I’m sure most of you were tired of typing out http://seeingredinchina.wordpress.com or were finding it difficult to tell your friends how to find this great site. That old address sure was a mouthful. Now it’s much easier to share this blog, just tell your friends to check out SeeingRedInChina.com (no, you don’t have to capitalize [...] Keep reading »

Yesterday we saw that China’s farmers occupy the lowest rung of Chinese society. Today we’ll be looking at why China’s farmers are also at the bottom economically, as we try to answer the question, How poor are Chinese farmers? Officially the average rural income is 5,919rmb, which is about $900. That’s well above the World Bank’s poverty [...] Keep reading »

About 80 years ago Pearl Buck penned her novel “The Good Earth” about farmers in rural Jiangsu province, and today that image remains firmly planted in the minds of Westerners. After my time in rural Guangxi and my visit to Gansu, it seems that there are many places in China where Buck’s description is still fairly accurate. Over these next f [...] Keep reading »

My Chinese friend Grace is about the last person you would picture when you think about dissidents. She’s happily married to a doctor who doesn’t drink or smoke. She is pregnant with her second healthy (and perfectly legal) baby. She has a college education and a good job by Chinese standards. Grace doesn’t like reading the news, and refers t [...] Keep reading »

Eating dogs is something we joke about when we think of Chinese food, and then we are often scolded by those who are more “politically correct” than us. However, throughout much of China dog meat is a fairly common delicacy. Lately there has been some discussion as to whether or not eating dogs and cats should be banned, but that discus [...] Keep reading »

This week we’ve taken a brief look at China’s ability to project economic, political, and military power, and whether or not China is approaching super power status. Today we look at China’s cultural power. Culture a.k.a. Soft Power Chinese language is becoming widely popular in schools throughout the world. People are eager to learn the worl [...] Keep reading »

So far we have seen that China has the GDP to be a superpower, and would have the political strength to meet the criteria if it decided to take on a leadership role. Today we will be trying to evaluate how effectively China would be able to project it’s military strength. Military Power China employs the largest army in the world despite the fact [...] Keep reading »

Yesterday we looked at how China’s growing GDP was putting it a step closer to being a superpower, but also that GDP alone is not enough. Today we will be continuing our look at China’s growing role in the world, and what that means for the rest of us. Political Power China’s political power is growing even faster than it’s [...] Keep reading »

As many of you know I work in a large public hospital with over 2,000 medical personnel. We treat over 1,000,000 patients every year. Sometimes, things do not go well. Mistakes are made, and families get upset. About once a week there will be a small group of people who try to come into the building where I work to complain to the hospital administ [...] Keep reading »