Booker and China

Judging This Year’s Booker Prize

Rebecca Liu | Guardian | 10th November 2026

Observations formed after reading 163 contemporary novels and picking the best. Certain trends emerged. God in fiction is back in a big way, as are drownings, coasts, ghosts, surrealism and karmic retribution. Dementia featured heavily. What does this say about the state of the world? "The before times have come and gone, and we seem to be moving towards something new, but do not yet know what" (1,300 words)

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Person want thing do? Do Person Do Thing: say no-big thing, make many person think good.

Germany’s China Shock

Peer Illner | Damage | 11th November 2026

Even as other countries reorientate towards Beijing in light of increasing American volatility, Germany is sticking stubbornly to its liberal internationalist doctrine of Wandel durch Handel, or "change through trade", which holds that "autocrats would inevitably democratise through trade". Except China doesn't fit this model, something that German leaders have only just realised to their cost (2,200 words)