So, back to my notes on the I Ching, that cornerstone of Chinese culture. If you want to know China, there's no way around the I Ching.

After the wise advice of the last hexagram, which was all about hanging in there and keeping on keeping on, we come to the inevitable stopping and backing away. Not all courses are worth following.

What's the character mean? The character for dun shows three footprints over a... more

Do you remember the time not so very long ago when I got all het up over Vladimir Putin offering citizens money to make more Russians the old-fashioned way, by putting babies in Russian mommies' tummies?

As opposed to, oh, maybe taking babies out of social welfare institutions?

Well, apparently, the Russians aren't the only one of China's neighbors to offer money to people to create... more

On the one hand, China is embracing Americana in some fairly strange ways, as exemplified by Shijingshan Amusement Park. It's a Disneyland that isn't. "NO, no, that character is not Mickey Mouse!" they say. "That's a cat with large ears!! And many ducks wear sailor suits! Not just... that duck!" As far as I... more

Fenghuang statue, Nanning, Guangxi.

This male phoenix has returned to his old home, from roaming the four seas searching for his mate. Time was not yet ripe, there was no way to meet her; then what a surprise: this evening I come up to this hall, and there's a dazzling maiden in the women's quarters. The room near but she far: this poisons my guts. ... more

By the way, it's Labor Day in China -- the communist holiday based on American history.

I hope all the traveling families (and everyone else in China) are enjoying all the parades and time off work.

"Yīgè Dàyuè Wèile Fán Réndào" means "One Great Leap For All Mankind."

If the world had worked a little differently and the gorgeous children who are now my daughter and son had stayed in China, they would one day have faced a terrifying thing: the Chinese math test. That's a link from the... more

A boy and his globe, Topaz, Utah, 1943

So, there is becoming more and more like here every single day. Check out these signs of a burgeoning monoculture:

After pulling off their "race war" season without any fatalities, ... more

The Centers for Disease Control are issuing a warning that adults adopting from China seem to be at risk for developing measles.

Of all things.

Three different families traveling with the same Missouri-based adoption agency -- but traveling separately, possibly to three different SWIs in three different cities -- stayed at the same hotel in Guangdong Province last July.... more

Know what you're doing with the kids this Saturday? April 28 is World Tai Chi Qigong Day, and there's a good chance there's something going on near you.

I've been to one of these events in Ft. Lauderdale, and it was pretty fun. Tai chi people tend to be pretty easygoing, you know. They're professionally relaxed.

And if you were ever curious... more

Beijing has long arms. Capital cities do. But I don't think the Beijing movers and shakers ever really expected the One-Child Policy to affect Canadian children.

Yet here we are -- Hong Zhang is a Chinese citizen, and her year-old daughter, Sherry, was born in Canada to a Canadian father. The daughter's a citizen, the mother isn't and is being deported. The problem is, the mother's not allowed to have the daughter in China. People... more