My China Kanfa.....China on My Mind

For all you Young Bucks out there, I say again.   If you are still insisting on marrying China Girl, you need to get straight once and for all the relationship between YOU and China Girl’s MOM.    And if you speak Mandarin, this is an especially important thing for you to do. Because one cannot just sit at the dinner table and with a straight face listen day in and day out to China   M&L   steadily knock you down.     There are some types of China M&L you will just never, ever satisfy.   I have one of them. She will verbally knock you in the vehicle while driving.    In the living room.     After dinner.   In her sleep.   And especially when talking to her friends.   Imagine knowing the little Mahjong Get Together upstairs is centered not on how much is won or lost, but on how your pathetic excuse for a human carcass is both inadequate and not fit for breathing Earth’s precious oxyg...

Those of us crazy about China understan d the importance of learning Mandarin.  We never consider it a “maybe” or “someday” box to check off at our leisure.  Those of us lucky enough to have been seduced by the sheer innocence and mystery of the Heavenly Kingdom before it was overwhelmed by capitalism (thankfully) will remember the thrill of having learned Mandarin.  But learning Mandarin in one’s home country is only a “so-so” experience.   If only because of the “home” environment we are in.  We only speak Chinese in class.  And even than we have to compete with our classmates in order to do so.   And once class is over, well…..back to our native tongue.  Chinese overseas have the habit of also speaking to you in your native language.   (Please understand, there is no way a barbarian can ever learn “our language”.) It is hard to speak to Chinese in America in Mandarin.  By force of habit they alre...

Better the enemy you know than the foe you do not. I give you Trump, Taiwan and the difference between Hillary. Previously I had written that Trump’s “gift” if you will is his very, very scary unpredictability.  Hillary is a cold bitch but professionally predictable. Trump is the loose cannon nobody wants.   He’s the one the relatives hope doesn’t give a speech at the wedding.   It is loose cannon’s that start wars and do not bother with the niceties of accountability.    Sure, people will look upon him with bemused contempt and condescension.   But now he is President, folks. The lazy thing is to say the masses have spoken.   Except they have not.   HRC won the damn election.   But Trump is a very robust breeze of fresh air.   He will do more than wreck the forest.   He will rampage through every recognized post WW2 norm and nicety, blindfold with a chainsaw, drunk on self delusion.     By the time hi...