The ongoing decimation of Twitter coincides with my own desire to get back into a regular writing practice, so I’ve been slowly reviving this blog. I’m making a minimal commitment here: a photo and short gloss on Wednesdays, and a “Weekly Wanderings” round-up of stories/thoughts/recommendations each Sunday morning. If and as I can, I’ll post occasional book reviews or such here as well.
I know Substacks are in and blogs are out, but no one ever accused me of being cool. If you’d prefer a Substack-like experience, enter your email address in the “Follow Blog by Email” box at the bottom of the page and new posts will arrive in your inbox.
The Public Intellectuals Program (PIP) of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) is now accepting applications for its eighth cohort of fellows. I was co-director of PIP during the time I worked at NCUSCR, way back when the program was only in its fourth cohort, and think it’s still one of the best experiences a mid-career China specialist can sign up for. Not only do fellows gain valuable insight into the worlds of policy making, journalism, and foreign relations, they also join a vibrant community, both in-person and online. With U.S.-China relations mired in an ongoing downward spiral/stalemate (depending on the month), it’s more important than ever to have knowledgeable experts who can keep things from going completely off the rails. PIP is one means to achieve that.
So, apply! Materials are due by August 13.
My own ballet “career” consisted of Saturday-morning lessons when I was seven or eight years old, culminating in an uninspired performance as part of the children’s corps in Chestnut Hill College’s production of The Song of Norway. Had I possessed a modicum of talent, artistry, or continued enthusiasm for dance, I might have pursued it—and, if I had, I would have likely run up against many of the long-standing structural problems in America’s ballet world. Those issues are explicated in two recent books that I read this past spring: Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers Is Saving Ballet From Itself, by Chloe Angyal, and Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet, by Alice Robb. I knew bits and pieces of the problems that Angyal and Robb describe, which include disordered eating, sexual harassment, and the incredible financial burden of pursuing a dance career, but it was eye-opening to read a complete account of the experiences that so many dancers face. I wrote short Goodreads reviews of both books: Turning Pointe and Don’t Think, Dear.
I rode with some very chatty and entertaining taxi drivers during my recent trip to Korea, one of whom even broke out into a rendition of “Country Roads” after hearing that my boss hails from Nashville. “I feel like Thomas Friedman,” I gleefully texted my brother. “The world is flat!”
I haven’t actually read The World Is Flat, but I feel like I have a good handle on the gist of it after listening to the episode of If Books Could Kill that covers Friedman’s book. I love If Books Could Kill, in which hosts Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri dissect (in hilarious and profane fashion) the airport bestsellers of the past few decades. At The Atlantic, Hannah Giorgis writes about the podcast’s appeal:
If Books Could Kill doesn’t traffic in cynicism for cynicism’s sake. A great takedown is delicious in its own right, but that’s not quite the show’s aim. Some of its strongest moments are when Hobbes and Shamshiri reflect on how profoundly one book, one author, or one franchise has influenced public opinion.
The show is both entertaining and informative—and makes a convincing argument to skip the headline-grabbing bestsellers in favor of less high-profile reading fare instead.
I saw a number of ads in Seoul for the 2030 World Expo, which will be held in Busan (Pusan). Last Saturday a bus passed me, the ad on its side announcing “BUSAN IS READY.”
As someone who feels completely unprepared for 2024, the idea of being ready for an event in 2030 (is that even a real year? It sounds fake to me) makes my head hurt. Calm down, Busan. Your day will come.
Recommended Reading
China Stories
Angeli Datt, “‘What Kind of Wish Is This?’: A Q&A with Author Murong Xuecun”
Peter Hessler, “The Double Education of My Twins’ Chinese School”
Christian Shepherd, “The latest game show topic in China: X_ J_np_ng”
Joseph Torigian, “What Beijing’s muted response to Wagner mutiny tells us about China-Russia relations – and what it doesn’t”
Ashish Valentine, “Meet the woman who launched Taiwan’s MeToo movement, Chen Chien-Jou”
Vivian Wang, “China Took Her Husband. She Was Left to Uncover His Secret Cause.”
Edward White, “‘Keep the blade clean’: Xi Jinping’s corruption investigators turn focus on themselves”
Graham Webster, “Four Impressions from Beijing” — thoughts from a longtime Beijing resident on his first visit back to the city since 2019
Three articles on the struggles faced by workers in China:
Li Yuan, “No Job, No Marriage, No Kid: China’s Workers and the Curse of 35”
Michael Schuman, “The End of Optimism in China”
Vic Chiang, Lillian Yang and Lily Kuo, “Chinese college grads are ‘zombie-style’ on campus. Here’s why.”
Assorted Links
Fred A. Bernstein, “Frank Lloyd Wright Built 120 Homes Near the End of His Life. Just One Original Owner Remains.”
Keith Gessen, “Could Putin Lose Power?”
Oksana Grytsenko, “Ukrainians Fight Back as Russia Seeks to Appropriate Their Country’s History”
Jen McCaffrey, “The anonymous clock-watchers behind MLB’s pitch-clock gambit”
Lakshmi Subramanian, “Can academic writing be engaging? Takeaways from a writing workshop”
The One to Click
Kamala Thiagarajan, “‘It’s not for the faint-hearted’ — the story of India’s intrepid women seaweed divers”
I came to this NPR print feature via the Asia Undercovered newsletter published by Nithin Coca. Through photos (contributed by Anushree Bhatter) and text, Thiagarajan shares the stories of women on India’s Pamban Island who dive for seaweed and sell their harvests to a local factory. The tiring and dangerous work is just one challenge the divers face: climate change, government regulation, and the prevalence of alcoholism among men in their community are additional difficulties the women must navigate. Nevertheless, they persist.
Featured photo: Seoul, as seen from the peak of Inwangsan, July 1, 2023.
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 
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