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The Macroregions of China and the Red Sox/Yankee Rivalry
I’ve long been suspicious of Connecticut and Vermont. I grew up in New Hampshire, a state firmly ensconced in the bosom of New England. From my safe vantage point these border states seemed perilously...
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Fatal Firing: The Tragic Story of China’s First Battleship
I’m visiting Weihai this weekend because a beach vacation doesn’t really count unless it’s 30 degrees* outside with a stiff sea breeze. Weihai is a charmless—but very clean—city set on a historic...
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On Lamas in the White House…
I gave YJ a llama for Christmas this year. The venerable organization Heifer International allows you to sponsor various animals as a fundraiser for their worldwide relief efforts. In a moment of...
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On cultural hybridity, ambassadors, and other low hanging fruit
Last week, an op-ed published by the China News Service referred to outgoing US Ambassador Gary Locke as a “banana.” It was, I suspect, meant to be satirical, and was a crude take-off on a famous essay...
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Happy Learn from Lei Feng Day!
On this date in 1963, Mao Zedong launched the “Learn from Lei Feng” campaign, which is great because the most important lesson I’ve learned from Lei Feng is to look out for falling telephone poles, but...
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Wealth and Power at Capital M
Fu 富 Qiang 强: Wealth and Power. Together they are shorthand for a state with sufficient strength to repel enemies from without and of sufficient prosperity to provide a level of sustenance for those...
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Scenes from a Forbidden City…
Beautiful day for a tour of the Forbidden City. After a week of punishing miasmic doom clouds hanging over the city, Friday’s pissing of rain and the return of some good north winds cleared up the sky...
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New and Recommended: The Night Watch by Beijing Postcards
Beijing there’s maybe proud of their history, but with all the changes in the city over the last few years it’s hard to imagine historical Beijing. Even at night, in the middle of the city’s hutong the...
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Book Review: The Incarnations by Susan Barker
How many lifetimes does it take for two souls to truly bond? Susan Barker’s remarkable book The Incarnations is a time-bending fantasy with an unknown (and possible unreliable) narrator sweeping us...
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Beware of Dog!
“When I awoke the Dire Wolf/Six hundred pounds of sin Was grinnin’ at my window/All I said was “come on in” Don’t murder me/I beg of you don’t murder me Please don’t murder me!” - Robert Hunter One...
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Censoring History
When an American historian tries to translate his latest book into Chinese, wacky hilarity ensues. .
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From the Ruins of Empire…arise the nation-state
Empires want to be respected. Nation-states need to be loved. It’s a simple formula, and one that I share with author and historian of empire Pankaj Mishra.
View ArticleKind of Online in the PRC: The New Normal?
For anybody who still thinks China is a great business environment or that China has a bright future as a research hub, intellectual incubator, or simply a good place for their next office or factory,...
View ArticleAdvice to New Wai: Things I wish I learned 13 years ago about life in China
Let’s face it: It’s not easy to live in China. These days even a well-known…less than critical observer of China like Daniel Bell is being kind of critical. Lots of people — too many — are leaving....
View ArticleChinese Academy of Social Sciences throwing shade at The New Qing History
Why did the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences launch an attack on Qing historians Mark Elliott, James Millward, and Pamela Crossley? It seems they had the temerity to challenge long-cherished tropes...
View ArticleThe Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Luck of the Brothers Zhao
Question: Define “Unlucky.” Answer: “Being born a son of the Song imperial family in the last days of the dynasty just as the Mongols were starting to slap around your army generals like the generals...
View ArticleThe Perils of Advising the Empire: Yuan Shikai and Frank Goodnow
New post by me up on ChinaFile. A Chinese president, three years into his term, turns back the clock on political liberalization. Convinced that the country, beset by domestic problems and foreign...
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“Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Part III”
Part three of my four part series for The World of Chinese on the Opium War. Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Part III To find an approximate parallel for the terror the Nemesis struck in the hearts of...
View Article“Out of Autocracy, Off the Shelves”
New post by me on the LA Review of Books excellent China blog on the historian Qin Hui and his (now banned in the PRC) book Out of Autocracy 走出帝制. Out of Autocracy, Off the Shelves In recent years,...
View ArticleIn Memory of David Bowie: The China Girl Running Diary
The Internet will be awash with remembrances and tributes to David Bowie over the next few days. Many serious think pieces will be written on the enormous influence Bowie had on pop culture, music,...
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