A little while ago, U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton wrote a book about her understanding of "Smart Power", which in a nutshell is the new way of U.S. foreign policy of "balancing" Hard powers with "Soft powers". Much of the US switch toward "soft powers" is being discussed in recent Obama years. But as more of it is exposed to actual PRACTICE, US (and Western) "soft powers" … [Read more...] about Why U.S. “Soft Power” Is Fake and Losing
Archives for July 2012
Ye Shiwen, the 16 year old dreamy girl superstar, and the ugly world
As a sports enthusiast, I follow a lot of less known athletes, of which some eventually became superstars, but far more just faded. A superstar example was Liu Xiang. I started following him in 2002 after he clocked 13.12” at age 19. It takes knowledge and experience to link up 13.12” and 19, and figure out the potentiality – or quite frankly just a lot of time waste … [Read more...] about Ye Shiwen, the 16 year old dreamy girl superstar, and the ugly world
The Tragicomedy of Errors: China, British Imperialism, and the Opium Wars
Julia Lovell, in her new book The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China, finds something funny in the tragedy Great Britain has many reasons to feel great about itself. Its empire was the largest in history and covered over a fifth of the world's population. It had more Asian and African colonies than any other European power. It came, it saw, it divided, and it … [Read more...] about The Tragicomedy of Errors: China, British Imperialism, and the Opium Wars
From Guiyang (贵阳) to Liupangshui (六盘水)
Few days ago, we traveled to Liupanshui by train via Guiyang. Knowing the region is mountainous (and poor), I knew the landscapes could be spectacular. Well, weather really didn't cooperate much. Below are images I captured along the way. Hardcore landscape photographers will cringe at what I did, because I had to break every landscape photography rule in order to get these … [Read more...] about From Guiyang (贵阳) to Liupangshui (六盘水)
The Shaolin Temple (少林寺)
The 1982 Jet Li movie, "Shaolin Temple," was really something out of this world. As a boy, I was mesmorized by the feats of these kungfu monks. Never have I ever seen anything like it in my life. One of the scenes showed monks practicing the horse stance in a training hall in unison, with punches and feet pounding the brick floor, shouting out, "ha, haha" in rhythm. Where the … [Read more...] about The Shaolin Temple (少林寺)