Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
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mauracunningham.bsky.social
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
@mauracunningham.bsky.social
2.4K followers 820 following 790 posts
She/her. China historian and writer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Also reader, knitter, Phillies/Flyers fan, road tripper.

https://mauracunningham.org/
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mauracunningham.bsky.social
If you're in need of a book that succinctly and clearly explains China's gaokao to a non-specialist reader, THE HIGHEST EXAM: HOW THE GAOKAO SHAPES CHINA, by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li with Claire Cousineau, is the answer.

My WSJ review: www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Cover of THE HIGHEST EXAM: HOW THE GAOKAO SHAPES CHINA, by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li, with Claire Cousineau
September 7, 2025 at 12:15 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
The Phillies didn’t score 19 runs tonight, but there’s still something extra-satisfying about a win over the Braves.
Scene of a baseball game between the Phillies and Braves at Citizens Bank Park.
August 30, 2025 at 1:35 AM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
📍Bryn Mawr, PA
A cartoon of Gritty throwing a Tesla Cyber truck off a boat. Caption: “we used to dump things in harbors over tariffs.”
August 29, 2025 at 7:12 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
📍 Harpers Ferry, Weet Virginia
A wide river with tree-covered hills lining both banks.
August 27, 2025 at 3:38 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
📍South Bass Island, Ohio
A fiery early sunrise over water, with a small bit of tree-covered land visible on the left.
August 25, 2025 at 10:59 AM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Saturday book mail: thanks to @wwnorton.com for an advance copy of BREAKNECK: CHINA'S QUEST TO ENGINEER THE FUTURE, by Dan Wang. It immediately went into my vacation reading tote bag.
A copy of BREAKNECK: CHINA'S QUEST TO ENGINEER THE FUTURE, by Dan Wang, sits on a dark wooden desk.
July 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Currently on my reading screen: REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS, coming in June from @uncpress.bsky.social. A great exploration by Sarah Fouts of food and labor, race, migration, discrimination, and local government in New Orleans.

uncpress.org/book/9781469...
A social media graphic has a black-and-white picture of bookshelves in the background, with the cover image of REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS by Sarah Fouts in color in the foreground. Text: April 2, 2025 and #WhatImReadingWednesday.
April 2, 2025 at 12:45 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
I didn’t make it up to campus for the Michigan China lunchtime lecture by @bennoweiner.bsky.social, but am luckily able to listen in via Zoom.
Photo of a computer screen showing a PowerPoint slide and inset of a man standing at a lectern.
March 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
It’s even more shit to see it in person.
Interior of Chicago’s United Center, with the Blackhawks playing the Philadelphia Flyers in a hockey game.
March 23, 2025 at 9:14 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
If you’re at #AAS2025 and need help, the @asianstudies.org staff is easy to spot! We’re all wearing snazzy matching jackets this year to make us easy to identify.
A woman with red hair and glasses wears a burgundy fleece jacket that reads “Association for Asian Studies”
March 13, 2025 at 5:07 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Setting out from the @asianstudies.org office on my #AAS2025 road trip. Columbus, here I come!
A woman wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses stands in front of a blue Subaru in a parking lot, with a brick building behind her.
March 11, 2025 at 2:47 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
"The Economie journals were among the few surviving primary sources written by the community activists themselves. The books contained a history that revealed the multiracial character of New Orleans and a Creole identity that had been prized and debated." — Fatima Shaik

https://buff.ly/4gaR2Ku
January 22, 2025 at 12:45 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Eight years in Michigan has taught me I need at least one long weekend of sunshine and above-freezing temperatures to make it through a Midwest winter. I'm in New Orleans until Tuesday.

Which means I'm going to see what it's like when Louisiana gets snow. 🫣
Screenshot of a news story. Text: New Orleans police ask residents to prepare for road closures due to winter weather. The New Orleans Police Department is asking residents to stay home and avoid the roads at the beginning of next week due to the possibility of winter weather.
January 17, 2025 at 10:33 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
"It was fatalism that caused the dice to roll, a fatalism born of the mud-perch precariousness of a city site on a continental ledge where deluges and disease, and the occasional fire, fostered a laissez les bons temps rouler stance toward life."

#NewOrleans #History

https://buff.ly/3Pygajj
A graphic shows a black-and-white bookshelf photo in the background, with a full-color image of THE ACCIDENTAL CITY: IMPROVISING NEW ORLEANS in the foreground. Text: #WhatImReadingWednesday - January 15, 2025
January 15, 2025 at 12:15 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Congratulations to @khirata.bsky.social on the publication of MAKING MAO'S STEELWORKS! My copy arrived recently and is now in a prime spot on my to-read shelf.

https://buff.ly/4guYAZr
A photograph of MAKING MAO'S STEELWORKS: INDUSTRIAL MANCHURIA AND THE TRANSNATIONAL ORIGINS OF CHINESE SOCIALISM, by Koji Hirata.
January 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
#WhatmReadingWednesday: riding the bus from Ann Arbor to Detroit with a copy of the new book by @sepoy.bsky.social.
A hand holds a copy of DISRUPTED CITY: WALKING THE PATHWAYS OF MEMORY AND HISTORY IN LAHORE, by Manan Ahmed Asif.
December 18, 2024 at 9:00 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Many months after several other #skystorians recommended I read THE SECOND GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT: HONEYMOONING AND TOURISM AT NIAGARA FALLS, by Karen Dubinsky, I've finally started this wonderful book that blends together histories of tourism, commerce, media, and sexuality.
A graphic card has a black-and-white photograph of bookshelves in the background, with a color image of the cover of THE SECOND GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT: HONEYMOONING AND TOURISM AT NIAGARA FALLS, by Karen Dubinsky. Text: December 11, 2024 - #WhatImReadingWednesday
December 11, 2024 at 1:09 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Me walking out to our office Hershey’s Kisses dispenser every time I finish a small task today.
A diagram of a rat inside a Skinner Box, pressing a lever to deliver a food pellet to its tray.
December 6, 2024 at 8:25 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
I'm getting ready for Sunday's meeting of the Bløm Book Club by re-starting THE MEMORY POLICE, by Yoko Ogawa. I can see from my Kindle highlights that I read at least some of the novel in the past (I think for another book club), but—appropriately enough for this subject—I have no memory of it.
A social-media graphic with a black-and-white photo of bookshelves in the background. In the foreground is the cover image of THE MEMORY POLICE, by Yoko Ogawa. Text: #WhatImReadingWednesday December 4, 2024.
December 4, 2024 at 12:45 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
One of the highlights of my job at @asianstudies.org is the opportunity to read new books in #AsianStudies and talk to authors about their work. Here's my latest author interview—an exchange with Elliott Prasse-Freeman about his ethnography of activism, RIGHTS REFUSED.

https://buff.ly/4fTKTmn
Cover image of RIGHTS REFUSED: GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM AND STATE VIOLENCE IN MYANMAR, by Elliott Prasse-Freeman
December 3, 2024 at 12:15 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Ready to imbibe a large mug of peppermint hot chocolate while watching its cinematic equivalent. #HATM
A laptop in the background shows the Hot Frosty title card on its screen. In the foreground is a mug of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and crushed candy canes.
December 2, 2024 at 1:07 AM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Including me!
Sticker showing a werewolf ripping apart its shirt, with “I voted” written above and an American flag in the background.
November 3, 2024 at 1:56 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Update: dream come true.
A red-headed woman stands next to Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers mascot.
October 26, 2024 at 1:50 PM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Fully Gritt-ified for this morning’s Gritty 5K in South Philadelphia.
A woman with short red hair is wearing a Gritty headband and has stripes of orange and black glitter painted under her eyes. In the background is a mass of people assembling for a 5K race.
October 26, 2024 at 11:53 AM
mauracunningham.bsky.social
Dinner and a book talk—happy publication day to @josephaseeley.bsky.social, presenting BORDER OF WATER AND ICE to @modernjapanhist.bsky.social right now.
A laptop screen shows a Zoom meeting, with a male speaker and a PowerPoint displaying the cover of BORDER OF WATER AND ICE. In the foreground is a bowl of mashed potatoes with gochujang and chives on top.
October 15, 2024 at 10:10 PM