I’ve noticed a few interesting things lately. First, last Sunday, while we were with the children, my son mentioned, “Today is 秋分” (qiū fēn), the Autumn Equinox. It’s the time of year when day and night are nearly equal, marking the midpoint of autumn. In the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, it’s one of the 24 solar terms. What made this particularly interesting was that it was the first time he identified a solar term.
Second, after being diagnosed with shingles, I stopped strength training for about five or six weeks and only resumed yesterday. It was disheartening to see how much strength I had lost—I used to handle a 12-lb dumbbell with ease, but now it's a struggle for me. This experience reminded me of the Chinese saying, 拳不离手，曲不离口 (quán bù lí shǒu, qǔ bù lí kǒu), meaning "A martial artist must keep practicing his punches, and a singer must keep practicing her songs." It highlights the importance of constant practice in maintaining skills, here my muscles. Naturally, after weeks without training, some regression was expected.
Lastly, I came across an intriguing post by Shaun Rein, the author of several books on China. He wrote on social media, “I’m sick of hearing what people hate about China on LinkedIn. What do you love? Let me start with two: I love being able to walk anywhere, anytime at night without fear for my safety. I also love how much the infrastructure has improved over the past 20 years. Although I own cars, I prefer taking the subway because it’s cheap, clean, and convenient.”
His post received over 800 responses. People shared what they love about China, mentioning things like safety, food, high-speed transportation, fast internet, vibrant culture, historical depth, humor, clean metros, and the overall ease of living. One person noted how spontaneous life feels in China—compared to Europe, where events require planning far in advance, in China, things can often be arranged within minutes, sometimes get done even on the same day of request.
This made me reflect on the old saying, “No news is good news,” which suggests that if something is reported in the media, it’s usually bad news. Good news, it seems, is not deemed newsworthy because people supposedly aren’t interested in it.
But here, despite people's usual inclination toward bad news, I was surprised by the overwhelming number of positive comments. It seems that people are drawn not just to negativity, but to what resonates as true for them—authenticity and the genuine values they hold dear. When asked, "What do you love about China?" the truth is, there’s plenty of love to be shared. This gives me hope, knowing that, despite the dominance of anti-China MSM in America, people still value truth.