You Must Take Part in Revolution: A Graphic Novel

On Thursday, January 22, 2026, the Clements-Strauss Asia Policy Program hosted Melissa Chan for a public book talk on You Must Take Part in Revolution: A Graphic Novel.

Melissa Chan is an Emmy-nominated Hong Kong and Taiwanese American foreign correspondent based between Los Angeles and Berlin. She was previously posted in China until she became the first journalist in more than a decade to be expelled by Chinese authorities in 2012. Much of her reporting examines human rights, the rise of global authoritarianism, and the defense of democracies. Her work has taken her from Pyongyang to Moscow to Havana, and she has written for The New York Times, where she was nominated for a Loeb Award—business journalism’s highest honor—The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Time, The Guardian, and more. She has also reported as a broadcast correspondent for VICE News Tonight and Al Jazeera. You Must Take Part in Revolution is her debut graphic novel.

The book, created with global activist artist Badiucao, is a near-future dystopian story about technology, authoritarian government, and the lengths one will go to fight for freedom. Set in 2035, as the US and China are at war and Taiwan is divided, three idealistic youths—Andy, Maggie, and Olivia—navigate a techno-authoritarian world, taking different paths toward transformative change while confronting what freedom means and who they will become.