Not a blogger, it seems

I am as inconsistent at blogging as I am at everything else in my life, save working, eating, sleeping, interacting with my family, etc. So don't look at this blog for anything interesting. I do read my Twitter feed and tweet, fairly consistently, links on China, politics, Chinese language, technology and education, etc.

can't choose a platform

I can't seem to settle on a platform. Posting a few things here now.

Twitter

Most recent posts on this blog have been references to articles I've read or video clips, etc that I've seen elsewhere online. I'm thinking that Twitter might be a better vehicle for conveying this information to interested parties. I will try that for awhile. You can follow me on Twitter here.

Job Prospects in China

More on work in China here in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Microfinance in China

Hats off to Jack Ma, Muhammad Yunus, and the Clinton Global Initiative for providing the capital, ideas, and forum to launch Grameen China. And Kaiser Kuo for the tip. See NY Times article.

Working in China

I recently linked a NY Times article to my Facebook profile and received a couple comments from former students. The article highlighted the alleged ease of finding meaningful employment in China and downplayed the importance of learning the language. Expats in China and others have disagreed with the author's various points. James Fallows' column tipped me off to this article, which includes links to other threads related to this notion. I particularly enjoyed skimming (though it deserves a more careful read) this article by David Moser on the difficulty of learning Chinese.

Matt Harding

In the class I teach on globalization and the developing world, Matt Harding's story has been a great icebreaker for introductory discussion on how globalization affects people around the world. One of his videos is here on YouTube, and his story, in his own words, here on the now-completed NPR program "This I Believe."

Tougher than the Tour de France Riders...

Regular readers of my young blog might recall my March 26th post which included a link to and quote from an article on contemporary Chinese social problems translated by one of the most insightful U.S.-based China writers, Xujun Eberlein. In recent weeks, Eberlein's blog, which I have read regularly for at least the last year, has included almost daily entries from her husband's travelogue of a solo, unsupported bicycle trip from Boston to New Mexico. Though it has been the Tour de France cyclists that have captured the attention of most fellow cyclists around the world these last few weeks, Bob Eberlein has been my hero! If you enjoy cycling, or just good personal adventure narrative, you ought to check out Bob's trip entries, which are posted on Xujun's blog beginning with the first entry here.