Many discussions involving China and the West end up being a competition: you have this, but we have that. Here is one very popular competition, passed around in different forms on numerous Chinese internet forums for many years. It's about the glory of our government buildings. The captions below are translated from the Chinese original: The city hall in Marion, Iowa. … [Read more...] about Building Envy – Chinese and American government offices
Wall Street Journal gets it wrong on Weng'an
A few days ago, an assistant working for the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong emailed me an inquiry, asking for my thoughts on the Weng'an story. They were working on a story about the significance of citizen bloggers like Zola, and were interested in my input. Unfortunately, the version they finally went to press with is simply wrong. I usually am more politic on this blog, … [Read more...] about Wall Street Journal gets it wrong on Weng'an
Translation error
The danger of relying on automated translation (and why Fool's Mountain is better): … [Read more...] about Translation error
Comments on Democracy and China
There has been a lot of excellent debate about democracy and China in recent days. … [Read more...] about Comments on Democracy and China
The challenge in Taiwan
Ties between the two sides of the Taiwan strait are growing warmer and warmer. This should be no surprise, as its exactly what ROC president Ma Yingjiu promised in his campaign leading to a landslide victory earlier this year. With the arrival of mainland tourists in Taiwan representing another new milestone, we are clearly living through an inflection point in cross-strait … [Read more...] about The challenge in Taiwan