Be it athletes, politicians or actors, I long ago accepted that you have to embrace people for the parts of their personalities that are positive and productive. Bill Clinton was an extremely effective president, all things considered. He was not, however, a particularly good husband. But his vow to me and the American public was [...]
Continue reading “Bubba Woods” »
Three months ago I had a post planned where I would review The Founding of a Republic (建国大业), the Chinese film timed for the 60th anniversary of the most important day of the 20th century: the founding of Communist China. I was going to write a review extolling how the film portrayed the true greatness [...]
Continue reading “So THAT’S How The Republic Was Founded” »
Reports say that a whopping 70 percent of Caijing magazine staff members have resigned. While the first thought might be there could have been government pressure in some way, it appears China’s most respected magazine’s founder may in fact be behind the exodus.
Hu Shuli, the magazine’s legendary founder, who sas recently featured in a New [...]
Continue reading “Why Did 70% of Caijing’s Staff Resign?” »
While he’s not exactly the messiah, Barack Obama has done a lot of good things as a candidate and president. People seem to be making the case that he has not done much in his first nine months in office, but people also forget that January was one of the worst job loss months in [...]
Continue reading “Obama Wins Nobel; Lebron Named Best Player Ever” »
If you’re reading this from somewhere outside of China, you may be unaware that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. That is probably because you hate the Chinese people and your concerted ignorance is a carefully designed plot to insult the world’s largest population. Or possibly, [...]
Continue reading “60 is the New 5000” »
Riots in Tibet last year. Riots in Xinjiang this year.
There is one lesson that we can learn from all of this: Old people are dangerous. Incited youths listen to and heed the words of virtually anyone the age of their grandparents. Young people are not motivated by ethnic hatred, lack of jobs or the perception [...]
Continue reading “Chinese Government Fears Old People” »
Every few months, China unrolls a plan that looks less-than well thought out. Maybe it’s censoring the media facilities during the Olympics. Or quarantining hundreds or thousands of travelers to Beijing over H1N1 fears, even though (or because) the country didn’t bother to do anything for the first three months of SARS six years ago. [...]
Continue reading “How China Can Fix its PR Problem” »
As you may have heard, China’s economy has changed over the last few years. In 1979 China’s economy was 10th biggest in the world between Spain and Holland. It is expected to pass Japan as the world’s second largest this year, if it hasn’t already.
And yet, with all of the changes that have taken place, [...]
Continue reading “Grow the Economy, Print Bigger Currency” »
We’re 20 years removed, and China is a far different place from where it was on that terrible day.
There are two schools of thought about what has changed in the 20 years since. The first argument is that China totally opened up its economy in the aftermath of being shunned by most of the world, [...]
Continue reading “Modern China: Hermit or Leader?” »
I get how gay marriage is a threat to democracy. That makes sense. Men being monogamous with other men. Women devoting themselves to another woman. I get it. That could really ruin a great country.
But surely Twitter couldn’t ruin a good autocracy, right? Those annoying one sentence blasts that usually link to something more interesting [...]
Continue reading “Twitter Threat to Autocracy” »
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