Cup of Cha
This is China

I’m sure he’s a perfectly charming guy, and I know that most people let him post and say what he will. He gets lots of reactions, but he rarely adds any value to the conversation. I propose banning him, not because I believe in censorship, but because I believe in trying to promote a higher [...]

Continue reading “Should Cup of Cha Ban nanheyangrouchuan?” »

I just wanted to share with you an odd little Chinese Christmas (OK, actually Spring Festival) gift I found. As you probably know Chinese people tend to give money in red envelopes as gifts. Well, someone realized that there is no middle man cashing in on this idea, and figured out a way to sell [...]

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China is not like Apartheid South Africa. However, there are some uncomfortable similarities.
Last night I went out to dinner with a few friends, one of who was born in South Africa, but whose parents (with him) fled when he was a little boy for political reasons. One thing led to another and suddenly he was [...]

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I’m a few days late with this, but there was a very interesting and extremely substantive Democratic presidential debate last week on NPR. They spent more than a half hour discussing China, so I think this is particularly relevant for us. The China part starts about 34 minutes in, so you can skip ahead if [...]

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Imagine my surprise when I ran across a Chinese discussion board that made reference to my blog (my old one too in fact). As I scrolled through the comments I realized that they were writing about a lot of the blogs that I know. When I tried use Google to find more similar discussions nothing [...]

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Were it not for Robert Moses, America probably still would have had suburbs in the modern sense. However, the idea of a rich city outskirt, and the ‘white flight’ that it spurred, certainly came about sooner because of the NY legend. When I went out to Beijing’s upscale Shunyi suburb, it immediately flashed into my [...]

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I’ll admit it: When I saw that David Brooks wrote a column about China today, I expected to hear the same silliness that I’ve seen from other journalists. I was prepared to be underwhelmed. Fortunately he did not claim that the world is flat, or that China is a time bomb waiting to explode. [...]

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Beijing’s new subway system, which has already added line No. 5, is in the midst of a major overhaul for the Olympics (and for a modern China). But as I touched on the other day, the system being set up may not be that convenient for the Olympic visitor.
Case one is that of the Olympic [...]

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I’ve lived in China for four years, give or take, and I’ve only ever had one bike stolen. This is a miracle. It’s true, I may have just jinxed myself, but I was looking at my bike today, and it’s not in great shape anyway. If someone stole it I could just buy a new [...]

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I guess the internets here are causing problems with Itunes or something, because there are a few podcasts that won’t download: Bill Simmons Report, Real Time, This American Life, and Face the Nation. So I’ve been looking for some more good ones, as the first three are probably among my five favorites. Can anyone out [...]

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