The island that got away drives deep passions. Lying tantalizingly close, less than 100 miles from the mainland, this isolated landmass has long been perched within the mainland’s sphere of influence. And yet, it remains separate, a mocking presence over the decades. Governed by a regime anathema to the mainland government, the island is labeled an existential, foreign threat. Seeking control is visceral. The mainland government enforces broad economic sanctions. Its military

“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

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

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

Fourth Plenum of 20th CPC Central Committee (Photo by Xinhua) “ We must have the courage to face major tests amid high winds, rough waves and even raging storms, and tackle difficulties, risks and challenges with a spirit of historical initiative – focusing on doing our own work well to write a new chapter in sustaining China’s economic growth and long-term social stability. ” — From China’s recently-adopted 15th Five-Year Plan Can you imagine a five-year strategic planning p

The China Chronicle Snow buried tents, Gama Valley, Tibet No one died earlier this month when a rare, off-season blizzard struck remote Gama Valley on the eastern slopes of the Zhumulangma (“Goddess Mother of the World”) mountain during peak hiking season. Almost 600 hikers and 300 guides and porters who were caught in raging winds and trapped under 3.5 feet of snow were saved. If the same storm had hit the south side of Sagarmatha (“The Forehead in the Sky”) mountain, as M

Photo by Elaine Kong, Unsplash.com Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to All! A time of family reunion and celebrating harvest bounty. Mooncakes...

The message from China could not have been clearer this week. The People's Republic has re-emerged as a world leader with a goal of...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 34 A reflection on peaches in Chinese culture, symbolism, and myth and what...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America , Vol. 3, Issue 32 Michael Pillsbury’s The Hundred Year Marathon lays out a stark, urgent premise worthy of a John le Carre novel: that China has been quietly and brilliantly executing a long-term, covert strategy to displace the United States as the world’s dominant superpower by 2049. According to Pillsbury, this is not just geopolitical rivalry. It is a methodical, calculated effort rooted in ancient stratagems and cloaked in de

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 30 China has always been molded by its land boundaries. Throughout recorded history, this is where the Han people of China encountered, fought, conquered, were conquered, and co-existed with numerous cultures and civilizations. China’s peripheries are fault lines. Borderlands that have been absorbed, resisted, erased, and reasserted over time. This was as true when a smaller, historic China was centered in the heartla

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 29 Electric vehicles are taking the world by storm. Well, most of the world....

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 28 A friend and I were discussing the recent temporary tariff pause in the de...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 27 I recently returned from almost a month in China, primarily spent in Henan...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 26 March. Mid-Spring. My exploration of a transcultural appreciation of art...

(image by www.royalmint.com ) The Lunar New Year is today, January 29, 2025. It is the Year of the Snake. This begins Spring Festival...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 21 I am not the only Substacker writing about China, America, and the changing...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 20 The world order as this second quarter of the twenty-first century begins...