Latest Posts
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It’s Official: The Taoists Were Right
This just in: A Bigger Bank Account Isn’t Going to Buy You Happiness, Study Says By Jamie Talan, Newsday June 30, 2006 MELVILLE, N.Y. — A psychologist at Stony Brook University on Long Island, collaborating with scientists at… Continue reading
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Opiate of the Masses
Francesco Sisci makes an astute observation in the Asia Times: This April 12-15, China hosted an international Buddhist conference in the city of Hangzhou. With that gesture, Hu acknowledged that he recognized the common people’s need… Continue reading
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How Filiality Can Work Against The Father
A Chinese college student, Wang Jing, angered by her father’s adultery, has created a web site that publicly denounces his affairs: A freshman at a Jinan university, East China’s Shandong Province, the daughter Wang Jing resorted to radical measures… Continue reading
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Finding Aidan in China
About six months ago I discovered a Chinese edition of Aidan’s Way, my book about my son. I had found it on a Swedish book seller’s web site (don’t you just love globalization!) and then ran it down… Continue reading
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Renovating Confucius
While in Beijing I took Maggie to the Confucius temple. I had heard that it was being renovated and I wanted to take a look. We hopped in a cab and told the driver to take us there. … Continue reading
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Back to Work
Here we are, back in sleepy little Williamstown. A stark contrast to big, brash Shanghai. I will have more to say about the trip in the next few days, some reflections on the past and the present in… Continue reading
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Shanghai
Standing on the edge of the Bund, the waterfront of Shanghai, watching the very busy boat traffic on the Huangpu river, and taking in the skyline of the opposite bank, the Pudong area, it is easy to understand… Continue reading
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Beauty versus Power in Chinese History
The contrast of Dunhuang and Xian is stunning. The caves at Dunhuang were beyond what I had imagined. The paintings and sculpture, some about 1700 years old, were preserved in marvelous brightness and detail. Walking through the caves… Continue reading
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Dunhuang to Xian to Guilin
I tried posting from Xian, but when I hit the "publish" button, I don’t know if some glitch in the machine crashed my efforts, or if (more ominously) I hit the limits of China’s Great Firewall. Let me… Continue reading
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Dunhuang
We arrived in Dunhuang today. It’s like a step back in time, twenty years, to the Beijing of the 1980’s. Very few private cars on the road; some cabs; older style buses. The city is small and neat:… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 