Category Archives: Culture

“Don’t Read Books!” A 12th-Century Zen Poem

by Maria Popova

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“It’s annoying for others to have to hear you.” Continue reading →

THE PEKING MAN DELUSION

Monday, September 23, 2013 | BY: YUAN REN

While waves were sent thrashing through the intellectual world in 1987 as DNA evidence hailed a woman Continue reading →

How Can a Gentleman Appear Well-Read?

JULY 30 2014 4:01 PM

By Troy Patterson

Please send your questions for publication to [email protected]. (Questions may be edited.)

What is the easiest way for me to become, or at least to appear to be, well-read?

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Troy Patterson.
Photo by Christina Paige

Thanks for your question.

The easiest way to appear to Continue reading →

Finding George Orwell in Bangkok

August 5, 2014 9:00 pm JST

EMMA LARKIN, Contributing writer

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George Orwell’s classic novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” which describes a surveillance society, was first published 65 years ago. © Reuters

BANGKOK — It is a Saturday afternoon and I am wandering Continue reading →

Q. and A.: Jen Lin-Liu on Noodles and Their Origins

By AMY QIN AUGUST 5, 2014 6:00 PMAugust 6, 2014 3:38 pm 2 Comments

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A noodle maker shows off his skills in a pulled noodle restaurant in Lanzhou.Credit The New York Times

While the legend that Marco Polo introduced Continue reading →

The Mysterious Case of the Park Poet

JULY 28, 2014

BY ABIGAIL DEUTSCH

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Fort Tryon Park, 1955.
CREDIT PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE ENELL/ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY.
During a recent stroll in Fort Tryon Park, Continue reading →

‘Good Chinese Wife’ Wrings Insight From a Bad Gig

8:00 am HKT Jul 31, 2014

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By Maura Cunningham

“I thought I knew what I was getting into,” Continue reading →

Writing, New and Old

Posted on July 31, 2014 by mauracunningham

No blogging here recently because I am in full-on DISSERTATION MODE as I careen down the home stretch. Ten days to go before I have to deliver the finished product to my committee—I’ll make it
Continue reading →