Old North Whale Review

If you look at Japanese newspapers before and during the War, you will find that instead of using “China” (中国, Chūgoku), papers used “Shina” (支那; Zhīnà in Mandarin) to refer to the Republic of China.

Laozi and Zhuangzi did not belong to the same school.

Recently I heard a claim that surprised me: Xinjiang once ran one of the best bilingual education systems in the world.

Two years after Giordano Bruno burnt in Rome.

Chinese history holds two opposing views on Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), the first emperor of China.

A team of AI and sociology researchers at Renmin University of China (RUC) recently interviewed 92 residents of a Beijing urban community for two hours each, capturing migration stories, marriages, career turns, grievances about community issues.

I’m always fond of exploring places where time got encapsulated, where you wander into a rural village nobody recommends and find a preserved temple hall standing quietly behind a primary school.

Stanford’s 2026 AI Index Report found that over 83% of Chinese respondents see AI products as more beneficial than harmful.

China in Chinese, 中国 (Zhōngguó), means “Middle Kingdom.”

China’s 龙(龍) and the West’s dragon are not the same creature.

Chinese local congresses rarely reject the projects their governments put before them.

Ray Dalio says the world is reverting to China’s ancient order of kowtows and hierarchy, the tribute system.1 In his account, it runs on deference, not force: lesser powers acknowledge a dominant center, and in return get trade and protection.

Picture how the US makes its elite.

The one-person company (OPC) is booming in China.

Every high school student in China has seen the checkbox.

I avoided acupuncture for decades.

A young woman was surrounded by a crowd and made to take off her clothes in the street.

There is a fatal irony in cultural exchange: the more you adapt a message for a foreign audience, the more you risk losing the very thing that made it worth sharing.

The pilgrim sites of Zen are mostly in Japan.

In Shanghai there is a joke about Tilanqiao Prison 提篮桥监狱 that has circulated in financial circles for at least two decades.