Latest Posts
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It’s on days like these that Taoism helps
My son, Aidan, wound up in the hospital today with a fever of 107.8. Yes, that’s correct, 107.8. It was the highest temperature several of the doctors we encountered along the way had ever seen. It threw his… Continue reading
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Baby MB and the Social Context of Human Life
In Britain a difficult ethical case is unfolding, involving a profoundly disabled 17-month old child, Baby MB. It seems the child was born prematurely with a terribly debilitating condition: The boy, who can be named only as MB,… Continue reading
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It’s Hard Out Here for a Confucian
OK, this might be a stretch, but I see a connection…. For those of you following the Oscar’s (and that does not really include me), you know already that the "best song" award went to a… Continue reading
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Prosperity for All – But Just No Land Rights For Farmers
I guess I should say something about the National People’s Congress – the PRC legislature – which is currently in progress in Beijing. Premier Wen Jiabao promised "prosperity for all." How can anyone be against that?… Continue reading
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Asian History Carnival
For those of you interested in Asian history, there is a marvelous group of links over at Frog in a Well (China), which is hosting the most recent Asian history carnival. Lots of great stuff there, which collectively… Continue reading
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It’s Chuang Tzu – Even Though They Don’t Mention Him
James Reston, Jr. has a new book out, Fragile Innocence, which is reviewed in today’s Washington Post. I am working from the review here, but it rings very familiar to me: the story of a father discovering and… Continue reading
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More Tao and the Market
Dror Poleg checks in from Beijing with a comment on an earlier post. I am copying it below because it continues the conversation about Taoism and capitalism in a provocative way: Capitalism in its pure form is the… Continue reading
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Breaking Historical Laws
Roland, at ESWN, has provided some great coverage of the closing, and then the reopening, of the Freezing Point (Bingdian) section of the China Youth Daily newspaper. His posts are numerous and spread about his site; it is… Continue reading
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Sun Tzu and the US Failure in Iraq
I haven’t talked about Sun Tzu here in quite a while, but he came to mind when I saw this story the other day (hat tip, Kevin): Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned the… Continue reading
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The Politics of Postmodern Confucianism
I have been thinking a bit more about my earlier post on postmodern Confucianism. And here’s a question: why on earth would the editors of People’s Daily open up this kind of conversation? Don’t they realize that bringing… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 