Worldcrunch
-Essay- After Mo Yan won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, many Chinese people predicted that this would contribute greatly to the expansion of Chinese culture in the world. I sincerely hope so. However, in peaceful times the transmission and penetration of a culture are extremely slow. The Italian Jesuit priest, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), was […]
PARIS – Ever seen a human scalp transformed into a drumhead? Or a shrunken head with its lips sewn shut to keep the dead from casting spells from beyond the grave? With their hair uncannily preserved, these centuries-old trophies seem to have retained all their eerie powers. They are some of the key pieces of […]
XINHUA, CHINA NEWS, CAIXIN BLOG, UDN NEWS (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – The Chinese government likes to boast of its superiority to the West, thanks to its socialist economy “with Chinese characteristics.” For years, it was virtually impossible to publicly say something out of step with this idealized view of the nation. But now, in what […]
-Editorial- BEIJING – In response to a letter sent by a women’s rights NGO regarding quota on enrollment of women in certain colleges and universities, China’s Education Ministry said that this restriction was based on “considerations of national interest.” The officials probably thought they would subdue any unruly voices with such a pompous answer. However, […]
THE WEST CHINA URBAN DAILY (China), CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) Worldcrunch YANSHI – Xie Guizhi came onto the stage to a burst of applause at a community concert in Yanshi City. The 58-year-old sat at the piano and played a well-known folk song called The Waves of Hong Lake, a so-called red song of China’s Cultural […]
-Editorial- BEIJING – Just like the former extrajudicial “Custody and Repatriation” procedure for moving beggars and homeless people out of Chinese cities, the Re-education Through Labor (RTL) camp system has long been criticized. There is now a general consensus that the unjustified administrative procedures of the labor camp system should be reformed. After years of […]
BONN – “You have to use violence to defend Islamic values?” asks the judge. “Yes, of course,” Murat K. replies. Five months after he attacked police officers with a knife, the 26-year-old Salafist came clean in the courtroom: it was his duty, he said, to wound the police officers. The officers in question are veterans, […]
A Tel Aviv Tale Of Manners
GENEVA – Marie-Gisèle Sandoz lives by herself, and has no children or siblings. When the retiree decided it was time to make a will, it didn’t take long to decide who would be the benificiaries: three-quarters of her assets will go to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. “Ecology has always been an interest of […]
HAMBURG – Jan Heusinger’s day was always the same: wake up, shower, have breakfast – and then spend the rest of his hours playing computer games. Four years ago, when he was 14, he’d bought World of Warcraft, an online role-playing game. By 2011, he’d stopped attending school to spend his days as an Orc […]
Until now, showing off was more of a male thing: for many representatives of the so-called stronger sex, flashing status symbols like fast cars and conspicuously expensive watches is, it seems, important. But women are catching up. “As a result of their increasing economic independence, more and more women are encroaching on what has traditionally […]
TOKYO – Toru Hashimoto, the young and often controversial mayor of Osaka who shot to fame for his attacks on Japan’s central government and bureaucrats, has chosen a new target — but this time, attracting little sympathy from the Japanese youth. Last March, Hashimoto decided to take disciplinary action against government employees who did not […]