The Useless Tree

Sam Crane

  • Reply to Eric X. Li: Cultures are not Incommensurable and the CCP is not Confucuian

    Over at the Huffington Post, Rachel Beitarie interviews Eric X. Li, under the title "Democracy is not the Answer."  Li, who describes himself as a Shanghai venture capitalist (which carries a bit of irony, as I will attempt to demonstrate),… Continue reading

  • Reply to James Fallows: The Return to a Universal China

    In a post last week, James Fallows raises an interesting question: "What is the Chinese Dream?"  He is, of course, alluding to the notion of the "American Dream," and wondering whether contemporary China has a similar summarizing cultural symbol that… Continue reading

  • Chen Guangcheng: It ain’t over ’til it’s over

    The news this morning, that Chen, with his family, may be able to travel to the US to study at NYU, is good. Let's hope it works out.  But, as we have most chaotically learned in the past 48 hours,… Continue reading

  • The Core Issue in the Chen Guangcheng case

    The story has changed in the past twenty-four hours, but it is important to maintain focus on the central problem in all of this: the PRC government has failed to provide a consistent and fair rule of law and Chen… Continue reading

  • What’s Next for Chen Guangcheng?

    Wow.  Interesting turn of events.  So, Chen is out of the US embassy and, after a quick medical check at a local hospital, has been released.  He plans to stay in China.  The US government statement on the matter tells… Continue reading

  • Stand with Chen Guangcheng

    Chen Guangcheng, the courageous human rights lawyer in China, who has been subjected to brutal "house arrest" for years, has escaped his captors and is apparently in hiding, perhaps in the US embassy, in Beijing.  Here's what I blogged five… Continue reading

  • Filial Piety: Only for the poor?

    Two contrasting articles suggest how demographic and social-cultural changes in China are making it ever more difficult to realize Confucian virtues there. First, we have a piece in The Economist that reports on the growth of nursing homes – or,… Continue reading

  • Godless Goodness

    There is much to blog about.  In my weeks-long absence from this space – the result of nothing but distraction – I have regularly sent myself emails of articles and ideas to blog.  But it has taken some time to… Continue reading

  • Something Beautiful

    I've been distracted, too disracted of late to blog or do much else besides the immeidate tasks before me.  I'll get back to it soon.  In the meantime, here's something beautiful… Continue reading

  • Thinking about Nothing

    In a punchy book review in Sunday's NYT, philosopher David Albert takes down physicist Lawrence Krauss: Lawrence M. Krauss, a well-known cosmologist and prolific popular-science writer, apparently means to announce to the world, in this new book, that the laws… Continue reading