Current Affairs
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Roots
Sorry for the relative blog silence of late. Traveling home was time-consuming. And, once here, family duties, work and jet lag have demanded my time. Today, however, I have found a moment to write… Let me expand upon an observation… Continue reading
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Confucius: The Movie
OK, we knew at some point this had to happen: the major big budget PRC movie on Confucius. Jeremiah is on the story. After the criticism that emerged within China about Slumdog Millionaire and Kung Fu Panda, the prospects are… Continue reading
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Confucius on the AIG Bonuses
Bonuses going to AIG execs. What would Confucius do? He would certainly disapprove, as this excerpt from Analects 14.1 suggests: Yuan Szu asked about disgrace, and the Master said: "To enjoy a salary when your country abides in the Way… Continue reading
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More on the Politics of Cultural Openness
Rebecca MacKinnon has a post (and the video) of a talk she gave a few days ago at the Berkman Center on "China and the Global Internet." She makes the key point that the CCP has already lost control of… Continue reading
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Listen to the Mothers
The IHT runs this story today: A group representing families of demonstrators killed or maimed in the armed crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests 20 years ago has urged China to name the dead, denouncing official silence over the anniversary. The… Continue reading
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George Will is not a Sage King
In a rather bizarre WaPo oped today, George Will refers to an article in Policy Review which argues that, morally, food is the new sex. What is meant here is that, since the 1960s (conservatives always blame the 1960s for… Continue reading
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Uselessness: Now More than Ever!
An article in today's NYT bemoans the state of the Humanities in American colleges and universities: …in this new era of lengthening unemployment lines and shrinking university endowments, questions about the importance of the humanities in a complex and technologically… Continue reading
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Han Feizi on the Economic Crisis
A long story at Bloomberg (hat tip CDT) on the vicissitudes of China's billionaire class brought Han Fei Zi to mind. The article chronicles some lurid stories of corruption and shady-dealing that have produced very, very large sums of money… Continue reading
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Don’t Blame Confucius…
A video from GlobalPost on match-making in Shanghai (embedded below). It seems that every Friday and Saturday people come to a corner of People's Park to look for marriage partners for their sons and daughters. The reporter says it's like… Continue reading
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Confucius at TED
A student of mine (thanks Gary!) pointed me toward a talk from a recent TED conference (TED, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a group that brings together thinkers on a variety of topics to expand upon, as… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 