the Chinese gov’t declared war on me
The Chinese government just made me into its personal enemy. Yesterday a spokesman for the Environment Minister, and then a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, insisted that the US government should stop disseminating data regarding the air quality in Shanghai. Apparently the data is too accurate and the information makes the government look bad. I […]
Book club feed-back
There is a book club here in Shanghai which met to discuss Why Europe Was First. Very exciting. This is a report from their proceedings: We had 11 people come to discuss your book yesterday, and most of them got through the whole thing.
Working in China
Laura, working for QS Publishers, who publish the “Guide to World Universities” wanted me to say something about what it’s like to work at a Chinese university. This is what I said.
Confucius and the soul of China
We went to a truly remarkable art exhibition today — seven installations on the theme of Confucius by the Chinese artist Zhang Huan. I cannot remember the last time an exhibition left such an impression on me. It was an event, something happened in those three rooms, and I’m glad I didn’t miss it. The […]
No burning!
I came across this sign on the wall of one of the reconstructed buildings in the Yuanmingyuan compound. Perhaps it would have helped if they had had the sign up some 151 years ago — and perhaps it should have had text in French too.
Should have gone back to the LSE
I was supposed to have returned to London today and to my old job at the LSE. I originally got a two years’ leave of absence to go off to the East. Well, the return didn’t happen. I resigned on February 1, 2007, and I’m still staying on in the Orient. (My letter of resignation, […]
Was Yale worth it?
Of course it was. But not in the way most people would imagine. Top-Ivys too have their fair share of lousy, under-prepared teachers, and big-name professors who have no time for students are legio. As always, the main asset of a first-rate university is the student body. The professors may be middling, but the students […]
Three years on
It is now three years since I flew over from London to Taipei for a job interview. I left my LSE evening seminar a bit early and dashed for the airport, spent three days here, and then flew back and went straight to another LSE seminar. It was very difficult, impossible, to make my mind […]
Apologies for killing small, black, people
The Saisiyat are one of Taiwan’s 12 tribes of Aboriginal peoples, comprising some 5,000 members who live in the mountains east of Hsinchu. This past weekend they put on three days of singing, dancing, drinking and ghostly seances. According to Saisiyat lore, back in the olden days there was a tribe of small, black, […]
“The true world”
This is a piece written by my oldest daughter, Saga. She came second in a national writing competition here in Taiwan with this article. At 12, she’s already an accomplished author, putting down some 2,000 words a day. It’s the family curse, poor thing. At least she writes fun stuff. Yes, I’m very proud.