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 […]
After all of the sour milk, can we trust China?
Just this evening, I was chatting with my good friend Caroline, who is from Zhejiang Province in Yiwu, and she happened to mention that she knew an import-export broker from South America. “He said that someday he would like to make me the manager of his Yiwu office,” she wrote, “because I’m the only person […]
More Beijing than just Babes: Book Review of Foreign Babes in Beijing
Let’s clear up a few things first. Despite the title of Foreign Babes in Beijing — and the suggestive picture of a foreign girl in a sultry little silk black dress, fishnet hose and stilettos, towering over what seems to be her Chinese hotel fling for the evening — this is not a book about […]
Anti-China Olympic Protests Op-Ed: Maybe it’s time to ask what would Nixon do
Genocide Olympics. Tibetan protest Olympics. As the world continues to pelt rotten issues at China left and right in the race towards the Summer Games, somehow the stench is coming back at us. Sure, I get it — the Olympics are a perfect opp for bringing to light the human rights violations within China (Tibet […]
One big happy family — on paper: how the one-China policy affects your writing in China
I’ve never been to Macau, but I have visited Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Spain. What’s wrong with that sentence? Well, if you were publishing something in writing in China, you’d be in violation of the one-China policy. The one-China policy is where politics meets publishing. It’s one of those odd rules in China that […]
Up in smoke: the role of tobacco in Chinese culture
As an avid nonsmoker, I was determined to have a smoke-free wedding in China. But my brother-in-law, Hao, had already bought one of the finest Chinese cigarette brands, and everyone in the family — even my mother-in-law — insisted on distributing them at the banquet. How can you ask your guests to refrain when you’re […]
What do you get when you add Starbucks to the Forbidden City in China? The answer is no joke.
Well, China’s given us that rare opportunity to use “Starbucks coffeehouse” and “Forbidden City” in the same sentence. And now it’s making headlines once again, almost six years after opening in one of the country’s most iconic tourist destinations. In case you missed the news back in late 2000/early 2001, here’s a quick review courtesy […]