The Useless Tree

The Perils of Modernization

  • Twenty Five Years Ago

    Twenty five years ago last week, Thursday to be exact, I went to China for the first time. It's an easy date for me to remember as it is also my wedding anniversary. On August 22, 1983, on my third… Continue reading

  • The Olympics are not Important

    I'm back from summer vacation.  Our England trip was great.  We saw a lot (London, Oxford, the Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath Spa) and we walked a lot.  Best of all, it was a stark change of scenery and activity for… Continue reading

  • Modernization and Family Breakdown in Korea

       A couple of days ago I received an email from a blogger at Korea Dispatch, calling my attention to a post, “Korean families in crisis.”  It is a sad, and all too common, saga, made the worse by the… Continue reading

  • Modern Confucianism

        A good post over at Granite Studio by Jeremiah brings up a question I have posed here before: How modern can Confucius be?  Jeremiah is responding to a talk given by Daniel A. Bell, a philosophy professor at Qinghua. … Continue reading

  • A China Guy Goes To India (1): Tradition and Modernity

    My two week tour of India (Mumbai, Rajasthan, Agra, Delhi) has brought comparison with China into my mind.   This is the first of three posts on those comparisons.  This story is cross posted on China Digital Times, as will be… Continue reading

  • Chinese Solutions to the Religion Problem

         Mark Lilla’s article in last Sunday’s NYT Magazine has been circling through my mind all week.  While he does a great job explicating the ways in which modernization does not fully eradicate our tendency toward religion, which he… Continue reading

  • Su Fei is Not an Imperialist

        From Danwei today we learn that its video series, Sexy Beijing, has been branded as cultural imperialism by students at the London School of Economics.   I rise in defense of the lady: Su Fei is not a cultural… Continue reading

  • Globalization And The Uses Of The Past

        An interesting post over at Diligence China (hat tip, Granite Studio), on the cultural implications of China’s economic rise.  The topic is framed in terms of business culture – or, more specifically, how foreign business people can use… Continue reading

  • Chinese Characteristics

        Dan, over at the excellent China Law Blog, has asked me to comment on a discussion they are having there.  The general question is: Is there a Chinese mindset, and so what if there is?  This is an… Continue reading

  • The Chickens Come Home to Roost

        This story ran on the Xinhua wire yesterday (hat tip: China Digital Times): KFC Sullies Chinese Classic BEIJING, July 15 — Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is under fire, for its latest video advertisement depicting an old Taoist surrounded… Continue reading