From the Editor: Far East Reflections

In Shanghai, horns blare, cars race through red lights and motor scooters speed perilously through crowds. Laundry flaps from the windows of dwellings crammed together on narrow, unkempt streets, where vendors display an endless array of food (much of it still moving). Meanwhile, the futuristic Shanghai skyline sparkles on the other side of the Huangpu River, where the passing parade of ships never pauses. Highways clogged with traffic have replaced the hordes of bicycle riders many of us envision, while clumps of identical high-rise apartments dominate the landscape outside of the city, displacing the rice fields of our imagination.