Matt Schiavenza From the Dragon to the Apple- A Sinophile in New York

Notes and Thoughts

Yikes...an e-mail from my sister reminded me that I've been silent in this space for a bit longer than usual. Apologies! Work has been busy and I've been occupied by other things, but keeping fresh content on this site remains a priority to stay tuned.

Before I write about my trip (I've got a bit more research to do still- bear with me), I'll share a few news and notes for my remaining faithful

- A couple people I know in Kunming have expressed the conventional wisdom that the Colin Powell endorsement is really bad news for McCain. I'm not so sure. Do people really pay attention to endorsements? And for that matter, do people really pay attention to Powell?

- Certain Republicans believe Sarah Palin is the second coming of St. Ronald of Reagan, which to me sounds more like wishful thinking on their part than anything else. "There were doubts about Reagan's experience too!" they cry. Were they? This is before my time (I was safely inside my mother's womb when the Gipper first assumed office), but Reagan was a major figure within the Republican Party for at least a decade and a half prior to the 1980 election. Palin was plucked from almost total obscurity. Four years before he bested Carter, Reagan led an insurgency in the 1976 GOP primary that nearly knocked off sitting President Gerald Ford. Four years ago, Palin was the mayor of an Alaskan town smaller than the average Kunming housing complex.

You can fault Reagan for a lot of things (and believe me, I do) but he was at least a plausible choice on a national ticket. Palin, alas, is not.

- The presidential race appears to be tightening and will likely continue to do so. Then again, Obama must be pleased that McCain is pinning his presidential hopes on Pennsylvania, where he trails by a dozen points. To my pessimist friends (and father)- remember that Obama is
a) ahead in the polls
b) way ahead in cash-on-hand and
c) has a much better ground organization than McCain

- Interesting things are happening in China now on the economic front. Housing prices have begun falling. The government is worried about slower-than-expected GDP growth. They've also announced that by 2020, all Chinese will have nationalized health care. Will the US have that by then? Don't hold your breath.

- I just finished reading Paul Theroux's newest travel piece, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, in which Theroux retraces the route undertaken in his first travel book, The Great Railway Bazaar. When the latter book was published, Theroux was a struggling writer in his early thirties with a crumbling marriage and two small children. Now, revisiting these places in his mid-sixties, he is happily remarried and financially secure.

Along with Theroux, the land and people have changed too; return visits to Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan were ruled out, while Vietnam has been transformed from a war zone into a thriving and peaceful nation. Theroux visits a few new places; the oil boomtown of Baku, Azerbaijan, the bizarre totalitarianist hell of Turkmenistan, and the ruins (both ancient and modern) of Cambodia.

His observations, while trenchant, betray a fundamental bias against places undergoing major economic change. He finds India's status as the world's call center an affront to the ancient land's charm, while simultaneously praising war-torn Sri Lanka for its desultory sameness. In Kunming, Theroux spares only a few paragraphs to my adopted home, revealing his evident disgust that the Chinese revel in newfound prosperity.

These criticisms aside, there are many wonderful parts of Ghost Train. I loved his pithy description of the uptight Singaporeans, as well as his wonderment at visiting magnificent Istanbul and meeting the great Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. Some critics resent Theroux's use of visits with fellow literati in his works, but I find these to be quite charming. In addition to Pamuk, Theroux sees the late Arthur C. Clarke in Sri Lanka and both Murakami and the travel writer Pico Iyer in Japan.

All things aside, Theroux's fluid writing style and observant eye are evident throughout, and I recommend the book to anyone keen to lose themselves on the vast Eurasian landmass.

OK...time for sleep as I have made the masochistic decision to wake up in six hours to go swimming. Ahoy!