Do you believe in Fortune Tellers? Chinese communicate with each other through story references. Even simple stories with one straight message, may have depth and nuance depending on the listener. You can reach different levels of listeners from the …
2020 Year End Message to All
In 2020 I hope that you’ve picked up my purpose to welcome you to Chinese culture. This is different from siding with the Chinese politically. Chinese culture is a tight and disciplined culture that through its codified system of symbols …
What is the leadership message behind winter solstice?
Winter solstice is one ancient holiday historically celebrated all over the world. Winter Solstice falls on December 21, 2020 in the Northern hemisphere. What ancestral message can we get from this ancient tradition? The four significant seasonal markers before the …
Much Ado about Tree Removal
According to industry statistics, the average lifespan of a landscape in the yard lasts 10-15 years. If a tree grows in your backyard for over 50 years, it is likely that it has reached a dangerous height. Tree removals happen …
What does “Over the Hill” mean?
I am grateful this year to have been invited by podcast host Gail Zugerman to appear on her program Growing Older with Gusto. She asked me to present a cross cultural view on growing older. I admit the first time …
How did chop suey come to the US?
Food writer and scholar Andrew Coe’s Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States traces the first US contact with China starting in 1784. On August 23, 1784, Samuel Shaw arrived at the mouth of the …
Voting as a Healthy Exercise of Democracy
A healthy democracy requires a regular exercise of voting rights. This year shows a very vibrant number in American voter turn-out. As we celebrate our democracy in the US by casting our votes, what does voting mean in China? Over …
Haunted Houses for Less
According to Haunted Houses have a Chilling Effect on the Property Market that materialized on The Economist, Hong Kong homebuyers flee from houses where untimely, unnatural deaths have occurred. Is this phenomenon a vague apparition or a measurable economic impact? …
Dammed if You Do, Dammed if You Don’t
CNN published China’s Three Gorges Dam is one of the largest ever created. Was it worth it? This comprehensive report on a Chinese large capital project is impressive for covering more than the usual choppy piece about China filled with …
Do we see things as they are?
“People only see what they are prepared to see.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature In my last blog, we learned that we hear what we want to hear. When images are symbols, how do we know what we see is what …