Something called the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum 2005 (ACCF) – Open Forum, opened in Beijing today.  I think it brings together government people and intellectuals from around the region (and also from the US: it seems Jonathan Spence… Continue reading

    For anyone interested in the international politics of East Asia (without reference to ancient Chiense thought), I have a post over at ZenPundit today about the growing tensions between China and Japan.  Even though the I Ching may… Continue reading

    Over at ZenPundit there is roundtable series of posts and discussion on the broad topic of globalization and war (I will have a post there tomorrow). I want to respond here to Simon’s (of Simon World) post.  He… Continue reading

     Here we go again (or, perhaps, I should say, here we keep on going): another example of the Chinese government trying to claim Confucius as a means of legitimating their regime.  The story starts out without fanfare: an… Continue reading

    Hooray for the Shanghai Daily, as reported in China Daily, for pressing against corrupt officials: China has to find a way to make disobedient and defiant local officials accountable to the public interest if there is ever going… Continue reading

     From today’s China Daily: The richest on the Chinese mainland are getting richer: there are 10 billionaires this year in Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s wealthiest people compared with three last year.      From the… Continue reading

    Howard French has a piece on a new book, Wolf Totem, that has taken China by storm and will soon be in an English-print bookstore near you (and maybe even a movie theater).  I have not read the… Continue reading

    Danwei, a great blog about Chinese media, has an important post, a translation of a short article by sociologist Li Yinhe about the Taishi incident (a crackdown by PRC police on rural people trying to legally recall local… Continue reading

     I’m sure this NYT article, about how Chinese universities are trying to lure top-flight academics to build up their international standing, is being linked to around the web.  But the thing that struck me about it was this… Continue reading

     Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to the Supreme Court.  It was a bit surprising this morning when the news broke.  I thought Bush, under pressure from what appear to be impending indictment(s) of key high-level aides, would… Continue reading