The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Satisfied, Fatalisitic China

          The Pew Global Attitudes Project yesterday published its report “The 2008 Pew Global Attitudes Survey in China” (PDF file!).  Some interesting data there.       One noticeable result, which Roland picked up on also, is the high level of satisfaction… Continue reading

  • Mencius, Mencius Everywhere

         Perhaps it’s just me, but I am constantly noticing Mencian resonances in various current events.  Two items thus jumped out of today’s NYT:      First, US law-makers over-rode President Bush’s veto of a bill on health care.  The bottom… Continue reading

  • The Value of Human Life

    Here’s something that both Taoists and Confucians can agree upon: it is foolhardy, and perhaps stupid, to attempt to determine a monetary value of a human life.   This comes to mind today because of this news story: WASHINGTON (AP) —… Continue reading

  • Mencius and Food Stamps

         Mencius is very much on my mind these days: I am reading it with a group of entering first year students.  So, I noticed the Mencian resonances in this op-ed in today’s WaPo by Michael Gerson.  He is a… Continue reading

  • Confucian Innovation

    An interesting profile in today's NYT of John Kao, a renaissance man of sorts who now focuses his thinking and working of issues of innovation and entrepreneurship.  One thing that caught my eye was how moving between two cultures provided… Continue reading

  • Doing Well v. Doing Good

    An article in the NYT today looks into the question of the purpose of higher education.  Is it simply a matter of producing individuals who will go out into the business world and amass large personal fortunes, or should there… Continue reading

  • Learning Humanity from Same Sex Couples

    A story a couple of day's ago in the NYT reports: For insights into healthy marriages, social scientists are looking in an unexpected place. A growing body of evidence shows that same-sex couples have a great deal to teach everyone… Continue reading

  • Confucianism as a State Ideology? I Don’t Think So….

         A good post over at The China Beat by Xujun Eberlein on contemporary Chinese Confucian thinker Jiang Qing (yes, the name has the same English transliteration as Mao's infamous wife).   Here are a couple of Eberlein's grafs: In his… Continue reading

  • Wen Jiabao is better than Mao Zedong

          I have just finished grading final exams for my Chinese politics class.  One question asked students to compare and contrast Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.  Most answers emphasized the differences but some telling similarities were noted.  So, events like… Continue reading

  • Still Here

         Sorry for the relative blog silence of late.  Between grading (which I am still finishing), preparing for a summer program that I am directing, and doing some family stuff for the Memorial Day weekend (traveled to Staten Island, NY… Continue reading