The Useless Tree

Sam Crane

  • Tiger Woods, Confucian Gentleman

        The golf great does the right Confucian thing: ATLANTA (AP) — Tiger Woods is skipping the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda, saying Wednesday he wanted the longest break of his career to spend time with his… Continue reading

  • Qin Shi Huangdi Was A Bad Man

         It seems that a group of terra-cotta warriors are making the trip from Xian to London, to be exhibited at the British Museum.  A rather breathless article in the New Stateman (hat tip, CDT) sets the stage: "The… Continue reading

  • Confucian Facebook Friends

         So, a couple of weeks ago I took the plunge and set up a Facebook profile.  I am gradually learning the ins and outs of cyber-social networking.  It’s interesting, but hardly breathtaking.  I have connected – or "friended"… Continue reading

  • Another Year

       I posted these two pictures last year on this day and here they are again (the top one is from Roland): Continue reading

  • Confucian Death Penalty

         Confucius was generally against the death penalty.  One of the clearest statements of his aversion to capital punishment comes in The Analects, 12.19:    Asking Confucius about governing, Lord Chi K’ang said: "What if I secure those who… Continue reading

  • Serve the People

         We hear a lot about "serve the people" in the PRC.  The official Mao-inspired slogan is not as popular now as it was years ago, but the official persona of Wen Jiabao symbolizes it: he is presented as… Continue reading

  • A Confucian Commentary on the Bush Administration

          A pleasant late-summer morning.  In my office, looking out on fields and trees, reading The Analects and making notes on which passages might fit into this or that chapter of the book I am writing.  And this jumps… Continue reading

  • Taoists in Space

        An op-ed in yesterday’s NYT, by Timothy Ferris, tells the story of the space probe Voyager I, a satellite that was launched thirty years ago and is now leaving the solar system.  Ferris was responsible for a recorded… Continue reading

  • Not A Mencius Among Them

        We are in the run-up to the big Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.  This will be the 17th Party Congress (not to be confused with the People’s Congresses, which are meetings of the legislative branch).  These meetings… Continue reading

  • It’s Not Just Their Physical Health

         Here’s what the China Daily reports (hat tip, CDT): The high-living, high-pressure lifestyles of China’s wealthy are catching up with their health, according to a  recent survey that shows many are paying a high cost for their affluence.… Continue reading