Whither Tokyo’s Summer Olympics?
Will the games come off next year as planned or will this be 1940 all over again?
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Tough grrls
Civilization may have given men the upper hand for millennia as they lorded it over women politically, economically and physically, but in the natural world, the females of the various species still call the shots. So what’s that got to do with all the single young women in China?
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Glittery time
Graff trends in new timepieces.
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A paean to the peony
The varied peony has become a protean metaphor, including for healing after violence.
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The lure of the thunder dragon
Audrey Ronning Topping was 10 years old when she heard the song “Faraway Places” and knew it was beckoning her. Now, eight-decades later, those “faraway places” are wonderful memories. Among the most wonderful memories and strangest-sounding-name was that of Bhutan, Kingdom of The Thunder Dragon, so she had to go.
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China’s heavenly eye
China’s new Mandate of Heaven lies in astronomy, specifically the new 500-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope.
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China’s shadow play
Once banned under the Communists, the beloved folk art form of shadow puppetry has enjoyed a resurgence in China.
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Journey along the Eighth Wonder of the World
With China creating a New Silk Road, Seymour Topping recalls a moment in the not-too-distant past when he and journalist-wife Audrey traveled along the treacherously beautiful Karakorum Highway that links Pakistan and China.
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Dynasties and dust: The Met’s new ‘Age of Empires’
WAG’s resident Sinologist, Audrey Ronning Topping, considers the ruthless magnificence of the Qin and Han Dynasties – and the fleeting nature of empire – in a new Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit.
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Bye bye, Bao Bao
After six days of goodbye events, including a dumpling party and heart-shaped ice cake feedings, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai…
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Unique designs in the Kingdom of The Thunder Dragon
Every nation creates its own distinctive culture expressed in its literature, music, art, architecture and design, which is usually inspired by the surrounding environs. …
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Vintage valentines
A rickshaw full of red roses delivered to a beautiful young woman living in Nanking, China, nearly 70 years ago was the catalyst for…
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In China, charity begins at home
Despite its legion of 569 billionaire titans now topping the U.S.’ 537 billionaires, China has comparatively few charity organizations or private philanthropic donors. One…
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An encounter worthy of Shelley
“Art for art’s sake” is the theme that motivates most contemporary artists. Yet paradoxically, much of history’s most striking classical artwork has been created…
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Robots in China
Perhaps the most fashionable figures in China today are enhanced robots. These romanticized jiqiren, meaning “mechanical people,” dispense basic advice in banks in high,…
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Disney and China blend cultures in new resort
Just when Western tourists feel they have experienced all the historical sights worth seeing in China, Shanghai comes up with a spectacular attraction that…
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Moonstruck
To this day, when I bite into a mooncake, I taste and feel the magic of the Moon Festivals I celebrated as a student…
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Journey between two Chinas: The Battle of the Huaihai
Written by Seymour Topping During my years as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and later The New York Times, I traveled to…
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Chinese Reaganomics
Written by Seymour Topping Reading the news out of Beijing nowadays, you may very well be puzzled as to what philosophy is guiding the…
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Life of Pei
In November 1971, shortly after I returned from a journalistic assignment to China, I was surprised to receive a phone call from I.M. Pei. I was thrilled. I knew…
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