Year of the Snake

Last January I posted a list of resources on teaching Chinese New Year, so here's an update on websites and listings.

• Chinese New Year -- or Lunar New Year? The Wikipedia article Chinese New Year is long and detailed,  with history and many customs. Here's a sampling to browse through:

•  A quick rundown of the history of "Spring Festival" as defined by Chinese governments over the last century by Jeremiah Jenne:  Why do we call it “Spring Festival”?

• Colorful links on celebration of Lunar New Year around the world, collected by University of Southern California: US-China Institute Happy New Years! 

• A teacher for an American study abroad group in Beijing gives you an idea of how some Chinese celebrate:  Staying Safe During Spring Festival: A Teacher’s Advice to his Students 
   
• The new Council on Foreign Relation blog, Asia Unbound, has an insightful piece on the need for reform in policies in the countryside: Tim Hanstad: A Prosperous New Year for China’s Farmers

• A few stories from Hong Kong, again, some of them a little wild: Year of the Snake Draws Hisses  

• Happy New Year of the Snake  Harvard-Yenching Library posts a bunch of snake images from around the world, including a wonderful Japanese Snake Charmer with a flute: 
 

 

• One more, from the History in the Headlines China Series (lots of other postings), by Jesse Greenspan, a nicely done set of basic information, especially useful about how the celebration has changed -- today's youth would rather text and play video games:  8 Things You Should Know About Chinese New Year

The Nail House and China's Construction Bubble

For insight -- literally "sight into" -- China's construction bubble, see the story in the British paper, the Daily Mail last November," Won't sell up? Enjoy living in the middle of a motorway! Road is built around a house after elderly Chinese couple refuse to move" (click the link).

It's got a series of photos which tell both of the construction boom and of the stubbornness of some people in resisting it.

Confucius in the Headlines? Well, Almost

I've posted a piece at Frog in a Well called Ungraded Love or Double Standards? Stanley Fish, Stephen Asma, and Confucius which comments on a few recent op-ed articles in the NY Times. I point out that the arguments have much in common with the arguments Confucius and his critics had.

I'd like to get your comments and thought there.