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beliefs


Bigfoot and the Culture Wars
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 22 Thinking about China. And America. Even when I am not. In today’s issue, a...


The Land of the Thunder Dragon (Part 4)
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 19 Today is the last day of 2024. As we prepare to turn the page on a new...


The Land of the Thunder Dragon (Part 3)
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 16 This American Thanksgiving week, I am returning in prose to Bhutan (I...


The Land of the Thunder Dragon (Part 2)
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 14 Hiking was on the itinerary in Bhutan. I enjoy hiking because it makes the...


The Land of the Thunder Dragon (Part I)
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Newsletter Vol. 3, Issue 13 This new series journeys to Bhutan, a small, Buddhist country in...


The Dragon Nation (America)
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 1 The Chinese (aka Lunar) New Year arrives this weekend on February 10, 2024....


Ming Porcelain in Enlightenment Portugal
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 38 Chapel Vestibule, Fronteira Palace The Portuguese fell in love with...


World's Largest Buddhist Stupa
Continuing with the Buddhist theme I wrote about last week, the following is an excerpt from my visit to the world's largest stupa in...


Welcome 2023!
I stepped outside my front door at 5:45 a.m. this morning, January 1, 2023. Above me hundreds of stars, including the Big Dipper directly...


China 2022
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 13 The 2022 final curtain is approaching. It has been a momentous year in...


Peace and Compromise
Peace (kier-in-sight-WjMNw7dOBB0-unsplash) Humans talk a good game about peace, while exhibiting millennia-long, historical traditions of...


Seeking Merit in Ancient and Modern China
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 4 Merit has been a central concern in China since before the more than...


Preserving Afghanistan's Buddhist History--The China Connection
Buddhism, though not native to China, has become synonymous with much of Chinese culture and history since its introduction from India in...


Thoughts at the Arrival of the Year of the Metal Ox (Spring Festival 2021)
I went for a walk on New Year's morning. Deep in the crispy snow-covered woods. Along a frozen coast--brisk wind blowing with sting from...


Chinese Investment in Continental Southeast Asia
Andrew Singer Talks About China and America This month's Newsletter includes a postscript to the recent U.S. national election and a...


Book Review: Ms. Ming’s Guide To Civilization by Jan Alexander (2019), Fiction
Andrew's review of Ms. Ming’s Guide To Civilization by Jan Alexander. Do you want to make the world a better place? Well, Ms. Ming’s...


Staying Calm During Times of Stress: 3 Tips from a Shaolin Monk
Tips from a Shaolin monk on self-discipline in strange times Here is practical advice from a Shaolin monk for staying calm in these...


The Original Ballad of Mulan
Using the original Ballad of Mulan (a relatively short 31-couplet poem from 1,500 years ago) as muse, Professor Jim Millward in LARB...


The Leshan Giant Buddha
Heavy flooding in Southwestern China reached the feet of the Leshan Giant Buddha (樂山大佛) last week for the first time in more than seventy...


Comments On: 'Congee boiling in a pot:' the Volcano in China they Thought was extinct
"Congee boiling in a pot." Certainly not imminent (more like a slow simmer) and maybe ultimately won't even pan out, but this story seems...


Suffering in the Age of Coronavirus
It is human nature to suffer (the Buddha said that). But just because something is a reality, this does not make it easy (or fair or...


A Look into the Yungang Grottoes
During the Northern Wei Dynasty 1,500 -1,600 years ago, the sandstone cliffs of the Wuzhou Mountains outside of Datong, Northern China...


Jade, The China Stone
Nephrite Axe Blade, China, Approximately 4,000 years old (Freer Gallery of Art) Name three things that come readily to mind when Chinese...


China Is an Old Civilization
China is an old civilization. As a people. As a place. As an idea. Even setting aside the pre-historical Xia Dynasty, documented Chinese...


Part 1: A Lesson in Concentration
This excerpt from a short history of Chinese writing I am reading ( Between Heaven and Earth: A History of Chinese Writing ) is something...
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