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Driving in China (and why I’ll never do it)
Driving in China is like going on a suicide mission. Every day, I am at the mercy of audacious taxi drivers and reckless bus drivers. Some might call them valiant; I call them foolhardy. Most in China accept it as ‘normal.’ But the fact is these dare devils put our lives at risk every day.
A visit to a Wenzhou shoe factory
By the time we arrived at a quarter past 12, the factory had already produced nearly 900 pairs of shoes. On the third floor of the factory there were at least 60 people spread out across the assembly line that day, the rhythm and energy in the room focused on piecing together a white, knotted sling-back flat sandal. The Jade Bamboo shoe factory, one of thousands in the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou, produced women’s footwear for export all around the world, from Tanzania to Paris to the Ukraine.
A Japanese-Canadian odyssey
Jack Nakamoto, a 90-year-old Second World War veteran, has written a new book. “Jack’s Japonica” is a collection of several hundred short essays, an informative and entertaining read for those interested in all things Japanese, from table manners, to tofu burgers, to square-shaped watermelons.
Salt
There is widespread panic across China today – people are rushing to buy as much kitchen salt as they can. Stores are raising their prices to cash in on the frenzy, meanwhile consumers continue to buy in bulk.
What’s with all the fireworks?
The New York Times has an interesting piece today on fireworks during the Chinese New Year – about the many accidents across the country in which people are hurt and buildings are burned to the ground. ...
My story this week for CMAJ: China struggles to rebuild mental health programs
The anomaly is striking. At least a dozen workers leapt to their death in same factory compound in southern China in 2010, while nearly 30 people died and 80 were injured in a spate of school stabbings. Yet, contrary to instinct, there is little evidence to confirm that there has been a rapid rise in the rate of mental illnesses in China, and strong evidence of a dramatic drop in suicide rates over the past two decades…
Breaking away from “Narrative Fallacy”
Hi readers, my latest story for the Canadian Medical Association Journal (see previous blog post) is long. But it’s a good read. Most importantly, there’s no bull shit. I am a trained breaking news reporter. ...