Go Sox!

And so the Red Sox squeezed past the Angels into the ALCS against the…Tampa Bay Rays!?!? Doesn’t matter.  What is important is deciding where to watch the games as the playoffs heat up.  Last year it was the Rickshaw, but I’ve been hearing about quirks in service as management focuses its attention on the hyper-successful Sanlitun’r start-up Saddle.  Goose and Duck seems an obvious choice, and if they were still back at Chaoyang Park West Gate it would be a no brainer, but now they’re out halfway to Tongzhou.  (Okay, just the other side of the park, but it’s a perception thing…)

Maybe hanging in my little courtyard with the US feed from MLB.com?

Decisions, decisions, decisions…

October 7th, 2008

Some Monday ramblings…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the Red Sox are in the playoffs, but with the 12-hour time difference it really shoots to hell any semblance of Monday morning productivity.

I just got an iPod for my birthday. Loving the whole ‘podcasts while commuting’ aspect, almost makes Beijing subway/buses are pleasant experience.  Almost.

The idea that Sarah Palin is qualified to be president is just insulting. As an educator, I don’t find ‘unengaged’ or ‘uninformed’ to be a sign of either authenticity or moral rigor, I find it sad and disheartening.  Her blatant “I don’t know the answer to this question so I will repeat all the stuff I do remember from my cramming the night before’ debate strategy is one I’ve seen students use on exams many times over the years.  Only works if you’re satisfied with a C-.

During my blogging holiday, I regrettably forgot to give a shout out to Peony’s second installment of the 21st Asian History Carnival now up at the (recently unblocked in the PRC) Tang Dynasty Times.  Be sure to check it out.

October 6th, 2008

Teaching Τibet and “The Truth”

The China Beat has had a month-long series on overlooked and recommended readings on Τibet, with noted professor Robert Barnett of Colombia University adding his own list this past weekend.  It’s a good series and a great list.

Frankly, though, I’m in the midst of “Τibet fatigue,” there’s a lot of good material out there on the subject, but also a lot of crap, and the polemics and grandstanding on both sides of this emotionally-charged issue, much of it just noise without thought or blind loyalties and parochialism, remind me more of the bleachers at a Red Sox-Yankees game than learned discourse.

I do however get drawn into the same basic conversation with Han acquaintances…seemingly all the time.*

A: You teach Chinese history?

GS: Yes.

A: In Beijing? Really?

GS: Well, I teach students from American universities.**

A: Ah! (relieved) That makes sense. (Furrowed brow) What do you teach about Τibet? Do you teach your students that Τibet has ALWAYS been part of China?

GS: No.

A: Why not!?!?!

GS: Well, I’m not a paleontologist, so I can’t be sure about the relationship between Τibetan and Chinese dinosaurs during the Triassic through Cretaceous Periods of the Mesozoic Era…

A: You

October 5th, 2008

Ha Jin on censorship

Sorry for the sabbatical…post-Olympic malaise plus the start of a new semester and a few key research deadlines, conspired to push my little hobby to the back burner.

I know he’s a divisive figure, love ‘em or hate ‘em, but he’s always worth reading.  Check out this piece in The American Scholar by Ha Jin on “The Censor in the Mirror.”

Rigid censorship not only chokes artistic talent but also weakens the Chinese populace, who are forced to be less imaginative and less inventive. The crisis in education has been a hot topic in China for years. Why are so many Chinese students good at taking tests but poor at analytical thinking? Why are many Chinese college graduates less creative and innovative than college graduates in the West? Besides the commercialization of education, the absence of a free, tolerant environment has stunted the intellectual growth of students and teachers. People often ask how many great original thinkers and artists modern China has contributed to the world, and how many original products China has created on its own. Very few, considering that the country has 1.3 billion people. True, China is richer than before, but its wealth relies on duplicating and

October 1st, 2008
« Newer Entries  
 

日历

October 2008
M T W T F S S
« Sep   Nov »
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031