Is it just me, or is it not clear why scantily clad ladies prancing about in banana skirts somehow contribute to the claim the Taiwan is a part of China?  Here is the caption for the picture below… Continue reading

   China Daily today runs a Reuters story on the embarrassment caused by the recently-completed National Games, a nation-wide sports competition and run-up to the 2008 Olympics.  The headline: "China puts glory before honour at National Games."  The critique: From… Continue reading

     A few days ago, over at Crooked Timber, Kieran Healy commented on an article by Leon Kass, in which the esteemed bio-ethicist argues that contemporary courtship has been ruined by a host of modernizing influences.  Kass longs for… Continue reading

    So the Chinese government has issued a "white paper" entitled, "Building Political Democracy in China."  The title might leave the erroneous impression that the Communist Party is serious about democratization.  A quick read, however, shows that this document… Continue reading

    In one of my various other lives, I teach international politics.  My current senior seminar, entitled "Globalization and War," is considering how the economic, technological, cultural and political transformations characterized as "globalization" (a fairly sprawling and thus vague… Continue reading

     A story in the People’s Daily reports on a survey of people in China 60 years old and above.  They are not happy: Older people are finding themselves in a more passive position in today’s rapidly developing society,… Continue reading

     An article by Chinese Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng was published today on the front page of the People’s Daily Overseas Edition.  Its title: "Sino-US exchange requires communication of heart."  The use of the term "heart" is what jumped… Continue reading

    A court decision in Ohio has ruled that grandparents may have visitation rights for their grandchildren even when a parent disagrees.  This interests me in a couple of ways: not only the definition of "family," but the nature… Continue reading

     The Washington Post has a worrisome editorial today, entitled: Iraq Slips Away.  The writers point out the political conditions in that war-torn country are not supportive of unified constitutional rule.  The Kurds have established a "statelet" in the… Continue reading

     So, the NYT editorial page comes down on the Confucian side of the debate: that people should have the option of doctor-assisted suicide when they face terminal illness.      The Times argument – which supports the position… Continue reading