CHINA ARTICLES: by Brian Hennessy
On understanding the local environment
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. October 8, 2010 Download Brian's e-Book, Culture Shock in China: a guide for foreigners on cultural adaptation, on the Toolbar above. On understanding the local environment China is an ancient, complex, and culturally strong society with its own ways of doing things. Ways which are sometimes difficult for a foreigner to understand. It [...]
On corruption
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. October 8, 2010 Download Brian's eBook, Culture Shock in China: a guide for foreigners on cultural adaptation, on the Toolbar above. On corruption The 'squeeze'. Everybody says they deplore it, but everybody participates in it to varying degrees. They have no choice. Some folk minimise its importance, or even deny its existence. But [...]
Will the real China please stand up
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. September 30, 2010 Will the real China please stand up. International player On September 23, 2010, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Premier Wen said that China was a peace-loving nation and a responsible member of the international community. He pledged that China would firmly take the [...]
Kangding
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. 2007, 2009, 2010. Kangding. West Sichuan. Kangding is a place where mainstream Han Chinese influence gives way to a more noticeable minority Tibetan culture. An historic small town where tea from Ya'an in China used to be exchanged for yak hides and herbs from Tibet. Once a trading town and cultural [...]
Litang
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. 2006, 2007, 2008, & 2010 Litang. Litang is the heart of Khamba culture in this eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. The centre of the old kingdom of Kham. The inhabitants, although Tibetan, have their own character and history. They are a wild, proud lot. Noted for their independence and warrior spirit, [...]
Langzhong
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. August, 2009 Langzhong This 2,300 year old city is the genuine article. Located in the northeastern part of Sichuan Province in southwest China, Langzhong is a five hour journey by bus from the nearby capital cities of Chengdu and Chongqing. This is the heartland of the ancient kingdom of Shu, [...]
On China and Confucianism
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. September 19, 2010 Download Brian's eBook, Culture Shock in China: a guide for foreigners on cultural adaptation, on the Toolbar above. On China and Confucianism. China's cultural environment is radically different from western cultural environments. Although China can boast of the longest continuous civilisation on earth (4000-5000 years), at no time [...]
On coping with life in China
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, China. September 18, 2010 Download Brian's eBook, Culture Shock in China: a guide for foreigners on cultural adaptation, on the Toolbar above. Coping with life in China: contradictions China is contradiction. While on the one hand China presents herself as an outward looking developing nation proud of her new economic strength and rising international [...]
Watching China
Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, CHINA. August 12, 2010 Watching China Recently, a two-star Chinese General, Liu Yazhou, warned the Communist Party and his People’s Liberation Army colleagues that, “China must either embrace US-style democracy or accept Soviet-style collapse.” He continued: ''If a system fails to let its citizens breathe freely and release their creativity to [...]
Yangtze River in flood
By Brian Hennessy. Chongqing, CHINA. July 20, 2010 Yangtze River in flood. The mighty Yangtze River and its tributaries are in flood. The worst rains in over 10 years have sent torrents of water rushing down a 6300 kilometre journey from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Shanghai on the coast. Throughout history, these seasonal floods have [...]