In these topsy-turvy times, it's oddly appropriate for a film like Slumdog Millionaire to storm its way nearly unobstructed to a Best Picture Oscar. One could argue that its massive success -- and subsequent backlash in certain media quarters -- represents the pinnacle of globalization -- or its nadir.

So...

What makes life in China so trying isn't the constant threat of melamine or even the wide chasm of cultural differences. It's that every perspective, regardless of how well -- or ill-informed it is, must contain multitudes, and in those multitudes, both chaos and clarity stand on equal footing. Take...

While the U.S. continues to usher in an era of economic sturm und drang, China faces its own transitional crisis: the age of post-Olympic discovery.

After all, while it's true that to the victor goes the spoils (51 gold medals is 51 gold medals is 51 gold medals), it's...

In my less-than-humble estimation, American media coverage of China tends to slant one of two ways: toward fat, happy and unquestioning globalization, or small-minded, unblinking provincialism. Both are born of dangerously naïve First World Entitlement -- it's not so much "we're better than you" as it is "we are the...