“The past is what happened, history is what is written about it.” This favorite quote from James Carter, Professor of modern Chinese history, has weighty implications for society and governance broadly. It also arises in less flashy, if not less important, venues. The questions raised are the same no matter the context. What is the past? Who gets to document this past in our histories for today and tomorrow? Spring Dawn over the Elixir Terrace, Lu Guang, 1369, Metropolitan Mu

Labels will be the death of us. They strip away humanity. They cloud judgment. They are weaponized in a zero-sum quest for dominance. They are devilishly effective and dangerous. Because of this, label warfare must be vanquished. America epitomizes this truth. The United States of America is fast becoming an oxymoron. We just celebrated a tense, politicized 250th anniversary. Society has suffered a collapse in civics. In this environment, Liberal, Conservative, Capitalist, So

I recently had the opportunity to explore the Great, Vast Walls of China with a breadth and intensity that blew me away, and almost broke me. How best to share the spirit of this journey? As with the hiking itself in Northern and Western China, I today once again step outside my comfort zone and present my experience by Ode. Photographs of the untamed and ruined beauty in this remote part of the world and additional narrative connected with several stanzas touching on history

David Hockney passed away last week one month shy of 89 years old. In 2023 a friend of mine wrote an article about Mr. Hockney, inspiration, and what he meant to her. What raced through my mind was “I know Hockney. He went to China a long time ago.” His book on visiting China in 1981 was on my bookshelf a few years before I first went there in 1986. Inspiration here takes on a new possibility in hindsight. In memory of this renowned artist, below is the article I wrote at the

Are China ‘s recently-released “Regulations of the State Council on Outward Investment” a manifesto calling for Chinese divesture from America? Though some of the frothier online headlines (particularly on YouTube and Facebook) scream yes and even more tried-and-true media (Bloomberg and NikkeiAsia) lean that way, I do not believe the answer is that simple. There are two explicit targets inside the new regulations and one under the surface. As for the first two, the Chinese g

I was in China the past month. My last day coincided with the Presidents of China and America holding a summit in Beijing on Thursday. Did this summit, potentially the first of several this year, matter? And if so, to whom and why? I see a disconnect between the macro of the political theater on the national and global stages and the micro of the day-to-day concerns of the Chinese middle class. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of

As I am off the grid hiking in China, today's issue is a reprint of a recent article written by award winning journalist and author Pallavi Aiyar on her Substack, The Global Jigsaw . Pallavi is back in Beijing almost twenty years after her first, multi-year stint living there as a foreign correspondent. In How has China managed to make people mind their manners? Or has It? , she writes about changes in people's behavior, the software of China, that have accompanied the upgrad

Turning the corner and coming face-to-face with a jade burial suit for the first time, even one behind glass, with the hum of the museum crowd in the air, stopped me cold. Its solemnity was almost overwhelming. 2,000+ years old from China’s Han Dynasty. An Imperial extravagance from shortly after the end of the 100 Schools of Thought Period when the foundations of the Chinese society we know today were coalescing. As I get ready to return to China next week, today’s issue sp

According to Dr. Benjamin Wang (Stanford University), the debate in China today is not about China catching up with the world, but rather about China “ bringing its own sense of the world [to the world], not slotting into the western sense of the world. ” Global academics and intellectuals recently presented and debated social and political theory in China at the 2026 Telos-Paul Piccone Institute China Initiative Conference, “The Chinese New Leviathan: Cultural Subjectivity

“ I will faithfully fulfill my responsibilities bestowed by the Constitution, with the nation’s needs as my mission and the people’s interests my yardstick. ” 1 China today is a reinvigorated successor to its “ Hundred Schools of Thought ” ancestors. Though China defies easy labeling, the melded legacy of the early Confucians and Legalists courses through Chinese society. We see this in statements such as that of Chinese leader Xi Jinping above and his overseeing of strict ru

“‘ The tendency of human nature to do good is like that of water to flow downward .’” 1 This 2,300-year-old statement by Mencius, second only to Confucius in the Confucian pantheon, would have been relatable, yet not, to Daoists Laozi and Zhuangzi who believed that the Way of nature is balanced. This distinction is representative of the freewheeling philosophical “Hundred Schools of Thought” discourse for hearts and minds that blossomed in the Chinese heartland during the hal

(photo by Glenn Carstons Peters, www.unsplash.com ) My mentor often asks me if I have an outline of topics mapped out for future Substack posts. My answer is the same every time. No. There are many good reasons to do so, but it does not come easy for me. So, where do my writing ideas come from? What is my inspiration? I read a lot and something always hits me and sends me down a new path. This past weekend (before a blizzard knocked me back to the stone ages for several days)

The Fire Horse Year arrives today with celestial company. Today is the first new moon of the 2026 Lunar New Year, as well as a solar eclipse and the beginning of Ramadan. This is a time of family and community reunion and renewal, fresh starts, and the promise of tomorrow. In China, the Spring Festival is a joyous spectacle. The Chunyun travel rush during the extended holiday period in China is gravitational. To the tune of 9.5 billion trips being made across and around the

“Promote Civility and Cultivate New Social Norms” (Zhengzhou, China) “A successful society is one that is supported by a majority of the people.” This comment during a recent conversation led us down a new path. I would add that a successful society is also one in which the people are proud, confident, and satisfied with their place in the world. By this metric, the People’s Republic of China is currently more successful as a society than the United States of America. In othe

Who am I? How should I act? Why? These questions keep coming to mind lately. Maybe because I have now entered my seventh decade of life. So, I am stepping aside for a moment from the onslaught of daily news fraught with unrelenting disquiet. Pondering briefly the self in culture and belief on the long and winding road of life. What of the individual in the Confucian and Buddhist traditions of China? Landscape painting with poem alluding to virtuous and lowly men, by Gong Xian

The China Chronicle China’s healthcare revolution lives and breathes on data. Part One of this series explored how China transformed its domestic healthcare system. Part Two looked outward at how China is growing and reshaping global healthcare norms. This Part Three examines governmental collection, management, and control of personal information in China’s healthcare model and why this unnerves America. Data Banks in Guizhou Province, China (www.asiatimes.com) Information

Healthcare is part of China’s expanding global footprint of influence and power. Part One of this series explored how China transformed its domestic system. This Part Two looks outward at how China is growing and reshaping global healthcare norms. Part Three will examine the control mechanisms embedded in the Chinese model. (www.marketingtochina.com) China and Global Health China is a force to be reckoned with in global healthcare. Being active in global health deepens and e

China is a global leader in healthcare innovation. It has been transformative at home, and China is expanding its healthcare influence abroad. In both, China is designing systems that cause admiration and concern to some. This series looks at all three. Part One focuses on what is happening inside China. Part Two will explore how China is spreading its healthcare reach internationally. Part Three will look at embedded control and oversight features and why the West may find t

China is a place where the past walks beside the present, receding but never disappearing. Three artifacts that reflect this are dragon screens, pagodas, and city walls. They are not simply physical structures. They form an architecture of Chinese authority, belief, protection, and thus identity. They are symbols that explain a worldview. Dragon Screens Datong Nine Dragon Screen ( www.westchinatour.com ) Dragons are powerful creatures in China. Unlike Western tradition, Chine

Chinese ship in Jiangsu, China (photo by Bing Shang on Unsplash.com) The rush of Chinese products in global markets is not caused by dark strategy or deceitful subsidies. It’s driven instead by something more dry and powerful: the fact that China’s tax and financial systems encourage companies to build more and faster over efficiency and profitability. It’s not ideology. It’s incentives, math, and momentum. And, lest I forget, the Chinese also make good stuff. Taxation China’