World History

It'll be here too for a while in the history caves.

I think the dynamic of mistrust is even more powerful with our relationship with China than with the Soviet Union. It was much more long-running and in an ironic sort of twist I'm not sure that there isn't some association of the American intervention in defense of Nationalist China with Japanese invasion - we are both seen as "barbarians - very loosely)," unwelcome guests. Perhaps this is changing among the Chinese populace as we come into direct contact and knowledge of Western ideals such as freedom of religion and democracy clash with the traditional notions held close to vest by the PRC bureaucracy. However, I think we are still looking at an uphill struggle in much of China toward a popular movement in a pro-American direction. Admit it: for all the talk about how foreigners dislike Americans, we can be very lovable and the ideals of our revolution have swept the world in one form or another. The very idea of representative government without the pretense of rulers, and the concurrent debates over how we've put such ideals into effect, remains a very compelling symbolism for billions of people in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian#Chinese_culture

This looks interesting: http://www.amazon.com/One-Billion-Customers-Lessons-Business/dp/074325841X/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325286555&sr=1-12

Now I just want to go spend a year teaching in China - although if I struggled mightily to learn French I don't think I'm going to learn Mandarin.