China is...

In the wake of the surprisingly strong international outcry against the recent local demonstrations and brutal government repressions in Tibet, it seems increasingly important to me that the international community make efforts to greater understand the complexity of the terrorities that make up what is understood as China. The historical political and cultural distinctions in the entire Northwest of China, known as the Xinjiang Uigher Autonomous region to the Chinese government and East...Read Full Story

Yu Zhou, musician-artist died at the hands of the CCP on February 6, 2008, after eleven days detainment in prison. He was the drummer-singer of Villagers in a Valley, a pop-folk group in Beijing. The music video above is for their popular song "我的家“ (My Home), the lyrics of which are simply: This is my home a little place he found for me the entire place is filled with plants everything is green!中文（Chinese)：我的家是他圈起的一块小地方到处都是青草全部是绿的!CCP officials claimed he died of a hungry strike, a mere...Read Full Story

In the recent weeks, in the face of wide-scale pro-Independence demonstrations throughout the Tibetan Autonomous region (TAR) and other ethnically Tibetan areas of the China Mainland, the international public and even governments, have begun to discuss the possibilties of what it might mean to boycott the Olympics.I participated with the local NYU chapter of a Students' For A Free Tibet. Can solidarity with an organization entail agreeing with their short term goals? It relates back to...Read Full Story

"Not You! You!!!" by Uri Avnery 05/04/08 "Hey! Take your hands off me! Not you! You!!!" - the voice of a young woman in the darkened cinema, an old joke. "Hey! Take your hands off Tibet!" the international chorus is crying out, "But not from Chechnya! Not from the Basque homeland! And certainly not from Palestine!" And that is not a joke. LIKE EVERYBODY else, I support the right of the Tibetan people to independence, or at least autonomy. Like everybody else, I condemn the actions of...Read Full Story

Beijing people, or Beijingren (北京人) are known throughout the Mainland as talkers, among other things. The stereotype of the Beijing native doesn't differ far from that of the New Yorker. Perhaps because of long hours and the most intense grid-lock I've ever encountered, taxi drivers often are these "talkers", passing the time by chatting on a diverse set of topics with their passengers. Thus, in the last two and half years, some of the deepest conversations I've ever had, about politics, love...Read Full Story