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
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The Retraction of Mike Daisey’s one-man show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” from ‘This American Life’
[Editor: this piece was co-written by Charles Liu and Allen] To the credit of "This American Life" - a popular program on Public Radio International - its producers over the weekend officially retracted its January airing of a version of Mike Daisy's popular monologue titled “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” in which Daisy described first-hand terrible work … [Read more...] about The Retraction of Mike Daisey’s one-man show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” from ‘This American Life’
Examining The Non-Existent “Rich Chinese Hunting Polar Bear” Story
Recently a story by Peter Simpson of Daily Mail UK made waves in the conservationist circle, that wealthy Chinese businessmen, as many as 100, are paying upwards of $80,000US to hunt endangered polar bears into extinction with this headline, "Rich Chinese Thrill Seekers Paying £50,000 for ‘trip of a lifetime…’ to kill endangered polar bears." The Daily Mail then followed up … [Read more...] about Examining The Non-Existent “Rich Chinese Hunting Polar Bear” Story
The Economist and the South China Sea: It is “complex” if I can’t understand it
The Economist is often held prisoner by its own prejudice arising from its whatever-China-does-internationally-is-wrong stance, and a recent article on the South China Sea disputes proves it. Behold the latest offering from intellectual dungeons of the The Economist: "The devil in the deep blue detail". Sadly, but not surprisingly, the newspaper warns against the … [Read more...] about The Economist and the South China Sea: It is “complex” if I can’t understand it
Five reasons why China will not invade Taiwan, and an analysis of Cross-strait Relations
‘So solidly built into our consciousness is the concept that China is conducting a rapacious and belligerent foreign policy, that whenever a dispute arises in which China is involved, she is instantly assumed to have provoked it.’ — Felix Greene, 1965. When a superpower is engaging in full hegemonic and supercilious display, another country with slowly increasing … [Read more...] about Five reasons why China will not invade Taiwan, and an analysis of Cross-strait Relations