Parts of (Chinese) Speech

FgWas I seeing the so-called ‘real China’, was I seeing the China I wanted to see, or was I seeing some weird third China, a convoluted mix of adrenalin and random vocab, of grinding poverty vs. the sudden rise, of foreigners gleaning stories from taxi drivers? Via the Farmer General, read more

130 Years of Krakatoa

Krakatoa_eruption_lithographA hundred and thirty years ago this month Indonesia’s Krakatoa volcano erupted, sending plumes of ash so high it discolored the horizon in San Francisco. The explosion killed nearly 40,000 people and dispatched pumice as far away as Zanzibar. The boom is reported to have been the loudest sound ever heard in modern history. Via The Jakarta Post, read more

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Protect the Freshness is Over

Protect the Freshness studentsA Henan jaunt to investigate a Chinese Communist Party campaign sheds little light on how the world’s largest political party maneuvers at the local level. Or it shed a lot of light. Or it cast shadows. Or it threw spotlights. I think everyone just felt better when I left Jiguan. Via The Farmer General, read more

Persimmons + Padded Jackets

tank-magazine-volume-1-issue-11_180“Thus, cyber love comes into being. Many people think of cyber love as so romantic, so true. It seems that more and more people are for it. However I want to say something different. The internet can produce the chance for two hearts to meet, in pure net, and there’s little truth.” One year of Chinese university life in 1999. Via Tank Magazine, read more

Belly of the Beast

bureaucratIn December 2007, the UN convened an international conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia. Buffets were pillaged, publications were distributed, speeches were made and then everyone went home. Talking about what the UN talks about when it talks about talking about talk that is ultimately talk about talk that could be talk about climate change. Via Tank Magazine, read more