The Last Empress and the First Hai Gui

 History has shrouded her in disapproval, but an eyewitness account of Empress Dowager Cixi reveals a tough, smart old broad who played the game of power better than any so-called man in the kingdom. Was she flighty? Sure. She grew up with status determining not just what you had for breakfast, but whether you were allowed to eat it sitting down. Furthermore, such status could be irrevocably lost by a careless act or gesture. That kind of game makes the strongest souls neurotic.

5 Uncommon Chinese Teas & Why You Should Drink Them

You seldom give it much attention, all the health-stealers in your environment and lifestyle: sooty air, brackish water, tobacco & alcohol, the stress of keeping your career on track. When you do, you take a mental note to exercise more, eat healthier, stop smoking so much, just as soon as the important stuff’s out of the way, of course.

Killing to Live

Only Americans and other cultural newbies think they’re entitled to happiness and prosperity. The Chinese, on the other hand, have long known that you don’t get something for nothing, and balance is the operative principle of cosmic destiny.

So, to ensure enough grain to sustain so many lives, something or someone had to pay the ultimate price.

Health Without Wealth

They say you can’t put a price on health – then they go ahead and make it as expensive as the market will possibly bear. Therein lies reason #917-b to love living in China; the market will bear significantly less price-gouging, even when it comes to health care.

Not so long ago, the average urban Chinese salary equaled what today’s average urban Chinese family spends at McDonald’s after junior’s English lesson. The average urban Chinese worker got a free apartment in a community built around his company, and that community included a health clinic. The clinics are still there, and since the late nineties, open to non-community members.

Ancient Chinese Strategy for Modern Chinese Life

Deception. Intrigue. Sacrificing friend and foe for victory. Such infamy defined what we now call China’s Warring States Era. Today, we don’t take ‘making a killing’ so literally, but ruthlessness is still the cardinal virtue for success, and outmaneuvering the most critical skill. Whereas today’s rap impresarios and other models of .45 caliber entrepreneurialism look to Hollywood for guidance (“First joo get da money. Den joo get da powah. Den joo get da women.”), ancient generals had The Thirty-Six Strategies.

The Five Rituals of Eternal Youth

That’s right. For taking the trouble to click on that link a moment ago, you are now going to be rewarded with the sacred rituals of eternal youth. Yet only unto the faithful is the miraculous bestowed. Do you believe that modern and ancient truths are not so very different?

It’s been more than a century since Einstein told us that matter is simply corrupted light, a multi-dimensional dance of energy fields. Still we persist in thinking of ourselves as discrete units of meat, bone, and blood. How about those seven ductless glands, the ones responsible for the secret juices which decide everything from how deep your voice is to which of your hairs turn gray first?

A Forgotten Present: Li Wei’s Inner Mongolia

 

Born 140 years ago, Edward S. Curtis came of age in a society that saw the camera as a symbol of modern times. But his passion for photography lay in chronicling the obsolete Native American culture. His calling drew ridicule, in a time when ‘red man’ was synonymous with ‘savage’. Today, his work remains a crucial link to an otherwise forgotten past.

In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan

How’s this for irony: you can instantly tell and show the world your travel adventures, but the fact that you can means there are no more travel adventures to be had. Travel bloggers try their best; bumpy bus rides passing for hardship, stage managed photo ops passing for encounters with natives.

For travel to change you, you have to go somewhere new. Now that you can buy a good burger in Shangri-la, what lost horizons remain to set our sights on?

Help for the Jaded

Master Liu - Buddhist first, jade merchant second

Master Liu wants you to know that jade is a lot more than pretty green rock. “Jade, to the Chinese, is like diamonds for you Westerners.” A devout Buddhist, Liu imparts an air of calm detachment. But once off on his subject, his livelihood, the jade trade, his fluttering hands and flashing eyes betray passion.

In China, Two Wheels Beat Four

Pity that China’s idea of playing catch up with the West means aping its pointless over-consumption, which is nowhere better exemplified than in the “one man, one vehicle” approach to transportation. True, there are few things more comfortable to occupy in a traffic jam than an Audi A8, watching the pedestrians pass you by. But what’s a time-strapped, sustainability-minded soul to do?

Subway and bus options are sensible but masochistic choices come warm weather, unless you have underdeveloped olfactory powers. Cycling is great exercise, but none of your colleagues will appreciate your toned hips and buns when you arrive to work sweatier than James Brown in a Santa Suit. Solution: get a two wheeler with a motor.