The Hoover Institution Program on the US, China, and the World invites you to a roundtable on Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 4:30-6:30 PM PT.
As China rises as a global power, understanding its complexities requires insight into the lives of the people who navigate its challenges. In her book, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom, Emily Feng, NPR international correspondent, tells the compelling stories of individuals resisting state control over their identities and expressions. Drawing on her firsthand reporting, the book tells the stories of individuals in China who challenge prevailing norms: a Uyghur family torn apart by detention camps; human rights lawyers striving to defend civil liberties; a teacher in Inner Mongolia fighting to preserve his mother tongue; and a Hong Kong fugitive searching for a new place to call home.
Join us for a conversation with Emily Feng as she reflects on these stories and the challenges of reporting them, including the obstacles that ultimately led to her expulsion from China. The discussion will be moderated by Frances Hisgen, senior research program manager for the Hoover Institution’s program on the US, China, and the World.
About the Speakers
Emily Feng is an international correspondent for NPR covering China, Taiwan and beyond from her new base in Washington D.C. Before that, she covered China for the Financial Times and the New York Times. Her reporting has also let her nerd out over semiconductors and drones, travel to environmental wastelands and write about girl bands and art. She's filed stories from the bottom of a coal mine, the top of a mosque in Qinghai and inside a cave Chairman Mao once lived in. She's also the author of Let Only Red Flowers Bloom, published last year and telling the stories of how ordinary people are redefining Chinese identity, as well as the state's preoccupation with identity.
Frances Zhu Hisgen is the senior research program manager for the Program on the US, China, and the World at the Hoover Institution. In addition, as key personnel on the NSF SECURE Program, she leads a team analyzing developments in international science, technology, and innovation, and works to ensure efforts to enhance the security and integrity of the research enterprise align with democratic values. Prior to joining Hoover, Hisgen worked at Caixin, the Asia Society’s Center on US-China Relations, and the American Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong.
