Why China has No Civil Society

Pi Yijun

     Inkstone, July 9, 2019

This article addresses morality for the average shu shu.  Confucianism teaches that rather than changing society, an individual should focus on his own life and family.  Pi Yijun ties this to the agendas of authoritarian governors, from emperors to you-know-who.  

     "Believers focus on their own well-being, not social justice."  This reflects the obsession with material possessions, money, and success.  When the focus is on yourself and your own well-being, success is equated with goodness.  There's no need to worry about others; as long as you're successful and safe, that's not your problem.  

     

Leftover in China

Roseann Lake

     My Chinese friend, one of the 剩女，asked me to bring her a copy of this book since I would be home for the summer.  I ordered it on Amazon and read it before delivering.  

     Ms. Lake offers a window into the world of the 剩女 by sharing the stories of her Chinese friends, especially Christy, Ivy, Zhang Mei, and June.  Christy is a successful, extroverted businesswoman and Beijing local.  Ivy is an intelligent, beautiful mistress.  Zhang Mei is a young, cute Chinese teacher from Harbin.  June is a Yale graduate brave enough to fight her employer for unpaid overtime.

     Most of my Chinese friends are probably like Zhang Mei:  young, working relatively low-paying jobs, with out-of-town hu kou.  It was odd to read the book and realize how similar my life was to the author's:  living in China, making Chinese friends, learning about their lives.  Maybe that's why I wasn't overly impressed by the book:  because it's familiar, it's my life, it wasn't shocking to me.  Yet it was a good reminder of what my Chinese friends face, the weight of the culture and families pushing them down.  I hope it will give me more grace and patience for them.

     One of the things I really appreciated about the book was the use of Chinese characters when appropriate, not just pinyin.  There was also a lot of helpful research and history, numbers and a broader picture to help me contextualize and understand my experiences.  It's also easy-to-read, my beloved accessible non-fiction written by a journalist with a sense of humor.  

The Edge Effect

Shankar Vedantam
Hidden Brain NPR Podcast
Transcript

   The edge effect occurs when two ecosystems meet.  There, "the most new life-forms are created."  This podcast applies the ecological edge effect to human interactions.  Hypothesis:  When people deeply engage with those who have a different culture, they become more creative.
     Richard Freeman did a study in which he found scientists who collaborated with scientists outside their culture wrote higher-quality scientific papers, as evidenced by the number of citations. 
     Yo-Yo Ma created the Silk Road Ensemble, which brings together musicians of different cultures.  They create music mixing instruments from these diverse cultures, including traditional instruments.
     Adam Galinski is an American Jewish social psychologist, married to the daughter of Filipino immigrants.  He conducted a study with students who had dated both someone of their own culture and someone of a different culture.  They asked one group to reflect on the intercultural dating experience, and the other to reflect on the cross-cultural dating experience, then gave them a creativity test.  Those who reflected on the cross-cultural experience were more creative. 
     The results of this study were confirmed by a different study by Adam's friend, Dan Wang, who conducted a study on J-1 visa holders.  A J-1 visa allows the holder to temporarily work in the US, usually between three months and two years.  Those who had frequent contact with American friends after returning to their home country were more likely to become entrepreneurs or introduce new practices within their company. 
     Adam also applied this theory to fashion designers, finding that the amount of time a designer lived abroad predicted their fashion line creativity.

Is War Between China and the US Inevitable?

by Graham Allison

TED Talk Podcast

     The first historian, Thucydides, described the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta.  Sparta was a current power, Athens began to rise, and the fear of Athens led to war.  In history, when a current power was threatened by a rising power, 12 of 16 major cases led to war.  Graham Allison calls this pattern "Thucydides' Trap."  The real kicker is that, in most cases, the two powers don't want war.  A third party provokes them....the classic example being World War I, in which the world was enveloped by war because of the assassination of a single Austro-Hungarian.

The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady

I was in the library, looking for Amy Tan books, when my mother pulled a book off the shelf.  "The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady."  Having been radioactive for a few days myself, I couldn't not read it.  I didn't even bother to check the summary...until I checked for my mother to make sure it wasn't trash.
     This book has pretty mature themes, especially sexual abuse, but all graphic content has a clear purpose.  Sexual abuse is a difficult topic for many people, rarely discussed by many families.  As the book points out, most people envision sexual predators as strangers, when it's actually often a trusted adult.
     Each chapter is narrated in the third person omniscient following a different character.  The book is full of memorable, well-developed characters.

Spriggs Family

• Suzi:  13-year-old daughter, popular, talented goalie
• Otis:  16-year-old son, obsessed with science.  Builds a model breeder reactor in the shed behind the family home.  Becomes friends with Rusty.
• Ava:  18-year-old daughter, beautiful, obsessed with Elvis, has Asperger's Syndrome
• Vic:  Father, obsessed with following storms and developing hurricanes, working on a portfolio assessment project as part of his job at the university
• Caroline:  Mother, puts all of her energy into Ava, formerly fashionable but now sloppy
• Wilson:  Doctor who poisoned 800 pregnant women as part of a Cold War medical study

Coffey Family

• Buff:  Youth minister at Genesis Church
• Paula:  wife, former Playboy bunny, ignores her husband's sexual addiction
• Rusty:  Teenage daughter, wears black, does drugs, shoplifts, good-for-nothing boyfriend Royce who mysteriously disappears
• Angel:  4-year-old daughter

Also in the Neighborhood:

• Marylou:  Old woman, also known as Nance Archer.  Her daughter, Helen, died of cancer at age eight.
• Gigi:  Blonde, Southern, divorced, flirty, heavy drinker
• Travis:  Gigi's son, undiagnosed disorder, becomes Ava's boyfriend

TED Talks Daily

What Soccer Can Teach Us About Freedom--Marc Bamuthi Joseph
     Joseph connects soccer to dancing and politics, attempting to use it as a tool for education.

Why I Study the Most Dangerous Animal On Earth--Fredros Okumu
     A description of the study of mosquitoes and methods to suppress and control populations, especially in Africa.

The Single Biggest Reason Start-Ups Succeed--Bill Gross
     Timing.  He gave the example of a Hulu-like start-up that failed because, when it was launched, the technology allowing people to access entertainment hadn't developed well enough to make it convenient.  A positive example is Airbnb.  Because of the economic downturn, people were willing to rent out parts of their houses; at other times, they might not have been so interested.  Having a good team and being able to roll with the punches was second; the idea itself was, surprisingly, only third.

I Don't Want Children--Stop Telling Me I'll Change My Mind--Christen Reighter
     A description of the immense difficulties she encountered in seeking a tubal ligation.  She had to go to multiple medical providers, encountering sexism such as providers referring to her as a "little girl" and refusing to allow the procedure.  She made a lot of points that conservatives would agree with, including the future possibility of adoption.

Podcasts

I don't have access to a lending library, so I've discovered a new source of information:  Podcasts.  Here are a few TED talks:

From Death Row to Law Graduate--Peter Ouko

Peter Ouko was wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit.  He decided "not to play the victim," and took advantage of an opportunity to go to England and earn a law degree from a maximum security prison.  He then returned to argue his own case, resulting in a presidential pardon.  He now works with the African Prisons Project to give other inmates the tools to obtain justice.

How to Fix a Broken Heart--Guy Winch

I think my main takeaway was that, even though we often don't take it seriously, the pain of a break-up can be similar to going through grieving.  The human brain's instincts become the enemy.  The first problem is that people continually look for a reason for the break-up.  They become obsessed, refusing to accept a simple explanation.  The process in the human brain is similar to overcoming an addiction to a drug.  Every time they think about the person, they think they're "getting over it," but they're really just getting another hit.  They idealize the person, forgetting the negative memories and characteristics.  He makes his clients make a list of these things, the reasons the relationship didn't work out, then keep it on their phone.