With the conclusion of the school year, I marked the end of my 5th consecutive year in China. Soon, I will be heading back to the United States and applying to graduate programs related to international development and theology. It has been a fantastic time. I feel very fortunate that I have had the opportunity to be here and to witness China firsthand.
I plan on continuing to write about China, and will try to digest a similar amount of People’s Daily, Global Times, and whatever else looks interesting. I know that I will not be able to keep up with frantic pace of five posts a week, so for the past few months I’ve been working with Yaxue and another friend (you will meet her soon) to get things in place so that Seeing Red in China will continue posting at a similar frequency. This is going to come with a shift towards the translation of essays and articles from activists around China that we feel could use a bigger spotlight in addition to our usual commentary on Chinese culture and current events.
Thank you for all of your support and comments over the past 18 months or so of blogging. I have found blogging to be an immensely useful way of sorting through my thoughts and ideas about modern China, and you readers have helped point me to sources and stories that I would have otherwise missed. You have challenged me in many ways, and that was exactly what I had hoped to get from this project. I’m also glad that the nearly 500 posts have proved interesting to someone besides my wife (who has been a large part of this blog’s success).
I hope Seeing Red in China will continue to be one of your many sources of information related to the middle kingdom.
-Tom
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It is a very interesting look at a subject that is rarely discussed with expats (or anyone else).
Seeing Red in China 
All the best Tom. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts. They’ve been insightful and informative.
Well… America has red in it’s flag too!!!
I’ve just discovered your blog and have enjoyed what I have read so far. Good luck in the future!
Thank you Tom. May I wish you and your wife all the best Stephen @ChinaLetter
Thanks to everyone who worked on this blog. I’ve greatly enjoyed reading your posts and will be sure to follow this blog in the future.
Tom, your blog is a daily read for me, and I’ve enjoyed your insight immensely, as well as that of your co-bloggers. As a sinophile myself, I’ve found what you’ve written to be so helpful in understanding more about China. Thanks a ton to you and Yaxue, and others that have contributed.
Thanks Pete. I know you’ve been reading it for quite sometime now. I always joke that the benefit to writing about China, is that one will never run out of interesting material.
Congratulations on your five years of success here in China Tom. I wish you well in your return back to the States and hope to see more postings from you in your blog when you get settled in America. It has been a pleasure reading your blog which I believe in one of the very best in its category. Cheers!
Thanks CK. Your comments are often generate interesting discussions.
Thank you, Tom, and Yaxue too, for your meaningful posts. And I do like your title picture – it’s so “China” and did hit a spot in my heart
– a Chinese reader
It has been a great run, Tom. Thanks for all the insight and perspective and glad that Seeing Red will continue. Looking forward to seeing you and your wife in October.
It takes three months to travel back to the US? Tom, are you riding a horse cart? 🙂
Marvin is out on the West coast, so I won’t see him right away.
Seems we’re on similar schedules- we’re heading back this coming week too. And since we’ve also been on similar wavelengths (theology, international development), I hope we’ll keep in touch. Would love to meet you in person and hear what you’re up to when you head back to stateside. All the best, and great work on this blog- it’s the right mix of provocation, reality, and hope, and an essential read for those interested in what China’s really like!
I will be visiting several churches around the US over the next few months. Email me Tom@seeingredinchina.com
You have been a daily read for me since your blog began. I pray that your jouney home will be safe. Can’t wait to see you. Your blog has educated me in many ways about China. I know your next mission field will be just as rewarding.
If I say I am going back to China now, everyone will have a moment of cardiac arrest: “Will the Chinese government do something bad to you?” I am pretty certain they would, and I have made up my mind not to visit China any time soon. That’s also why some stories about China must be told, and that’s what this blog has been for me. I too want to thank Tom for offering me to write for this blog, and by now I don’t think I can live without it.
Though you’ll be leaving China physically, I know you won’t be leaving it spiritually. Happy travels!
My heart skipped a little beat when I saw your post’s title today. I guess all good things really do come to an end, or at least as we know it. I’ve really enjoyed and learned a lot from your posts Tom. Your open-minded and realistic-but-not-cynical attitude is much appreciated at least to this fellow sinophile. Also important that you are letting us know about activism and what’s really going on with rights in China. Please keep it up!
I wish you the very best in your theological endeavours.
Tom, I’ve enjoyed this blog.
Thanks for your dedication and hard work, I’m sure you’ll do well in graduate school.
Yaxue, I look forward to more of your great posts.
Good Luck for the future Tom. I have enjoyed your Blog so much. I am glad that it will continue but will miss your “take” on daily life in China. Life in the Nanjing hospital is certainly fascinating with a private police force to keep angry, emotional people in order. It is insights like this that I mull over in quiet moments. Also Yaxue’s amazing post “Dumb Americans” lives with me. The cultural differences between our societies are huge but you and Yaxue have afforded us a glimpse in a wholly realistic and sympathetic way. I wish you and your wife every success in your careers. Best wishes.
I can’t wait to have you back in the USA!!! I have some scotch and beer waiting for you:-)
Thanks a lot Tom for making my daily one hour commuting into a time of interesting reads! Always enjoyed the nice variety of topics and posts. With all the co-writers I am sure this blog will be interesting also in the future.
Good luck for your time in the US
Tom (and Yaxue),
I thank both of you for your efforts to this blog and for helping to show more than just 30 second news bites about China. Since I cannot put into simple words my affection for this site and its material and staff, thank you will have to suffice.
Thank you Tom for the great posts, I’m a fan of Seeing Red in China because of your more objective point of view, I’m afraid without someone really living in China the blog won’t be the same.
This is part of the reason for the shift towards translation. I will of course still be in touch with people in China and drawing on my experiences, but writing less commentary on current events.
Tom, your blog is one of the better China-related ones I’ve read in many years. In fact, your commentary is the most valuable part of this blog of yours. Thank you for indulging my longwinded and boring comments in the past. Your perspective of China ‘on the ground’ and (even more importantly) ‘among the people’ do an immense service for both Americans and Chinese people. Your writings show you don’t have a great need for certainty or to be right. That, in my book, makes you an authentic China-watcher. My very best wishes to you and yours going back to the States, and please come back to China as often as you can.
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