Fall 2021
Compassion comes naturally
Veterinarian Min Liu brings heart and honors her mentor in her work with animals. » More ...
China
Fall 2021
How Chinese pioneers helped build the Pacific Northwest
While Chinese immigrants were generally welcomed in the Inland Northwest, some faced a most harsh reality. » More ...
Fall 2021
China’s First Hundred
In 1872 thirty young Chinese boys landed in San Francisco to begin a ten-year period of education in the colleges and technical institutions of the United States. These students and the others who followed them returned to their homeland as the first Chinese to receive an extensive education in Western technology and ideas.
“China’s First Hundred,” as they were called, built China’s first railroads, developed China’s mines, constructed a nationwide system of telegraph lines, became naval officers in an attempt to modernize China’s navy, and took a prominent part in the events leading to the Revolution of 1911.
In his book, China’s First Hundred: Educational … » More …
Spring 2020
Mao’s Kisses: A novel of June 4, 1989
Alex Kuo
Redbat Books, 2019
Deng Xiaoping learned to play bridge in the early 1950s. Little did he realize that appropriating state transportation to take him and his team to tournaments would result in the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and his being transported far from Beijing for reeducation through manual labor.
But Deng wasn’t just a Goren Prize-winning bridge player. He was, after his rehabilitation, China’s paramount leader during a time of civil crisis. The spring of 1989 brought … » More …
Winter 2015
A reading from shanghai.shanghai.shanghai
Washington State University emeritus professor and author Alex Kuo reads from his 2015 novel shanghai.shanghai.shanghai.
Winter 2015
Triple Shanghai
Alex Kuo’s writing confronts censorship both explicit and hidden
In a pivotal moment from Alex Kuo’s new novel shanghai.shanghai.shanghai, several Chinese card players watch a team of Americans publicly disavow George W. Bush’s administration in front of an international audience. Struck by the brazen criticism, a pickpocket known as Bogota Man questions how such anti-government opinions could ever be voiced openly.
He contends that political dissent in China can mean life in solitary confinement. A friend quickly responds that in America the defiant act of protest is more likely to be completely ignored.
“I’m not sure which is worse,” she says.
Fall 2015
Briefly noted
New media by WSU alumni and faculty noted in the Fall 2015 issue. » More ...
Fall 2012
The China Connection
Business professor Jerman Rose first went to China in 1995 as part of a Washington State University hospitality program to train hotel managers in the Shangri La Hotel Group. Recognizing the growing opportunity for business students from both China and the United States, he decided to learn Chinese and look for an academic partner for WSU’s international business program.
By 1998 he had helped establish a relationship with Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Almost 15 years later, says Rose, the college has established a WSU Center at SWUFE and facilitated many undergraduate, graduate, and faculty exchanges.
For Rose, the … » More …
Winter 2011
The Man Who Dammed the Yangtze: A Mathematical Novel
Alex Kuo
Haven Books, 2011
Ge and G, mathematicians in northern China and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, respectively, navigate parallel academic paths at the beginning of this unique and challenging novel by WSU English professor Alex Kuo. The two characters don’t know each other, but their lives reflect a common experience over the course of 30 years.
The Chinese woman Ge and Chinese-American man G share a disgust for the emptiness of their teaching and the revolutions … » More …
Fall 2011
A Chinaman’s Chance
Alex Kuo
Wordcraft of Oregon, 2011
WSU English professor Alex Kuo’s newest collection of poetry, A Chinaman’s Chance: New and Selected Poems 1960-2010, will sadden, fascinate, and unexpectedly jar its readers into a fresh perspective of the sometimes terrifying world that we live in. This collection of Kuo’s poems provides a nice poetic balance, as readers are able to experience lyrical, narrative, and prose poetry all in the same book. Kuo’s writing conveys ideas about … » More …