I'm taking a trip, so posting may drop off a bit over the next week or so. 

From Saturday to next Tuesday I'll be in Beijing.  I'll meet up with Jeremiah, and perhaps some other bloggers there, and generally reacquaint myself with the city.  On Tuesday I will fly down to Nanjing, which I have not visited in 20 years, to give a lecture (on contemporary applications of pre-Qin Confucian and Taoist thought) at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, where I taught during the 1988-1989 academic year.  An old friend there tells me I will not recognize the place, and I'm sure he's right.

On Thursday I return to Beijing for a seminar on Friday with some folks from the Philosophy Department at Tsinghua University.  The group will have read a chapter or two from my current book manuscript (on contemporary applications of pre-Qin Confucian and Taoist thought – sound familiar?) and will give me their comments and critiques.  It should be very helpful. 

I'm also planning on meeting some other folks, academic and literary, along the way.  And there are many students, both former and current, to connect with.  I'll be busy.  And I'll have some fun, too.  For part of it, I'll be staying in Hou Hai, notorious for its cafes and bars.  And it's old hutongs, too.  I'm looking forward to walking the streets there in the morning, before the tourist rush sets in, when local folks are going about their daily business.  I'll post as I can, perhaps with some pictures….zaijian….