On the merits/issues of simplified and traditional Chinese characters

The New York Times took on this often heated topic for debate recently. The experts comments provide the initial fodder, but it is the hundreds of comments that prove the most interesting and enlightening. And though complete conversion to a romanized based language is bravely (ignorantly?) proposed by a few, many posters note that reading [...]

Li ShiMin’s Horses (a.k.a. Emperor Tang TaiZong)

Li ShiMin’s Horses (a.k.a. Emperor Tang TaiZong)
A colleague here in Nanjing said that he finds most famous tourist sites in China “underwhelming”. The Chinese somehow manage to take a relic or site that has an interesting story behind it and turn it into trivia and platitudes. I don’t know how the process works, but they [...]

The Back Dorm Boys and The Song of the Alpaca Sheep

So, what does this have to do with anything, you might rightly ask?
Both are popular YouTube videos, which have had an impact beyond “cyberspace”.
YouTube and similar social Internet tools have opened up a rich world of new modes of expression in China. While the first video has landed a group of young men a recording [...]

Ancient Rock Carvings Near Yinchuan, Ningxia Province

The first photo shows XiXia or Tangut script next to an older carving of some nomad’s deity; the script is sort of a Buddhist commentary on the earlier image.
The XiXia script has to date between the early 11th century and 1227, when Genghis Khan’s army took vengeance on those duplicitous Tanguts. The script looks pretty [...]

Lois in the Sky with Mine Dust — Time Spent on The Loess Plateau, Where All That Loess Comes From

Beijing from an office window.

Loess is the main reason for Beijing’s haze. When the sky looks milky where there are no clouds, and the haze is consistent from the ground to the tops of skyscrapers, this is loess.
I pronounce it Lois–how ’bout you?
I had to [...]