Torch Relay in Yangzhou

The first thing I noticed was the hats.
It was 12:30 p.m. and the torch would not be here until 3:00. But there were already thousands of people at the head of Wenchang Road, staking their claim to a small piece of sidewalk and preparing to welcome the Olympic Torch to their city.
They carried flags of [...]

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The torch is coming!

You don’t get many chances to lead with a 3-foot statue doing rhythmic gymnastics in downtown Yangzhou.
I’ll be doing quite a bit of writing over the next few years, but I’m willing to bet this is the only time I’ll get to mention a rhythmic gymnastics-themed statue blowing kisses to a crowd of Chinese camera-phones [...]

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“Rectification” and “propaganda discipline”

Leave it to me to find the press freedom angle in the genuine tragedy that is unfolding in Sichuan Province.
More than 50,000 people may have died since the magnitude 7.9 earthquake there, and the stories and images that continue to emerge are overwhelming. The story of a collapsed school and the teachers who told their [...]

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Things that just wouldn’t happen at home

The list, of course, is growing.
I’ve already mentioned that college professors sleep in bunk beds here, and that every now and then they might have to miss a class or two to “learn the knowledge of the Communist Party of China.”
But I haven’t told you about the singing.
Singing is a really big [...]

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A very Chinese excuse note

I got a few colorful excuses in Thailand from students who missed my class.
The school-sponsored “Buddhism camp,” which included an overnight stay at a temple, was probably my favorite. It was definitely not the only time I heard that up to half of my class was “at the temple” for the day, or preparing a [...]

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