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5/4/2012 12:26:48 AM
I just came across a fascinating article in the most recent edition of
Foreign Policy magazine. Don’t worry, this isn’t some dry treatise on détente or Thom Friedman’s latest paean to globalization. Instead, it is right up the alley of our shared interests and extremely relevant to your pursuits on this website Titled “The Startling Plight of China’s Leftover Women” and written by Christina Larson the essay begins with an interesting conundrum. If men outnumber women in Chinese society, why are there a growing number of unmarried women here?
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4/15/2012 3:59:04 PM
As you will know if you are a regular reader of the profiles on this site, many of the women describe themselves as traditional Chinese woman (传统中国女性). The word can evoke different responses from different people. I got an interesting perspective on it the other day from a friend, the Chengdu poet Liao Hui, during one of our bi-weekly languages exchanges, which are rapidly becoming my favorite part of being in Chengdu.
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3/24/2012 12:21:08 AM
Poetry, Robert Frost famously said, is what is lost in translation. The other afternoon I was given a chance to test whether this claim was true when I joined a workshop at the Chengdu Literary Festival. At the workshop, three Chinese poets brought along three of their poems while the participants of the workshop — a combination of Chinese translation students and native English speakers — broke into groups, with each group taking a shot at putting one of the poems into English.
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3/3/2012 9:21:03 PM
“A question ain’t really a question/if you know the answer too”
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2/26/2012 12:33:25 AM
So I arrived in Chengdu with nothing more than I could pack into carry-on baggage. The reason I was limited in this way was because I had flown over on what is known as a buddy pass, which is something you can get if you know someone who works for an airline. It allows you to fly free (you pay the tax on the ticket) and often to fly first/business class, but you have to essentially go standby, which means you can’t check through any bags.
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2/15/2012 1:05:28 AM
Just in time to depress you for Valentine’s Day, a nevertheless fascinating read in the
Washington Post. Titled, “The Single Life: Some People Never Find the Love of Their Lives. And Live to Tell About It,” the article chronicles people in their late forties, fifties, and sixties who have never been married and investigates “why?”
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2/7/2012 9:29:58 PM
That loud clicking noise just as the wheels of the plane touch the ground reminds me that I am not in Kansas anymore.
* It is the sound of dozens of seatbelts being unhooked almost simultaneously with landing. As in America, the announcement has been made to keep your seat belt strapped until the plane reaches the gate. The only difference here in China is that for the most part people choose to ignore it. On the one hand, I admire the lack of deference to authority. On the other hand, if the plane suddenly stops I don’t want the fat guy sitting next to me to do a face plant into my lap.
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1/29/2012 2:38:04 PM
If like me one of your New Year’s (whether Chinese or Western) resolutions involves learning more about China, let me suggest one book as a must read: Yu Hua’s “China in Ten Words.”
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1/18/2012 10:26:37 PM
Religion is often considered a big deal in dating in America. There are whole dating websites devoted to members of a single religion. Along with one’s political affiliation, religious belief is often a significant factor in the selection of a life partner. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Shared values are important in a meaningful relationship, and one’s religion and politics are, in America, a reasonable indicator of one’s value scheme.
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1/6/2012 1:44:16 AM
Why the hell does China want to learn English?
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