The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Ghosts and Taoists and Confucians

         A fun story in today’s LA Times about ghosts and Chinese culture.  It turns out that the best place to study the relationship of spirits and Chinese-ness is Taiwan: In Taiwan, ghosts are rarely a laughing matter. On… Continue reading

  • Bad News

         Yet more sad stories in the news these days: havoc in Iraq; war in the Middle East; tsunami in Indonesia; fires in California.  Any silver lining in all of these dark clouds?  The Tao Te Ching, in its… Continue reading

  • Anachronistic

         A friend sent me this story, from The Shanghai Daily: Ancient education surfaces in city Yan Zhen 2006-07-12 A GROUP of parents have opened a controversial institute in suburban Shanghai that is modeled on the education system of… Continue reading

  • The Struggle Over Chinese National Identity

         As should be readily apparent, I have been following, in the past couple of years, the resurgence of Confucianism in China.  One of the aspects that is most interesting to me is the way in which the once-criticized… Continue reading

  • The Tao of North Korea

          It is clear now (again?) that the Bush administration’s policy toward North Korea has failed.       Pyongyang’s July 4th missile launches were a product of the ineffective tough-guy stance Bush has assumed since taking office in 2001. … Continue reading

  • It’s Official: The Taoists Were Right

        This just in: A Bigger Bank Account Isn’t Going to Buy You Happiness, Study Says By Jamie Talan, Newsday June 30, 2006 MELVILLE, N.Y. — A psychologist at Stony Brook University on Long Island, collaborating with scientists at… Continue reading

  • How Filiality Can Work Against The Father

          A Chinese college student, Wang Jing, angered by her father’s adultery, has created a web site that publicly denounces his affairs: A freshman at a Jinan university, East China’s Shandong Province, the daughter Wang Jing resorted to radical measures… Continue reading

  • Renovating Confucius

         While in Beijing I took Maggie to the Confucius temple.  I had heard that it was being renovated and I wanted to take a look.  We hopped in a cab and told the driver to take us there. … Continue reading

  • The Wages of Inhumanity

          Zarqawi is dead.  Good riddance.  I have little to add to the wall-to-wall coverage, except to say he was profoundly inhumane and, for that, his death is a relief.  For incisive analysis, see my friend the Aardvark. Continue reading

  • Victory Uber Alles

        Max Boot trots out a tired old "ends justify the means" argument as he casts about for some way to salvage the war he has supported from the start:  …What matters most to most folks back home is… Continue reading