at home in…, w| Gerald Zhang-Schmidt

In the last decades, China has achieved economic growth (and development / progress) unlike anything the world had seen since the Industrial Revolution in the West. Even as the USA and Europe descended into (“the”) crisis, China’s growth only slowed. Looking at the skylines rising, seeing the people whose lives got more affluent, and blinded [...]

In a world awash with online porn, it is fascinating to see that a mere four pictures in the latest (2013) Swimsuit edition of Sport’s Illustrated, featuring “ethnic”-looking Chinese as their backdrop, can still cause a ruckus making it all the way to the New York Times’ online blogs. Wanting to write about this issue, [...]

Recently, the trend in writing about China seems to have become focused on the theme of exodus. Long-term expats are leaving, and telling all about the reasons. Mark Kitto – already famously? – gave one reason in the very title of his article: “You’ll Never Be Chinese.” There is a lot to be said for [...]

Ever since the Western gnashing of teeth over Japan’s rise, I had been wondering about international/-cultural relations. I was a high school student then, had just gone to the USA for a year at school there, and went from Latin being one of the usual languages to study to having an opportunity to learn Japanese. [...]

From the archives of my time in China, one for the “Odd Saturdays“… some collective dancing – or does that qualify as soft aerobics? The better question, though, may be why we in the West see such pastimes as collectivist and somehow whack, while going to the disco and dancing in individualistic confusion. And, what’s [...]