One winter day several years ago, I remember sitting in my San Diego house watching television reports of massive snowstorms blanketing the Midwest and East Coast. The usual images were there: cars skidding across the ice, unlucky souls huddling around ignited garbage bins, and people bundled up in what appeared to be their entire wardrobe. [...]
John McCain’s victory in the Florida primary makes his eventual nomination likely, which is bad news for this Democrat. McCain is clearly the most electable Republican left in the race, and coupled with a Democratic nomination of Hillary Clinton, the Arizona Senator would give the Elephant Team a fair to good shot at retaining the [...]
I just finished reading Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler, and my goodness: what a phenomenal book it is. Unlike Hessler’s first work (the wonderful River Town), which functioned mostly as a memoir of his two years spent teaching in a small city, Oracle Bones casts a far wider net into Chinese society. Now working as [...]
Buried at the end of this amusing article about Ross Perot, the man most responsible for Bill Clinton’s election in 1992, came this nugget about China: He attributes the success of China to the fact that even uneducated Chinese must learn 3,000 characters early in life, compared to the 26 letters in the English alphabet. [...]
’tis nice to be back in Kunming. Nevertheless, I must grudgingly admit that Beijing is slowly beginning to grow on me. Alan was once again a generous and gracious host and Chris an excellent sight-seeing and cafeing companion. We walked along one of the few parts of the old Ming Dynasty walls still intact in [...]
The English language China blogosphere is remarkably rich- and for proof just look at my blogroll. These blogs range from media analysis to thoughtful observations to personal diaries to unraveling the mysteries of the Chinese language. An hour or so spent reading these blogs would be an hour spent immersed in the many facets of [...]
If, you, like me, are not afraid of flying you might agree that the worst part of long flights is the boredom. The San Francisco to Beijing flight takes 12 hours, for example. I like reading magazines, but not for 12 hours. I like watching movies, but not for 12 hours. I like listening to [...]
During dinner with some old high school friends the other night, one who had recently visited China suggested that I start a business correcting all of the flawed English seen throughout the country. This was my cue, of course, to say that I believe Chinglish (English with Chinese characteristics) has its own intrinsic humor value [...]
In about three and a half hours I will be boarding a plane bound for Beijing and another long adventure in the Middle Kingdom. For once, I won’t be moving: I’ll be back in Kunming, to my apartment, my school, and my friends. More to come after touching down in Beijing.
On the drive back from Los Angeles, somewhere along the 101 freeway between Santa Barbara and Pismo Beach, I was pulled over by a police officer for the first time in years. Like everyone else, I had slowed down when I caught sight of the cop in the lane next to me. I drove next [...]