Why the Chinese will never drop their written language

As I scratch the surface of Chinese, I now understand why the language cannot be simply converted to the Roman alphabet. They have to keep t...

Impressions of China

Pickup games at Tsinghua, from October. A couple of times a week I go to the Olympic-size pool on campus to swim. There are a dozen outdoor ...

Thanksgiving in Beijing

Cindy on the campus of neighboring Beijing University.  Today I am thankful for having a spouse... ....who is comfortable living in a countr...

My Japanese office mate

Yoichi Nishimura   is a newspaper editor on a one-year sabbatical here at Tsinghua University to study China-U.S.-Japan relations. We go to ...

A little tour of Tsinghua University campus

The music is composed and played by Patrick Breiner: Dance Music for Tony Malaby.

Deciphering China, ideograms to menus

You have to keep your head up and your eyes peeled while riding a bicycle around in Beijing, especially on campus, as this 13-second video s...

Borscht and other Belarus delicacies

The Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita) was also a butterfly expert. I thought of him when I saw this beautiful specimen along th...