The “Best of Asia Healthcare Blog” and I’m done with blogging *regularly for a while

Today I bid an open-ended adieu to Asia Healthcare Blog.

Blogging at AHCB for almost two years  has afforded me many opportunities to meet fine people, and has been a formative experience in my personal life, as well.     Reader and blogger community feedback has imbued me with a full range of emotions, from the gratification of occasionally being recognized as a good writer on down to the indignant fury only a comments section full of wingnuts can provoke.

I know it has helped co-blogger James Flanagan figure out some career choices, as well.  Our partnership (I speak of it only briefly here, since this is not a forever goodbye) has truly been a productive one: I never would have been able to write as much as I had if James wasn’t constantly fixing the inner workings of our site.   We’ve made some great discoveries together and even broken some stories.  In all, we’ve put up over 250 articles, and tallied 200,000+ words.

This year, instead of regularly writing AHCB articles, I will be focusing on my first year of law school, and have decided it best to set aside as many other commitments as possible during that time.  I am assured by those wiser than me that my interests will still be there after 1L is over.

Of course, I can’t give up writing all together.  I plan to write for AHCB occasionally as well as  contribute to china/divide since it is a group blog and doesn’t depend on my efforts alone to maintain readership.  I also plan to continue writing narrative fiction and will likely post a reworked and more complete version of my first very successful piece, The Guy: A Conman Living in Beijing.  It’s hard to believe that this will mean less writing, but it does.   Again, however, I will not be writing regularly on this blog.

The reason I am bothering to write a goodbye post at all is three fold.  First, I’d like to bring some level of closure to this project, and give a heads up to regular readers.  It has been two years, after all.  Second, I spent considerable time researching and then composing many of the articles on this site and I think that many of them are worthy of a second look so I wanted to do a ‘best of’ post.  Third, I don’t want this site to die this year, and so by leaving this up for nine months or so as a ‘sticky’ post I hope to still have the option to pick it up at a later point when I have more bandwidth to work with.

So, goodbye to readers and blogger/writer friends for now, and please refer to the below list for what I consider  AHCB’s “best of”, though I believe that many additional articles on this site are of a very high quality.  Not all of these pieces are my own: the list includes contributions from Samuel Green, Bradley Hoath, Ninie Wang and Paul Steele.

p.s. – This may or may not be my version of a Jay-Z retirement album.

How China is Shaping North Carolina’s Future: A Shotgun Romance,

AND

How China is Shaping North Carolina’s Future, Part II: Learning From Our Neighbors

I consider these two North Carolina pieces my best efforts at real reporting.

Part I:

“Far from a match made in Wall Street heaven, Chinese and North Carolinian business norms and strategies often run counter to one another. For one thing, the rationality governing the respective approach of either party when it comes to business deals is diametrically opposed. The Chinese are steeped in two thousand years of Confucian business practice where winner takes all, and the highest positioned is the winner; North Carolinians are more apt to serve sweet tea and talk golf while sitting at a round table. For another, the market focus of Chinese multinationals is bound to be centered on a China-first, developing markets second, strategy. Employees of North Carolina based Chinese companies will be in for a world of hurt if they are not prepared to be treated as second fiddle players.”

Part II:

“Within North Carolina’s industry centers and robust academic institutions, the state’s Chinese immigrants are poised for an epochal period of ascent to positions of strategic importance. The collapse of traditional NC industries like textiles and furniture manufacturing due to NAFTA and the advent of cheap Chinese goods necessitated, somewhat ironically, the strengthening of bonds between North Carolina’s business interests and China. Working with Chinese businesses that have China-based profit models, however, is new territory for most Carolinians, and in order to come out ahead, they need help.”

America’s Abortion Debate is Infecting China’s

My second best piece of researched reporting.  I put a lot into this one emotionally.

“Radical politicization, hysteria fueled violence, and stalemate defines America’s abortion debate. In turn, and owing in part to historical considerations, China’s ruling elites view the debate as composed of inherently destabilizing forces that must be precluded from interrupting the harmony of Chinese society. Where technology has made it easier to bring the basic tenets of our debate directly to the Chinese people, the Pro-Lifer’s and Pro-Choicer’s insistence on waging ideological Realpolitik has negated any such gains by overshadowing and stigmatizing some of our most important humanitarian insights into pre-natal life.”

Coughing Butterfly Effect: Path to Safer Food and Drug Control, in China

“The problem is that by the time the news cycle is finished covering one of China’s food and safety scandals, the average consumer of news is ill informed the story layer which has to do with her own well being. More often than not, international news stories about China’s food and drug safety issues are reported in a way that scores points for economies doing trade with China , and, in the worst cases, China’s food and safety problems are unceremoniously grouped in with to a long list of China’s human rights issues. It is the classic case of elites writing for other elites. The politically and economically expedient information is seized upon while the truly important aspect of it is let go by the wayside.”

The rural life and times of China’s aging population , Part I , Part II: Caregivers and Institutional Outcomes, Part III: Institution Problems, Part IV: Limiting Catastrophe

Truly excellent series by Samuel Green on the State of China’s Aging Population.  One of the best series on the Chinese blogosphere of 2010, period.

We predicted that H1N1 cases would seemingly “explode” in China, and we were right.

A real moment of triumph for us at Asia Healthcare Blog.  A previous post – Due to corruption, Asia is in for a big swine flu year – analyzing  H1N1 underreporting in Southeast Asia proved to be correct.  Coincidentally, I believe all of my friends in Beijing have had the swine flu at least once already.

Hotel Beijing, by Paul Steele

The quintessential Asia Healthcare Blog story.  One of my friends, a talented story teller, relates his experience in a Beijing H1N1 quarantine hotel.

“When I was taken into quarantine it was impossible to estimate the extent of the government’s commitment to the exercise.  Doctors and their questionnaires appeared official, but random implementation and chaotic execution of the process suggested opportunity for the reassuring degree of negotiation typical of grass roots enforced, Chinese bureaucracy.”

China’s Essential Drug List prompts Rise of Retail Drug Stores

I’m including it here because  James and I ‘broke’ this story, and it was heavily cited.

“On August 18, the Chinese MoH released a list of 307 essential medicines that will become available at heavily subsidized prices starting on September 25th.   An IHS Global report summarizes things well; All the drugs in the list will be included in the country’s basic health insurance catalogue with a higher reimbursement percentage, which is [...]“

Private Healthcare With Chinese Characteristics

One of my early pieces.  I still like it.

“…where are the ‘middle of the parallel, health industry innovators? China has the high end hospital chains – (Parkway Health and United Health Systems); it has the private clinics offering proven international standard outpatient care (International SOS); and, it has the private clinics that offer services specialized to the needs of the local high income populations, like vamped up physician and OBGYN services.

But,  why is there nowhere I can go for a basic consultation that offers me local health care rates (20-100 RMB per consultation) yet provides me with a clean environment and an english speaking medical staff ?   If scaling up 50RMB (about $7) check ups to a profit is possible anywhere in the world, it should be possible in China.”

Blood Money, Why Blood Transfusions Are So Dirty in China, by Bradley Hoath

Well researched, written and thought out.

“During the 1980s, in the United States, Canada, Japan and France thousands of people who underwent blood transfusions were infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. Subsequent national investigations into these scandals revealed that blood collection agencies were under-regulated and ripe with corruption. After approximately five years, increases in government oversight of these agencies and improved blood collection [...]“

Elderly in China, in Need of an Innovators Prescription, by Ninie Wang

Ms. Wang translated two of her Chinese pieces for us.  Excellent stuff.

“Ms. Yang stated that recreational care centers primarily accept healthy and independent seniors. She added that the community’s activity centers are a place specifically for the elderly. Having a foldable bed or a couple of stable beds is just in case the need arises. But the truth is that most fully functional senior citizens do not need beds, said Yang. “After lunch they usually go home, and basically no one sleeps here.”