The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Hu Jintao and Sun Tzu

        Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao apparently plans to give President Bush a copy of Sun Tzu’s Art of War when they meet tomorrow.  There are various interpretations of what this might mean.     Does it suggest a… Continue reading

  • You Know, Culture is Business

         It seems that China is running a "huge" "cultural trade deficit:"  Chinese cultural products should be further promoted to the international market to narrow China’s cultural trade deficit with other countries, top officials said.     Ding Wei,… Continue reading

  • Inequality, Again

         A convergence of stories on the growing economic inequality born of globalization.  Walter Kirn in the NYT Magazine has a short piece reflecting, somewhat shallowly, on the cultural meaning of the exploding income gap between the richest CEOs… Continue reading

  • Sun Tzu and Taiwan

        Richard, The Peking Duck, links to an op-ed written by my old friend Lin Chong Pin on China’s strategy toward Taiwan.  Lin’s main point is that China has decided to downplay its military threats against Taiwan and pursue… Continue reading

  • Microphones in a Flat World

       Simon links to a review (in pdf!), by economist Edward Leamer of UCLA, of Thomas Friedman’s big, bestselling book, The World is Flat.  If you bear with me, there is something to say here about how we might bring… Continue reading

  • Something for Presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad

    Auspicious weapons are tools of misfortune.Things may not all despise such tools,but a master of the Way stays clear of them. The noble-minded treasure the left when homeand the right when taking up weapons of war. Weapons are tools of… Continue reading

  • How Confucian Values Can Undermine Chinese Nationalism

        I am thinking about the relationship between Confucian ideals and Chinese nationalism.  In fact, I am giving a talk on the subject tomorrow and I want to use this space to kick around a few ideas.    … Continue reading

  • Mencius on Iran and Iraq

         So now Bush is thinking about attacking Iran.  You would think that the failures in Iraq would demonstrate to him the complexity and difficulty of using military force, but you would be wrong.  Apparently, he is incapable of… Continue reading

  • Two Legalist Thoughts

        I have not mentioned Han Fei Tzu, the most famous Legalist writer, in a long time.  Perhaps because the whole Legalist thing is just so cynical and negative – which, of course, a good deal of politics is,… Continue reading

  • The Perils of Confucian Socialism, or is it Socialist Confucianism…

         The revival of Confucianism in socialist China continues apace.  It comes in very direct ways – from op-eds in the People’s Daily  to official celebrations of his birthday – but it also comes in more indirect ways.  Today,… Continue reading