My take:
THE DINNER, by Herman Koch, begins a bit slowly but then progresses to a wonderful sardonic portrayal of the behaviour of the type of people who have money, reputation, fine clothes, perhaps a 'successful' political career, and a rather stupid narcissism, who maintain a deeply false image of themselves by walking into expensive restaurants and having waiters and restaurant managers grovel before them. I read about 50 pages and found myself laughing more and more at the very fine observations of behavior, then I took a nap, looking forward to the mounting ridiculousness of these clowns when I woke up. Then, when I woke up, I found that the nature of the story changed abruptly to very dark considerations of urban brutality and hypocrisy, and revelations about the, literally insane, violent characters, who are not at all what I had thought they were - with continuing spurts of absurd, dark, violent humor. I did nothing that day but read this fine novel, beginning to end - I found it as much of a page-turner as any good detective story, except that it was brilliant, original and a really significant contribution to anyone interested in modern urban life and the hollow pretensions and dangers of the stupidly rich and famous.
Example: psychotic man beating school principal to a pulp, looks up to find he is being watched by many students, spots his son, waves and smiles, without stopping.
Herman Koch is a very fine, observant, intelligent writer.
The next book club meeting will be on Wednesday, November 15, 18:30, at The Park. The book will be SEX AT DAWN, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, available (VPN needed) from docs.google.com (downloadable) and, apparently, elsewhere.
The Kunming Book Club has a wechat group in which many regular attendees participate, but is open to all. Readings, locations and times of meets are chosen by attendees. New participants welcome.
Kunming begins anti-polio drive
发布者"...Yunnan's rural areas - where health care is not as universal..."
And one looks around Kunming and sees where all the new money goes...seems to me that the economic system and administration have built in, bad priorities.
Beijing to manage entirety of Yangtze River Basin
发布者Problem is indeed massive, but ships are leaking everywhere. As for foodscams & the morality related, I don't think they will resemble civil war, nor do I think that the polluted Yangtze does either - though we're talking about 400 million people and something indeed needs to be done. I hope the central government is as serious as they say they are, but it's a big leak to plug and, yes, one has to wonder if they're up to it. Anyway, the metaphor of a leaking ship implies an absolute win/lose situation for all on board, and I don't think it's likely to turn out that way any time soon. I doubt if all the leaks will ever be completely plugged, here or anywhere - they never have - but that's no reason to stop trying.
Beijing to manage entirety of Yangtze River Basin
发布者@Peter99: Well, okay, but I have a feeling that this may finally be something more than a 'national ethic campaign'. I'm not sure what you mean by a 'backup plan'.
Beijing to manage entirety of Yangtze River Basin
发布者@Pter99, I understand what you mean about 'campaigns' in China, but I think this one may well be different. I think this is necessary and I don't think it's too late for something to be done. Seems to me it's a good idea, but I hope they carry this out in a manner that involves more than just consulting with local bureaucrats and the heads of local enterprises, who are, largely, part of the problem.
Beijing told Yunnan's cultural heritage "vanishing"
发布者You cannot 'preserve' cultures - however, you can allow authority/power/control over the changes that all cultures inevitably go through to lie in the hands of those who are affected by them, rather than in the hands of some social-engineering outside force, which will have its own agenda (for example: promotion of Chinese nationalism; tourist profits; propaganda; etc.).