Not in my name

To the London School of Economics and Political Science, health. You seem to have made an ill-judgement both of your friends and enemies; you will understand by reading the comments of your representative at the University and College Union, that you are at war with those who treasure the advancement of learning, and trust fools [...]

CDS essay: But Who Maketh Manners?

But Who Maketh Manners?
6th February, 2007
In a curious move, the authorities in Beijing have imposed a new legislation, effective from this month, outlawing rude shopkeepers. It will become a criminal offence to vent one’s anger, act impatiently, glance at customers disdainfully or act absent-mindedly. Meanwhile, citizens in Shanghai will have to mind their language, or [...]

CDS essay: Neither good nor bad enough

Neither good nor bad enough
11th January, 2007
I occasionally wish that someone would just publish the novel “Red Flower Swans of the Sky Daughter Falling” and get it over with. If the title sounds curiously familiar, then it is because Chinese expatriate Literature has been such a success story. And at its heart is one big [...]

London pleasures

Speak, memory…
October 2005
New home, new job, old (returning) friends and old problems.
It is a funny feeling to go into a new job already knowing that it was the wrong choice. No matter how much I tried to convince myself, being a consultant is just not for me. Hours and days and weeks went by, and [...]

Affirmative action

It has come to my attention that despite my best efforts, my recent writing has been drifting towards matters relating to China/Chinese culture just a bit too much. A certain degree of specialisation or even bias is perhaps inevitable, but letting it go unabated would be unforgivable. It would be a criminal waste of money [...]

Growing Up

As I write this on the eve of starting my second to last term at Cambridge, I am wondering how much I have developed as a person during my time at university. I suppose I could rant about how nothing that is worth knowing in life can be taught and then drop clichés about separating [...]

My Countrymen

As Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” is to fantasy Literature, and Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is to magical realism, the circle of Chinese expatriate Literature has at its heart the one cliché that is “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang. First, let me be clear that I am not disputing its [...]