Qiao Collective

Qiao Collective’s Defense of China on Palestine Embodies the “Ah Q Spirit”

Brian Hioe
The term “Ah Q Spirit” originates from the short story “The True Story of Ah Q” by the Chinese leftist writer Lu Xun. Ah Q, the protagonist of the story, is the village idiot with delusions of grandeur during revolutionary times. “Ah Q Spirit”, then, has come to refer to the spirit of self-delusion–at one point in the story, after being beaten, Ah Q next decides to beat himself–so that he can at least feel a sense of being a winner in beating someone. Of course, that somebody is himself...
December 2025EnglishPolitics5 min read

Qiao Collective Uses The History of Premodern Empires to Justify Contemporary Ones

Brian Hioe
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the Qiao Collective’s “Taiwan: An Anti-Imperialist Perspective”, published in the Monthly Review, is to what extent it focuses on premodern history–and to what extent the Taiwanese people are absent from a history purportedly about them. This should not surprise for Qiao, but one still finds one’s self somewhat surprised that the Monthly Review allowed for the publication of a perspective on history that is clearly more cultural nationalist than Marxist...
August 2024EnglishInternationalRegional Tensions11 min read

“The East Is Still Red” Book Launch Reveals Usual Tankie Denial of China as Capitalist, Imperialist

Brian Hioe
Friends of Socialist China's book launch for leading figure Carlos Martinez’s new book, The East is Still Red, proved to be an occasion for a collection of mostly Western leftists to once again illustrate their idealistic projection onto China. The event took place on August 13, 2023. In particular, the event was primarily focused on defending China from the charge that is imperialistic, while calling for uncritical support for China as continuing to advance the cause of socialist revolution...
EnglishPoliticsSelf-DeterminationSeptember 2023Social Movements9 min read

“New McCarthyism” Petition Illustrates Western Leftists’ Failure of Internationalism

Brian Hioe
A recent expose in the New York Times on tech multimillionaire Roy Singham, who funds various tankie media outlets, organizations, and institutions such as the Tricontinental Institute, Code Pink, and the People’s Forum in New York City, has led to a petition on the Tricontinental Institute and Code Pink’s websites lashing out against the “new McCarthyism.” This petition was signed by anyone from David Harvey to Radhika Desai, Chris Hedges, and luminaries of the Brooklyn left such as Doug Henwood and The Nation president Bhaskar Sunkara...
August 2023EnglishInternationalLaborRegional TensionsSocial Movements10 min read

Tankie Forum on Taiwan Justifies White Terror, Indigenous Genocide, and Praises Henry Kissinger

Brian Hioe
The recent online webinar organized by Friends of Socialist China, “China encirclement and the imperialist build-up in the Pacific” proved another occasion for tankies to speak in hyperbolic terms about the possibility of US-China conflict over Taiwan. As usual, there was scarcely any concern about what Taiwanese think about their own future, or even what their assessment of any geopolitical threats they face from China is–and whether they think a conflict is imminent. On the other hand, speakers generally seemed to care more about ancient Chinese history than they did about the perspectives of contemporary Taiwanese. And, for the most part, there was actually very little discussion of Taiwan during the event...
EnglishInternationalOctober 2022Regional Tensions13 min read

Manichaeism with Chinese Characteristics: A Look Back on the “China and the Left” Conference

Brian Hioe
The Qiao Collective, Monthly Review, and People’s Forum came together to hold a conference on the topic of “China and the Left” on September 18th in New York City, an event featuring such luminaries of the tankie left ranging from Max Ajl to Mark Tseng Putterman and Vijay Prashad. Reportedly around 150 were in attendance, though many hundreds more attended online by livestream, and videos of the event accumulated thousands of views in the days afterward...
EnglishSelf-DeterminationSeptember 2021Social MovementsYouth Movements46 min read

The Monthly Review’s China Issue Reveals the Narcissistic Inward Gaze, Self-Flagellating Politics of the Western Left

Brian Hioe
At this late stage in the game, one should not be surprised at how incredibly poor the western left’s understanding of China is. Many western leftists remain unable to conceptualize any imperial or capitalist power outside of the US and therefore romanticize or downplay China’s authoritarianism because it seems to them at least an alternative to US global hegemony. This is the case, then, with respected leftist magazine Monthly Review’s recent August issue, featuring such writers as Asian American tankie commentator Mark Tseng-Putterman, and no less than the diasporic ethno-nationalist Qiao Collective. It proves of some hilarity to see the Monthly Review, which once hosted the Brenner debates and writing by luminaries such as Herbert Marcuse, Noam Chomsky, C. Wright Mills, and others, now platform the Qiao Collective...
EnglishPoliticsSeptember 202119 min read