Travels in China Category

From my point of view, one of the greatest developments in China during the last decade or two is the emergence of free marketplaces such as Panjiayuan in Beijing.   Or should I say re-emergence.   For the Chinese people have long been some of the most astute buyers and sellers on the face of the earth.  These impulses were severely curtailed during several decades of the twentieth century thanks to Mao Zedong’s Communist reforms, which discouraged private ownership of goods and property.   

Those days are long gone.  Panjiayuan is proof that capitalism flourishes in modern China.  Every weekend, an estimated 50,000 people visit Panjiayuan, possibly the world’s largest…

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Chen Lulan’s Abacus Museum                                                                                                                             

When I look at an abacus, I see a framework containing rods that hold moveable beads.  But are they really beads?  Or are they just small objects that happen to have holes in them to make counting easier?  

As someone whose assumptions are influenced by an intense interest in beads and beadwork, I would suggest that the answer is “both.” 

But I’m not so sure that Madame Chen Lulan of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, would agree.  And she is by far the greater authority on abacus history, theory, and practice, especially as it relates to China. …

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