Follow my “creative side” on Speaking of China: The heart of China, through one foreign woman
This is a post to my faithful supporters and readers. I’ve just recently launched my first blog, Speaking of China, just in time for my trip to China. Follow my travels through the country this summer, and enjoy the more creative side of my writing there — long after my travels are over. I’ll also […]
China Book Reviews: Repeat after me, a novel, by Rachel DeWoskin
While China says women hold up half the sky, nothing could be farther from the truth when it comes to literature about China (especially foreign women in China). Then I discovered Rachel DeWoskin’s Foreign Babes in Beijing. While it still isn’t in the top ten reading list of China nonfiction on Amazon (probably because it’s […]
China’s list of secret polluters leaves journalists incensed in Heilongjiang Province
I’ve seen this piece of news a couple of times over the past few days and, since it was Earth Day this week, the idea of the environment and pollution in China seems like a pretty timely topic. So, here’s the deal: Heilongjiang Province’s Environmental Bureau holds a meeting to discuss environmental law enforcement in […]
Passport envy in China: why citizenship shouldn’t matter for Chinese, even though it does
It was a recent weekend when Jun and I were browsing university websites, looking through their psychology faculty, when something gave us pause: the listing of faculty nationalities. The university in question — one of China’s top ten — had a table that listed the faculty name, nationality, and department. It’s quite an oddity, isn’t […]
The kind of person it takes to live in China, according to Pearl S. Buck
I found a smashing quote on who should live in China, from Pearl S. Buck’s Kinfolk. I guess it really hit home with me and my husband, because we have plans of our own to move back to China, in an effort to help the country grow. Even though this novel was published in 1948, […]
Moral Vacuum in China? It’s nothing new, as Pearl Buck’s Pavillion of Women will attest to, but it may require rethinking the family
Is there a moral vacuum in modern China? It’s easy to wonder in a country where, during Chinese New Year, the most common greeting is “æå–œå‘è´¢” (congratulations on getting rich). While perhaps what Ted Koppel has dubbed the “People’s Republic of Capitalism“, and its fixation on wealth accumulation, may have a hand in it, this […]
China-foreigner relationships: it gets complicated when you’re sleeping with the enemy – Book Review of Pearl Buck’s Patriot
In a perfect world, being an international couple would be as glamorous as a James Bond movie. You would spend your days intermingling your world in different languages, swept away by the fascinating customs of your partner’s country, and have the benefit of dual citizenship and a jet-setting lifestyle. It would be nice, wouldn’t it? […]
Dragon Seed – a China story for tough economic times
Well, everyone, it’s the year of the Ox — fittingly, in these economic times, a year of getting back to basics, simplifying, and making progress through hard work and sweat. Perhaps then, days such as these, there is nothing more comforting than literature that not only understands us, but uplifts us with the resilience of […]