Since its inaugural issue November 2020, through diligent effort and teamwork by our editors, our New York-based Contemporary China Review has published four issues in Chinese, and now the second issue in English. Contemporary China Review has established itself with a growing reputation, attracted attention from scholars and libraries (including Library of Congress) among the academia, drew recognition from experts in think tanks specialized in U.S.-China relations, and received praises among the community of Chinese-language publication worldwide. Contemporary China Review has been fulfilling its mission to provide independent Chinese intellectuals and scholars around the world with an open and free platform to discuss their research findings and express their opinions, especially now that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) totalitarian regime has almost completely suppressed the freedom of speech and freedom of press in the most parts of Chinese-speaking world. We are very excited to include in this issue many in-depth commentaries by various scholars and experts on current affairs in China and America.

As the Year 2024 has already passed half, I sincerely hope and pray for world peace and for people to live and work in peace. But looking ahead, I believe the future will still not be peaceful. The Russian-Ukrainian war is still raging, and the people are suffering. The Israeli-Hamas conflict seems to have no signs of stopping, and the US election is surging. As I said before, the three major divisions facing the world are presented at the same time this year: the Russian-Ukrainian war is a major division between the democratic and dictatorial camps, the US election is a major left-right division, and the Israeli-Hamas conflict has surpassed the left-right division and the democracy-dictatorship division. Is the world heading for doomsday ？ We wait and see.

This summer is an unusual one. The Russian-Ukrainian war shifted from a stalemate to a strategic counter-offensive in Ukraine. Against the backdrop of this huge geopolitical conflict, Taiwan Strait relations also became tense again with the visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. The clamor for military unification with Taiwan by force in mainland China has been overwhelming. Xi Jinping's call with Biden conveyed that this is not the time for a full-blown crisis to break out. When war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait will depend on the CCP's mindset. However, once the CCP regime falls into the hands of an emperor for life, the outbreak of war will be unpredictable. In this issue, several articles analyze Xi Jinping's mentality, psychology, and personality, which provide a glimpse of the "dictatorial factor" behind the Taiwan Strait crisis. Another article analyzing the 50-year history of U.S.-China relations can also help readers understand the direction of U.S.-China relations and the background of the Taiwan Strait crisis. With the globalized economy at a crossroads, the CCP has taken a big step backward from a semi-market economy to a state-planned economy and is facing a huge economic crisis in the financial, manufactory to real estate sectors. To divert an economic, social, and political crisis, CCP will avoid internal crises with war. This issue presents a scholar monography that gives us a glimpse into the social psychology of the general public in mainland China today, especially the underestimated dynamics of the little pinko groups that are driving China toward the mistakes of war. Meanwhile, the misunderstanding and misperception of the "Chinese revolution" not only camouflage the legitimacy of the CCP regime but also feed into a false "institutional confidence" for Xi Jinping， who boasts to point out the direction of global development.

Defections from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) were an important part of the narrative of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan during the Cold War, but their stories have previously barely been told, less still examined, in English. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the ROC government paid much special attention to these anti-communist heroes (fangong yishi). Their choices to leave behind the turmoil of the PRC were a propaganda coup for the Nationalist one-party state in Taiwan, proving the superiority of the "Free China" that they had created there. Morris looks at the stories behind these headlines, what the defectors understood about the ROC before they arrived, and how they dealt with the reality of their post-defection lives in Taiwan. He also looks at how these dramatic individual histories of migration were understood to prove essential differences between the two regimes, while at the same time showing important continuities between the two Chinese states. A valuable resource for students and scholars of 20th century China and Taiwan, and of the Cold War and its impact in Asia.

This book examines the formation of a globally oriented sports system in China, from the beginning of the reform process in 1978 to the present, focusing on the period after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It analyses how this system has shaped domestic social class identities and its role in international Chinese state politics. Despite advances in the marketization of the sports industry through previous eras, the Chinese state expanded investment in a set of global sports following the heavily government-directed drive towards national success at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. This would be a time when the government focused on policies set to service a growing domestic middle-class and an increasingly wide-ranging set of international interests, with sporting investments being at the heart of their strategic plan. However, reform has proven difficult. The book presents a well-rounded account of this effort with tennis and soccer providing important case studies of the internal and external dynamics of this time. As such, the book will be of interest to researchers and students of globalization of sport, those studying East Asian sports development, and those who are interested in understanding China more broadly.

In the third edition of Contemporary Hong Kong Government and Politics, Lam Wai-man, Percy Luen-tim Lui, Wilson Wong, and various contributors provide the latest analyses in many aspects of Hong Kong’s government and politics, such as political institutions, mediating institutions, and political actors. They also discuss specific policy areas such as political parties and elections, civil society, political identity and political culture, the mass media, and public opinions after the Umbrella Movement in 2014. The book also evaluates the latest developments in Hong Kong’s relationship with Mainland China and the international community. This new edition offers an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of the main continuities and changes in the above aspects since 2014. This volume will help its readers grasp a basic understanding of Hong Kong’s political developments in the last ten years.

This is the Inaugural Issue of an English version of Contemporary China Review. Contemporary China Review was published by Bouden House in New York. A group of Chinese intellectuals have courageously stepped forward to overcome all difficulties and publish an independent periodical that seeks to discuss important issues relating to China openly and honestly.

The dairy industry faces challenges that impact the quality, safety, nutrition, and consumer acceptability of dairy products. The most important dairy product is milk, which is one of the most nutritious of all foods and is widely consumed worldwide. As such, it is important to optimize processes and innovation to convert milk into value-added products to ensure consumer well-being and food security for the growing global population. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the science and technology of dairy processing. It includes eight chapters that discuss recent issues, technology updates, and unique topics in the field. Topics include starter cultures in fermentation, camel milk, milk-borne infectious disease, lactic acid bacteria, and much more.

Chinese Legality focuses on the concept of "legality" as a lens through which to look at Chinese legal reforms, making a valuable contribution to the argument that law has historically been used as a tool to control society in China. This book discusses how Chinese legality in the Xi Jinping era is defined from a theoretical, ideological, historical, and cultural point of view. Covering vitally important events such as Xi’s term limit issue, the Hong Kong protests and the Covid-19 pandemic, the book examines how legality is reflected and embodied in laws and constitutions, and how legality is realized through institutions, with particular focus on how the CCP interacts with the legislature, the judiciary, the procuratorate, and the police. As a study of the legal reforms under Xi Jinping, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics and law.