Chinese Obama Notebooks

On the front page of today’s New York Times, accompanying an article about the President’s visit to China: “A Beijing store is selling notebooks with an image of President Obama, who arrives in China for a three-day visit on Sunday.” What a nice way to celebrate the occasion.

A Chinese Diary, 1980

When I was about 8 years old, I went with my grandmother once to the office where she’d worked. One of her friends there took a liking to me, and for several years afterwards, we kept in touch through short cards and letters. A few years ago, the friend, whose name was Lucy, returned some [...]