It’s a story of love, betrayal, and the very real danger of stereotypes. While a senior at Peking University in 1998, a young woman named Ma Nan (马楠) gained widespread notoriety within China as one of seven students to pepper visiting U.S. President Bill Clinton with sharp questions after his speech at the ultra-prestigious school, [...]
It was a study in contrasts. Newly elected Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent tour of the United States drew the world’s attention to the ongoing democratic reforms in Burma. Meanwhile, President Thein Sein’s simultaneous trip to the U.S. received much less exposure. But Thein Sein’s role in Burma’s transformation did not go [...]
For most Chinese, antagonism toward Japan is as much of a given as the rice they will have for dinner. The source of this antagonism, the Sino-Japanese War of 1931-45, is often evoked, but rarely reflected upon. Ask any protester in the recent anti-Japanese demonstrations about the war, and they will likely mention three things: [...]
A few days ago, I wrote an article covering my friend Jenna Cook’s amazing story. I described Jenna’s efforts to find her birth parents in China, and relayed some netizen reactions, most of which were positive. However, I failed to discuss an important point that has since come to my attention. At the end of [...]
[Dear readers: After enjoying the below article, we hope you will read contributor Chris Zheng's follow up piece about the cultural challenges that searching for one's birth parents can raise in China. It is available here.] “Hey son, do you know this person?” My dad pointed to his computer screen. In the middle of the [...]
Summer weather in China, like the rumor mills, can get scorching hot. In Beijing, July and August temperatures regularly flare up to over forty degrees Celsius, or one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. What better way to combat the sweltering heat than to indulge oneself in a slice of juicy, chilled watermelon? In yet another episode of [...]
For Chinese setting their sights on an American university, the trends are troubling. The number of Chinese applicants is going up, while the admission rates of top American colleges are going down. More Chinese students are choosing to go overseas for college instead of taking the dreaded National Higher Education Entrance Exams, commonly known as [...]
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