Beijing Diary Podcast

Discusses the June, 2019 demonsrations in Hong Kong, with a little history of the colony and current relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland, as well as comparison between these demonstrations and the Occupy Central demonstrations of 2014. Related Blog Post

I view the American Civil War as the center point of American history. The burning issue of the day was slavery. But the underlying problem was a sense of ambivalence about whether America was really a country, or a group of independent entities. The Civil War established the idea of America as a single nation. Related Blog Post                           Lecture Slides

Marian interviewed me for English Sunday, the weekly student radio program here at Chinese Youth University . We had a pleasant conversation. Hope you enjoy it. Related Blog Post

I am beginning a series on the extraordinary communications revolution that has taken place over the span of my life, and how this communications revolution affects China's relationship with the world. This week we are talking about the history of communication (at least as far as my own life is concerned) and specifically how conventional short wave communication compares to contemporary internet...

I recorded this interview a year ago with a friend of mine who was an orthopedic surgeon here in Beijing. For some reason, I have had trouble with my system, making it hard for me to complete the podcast until just recently. The information will be very helpful to you if you live in China, and very interesting if you are interested in comparative medicine.  Related Blog Post

Several weeks ago, I had a most interesting conversation with Snow's grandmother. The logistics of the thing were a little tricky, because the kind lady did not really speak Mandarin, and certainly not English. But Snow speaks Mandarin, English, her native dialect, Baihua (Beihai area dialect) as well as Cantonese, so she was well able to interpret for me. As the story develops, and we hear about...

This episode introduces Snow and Fly, a couple young people I met in Beihai. Snow is very interested in English, and really quite good at it, if you consider her background as a poor country kid from the rural area where absolutely nobody speaks English. Snow does not come from a Christian background at all, but she dragged her classmate along to church, probably in hopes of meeting a foreigner. Y...

Chinese young people talking about what Chinese people believe. There seems to be some ambivalence about this. One young lady said, "I believe in myself." This prompted a discussion started by a man in the group who saw this as an evidence of the current spiritual vacuum in China. Very interesting, warm discussion. Related Blog Post