On Wednesday I attended an all-day forum on climate change in Beijing. The English title was, "Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction: Responsibility and Competitiveness Forum," and it was sponsored by World Environment Magazine, a publication of SEPA, the equivalent of the U.S. EPA, and China Electricity Newspaper. I'm including details about the forum below, but want
One point Barry W. made last week, in his talk at SUNY Albany, was that there are new "night communities" as a result of social media. It's easy now to see which of your friends and colleagues are awake by sending them an e-mail--or by checking who's online on Skype or on a favorite forum. I'm
I spent most of today at a Chinese climate change symposium, with many speakers and a ton of information on initiatives in construction and car manufacture. Did you know that China uses 40% of the world's cement each year? I will get back to Beijing news tomorrow; tonight, some literary thoughts. The conflict between sense and
A note from my daughter Rachel included this line, which made me miss her very much, ". . . the office is quiet and it's raining out, raining hard. I wore no coat today (and I know you will disapprove), hoping to make the day spring by force of wardrobe." I'm not sure this will make
I sat down to lunch today with a group of students from Peking University and one of them said with a smile, "Karen, would you like to choose the fish? We hear you are expert at this." It took me a moment to realize that they had read yesterday's blog post! These young people were C.S.
Tom's language skills are coming back. This evening, at the rather too elegant restaurant some students sent us to, perhaps as a joke given how we were dressed, he had a lengthy discussion in Chinese with the waitress over the respective merits of two different fish. Finally they seemed to have come to agreement. He then
The park around the Temple of Heaven is a wonderful place to be, especially on a bright spring day when the trees are beginning to bud. There were many Western tourists but also a lot of Chinese tourists, too, in groups with matching hats and a leader with a flag. There are vendors with postcards and
In Mary Ellen Quinn's column in the March American Libraries, the magazine of the American Library Association, opens with a review of Berkshire's Heart of the Community: The Libraries We Love. After a three-paragraph description of the book, she writes: The loving attention that went into this beautifully designed book is evident on each page. Text
On Tuesday night I sent emails to let people know I would be back in Beijing. When I got to my computer in the morning there were ten emails from these rather new friends, all with a variation on the message, "welcome to Beijing," which reminds me of the proverb Frank Yu, a regular contributor
The first challenge is, of course, a 13-hour time change. I know I won't feel really myself for at least a week. But it's nice to think that by the end of the trip I'll be in really good form--and ready to make a similarly painful transition back to U.S. time. I have friends who seem
