May Term 2008

Shanghai’d I was reading in the local paper yesterday something I should have known: China’s economic renaissance began 30 years ago when Deng Xiao-ping “opened” China to economic development. The changes in lifestyle have been enormous, and, as I’ve said, every time I come back I marvel how much change has occurred, even in the … Continue reading »

Napoleon once said, “the world will tremble when China awakes,” but I don’t think he had in mind what we experienced. As I mentioned, we were in Xi’an, about 500 miles from the epicenter, when the quake hit. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon, and we were in the Great Mosque of Xi’an when … Continue reading »

Monumental. That’s what Peking can be, and frequently is. There were at least three monuments we saw the last few days. Starting from the newest: The Olympic Village and stadia. No doubt, as I mentioned, Beijing is ready to welcome the Olympics, and you’ll be seeing a lot of what I saw, and hearing what … Continue reading »

Time flies–especially when you are flying West (to go East). If you fly far enough, you lose a day! That’s what happened to us. We left at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, and the next thing I knew (after about 18 hours in the air and 4 hours in Seoul) we were in Beijing–and it was … Continue reading »

As most of you know, I’m taking 22 students to China and Korea, beginning tonight. We leave Chicago at 1 a.m. for Seoul, then on to Beijing. When we’re in China, we’re visiting Xian, Shanghai, and Xiamen, then to Hong Kong and Macau. We fly to Seoul for a week in Korea, including a night … Continue reading »