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James Fallows

James Fallows - James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States, and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. His latest book, China Airborne, was published in early May.
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James Fallows is based in Washington as a national correspondent for The Atlantic. He has worked for the magazine for nearly 30 years and in that time has also lived in Seattle, Berkeley, Austin, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, and Beijing. He was raised in Redlands, California, received his undergraduate degree in American history and literature from Harvard, and received a graduate degree in economics from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. In addition to working for The Atlantic, he has spent two years as chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, two years as the editor of US News & World Report, and six months as a program designer at Microsoft. He is an instrument-rated private pilot. He is also now the chair in U.S. media at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, in Australia.

Fallows has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award five times and has won once; he has also won the American Book Award for nonfiction and a N.Y. Emmy award for the documentary series Doing Business in China. He was the founding chairman of the New America Foundation. His two most recent books, Blind Into Baghdad (2006) and Postcards From Tomorrow Square (2009), are based on his writings for The Atlantic. His latest book, China Airborne, was published in early May. He is married to Deborah Fallows, author of the recent book Dreaming in Chinese. They have two married sons.

Fallows welcomes and frequently quotes from reader mail sent via the "Email" button below. Unless you specify otherwise, we consider any incoming mail available for possible quotation -- but not with the sender's real name unless you explicitly state that it may be used. If you are wondering why Fallows does not use a "Comments" field below his posts, please see previous explanations here and here.
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Remember Little "Butterstick" ?

By James Fallows

Jul 4 2010, 9:47 AM ET

Five years ago, Tai Shan the infant panda was the cuteness king of Washington. Now he's all grown up, back home in China, and looking like this:

TaiShanBig.jpg

This picture, and many more on this Facebook page, come courtesy of Pandas International, which has been doing wonderful work for a long time in supporting the panda centers and habitats in China. A description of their work here in the magazine, from 2007. They deserve your support.

Also via PI, the Chinese news video of Tai Shan when he was coming out of health quarantine, after his journey from the Washington DC birthplace, early this spring. If you watch even the first 15 seconds you'll get to hear the reporter saying, "Tai Shan -- Ni hao!" Later (I believe) they discuss how quarantine time has eased the new arrival's adjustment to Sichuan food and the distinctive Sichuan dialect (!). By the end of the clip Tai San has been released from his quarantine cage and is prowling around his enclosure, and a sponsor announces a big birthday party for him on July 9.
 


The role of ABCs, or "American Born Chinese," has been important or at least interesting in China's modern evolution. Tai Shan now joins that group. Think of his birthday this coming week. Happy Independence Day, Tai Shan!


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