In a previous post I talked about the Liberal tradition (that is, the explicit and formal human rights framework, not to be confused with how people often use the term to refer to a political or economic “left” or being “progressive”) as being a byproduct of religious, political and other kinds of oppression in the west. I also talked about the importance of instituting rule of … [Read more...] about Refilling the Liberal vacuum
Philosophy
Rethinking democracy
This blog will essentially be a second part to the important discussions Allen and raventhorn started about democracy. I will present a philosophical discussion so that we may better think from a different and deeper perspective about this notion than everyday people may be used to by looking at its fundamental structure. … [Read more...] about Rethinking democracy
Human Rights Revisted
This blog will be a continuation of the interesting dialogue started by Oli on human rights and China. I agree with Oli that Chinese culture does have considerable resources to take into account concerns raised by many human rights discourse. The value of human rights is universal and ancient. Many such values, though implicitly already there in Chinese culture, may be … [Read more...] about Human Rights Revisted
Case Study on Bigotry: Is Dan Harris of the China Law Blog a Bigot? A Response to Dan Harris’s Post “Chinese Students In America. It’s Bad Out There”
After reading DeWang's recent post on Dan Harris' post titled "Chinese Students In America. It's Bad Out There", I couldn't but help to saunter over to China LawBlog to have a look - and boy, was I in for a shock! Here is what appears to be an intelligent person - a practicing lawyer (ok, I may biased, maybe most lawyers aren't that intelligent, after all) - spouting what looks … [Read more...] about Case Study on Bigotry: Is Dan Harris of the China Law Blog a Bigot? A Response to Dan Harris’s Post “Chinese Students In America. It’s Bad Out There”
Former Deng Xiaoping translator, Zhang Weiwei, on Chinese thinking
Zhang Weiwei was a translator to former Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping. We have a prior article (translated from Chinese) of his arguing there is a progression for which 'democracy' can be achieved, but more than that, China should borrow and adapt practices that are useful for China's own conditions. In this interview (use this link if the embedded video below doesn't show) … [Read more...] about Former Deng Xiaoping translator, Zhang Weiwei, on Chinese thinking