Why China Bright?

In many ways America is like an island. The once confident residents of that island are now a bit confused. Manufacturing jobs are slipping away. The economy is stumbling. Credit card debt and the national debt both spiral out of control. The value of the dollar is sinking along with the rise in IOUs held by China and Japan. Endless war coupled with the failure to provide a system for national health care and the incapacity to support a crumbling infrastructure have Americans wondering who to blame and how we got in such bad shape.

Rather than take responsibility for problems here on the "island," some people prefer to ship the blame offshore as well. China-bashing has become a means to avoid looking inward at our own problems. It's easy for millions of Americans to rally behind the Dalai Lama over issues regarding Tibet while ignoring the crimes and ongoing injustice experienced by Native Americans and prisoners held without trial in Guantanamo. It seems schizophrenic to rage against the repressive government of China while Congress debates the ethics of water-boarding and the FBI issues over 200,000 letters demanding private information on citizens from our nation's libraries.

We live in a glass house on this island and should not throw stones.

While I launch this publishing effort coming from the dark side, this blog intends to alert people to the Bright side of China. It is a nation emerging from poverty. It is an ancient nation that can trace its history back more than 4,000 years. It is ruled by a one-party system in a different manner than most Americans know or understand. We have much to learn from and to share with China... if we can learn respect and listen to voices other than our own.