Blog
Opera in Rural China?
I am not an opera lover, but weeks saturated in it in the poor Chinese village of An Shang captured my emotions and helped me to appreciate it a bit more. One night, villagers gathered in a courtyard to welcome visitors…
Recent article about One in a Billion in the Press-Telegram
In his article, “Smashing Sparrows in the War of Ideas,” Press-Telegram writer, Larry Wilson, writes: Early childhood expert Nancy Pine was giving a talk….
A Blockchain Chicken Farm in China … and Much More
Xiaowei Wang—artist, writer and coder—has written an engrossing set of stories about the creative and ever growing use of technology in the villages and towns of China. Rural people come to life in Blockchain Chicken Farm And Other Stories of Tech in China’s...
Little Known Chinese Manufacturers Boost Diplomatic Relations
Peter Hessler’s article, “Manufacturing Diplomacy,” delves into the little known world of China’s myriad owners of small manufacturing enterprises who strengthen ties with the United States. It has reminded me once again, that while headlines shout hostile words...
The New Normal (in China)
Demolition and change. The new normal in China. In over 25 years of traveling to China I have become used to demolition. For the first several years I loved walking to Xinjiekou, the center of Nanjing, weaving through packed sidewalks of dark blue and grey clad...
The Human Scale of China
I began packing for a morning flight from Nanjing. I’d spent the day sitting, talking with colleagues, writing reports, then a banquet—all enjoyable, all productive, but distressingly sedentary. I needed to get out. I pulled on my jacket and headed for the packed...