Ｗｅ　ａｒｅ　ｅｘｐｅｒｉｅｎｃｉｎｇ　ｔｗｏ　ｅｘｔｒｅｍｅ　ｅｎｄｓ　ｏｆ　Ａｍｅｒｉｃａｎ　ｌｉｆｅ．　　Ａ　ｆｅｗ　ｄａｙｓ　ａｇｏ，　ｗｅ　ｓｔａｙｅｄ　ｗｉｔｈ　ａ　ｂｌａｃｋ　ｆａｍｉｌｙ　ｉｎ　ａ　ｐｏｖｅｒｔｙ　ｓｔｒｉｃｋｅｎ　ａｎｄ　ｃｒｉｍｅ－ｒｉｄｄｅｎ　ｂｌａｃｋ　ｃｏｍｍｕｎｉｔｙ　ｉｎ　Ｓｏｕｔｈ　Shore, in Chicago; and now we are staying at a friend’s rented house in Shelter Island where American’s super-riches spend their summers and weekends. Today, I rode on an infamous boat – formerly owned by Bernie Madoff, the criminal who committed the biggest financial fraud in America. A wealthy friend of a friend bought the… Continue reading extremes in America

OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS A Confucian Constitution for China By JIANG QING and DANIEL A. BELL Published: July 10, 2012 FACEBOOK TWITTER GOOGLE+ E-MAIL SHARE PRINT REPRINTS ON Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech in Mongolia denouncing Asian governments that seek “to restrict people’s access to ideas and information, to imprison them for… Continue reading a new possibility for China?

China’s ‘Fault Lines’: Yu Jie On His New Biography of Liu Xiaobo Ian Johnson AP Photo/Cliff Owen Chinese dissident Yu Jie at the National Press Club in Washington, January 18, 2012 Yu Jie is one of China’s most prominent essayists and critics, with more than thirty books to his name. His latest work is a… Continue reading Johnson’s interview with Yu Jie

One of the highlights of my New York visit was the meeting with Chen Guangcheng, the blind lawyer who has escaped the house arrest in his home village in Shandong and made his way to US. He is now a fellow at New York University. A few days after my arrival, I wrote to Chen’s… Continue reading My meeting with Chen Guangcheng in New York