User talk:JArthur1984

A barnstar for you

		The Chinese Barnstar
		For your recent contributions to a variety of articles about China's economy and recent economic history. Thanks for making Wikipedia's coverage more detailed and informative! —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 14:14, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

Thanks very much, Mx. Granger! I have seen your contributions in these areas as well and likewise appreciate them. JArthur1984 (talk) 14:44, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

Thanks!

		The Original Barnstar
		For your timely and helpful edits on the lead section of Cultural Revolution, thank you so much! Zinderboff(talk) 13:30, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

My pleasure, thank you for raising the issue. JArthur1984 (talk) 13:42, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

仓星

		The Chinese Barnstar
		I'm very lucky that I can contribute and learn while surrounded by editors like you. Thank you so much for your work on China-related topics, it's a real inspiration for me.

Thank you for your kind words. I likewise appreciate and learn from your efforts. It has been a pleasure to see the quality of China-related topics improve over the last few years.

A Chinese Barnstar For You!

		The Chinese Barnstar
		I was going to thank you long ago, but thank you for removing WP:CRYSTALBALL and speculation on the article about the Social Credit System!. Félix An (talk) 07:44, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Thank you. I appreciate your efforts to improve the page as well! JArthur1984 (talk) 13:52, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Academic references

I just wanted to say that I'm one of the academics you cite in your edits - I won't say who precisely I am, but I am so grateful and honored that you choose to incorporate my work into your edits. Thank you! 218.250.120.230 (talk) 06:51, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for your kind words! JArthur1984 (talk) 01:47, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	For your excellent contributions to China–Holy See relations although you could stand to use fewer footnotes Mach61 07:56, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for the barnstar! Footnotes can be an odd issue. I footnote with rigour because of my experiences on our China articles, where the trend is that unsourced material is challenged strongly. So, I use a footnote after every sentence to ensure there can be no mistaken belief, even though it is not strictly necessary and as you suggest, arguably may clutter the text. Also, I find that articles using more frequent footnotes makes it easier to add new propositions in the future for other editors (for example, if a paragraph uses a single citation, and someone adds a sentence in the middle that is supported by a different source, it can create an ambiguity for the future). But, this is only one school of thought. JArthur1984 (talk) 14:28, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

New article

I am undertaking some very bold changes in the History of China (2012–present). I feel like this newly renamed the article covers the scope better and gives opportunity to add more details about China's history since 2012. Would you be interested in helping me? You've added a lot of information about post 2012 Chinese history, so this might suit you. The Account 2 (talk) 16:39, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I will probably have more to add.

I am not so sure about the new name. I disliked "General Secretaryship" which I think is an unnatural construct. But, the new title would seem to include all history of China since 2012 in all areas, which is a major broadening. On the other other hand, maybe this is intentional, which is also choice I can also respect. JArthur1984 (talk) 16:55, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

It was intentional actually. I took the cue from the Soviet era pages, such as the History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964) (aka Khruschev's leadership) and History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982) (Brezhnev's leadership) My feeling is that, unlike most Western countries where political leaders often don't last long and government plays little role in many areas, in China, leaders both often last relatively long and the government has a very active role in shaping most areas of society, so the line of where Xi's policies end and where broader societal trends start is much more blurrier. China is really unique in just how much the Party/government sets many trends in society, so a broadening of the page might be beneficial. This is also how both foreign and Chinese sources seem to treat PRC history, emphasizing the broader history of China under, for example, Xi's leadership, rather than the narrower administration. The Account 2 (talk) 17:06, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Or to put it more succinctly; as Xi himself said, the Party leads everything. So a page in the history of Xi's administration more or less becomes a page on the history of China since 2012. Considering how large and influential the Communist Party is, it's much harder to separate the Xi administration from overall society the same way one might separate, for example, the second presidency of Donald Trump from History of the United States (2016–present), The Account 2 (talk) 17:10, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

I respect this logic JArthur1984 (talk) 20:35, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Book recommendations

Any interesting China-related books you've been recently? I'm curious of finding recommendations. The Account 2 (talk) 17:52, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Some great texts outright now, and the summer release schedule also very promising.

The Chinese Communist Youth League (2025) by Tsimonis. I began it and thought it was a strong piece of work, but had to move on to something else and haven't gotten back to it. But I can confidently recommend and I think it will suit your wiki interests in organizational/bureaucratic politics and history especially.

This is a banner stretch for books dealing with folk religion, superstition, and the religion-superstition dichotomy. On my desk is Uncanny Beliefs (2026), edited by Baum and Wu. S.A. Smith has two different texts from Cambridge University Press, which are either currently or imminently available, depending on your geography -- (1) Communism in an Enchanted World: Chinese Folk Religion under Mao Zedong and (2) Supernatural Politics: Mao Zedong and the Drive to Eliminate Religion in China, 1949-1979.

I also have an idea to pair The Idea of China: A Contested History (2026) by Xu, and Chinese Cosmopolitanism: The History and Philosophy of an Idea (2026) by Xiang. I've only read the former, but I think it might make fun and interesting back-to-back reading. Xu bangs hard on his ideological drum and is explicit in doing so; excising these personal feelings would have improved the work, but it does not affect his honest recitation of the facts themselves.

Or if there's a specific niche you have in mind, feel free to ask. JArthur1984 (talk) 18:58, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! I'll check these out. I'm open for any kinds of recommendations. The Account 2 (talk) 19:00, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Commie-tagging

I've seen this before, where articles that use Chinese voices to discuss Chinese politics make sure to scream about how affiliated they are with Chinese institutions. It's WP:Weasel at its finest because it's implying that you just can't trust those Reds not to lie. I've had situations where I've tried to remove such before just to be immediately reverted and with no backup at article talk that's been that.

So thank you for that very common-sense edit. Simonm223 (talk) 18:21, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

Indeed, I have even twice seen attempts to remove works from Chinese academics entirely from pages based on their nationality. Even more absurdly, the works were published by Western academic presses. Thank you for your vigilance on these issues.

A further commonsense reason to avoid institutional affiliations is that they change over time. Especially in the academe as it currently exists. I certain that no proponent of including institutional affiliations regularly goes back to change and update them. JArthur1984 (talk) 18:41, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

St. Paul's College, Macau

Just a small question reading your recent edits on that page: is the "not" correct in:

Valignano sought to establish a program in Macau for the training of Japanese Jesuits (i.e., a place where they would not be safe from the Japanese persecutions of Catholics) Pignoof (talk) 14:38, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

That’s an error, thank you very much for calling it to my attention, I’ve fixed it JArthur1984 (talk) 19:10, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:2013 establishments in Macau

A tag has been placed on Category:2013 establishments in Macau indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and removing the speedy deletion tag. ✗plicit 11:53, 23 June 2026 (UTC)