I sat in my cousin’s living room in the Chinese city of Hang Zhou, sipping a chilled Chinese Coke. When asked about his school, perhaps out of a lack of more compelling topics, he replied by bringing out packet after packet of homework, each one seemingly thicker than the last. He was only in the sixth grade, yet his daily dose of homework nearly tripled mine.

Teaching English in Thailand

In a stuffy classroom near Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, students ranging from 5 to 15 years old blurted out various animals as guesses to a round of animal charades between waves of laughter. The boy at the front of the room, who was acting out an elephant, brought his arm up to his face to mimic the elephant’s trunk. “Ostrich. Giraffe. ELEPHANT!” the other students shouted.

“Why does China produce so many clever people, but so few geniuses?”

The world may never know if Chinese rocket scientist Qian Xuesen asked such a question with tongue-in-cheek humor or sincere concern. However, Xuesen’s speculations carry weight on the present and future.

Most of us have allowed some insignificant dilemma escalate into a massive problem. This is potentially the situation in the latest schism between China and Japan.

At first glance, undervalued Chinese currency might seem like a serious advantage for America's economy. However, it is part of the reason the economy has not gotten better.

Luo Lin had never felt more relieved. As medical workers, soldiers and overzealous journalists stormed the countryside of Xianing County in the Chinese province of Shanxi, Lin, the head of China's State Administration for Work Safety (SAWS) was at a loss for words. When reporters interviewed him about his sentiments regarding the state of SAWS and questioned his performance in the capacity, the man was noticeably less perceptive than similarly grueling press interviews he had participated in.

The recent release of the multi-billion dollar movie "Avatar" has become the highest grossing movie of all time but it has also sparked controversy from varied interest groups around the globe.

The blue men with golden stripes. The lush, beautiful, and green environment. It seems like the Na'vi's world in the movie is a paradise to be envied—especially since here on Earth, the innocent world is under fire for about every controversy there could be about a movie.

In the 12 years since it was founded, Google Inc. has grown from a garage-based search engine into an internationally recognized cloud-computing giant, yet the company is contemplating a bold step in the opposite direction, abandoning its business in China because of a China-based cyber attack on its intellectual property and continued frustration over government censorship.

Google's decision may seem rash and illogical, but it is a calculated move. The company's ostensibly philanthropic attempt to bring free speech to China seems to be shrouding an ulterior mercantile motive.