The end would come soon for catapults and trebuchets as gunpower arrived from China and cannons brought a new era of warfare to bear.

a third of adults under 30 now regularly get their news from TikTok

Snow asked if she could drop me off at the nearest subway stop. I said it was no problem, and as we turned I asked how many siblings her husband had. She had been complaining towards the end of lunch that she and her husband had to support them.

"Twelve, but half of them died. So there are six of them, total."

"I’m sorry to hear that," I said.

"Oh don’t be. It was like that for everyone back then. Because you know, Mao had probably gone crazy, and encouraged everyone to be a ‘hero mother’ by having five kids. They say that’s what caused the famine. But Mao was crazy and…"

She broke off and laughed.

"You see," she said, "we can say this here, just you and me; we just can’t say it in print." Then, suddenly, switching to English, she exclaimed, "That’s China!"

censorship as he experienced it was more Kafka-esque than Stalinist

Snow asked if she could drop me off at the nearest subway stop. I said it was no problem, and as we turned I asked how many siblings her husband had. She had been complaining towards the end of lunch that she and her husband had to support them.
"Twelve, but half of them died. So there are six of them, total."
"I’m sorry to hear that," I said.
"Oh don’t be. It was like that for everyone back then. Because you know, Mao had probably gone crazy, and encouraged everyone to be a ‘hero mother’ by having five kids. They say that’s what caused the famine. But Mao was crazy and…"
She broke off and laughed.
"You see," she said, "we can say this here, just you and me; we just can’t say it in print." Then, suddenly, switching to English, she exclaimed, "That’s China!"