PDF attachment: Q&A with a Russian Friend Sometimes it is helpful for the Hidden Harmonies audience to remember that China is not alone in being demonized by the mainstream western (primarily US) media. Any country that doesn't "fit" neatly into the US "liberal-democratic" ideological dogma will naturally be painted as some kind of morally degenerate rogue state out to … [Read more...] about Q&A with a Russian friend (see download links or attached PDF)
education
Revisiting “Tiger Mom”, and where “Individualism” failed (with a Sleeveless Pineapple)
Recently, I had an interesting debate about the "Tiger Mom" culture in Asia, against the backdrop of a Chinese American mother who criticized the Tiger Mom's suppression of children's "autonomy". So, since we had lively discussions of this subject here, … [Read more...] about Revisiting “Tiger Mom”, and where “Individualism” failed (with a Sleeveless Pineapple)
Why did China ban Google? And why do the West try to shut down the Confucian Institute?
The common western narrative is that China's government is oppressive and fear that its citizens would discover freedom and democracy through those websites. On the social-economic level, they imply that China's leadership lack confidence when dealing with the western world. The underlying message is that that those rich multi-billion corporations are somehow purveyor of … [Read more...] about Why did China ban Google? And why do the West try to shut down the Confucian Institute?
My impressions of China so far
I have now been living in China for almost 4 month and I'd like to write a little about my impressions so far from personal experience and in talking to the people. As you all know by now, my views on things like the rule of law, human rights and democracy may be quite different from some of yours (see the posts and comments here, here, here, here, here and here for example). … [Read more...] about My impressions of China so far
Responding to China Law Blog: “Chinese Students In America. It’s Bad Out There.”
Dan Harris over at China Law Blog made a bold post today relaying complaints students at the University of Washington have for their fellow international students from Mainland China. He qualified that the complaints were directed at students from China and not of students with Chinese ethnicity. He also qualified the students whom he got the complaints were "sophisticated, … [Read more...] about Responding to China Law Blog: “Chinese Students In America. It’s Bad Out There.”