“A Summer of Anniversaries,” Here! Dongguan
It’s a summer of anniversaries for Dongguan’s near neighbor, Hong Kong. [Read More...]
Hong Kong
“Friends With (few) Benefits,” The World of Chinese
If you’re a Chinese businessman or official and you call David or James an “Old Friend,” you might as well pack up whatever it is you’re selling because they’re not buying it. It’s an old strategy, one that has been perfected over the years. But there was a time when the “old friend” routine was still a work in progress. [Read More...]
“Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Part IV”
In one of the great ironies of history, none of the treaties directly deals with the cause of the war: opium. It would take another conflict, the Arrow War of 1856-1860, which resulted in the occupation of Beijing and the looting and burning of the imperial summer palaces, to finally legalize the trade in the narcotic. [Read More...]
And All My Words Come Back to Me…
As police move to take control of Queensway and city workers with power tools are dismantling the barricades, it's worth remembering that the PRC government was not always so threatened by unrest in Hong Kong. When it was Britain’s ox that was getting gored, China actually encouraged it. [Read More...]
On Memories of Violence, Part 3: Opium and the Education of Patriots
This is the last of an informal three-part series [Read More...]
The 10-year anniversary of Macau’s handover and the politics of history
If the British takeover of Hong Kong was the [Read More...]