Latest Posts
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Reminder: Bush lost the war
Enough already with Jackie Chan… The reports in recent weeks of bombings in Iraq, especially today's news that more than 70 people were killed, require us to remember the most basic fact about the whole sorry story of US involvement… Continue reading
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The Resonance of a Chinese Euphemism, Jackie Chan edition
OK, one more thing on the Jackie Chan thing… There has been some debate about what, exactly, he was implying when he said: "我们中国人是需要管的." More specifically, the meaning of that last word – 管 guan – has prompted some… Continue reading
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More (just a bit more) on the Jackie Chan thing
Wow. Lots and lots of hits came in on the Jackie Chan post below. And some thoughtful comments as well. One critical comment, from the ever-skeptical Isha, suggested that I had not sufficiently understood what Chan had said in Chinese.… Continue reading
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Jackie Chan does the Orientalist thing
Let's just go straight to the report in the Telegraph in the UK: Jackie Chan has triggered controversy by claiming Chinese people are so chaotic they need to be firmly controlled by the government. The actor told a forum on… Continue reading
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This just in: a black man can be Chinese…
I noticed this story the other day but was just reminded of it again (thanks to CDT): A 19-year-old volleyball player from the eastern city of Hangzhou has become the first black athlete to be called up to represent China,… Continue reading
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North Korea…Again
Let me turn away for a moment from my usual focus on ancient Chinese thought, and consider the North Korean nuclear question. In one of my courses ("The International Politics of East Asia"), we have been discussing North Korea for… Continue reading
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Male heirs are unnecessary
This article popped up a couple of days ago in the NYT: A bias in favor of male offspring has left China with 32 million more boys under the age of 20 than girls, creating “an imminent generation of excess… Continue reading
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Learning Confucius
Sorry for the lack of posting of late. A combination of work and some personal stuff has taken me away from the keyboard. But tonight there is some time to get to a couple of things that have been turning… Continue reading
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David Brooks gets his Confucius on
In an intriguing op-ed today in the NYT, David Books thinks aloud about the problems of moral philosophy: Socrates talked. The assumption behind his approach to philosophy, and the approaches of millions of people since, is that moral thinking is… Continue reading
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What happens when Ritual is forgotten
Here's a Confucian nightmare, the kind of thing that happens when people are not committed to doing the right thing: Woman with beer can in hand starts brawl at wake MAGNOLIA, Ark. (AP) — Sheriff's deputies said a Texas woman… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 