,
Aly

[kobushi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too long ago I read a great book on called “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” by Barbara Demick that focused on a handful of dissenters elegantly spliced in with the history of the country. It helped enhance my understanding of just what was going on there way back then, in the semi-distant past, and also in the (somewhat, as the book was published in 2009) present. Learning about authoritarian countries not from the outside or even from the ‘inside’ via reporters and journalists (un)lucky enough to make it in and tell their tales, but from unabridged accounts of actual citizens makes, I think, for the greatest understanding. Thus, high expectations were to be had—and mostly met!--when diving into “Let Only Red Flowers Bloom”.

There’s a difference though between these two books: the North Korean one is a tale told over decades with each one unfolding gradually in stages only to converge together at the end. Here, we get something that only takes place in the modern era and with each tale being presented on its own. A different format and probably an easier one to write, but does it have the same effect?

Current day PRC is like a bizzaro world communist-flirts-with-capitalist country where pounding the nail of dissenters is a top-down diktat. We’ve a collection of accounts of those who don’t necessarily fit into Xi Jinping’s, by far the best General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in the last 14 years, view of a unified China both in thought and people. To put it simply: “we are all Han and we all believe in the party (but we know communism doesn’t exactly work so we’re going to introduce party-sanctioned capitalist elements and give them a little spin)”.

“So how does China compare to North Korea and also how does it compare to USA?” is what I had on my mind when consuming the multitude of accounts that make of this book. Being of the internet generation, the third chapter on the Scooter Thief caught my attention and deserves special mention not due to its protagonist (cool guy, kind of a tragic figure), but the way it describes China’s internet: basically a great happiness space of nonstop positivity slop (that with “AI Slop” can now only get worse). Sure, the Great Firewall may protect its diligent party-loving citizens from the threat of Wikipedia, but in its stead it seems to give them something akin to our potential future rotund brethren best portrayed in WALL-E. Is that the best identity to foster critical thinking skills? After all, in the west, we spend hours arguing on social media about articles we may browse (at best) and books we don’t event pretend to read.

Chapter by chapter, we are given a tour of a melange of people who…well, probably have a less than ideal “social score”. And that—the focus only on those who don’t gel with the system--becomes the only issue of note I have: we basically get a progression from light-touch dissidents to all out political rebels living abroad. What we’re missing is perhaps a “control group”. In other words, perhaps just one chapter where the author turns the lens on a random law-abiding mainland China citizen. This would allow us to see why some may indeed prefer the robust leadership of Xi Jinping whose party finds him such an effective ruler they were so kind as to remove term limits so he can remain in power indefinitely. Nonstop dissent from PRC, dissent from Xi, dissent from China is surely going to make for interesting tales, but not necessarily challenging ones if you come from a liberal democracy.

Xi Jinping as the book’s title implies, is very fond of only one type of flower blooming in China. Sadly, while he may be the wisest General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in the last 14 years, he probably is not familiar with a concept perhaps first brought to life by Rachel Carson in Silent Spring published in 1962: (my paraphrase) if one only allows one type of flower to bloom at the cost of all others, that just opens things up to the risk of an uncontrolled breakout of pestilence. With variety comes protection. It’s surprising that if he only opted for Chinese history to be his lodestar, the Four Pests campaign (which coincidentally concluded the year Silent Spring was published) should have been enough of a warning that life needs variety in order to survive...and flourish. Only red flowers may bloom in Xi Jinping’s garden and they may sure look lovely at the right time of the year, but what about those other 46 weeks or so?

[Claire]

Evidently well-reported with a very strong thesis: contrary to some pundits’ claims, Xi’s China is fixated on the issue of identity. As a result, the scope of acceptable identities has dramatically shrunk in recent years, coalescing around what the author identifies as the Party’s ideal Chinese citizen: a Mandarin-speaking, ethnically Han, straight, and card-carrying Party member. In this sense, China has rejected the Soviet model of ethnicity with which it began.

The book reaches its stride after chapter 4, when it begins talking about the plight of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Hui and Muslims all throughout China, and people in Hong Kong, and shifts into a quasi-linked narrative structure. I learned a lot, particularly about the persecution of Muslims, and Feng’s structure—each chapter is a profile—makes for an affecting read.

I felt often frustrated by the writing, even as I was won over by the reporting and general conceptual framing. This is a personal pet peeve, I suppose, but I really prefer narrative nonfiction to offer a strong sense of chronology, and to identify narrated events with specific dates. While I understand the stylistic choice of not dating every event, I felt like it became hard to follow even the relative sequence of events. Also, the author at times explains extremely low-level concepts (e.g., a sidebar to clarify that Wang is one of the most common last names in China, or another to explain that renminbi is the Chinese currency), which is confusing, because this book does not feel like a particularly appropriate entry point into reading about China (in part because of the profile format and dizzying geographic/temporal scope of the book).

[AJ Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting book told in the stories of several people on the fringe of modern Chinese society - those who don’t fit the Han Chinese, loyal CCP mold. The author tells stories of lawyers fighting for justice, Muslims and mongols fighting to maintain an identity as the singular way of being Chinese is pushed to all of the sub cultures in the country. She looks at those who were living, and fighting, for autonomy in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and those who have fled to the diaspora (specifically the United States). The pressure to conform is strong, and the arm of the PRC state is powerful and long. It’s a really interesting look at modern China by highlighting specific people. It would have been interesting to hear more stories from those who aren’t members of fringe groups, and how some in the dominant culture are dealing with the shifts in China. Maybe the author didn’t have as many willing contacts in those groups, I guess, since to speak negatively of the state in any way is to put yourself in various levels of danger (of surveillance to physical). So it probably would be hard to delve more into the ‘every day’ for regular people. But either way, I liked the writing style and found the stories told to be interesting even if I would have liked some variance.

[Silke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily Feng is de voormalige correspondente van de Financial Times in Beijing en werkt momenteel als journalist voor NPR in Taiwan. Ze is niet één van de minsten en won reeds meerdere prijzen, waaronder de Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, de Shorenstein Journalism Award en twee Human Rights Press Awards.
Met Laat alleen rode bloemen bloeien wil ze het echte China weergeven door met gewone burgers te praten. Via hen zal ze de ware toedracht van president Xi Jinping ook proberen bloot te leggen.

Het is ontzettend moeilijk een korte inhoud van Laat alleen rode bloemen bloeien te geven omdat het een soort mix is van verschillende verhalen van gewone Chinese burgers (soort verhalenbundel), de persoonlijke ervaringen van de auteur en een analyse van de macht die China uitoefent op zijn bevolking. Het lijkt complex, maar de auteur weet dit op een evenwichtige manier te brengen. En net omdat ze in gesprek gaat met gewone burgers en niet met enkele beroemde Chinese vluchtelingen of dissidenten (zoals Ai Wei Wei, Zhang Yimou, etc… ) voelen we ons meer betrokken en gaan we het allemaal beter begrijpen.

De subtitel Wie telt mee in het China van Xi Jinping verwijst naar een tweede focus in het boek. De auteur zal op zoek gaan naar de ware Chinese identiteit. Hoe is het om nu Chinees te zijn? Voor Xi Jinping is het ideaalbeeld van een Chinees de Han Chinees. De taal is hierbij een mooi voorbeeld van hoe Xi alles wil verhaniseren. De huidige Chinese taal, wat wij het Mandarijn noemen, is eigenlijk Han Chinees. Er worden in China veel dialecten gesproken, maar Xi wil één standaardtaal, namelijk het Han. Hierdoor beginnen andere talen die gesproken worden in China uitgestorven te raken, voorbeeld hiervan is het Mongools.

Heel veel van de Chinezen die Emily interviewde wilden anoniem blijven omdat ze problemen hebben gekregen met de Chinese overheid, door hun internetactiviteiten, het spreken van hun moedertaal (dat geen Han is), etnische achtergrond, of omdat ze hebben geprotesteerd (in de straten van Hong Kong), etc… . Maar het zijn allemaal echte verhalen en geven een goed beeld van hoe de Chinese regering zijn burgers in het gareel probeert te houden.
Emily vertelt ook een stukje van haar eigen verhaal, hoe ze China momenteel niet meer binnen mag en hoe dit aanvoelt. Gezien het toch nog steeds haar moederland is. Tussen de regels door voel je dan ook de twijfel, enerzijds is er de liefde voor het land van herkomst, anderzijds is er de afschuw van wat de regering met zijn burgers doet.
Als journalist weet ze met heldere, duidelijke taal een beeld van een ander China te schetsen. Een China van een onderdrukt volk.

Laat alleen rode bloemen bloeien is een geloofwaardig, sterk werk over de huidige problematieken in het China van Xi Jinping. Het boek krijgt van mij 4 sterren.

[Zander Dumas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I noticed that lots of people in the one star review section didn’t like this for delving into the stories or not being analytical enough.

Frankly, that’s what i liked about this book. The person driven storytelling grounded the stories and made them feel real. Hearing that a large amount of people died or knowing about the regime feels empty until some colour is added to it.

Also, prior to this book, I had read some other books which left me with a much more positive impression of the state. This book robbed me of that and i’m glad. She does a good job of showing the danger of the state without sounding preachy and alarmist.

If you want to learn about what it’s like for minorities to live in china, how the state exerts social control, and what good journalism looks like i’d recommend this :)

[Gianna Coraluzzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good!!! I really could not put it down. This was written by a reporter who took stories & conversations with various people who are affected by the communist party. I dont think there is a person alive who could read these stories & not be gripped by the throat.

It also was very interesting seeing parallels to the US of today & where the US is headed which is funny/scary bc it mentions the US in very small increments.

I also got a huge lesson in the systems that uphold china but also the connection & where the territories or ownership of land is.

Another fun point that really helped me learn & grow was the conversations around islam in china & how people reacted to it. I really never thought of religion outside of something people follow, so seeing the lengths the government went to shape their view of who is Chinese & what Chinese people should follow was again another parallel to the US where i live at the moment.

i recommend everyone read

[Mai Mccarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very accessible read; each chapter focuses on a new character whom Feng has interacted with. I deducted a star only because I finished feeling unsatisfied, but I suppose that’s the nature of contemporary storytelling. Feng is. Great writer, and an excellent journalist and I do highly recommend. 2025 US policies made a LOT of chapters particularly poignant, even though the book obviously focuses on China’s interior affairs. Uncanny at times.

[South Plateau · Rating 4 out of 5]

看到这本书的书评里某位台湾读者的逆风感想，他认为这本书是站在北京视角，其实我觉得这本书倒反而的的确确就是海外华人甚至海外精英人士对于北京的视角，如果不是对着中国有一层遥远的滤镜，作者能在前言里写热爱中国这样的话，我是不信的，如果这是实话，那只能说这本书的视角还不够了解中国。

事实上这本书里描述的每个人物，可以当作是“不够了解中国”的形象大集合。非常可惜的是作者没有补上22年这一块的内容，总觉得多少有些缺憾。我想起一位不相熟的朋友，老婆是香港人，有bno护照，但是在19年以后他们离开香港，不仅没有去西方国家，反而返回大陆，我印象最深的是他和我说他觉得自己“有一种使命感”。然而22年6月之后，他发了一条文，和他老婆全家搬去美国了。我现在想起他当时说的“使命感”还是忍不住觉得有些可笑，即使他已经是我现实生活中少数自由派的朋友了。

毕竟“了解中国-热爱中国-三观正常”这是一个不可能三角。

[Cynthia Cordova · Rating 4 out of 5]

The approach of following individual stories feels effective in this book. Admittedly, I’m always a little drawn to that type but I do like it here. As an American, I hear a lot about China. But not really the people in China. More the government of China, so I enjoyed learning about the actual people. I felt a lot of the United States in hearing about certain groups being oppressed. The parts about language in particular made me think a lot of what indigenous people went thru and are still going thru now. I think it’s a nice reminder that no matter the type of state, they all use the same playbook. They are all oppressive to varying degrees but still, oppressive.

[Anastasiia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays on suppression of freedoms in China. It’s well-written and comprehensive. As much as I liked the work, it’s not the best read to take on just before travelling to China.
In a way it made me paranoid, and also hostile towards country I was going to. USSR is back alive in its new Chinese variation

[Saksha Menezes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just excellent!!!

[Redmar Huisman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een heel goed boek over de verschillende typen mensen in China en hoe de staat probeert deze mensen uit te wissen.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half became a bit formulaic in the chapter structure, not a rare characteristic of books by journalists, I’m finding. The chapters were more related to each other in the second half and, while chapter breaks seemed a bit forced, it was nice to see more of a continuous narrative for a change.

That isn’t meant to take anything away from the writing, the topics, the persons featured in the stories. The range of their experiences prohibited a tie-in other than the universal experience of repression and persecution. I probably just read it too fast so the similar structures were more noticeable - but there were people waiting for my copy of the book so I wanted to return it to the library as soon as possible.

I hope, as many in the United States seem prepared to follow a path similar to Xi Jinping’s, that we don’t allow things to get anywhere near this severe.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

by Emily Feng (no photo)

Quick Scan:

Ch 1-4 Ch short descriptive portraits of a few Chinese people
Ch Eye-opener Ch 5-6-7 about the "sinification" of Uyghurs, Hui (belief is Islam) and Mongolians
Ch 8 Best chapter - Hong Kong booksellers disappearing...suppress dissent Lam Wing-kee - Founder and original owner of Causeway Bay Books and Lui Bu and Gui Minhai - Managers at the book store...all abducted from Hong Kong and brought to China
Ch 9- Hong Kong Protestor Fugitive Offenders law - quick scan of the ‘news” about the protest in Hong Kong. I recommend a book that explains it better and in more detail: “City on Fire” (2020) by Australian writer and lawyer based Hong Kong. It is a page-turner!

by Antony Dapiran

Ch 11-12 Aftermath of the protest Key figures flee to Taiwan...ask for asylum
Ch 13 Critical Diaspora.....are never really safe outside China, scary.

Personal Good effort to reveal what has happened and is happening behind The Great Chinese Firewall.

[Yuke Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

读这本书的时候让我想起了第一次读柴静的《看见》，相比与柴亲历中国普通民众所写下的抒情，冯哲芸的这本书我觉得确实是一部面向非中国群体的纪实报道。试图囊扩习近平时代众多受影响、打击、压迫的群体（同时配以大篇幅的背景介绍），我可以想象这对于非中国生长或者说并不了解这片土地过去十三年发生了什么的人来说，是一种很全面地展示和揭露。可能这样的写作是更客观的journalism，但我还是更希望能在文章中看到一些些作为Chinese的情感连结，可惜我仅仅在个别篇章段落中能够感受到。

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this book was a lot. Not because it was hard to read as Emily Feng is a compassionate writer but because the reality she describes is so brutal. I’ve heard about China’s restrictions before from history class flashbacks, news segments, etc. but reading this brought me eye-to-eye with what it really means to silence voices and flatten identities in real time.

We all know about the One Child Policy (and how it skewed favor toward boys), but this book connects those policies with real human stories. I actually know someone who was born a girl in China in the late '90s, left on a train by her birth parents, and adopted in the U.S. That’s not just a policy; that’s a person’s life. Like… what did the Chinese government think was going to happen when everyone wanted boys? Were they planning to get cool with same-sex marriage to balance it out? (Spoiler alert: they didn’t.)

Feng’s reporting is full of these raw, infuriating details. The quotes that stayed with me are the ones that underline how much control the government tries to have over not just bodies, but minds. One interviewee says, “Even if you give a caged bird plenty of food, it will still try to fly away… Humans need a wider and freer world of their own, too.” And that’s really the heart of this book. It’s about people, especially women, minorities, and journalists that are pushing against a system that wants to make everyone a “red flower.”

There’s a sharp critique of how “acceptable” Chinese identity is being redefined by the state: You’re supposed to be Han, straight, Mandarin-speaking, loyal to the Communist Party, and obedient. Anyone outside that definition? At best, ignored. At worst, criminalized. As Feng writes, “Let only red flowers bloom. Green, blue, or white flowers: if they are not red, they will be cut down.”

Honestly? I kept thinking: how do people love a country that works this hard to erase them? This book helped me understand that question more. The heartbreak of being labeled a traitor when you speak up. The impossible balance of wanting reform without abandoning roots. One quote punched me in the gut: “How best to love a country that does not love you?” That said, I wish the book had dug a little deeper into what identity and belonging feel like day-to-day in China and not just what’s denied, but what’s carved out in spite of it. At times, it leaned heavily on what China isn’t, without showing enough of how people still find a sense of self. But that’s a small critique in a book that left me deeply grateful to live where I do. I complain about the news here sometimes, but this reminded me that in America our chaos still allows for debate, disagreement, and yes, identity.

Bonus shoutout: I read this for the Goodreads Heritage Reads challenge. But I didn’t force myself to pick a random book off a list. I was drawn to this one, and I’m glad I followed that instinct. I might not have picked it up otherwise, and I would’ve missed out.

Final thought: Read this. Rage a little. Appreciate your freedoms. And maybe let all the flowers bloom, not just the red ones.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her acknowledgements, Emily Feng thanks NPR for being a place "where creative storytelling and sharp news reporting are valued in equal measure" (274). To be sure, that describes Let Only Red Flowers Bloom. Feng lived in China for seven years and the book gathers together stories, using a tale of one or two to reflect the many. Each chapter has a focus, e.g. "The Lawyer" or "The Businessman" or "The Detained", but certain "characters" become threads that tie the chapters together. Kenny, for example, we meet first in "The Protestor" (Chapter 9) as a youthful idealist who is one of approximately 40K demonstrators in Hong Kong who believe they are peacefully protesting an extradition law. Kenny protests at night, unbeknownst to his parents, committing to a highly organized, underground network, that includes volunteer doctors and medics, as injured protestors were getting arrested when taken to the hospital. Kenny then has a new identity in Chapter 10 -- The Fugitive.

These stories serve as a mere primer on just *some* of the basic conflicts in China: the attacks on the Uyghurs and Mongolians, ethnic minorities of all stripes on the mainland, the battle for identity and sovereignty in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and much more. I chose this book because I realized I had a knowledge deficit when it comes to China, and I wanted to know more. Feng's narrative is compelling, well-researched, and wide-reaching--the final chapter, "The Diaspora," pulls back the curtain on the "long-arm" of the Chinese government but also the complexity of more than 5 million Chinese living in the U.S.

There are a few places where more careful editing might have curtailed some unnecessary repetition, especially in Chapter 11, but most of the book skillfully weaves in and out of the present and past, weaving with the cast of characters and their stories to ultimately express large questions. Feng herself had plenty of exposure to danger as well, but she instead choses to center the stories of those she interviewed, and does not inject her own challenges at the border or otherwise with any kind of dramatic hyperbole. If anything, her unadorned self-narrative is all the more chilling, as with her description of a high-speed chase wherein Feng and her driver are tailed after leaving the airport. After being detained, she notes:

"He [the driver] drove me back to the airport in silence. He gestured at his torso, then held a single finger up to his lips, motioning me not to speak. He had been bugged." (152)

The book is a powerful testament to storytelling as truth-telling, and it puts many human faces on complex issues that are reduced to inadequate headlines and social media blurbs in mainstream culture here in the U.S. A worthwhile read to remind us of the human spirit and how it has to endure in all sorts of contexts, all over the world.