In our exchange at Parlio, Daniel Bell has raised a question that has spurred me to a lengthy response, one that fits better here than at the bottom of the comments section there. Daniel asks: “What, if anything, did you… Continue reading

I'm back in Beijing teaching a course, "Confucianism in America," for the International Summer School at Renmin University of China, just like last year. We got started on Monday: thirty students, most all Renda undergraduates, reading and thinking about how… Continue reading

What a crazy conclusion to the Super Bowl!  A circus catch followed by perhaps the worst play call in the history of the game.  Wow.   And it looks like both Sunzi and the Yi Jing got it wrong.  But… Continue reading

 It is not often that I am palpably excited to read a conceptually complex book on Chinese philosophy and politics, but that is precisely how I felt as I worked my way through Jiwei Ci's new work: Moral China in… Continue reading

Last month I did a talk at the US China Institute at the University of Southern California.  They were most gracious hosts and they have now put a video of the talk up on their youtube channel.  I will embed… Continue reading

Here's something that just ran over at The Conversation:   By Sam Crane, Williams College The media spotlight has shifted away from Hong Kong and toward President Obama’s visit to Beijing, but students and activists remain in Admiralty and Mong… Continue reading

At his news conference yesterday President Obama set the foreign policy commentators aflutter with this statement: But I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet. I think what I've seen in some… Continue reading

Well, I finally made it to Qufu, the hometown and resting place of Confucius.  As can be imagined, there are some major historical sites here, the big three (三孔) being: the Confucian Temple (initially built just after his death, in… Continue reading

I've been away from the blog for far too long: that's what getting behind in both teaching and administrative work will do to you for a while.  But it's getting better. The semester is winding down and the grading is… Continue reading

We saw the movie "Nebraska" a couple of weeks ago and I've been meaning to blog something about it.  Let me try to seize this moment to put down a couple of thoughts. My overwhelming sense is that this is… Continue reading