China in the Mainstream Media

As someone who remains constantly fascinated by China, I'm always keeping my eyes open for interesting news about every aspect of Chinese society. China is receiving more and more coverage in the mainstream Western media these days as it continues to grow and prosper and as more Westerners realize just how important and fascinating a country China is.

Time recently named a number of China's movers and shakers to its 2010 "Time 100" list: J.T. Wang, Bo Xilai, Robin Li, Jet Li, and Han Han—interesting and influential people, all. These days, it's increasingly true that anyone who's an important figure in China is an important figure in the world.

Time also recently released its 2010 "Best of Asia" list, in which China figures prominently, of course. I sometimes have a hard time finding good non-leather shoes, so I bought a pair of Feiyue shoes right after reading this article and doing a little research on Amazon!

Expo 2010 is also getting quite a bit of exposure in the Western media, including this MSNBC World Blog article. (There's also a great Expo slideshow linked to the article.)

The New York Times has also prominently featured some interesting China-related articles recently, including this fascinating piece about the sometimes disconcerting experiences of teachers from Mainland China participating in a program that allows them to teach in American schools. Unsurprisingly, the number of American schools offering Chinese language courses is on the rise, a phenomenon that the Times asked a number of experts to write about here. This article, on the other hand, is about the simultaneous efforts to both eradicate and document (and, in some cases, actually preserve) instances of "Chinglish" (also known by the more inclusive term "Engrish") in Shanghai's public places. (See this slideshow for some amusing signage featured on the Times website.)

In the near future I'll be more actively updating this blog with more stories, photos, and video from my travel experiences in China. In the meantime, happy reading!