From the Chinese history blog, Frog in a Well, comes this story about a woman in Taiwan who sued and won the right to "harvest" the sperm of her recently deceased fiancee for use in a future in vitro… Continue reading

     We all woke up today (at least on the East coast of the US) to the story that North Korea is saying that it will step back from its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees from the… Continue reading

    It was just ten days ago that I blogged on depression in China and now here is another prominent story on the growing problem among college students: The problem of suicide attempts in China is growing. Between May… Continue reading

     How could I resist a headline like this: "With Age Comes Resilience."  The story focuses on an elderly woman battered by the hurricane but who bounces back quickly and happily.   The story then widens to consider how older… Continue reading

     Anne Applebaum today gives us various examples of the failings of "big government" in hurricane relief, and concomitant successes of "civil society."  She is pressing against those, like the German Chancellor, who see in the failings of the… Continue reading

      I have blogged about divorce once before but I  just noticed this BBC report: China booms, so does divorce rate.  This Chinese outcome is really not a surprise.  As economic reform has brought social transformation more and more… Continue reading

    We’ve all heard of the suppose Chinese proverb, a curse really: "may you live in interesting times."  It sounds like it could be Chinese but it probably is not.  This comes to mind today because Kevin Drum at… Continue reading

    OK, the title is a bit inflammatory, I admit.  But I can’t help but notice the glaring contradictions in these two stories:     Beijing Uses Confucius to Lead Charm Offensive    Disney Opens Its First Theme Park… Continue reading

     A passage from today’s NYT:  Among the few certain truths of Sept. 11, 2001, is one that applies to every day that dawns. That there is no guarantee of tomorrow, or the next five minutes. This is the… Continue reading

    Richard Cohen has a piece in today’s Washington Post in which he rues the fact the John Roberts, nominee for Chief Justice, seems not to have had to face any sort of serious personal failing in his life. … Continue reading