Some of the innovations in China are surreal and others are adaptations of previously released concepts with a local twist.

Beijing. I’m back! It has been 48 days since my last visit and the government came out to greet me.  Well not just me—I’m not that important.

Beijing slipped into Shanghai’s clothes, and they don’t fit. There’s no soul, just a lot of shine. There was something quite sad about this week. Maybe it was just that I was hungry, or because I felt so desperately dependent and marginalized.

I was in China for a bit over two weeks. The first working on a Quest for Leaders’ Quest and the second, a mix of personal travel and a visit to a remote village with our fellows—young people who are trained by Leaders’ Quest to bridge the rural/urban divide in China.

In four days and five nights I had a chance to reacquaint myself with China, which continues to provide deep brain stimulation every time I try to decode its intricate layers of history, hidden jokes, and enduring poetry.