Who writes the textbooks we use in our schools? Who pays for them? From which point of view do they argue? How do our schools choose these textbooks? Do alternatives exist?
To the last question, I can definitively answer yes. Not long after I arrived in college, a friend lent me a copy of the recently-deceased [...]
One aspect of contemporary Sino-American scholarship largely overlooked is the notion that both China and the United States contain a notion of ‘exceptionalism’ that largely doesn’t exist elsewhere in the world. The most immediate explanation I can think of for why is the enormous size of the two countries as well as their relative insularity [...]
Over the past week or so I’ve been working on a blog post summarizing the 2000s and wondering what the biggest themes, events, and trends were, both in China and beyond. When I sat down to write it I realized that there was so much to say that a simple blog post here wouldn’t do [...]
In reading this wonderfully erudite and interesting essay about Iran by the British writer Martin Amis, this passage jumped out:
In 1997, the regime felt confident enough to sanction the surprise victory of President Muhammad Khatami, who won by the same landslide margin of 69% in a joyous election that no one disputed. Khatami, a cleric, [...]
The China Digital Times notes that New Year’s Day marked the 30th anniversary of official China-US relations. Prior to January 1, 1979, the United States recognized Taiwan’s Republic of China government as the official government of China.
Chinese president Hu Jintao noted the occasion with words of praise and calls for increased cooperation; I’m sure [...]
GoKunming reports today that China Eastern has launched a weekly flight between Kunming and Taipei, capital of Taiwan. As Chris notes in the post, this news would have been absolutely unthinkable only a few years ago. In fact, when I moved to China the big Taiwan Strait news was China’s enactment of an “anti-secessionist” law, [...]
Maggie Rauch, co-founder of the China Sports Today blog and friend and colleague of mine, participated in an ESPN roundtable with three other journalists discussing how the Olympic Games will play out in China.
(link via GoKunming)
I’ve always been fascinated with China’s Cultural Revolution, particularly its iconography. A Flickr commenter translated the Chinese on the left as: “conduct yourself like this!” and the bottom as “promote revolution to the end!”, and while I’m too lazy to double-check, a quick glance says this translation is about right.
(photo by Flickr user chinamatic)
Sirens blared in my neighborhood this morning, and after determining no fire was nearby I attributed the noise to the randomness of China, where jarring sounds faze no one.
Only tonight did I realize that the sirens actually did have a purpose. A friend who teaches in the coastal city of Wenzhou heard them too, and [...]