Isham Cook's Blog: Isham Cook, page 16

How to have fun in China’s disposable cities

Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of the [Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development], said during an industry forum that Chinese buildings can only stand for between 25 and 30 years. In contrast, the average life expectancy of a building in Britain is … Continue reading →

The apology. A short story

“We have a question about China’s ethnic groups–” “Minority Nationalities, not ethnic groups.” “I know. That’s what’s confusing us. A display in the museum said there are both 56 Minority Nationalities and 56 ethnic groups. How could that be? One … Continue reading →

The exact unknown. A short story

Darkness had fallen and the red glow of my paper lantern was taking over. Jingfang had clearly not come to my office for business but was hanging out. Usually they don’t start stopping by till later in the semester, after … Continue reading →

The persistent. A short story

There’s an old piece of lore that you can get your way with any woman by being persistent. “Don’t give up” and “just keep on trying” was the regular advice I received to help me along the Sisyphean task of … Continue reading →

The Chinese university: A primer for prospective foreign teachers

1. By way of analogy Let’s imagine a dystopian turn of events where the Far Right in the USA got the upper hand, and I mean really got the upper hand and took power, and once in power rammed through an … Continue reading →

The poverty of the institutional imagination: The case of Beijing’s moats and canals

1. Beijing’s lost water transportation system The major river in the Beijing area, the Yongding River (1 on map), was originally too fast and prone to flooding to afford urban habitation, so the city was built some ten kilometers northeast … Continue reading →

Multiply, cascade, explode: A theory of literary fiction

1. Texture Let’s take Franz Kafka as a starting point for doing literary analysis. Kafka attracts interest for a host of qualities: the originality of his macabre vision, his premonitions of totalitarian state bureaucracy, his inimitable dreamlike style. These qualities … Continue reading →

Questioning China’s “5,000 years” master trope

The name “China” straddles two different entities, Zhongguo (中國), the Chinese state, and Zhonghua (中華), the Chinese nation. The state, i.e., the Chinese Mainland, consists of one dominant ethnic group, the Han, and 50 or so non-Han ethnicities or “Minority … Continue reading →

A modest proposal regarding sex work: Why all sex should be paid for

Baoyuan Dumpling Restaurant in Maizidian, the old “wheat sellers” street in Beijing. This neighborhood, near the city’s embassy district, hosts the largest concentration of massage parlors within the city, both good and bad (many more such establishments can be found … Continue reading →