Timely Snow

From the always interesting James Fallows, a report from Gary Hart supporting an idea that’s occurred to me, that the various Middle Eastern wars in which the U.S. has entangled itself has at least saved us from a much more serous conflict with China.

James Fallows
The commission had 14 members, split 7-7, Republican and [...]

I picked up a few Dr. Seuss books printed in English with Chinese translations below, including “Green eggs and ham” (绿鸡蛋和火腿).It makes me wonder, though, how the bit about green eggs is interpreted in a culture where it seems a good idea to cover eggs in mud and let them cook themselves into a gooey [...]

Every so often I’m reminded of how deep the antipathy toward Japan is here. We have videotapes of first grade reading lessons, which include a lesson with the sentences “Father is a soldier. Mother is a nurse.” The teacher asked the students why there are soldiers and the first response was “to fight against the [...]

I just listened to an interesting discussion on CRI about the phenomenon of 闪婚 – shan3 hun1 – or “lightning marriage” —marriage after very brief courtship. Apparently it’s common enough among young Chinese adults to marry a name and a discussion, which you can follow here.

I went to mass today in the South Cathedral in Xuanwumen, on the site where Matteo Ricci built a church around 1600. Today is Corpus Christi, and the theme of the sermon was the assertion that transubstantiation is a real phenomenon, and not symbolic. The readings had to do with the miracle of the loaves [...]

I’ve been thinking about pinyin and computers lately, and also thinking about the (to me) odd belief of Western linguists such as John DeFrancis and Victor Mair that Chinese characters are destined to wither away and be replaced by an alphabetic system.

It does seem to be the case that pinyin as a way of putting [...]

Interesting article about why the set of remaining Communist countries in the world hasn’t diminished in the last almost 20 years. It’s sad to extend this argument to thinking about what the tragedy in Iraq will do to the attractiveness of democratic institutions.

The nice thing about coming to China once a year, every year, is that it’s like one of those motion-capture videos where they show growth by animating a series of time-lagged snapshots. So here are a few random things I’ve noticed this time:

Signs of new wealth:
Electrically-assisted bikes have really taken off. I think I [...]

It’s a couple of days after June 4. I haven’t been downtown yet this trip. On the day itself, I was visiting the Institute of Psychology. I asked a couple of old friends if they knew what day it was, and both recalled it after a couple of minutes thought. One said she thought everyone [...]

Oneaday
Reading thousands of books is not as useful as travelling for a thousand miles