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
General
Open Forum
Our Open Forum has gotten to be a slow load for some of you. This is a new open forum thread. The previous one can be found here. Remember, this is an area where we welcome readers to give us feedbacks, tell us what they want to read, or to simply share off-beat thoughts with each other. … [Read more...] about Open Forum
Disturbing trend of suicides in China
China's development has seen a dramatic rise in quality of life for many of its people as many people are well aware. But despite this improvement in quality of life, modern China also has some very high suicide rates. According to 2010 figures supplied by the WHO, China is ranked 9th in the world in suicide rates behind Latvia and ahead of Slovenia. What accounts for this … [Read more...] about Disturbing trend of suicides in China
Book Review: Shaun Rein, “The End of Cheap China”
If I have to pick three books for Western readers that best explains modern China, I would recommend Shaun Rein's recently released book, "The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends That Will Disrupt the World." (Also, see my interview with the author earlier this year.) The book draws heavily on Rein's personal experience working and living in China. During one of … [Read more...] about Book Review: Shaun Rein, “The End of Cheap China”
Why is the US so unhappy?
Perhaps it's too much democracy, human rights and freedom. More likely, it's too less of those things and way too much worries and troubles such as a lack of financial security, too much crime, not enough health care, and deficiencies in other indices of well-being. A common way to measure happiness and well-being is the Happy Planet Index by the New Economics Foundation. In … [Read more...] about Why is the US so unhappy?