China/Divide. I Will Keep My Wits About Me.

I long ago created an arbitrary rule saying that I would not put a blog onto our blogroll until it had been around for at least three months. I instituted this rule after raving about a brand new blog, putting it on the blogroll, and then having it never put out another post. So never again, though I have to admit I at least thought long and hard about it today.

The blog that nearly caused me to lose my head is China/Divide and though it is brand spanking new, what got me all aflutter are the people behind it and its stated mission. The people behind it are Stan Abrams, whose China Hearsay blog has always been one of my favorites. Charles Custer, who has been banging out great stuff for quite some time over at the China Geeks blog he founded. And Kai Pan, the lead writer over at CnReviews, yet another truly top-flight China blog. I have to believe that any blog combining these three really thoughtful people will be superb. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these three people have produced some of the deepest, most thought-provoking blog posts out there on China.

And I love their mission statement:

China/divide is a group blog three incredibly awesome guys started to write socio-political commentary on modern China issues, how China relates to the world, and how the world relates to China.

Still here? Wow, okay…well, china/divide is also a place to escape from the wingnuts, from the rabid Chinese hyper-nationalists that think the world is out to keep China down on one side, and from the annoying self-righteous foreigners that think China is the definition of pure evil on the other. We like to think of ourselves as moderates, as being in the middle of this divide.

We’re middlenuts.

Which is fine, because we want to be reasonable and fair, to think critically about complicated problems, to challenge misconceptions and prejudices, and to recognize the good points whenever and wherever they are made.

So yeah, china/divide is us sharing what we’re interested in, what we know, and what we think. But it’s also a place for anyone genuinely interested in having interesting, intelligent, and honest conversations about China and all the insanity that surrounds it. If that sounds like you, we welcome you to share your comments with us and get involved in our discussions and debates.

Power to the middlenuts!