the new Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2025 feels like one of those rare hinge years—the kind that only become obvious in hindsight, but which you can feel while you’re living through them. Eighty years after the end of World War II, the world order born from that moment is quietly, then loudly, falling apart.ContinueContinue reading “2025: The Year the Postwar Order Broke”
Author Archives: Yego
Lil Miss Etcetera
Axia Etcetera One day, Etcetera came up to me and put her sweet face down on my lap. “Dad, tell me about Mommy.” I said, “Honey, I wish I could, but since you were never born, and thus do not exist, I wouldn’t know how.” Then, seeing the tenacity in her eyes — so muchContinueContinue reading “Lil Miss Etcetera”
Y si un día
The other day, Manuel Huamán, lying there quiet in the dark of his grave, saw brown little children dancing, moviéndose bonito, and a scruffy yellow dog running around trying to bite at the girls’ skirts. Looked like they were from his pueblo… or maybe from up in those Peruvian or Bolivian mountains, could be MexicoContinueContinue reading “Y si un día”
China-Hating Chinese
Three Types of China Haters Who Are Ethnically Chinese Over the past decade, I’ve encountered a strange breed of Chinese people—not dissidents, not reformists, not critics motivated by genuine concern, but China haters who are ethnically Chinese—people who are visibly Chinese, whose wealth, education, and career were made possible by China, yet who resent andContinueContinue reading “China-Hating Chinese”
The Fighting Cricket
The Fighting Cricket A story from Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio) During the Xuande reign, the palace grew fond of cricket fights and ordered the people to provide fighting crickets every year. These creatures weren’t native to the western parts, yet a magistrate in Huayin, eager to curry favor with his superiors,ContinueContinue reading “The Fighting Cricket”
You May in Me Behold
余作《阿霞依婼》既竟，经旬日而心犹未释。夫感物伤时，固性情之常，然余怀之郁结，殆有甚焉。昔留仙氏尝谓“自鸣天籁，有由然矣”，今乃深然其说。偶观莎翁诗，有 “That time of year…” 之咏，叹其萧瑟之情，暗合右军临文嗟悼之思。玩诵再四，因命笔译之。 晋谢安尝谓逸少曰：“中年以来，伤于哀乐，与亲友别，辄作数日恶。”羲之曰：“年在桑榆，自然至此。正赖丝竹陶写，恒恐儿辈觉，损其欢乐之趣。” 朝廷以其誓苦，亦不复征之。及中丞符坚闻其名，欲起为吏部郎，羲之初不应命，后遗书谢安曰：“吾老矣，不愿复为樊笼中人。” 吏部者，今之组织部是也；吏部郎者，组织部干事之谓。“吾老矣，不愿复为樊笼中人。”于此事，所谓吾与点也乎哉。曰若稽古。曰仁远乎哉吾欲仁斯仁至也。又曰：“唯女子欤？小人为难养也！”天之苍苍，其正色耶？其远而无所至极耶？其视下也，亦若是则已矣。年月日。 Sonnet 73 That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou see’st the twilight of such dayAs after sunset fadethContinueContinue reading “You May in Me Behold”
Axia: A Strange Tale from a Chinese Studio
A-Xia, from Volume 3 of Pu Songling’s classic Liaozhai Zhiyi, presented here in a complete English translation. In Wendeng there lived a man named Jingxing, known from youth for his good reputation. His neighbor was a certain Chen, the two houses separated only by a low wall. One evening Chen was passing through an abandonedContinueContinue reading “Axia: A Strange Tale from a Chinese Studio”
Axia Yiruo
1 Ah, once upon a time — 从前, autrefois — many years ago — 有一回, il y a bien des années, un jour, in the early summer, I was coming back to Kunming from the geological training school of the Bureau down in Lunan. I stood by a dusty country road waiting for the long-distanceContinueContinue reading “Axia Yiruo”
阿霞·依婼
哎，从前，autrefois，多年以前，many years ago，有一回， il y a bien des années, un jour，初夏时节，我从地质局在路南的地质干校回昆明，站在尘土飞扬的村路边等长途公共车。背直直的站着，手里捏着一本已经读了好几个月的书，身上穿着已经穿了好几天的衣服，皮鞋后跟上的钉子马掌，还是上次回城，让街边的浙江女鞋匠敲上的……点击文章标题👆阅读全文 ->
洋人的乏走狗
1. 我有时候去那个野树林子里走一走，满眼看见的都是树，大多笔直挺拔，有的则是歪八斜扭。我就想，为什么大多数树林子里的树，都是笔直挺拔，而有些树，天生下来就是歪的，骨子里就是坏的？世上真的是有坏种这种东西吗？
我刚上大学的时候，有一天……点击文章标题👆阅读全文 ->
Yego’s Chronicles 