JAMES TAM  谭炳昌

Digging for the truth 發掘真相 Nothing much happened in the ensuing centuries; just the usual merging and splitting, rebellions and...

Link to previous post: Xishuangbanna 链接到上一篇：西雙版納 I know it’s downright silly to attempt summarising a country’s history in a hundred...

Whoever has heard of a border city in Xishuangbanna called Jing Hong? Just short of half a million inhabitants, it’s neither here nor...

Dusk at Jing Mai Shan 景邁山暮色 Inside Jing-Mai Shan (Shan means Mountain) is one of the oldest natural tea plantations in Yunan Province...

These days, when travelling, I often feel a precocious sense of nostalgia. The photos that I take could become mini time-capsules much...

Duh... So? What has it got to do with True Democracy? 要講服一個聰明人挺困難。但要說服一個蠢人簡直不可能！ I’m a traditionalist. I think revolutionaries should...

這是我2016年在「香港大學」圖書館講演的中文概要。英文原版可在YouTube收看

I’ve never managed to give a talk according to script. But this is a reasonably close approximation of my presentation at the University...

Ah! Soho! Sounds so Chinese. But the name originated in London, probably as hunting grounds for Henry Number Eight and friends. Nobody’s...

美國大選就像一場連載真人秀。很多外人越看越投入，連自己不是美國人也忘記了。看到唐納德這個混蛋越戰越勇，血壓跟著上升。這個壞傢伙也可以當總統！氣死人了！見到他那髮型，真不開胃！我奉勸大家且不要動氣。第一，這是美國大選，不關咱們屁事。第二，民主選舉不過娛樂事業，誰當選最後都一樣...

The US election is a reality show which many outsiders follow as if their own. But non-Americans of the Brave New World should remember...

Homo sapiens are but one recent life-form on a mediocre planet in a universe comprising hundreds of billions more impressive ones....

不少摩登 「智人」 都忘記了我們不過是宇宙數以千億星球其中一顆小行星的表皮寄生新物種，身上的遺傳因子有一半與香蕉相同，客觀說絕不出色。但任何咱們遲鈍六根覺得難以掌握的現象，他們都會毫不猶疑地斷定不應該！不可能！心理作用云云。幸而科研人員的努力，某程度上打擊了21世紀智人的巨...

友人傳來南華早報有關香港人才外流的文章（http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1300687/more-residents-leave-hong-kong-experts-worry-about-bra...

The following SCMP article doesn’t surprise me (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1300687/more-residents-leave-hong-...

Gollum will soon be discharged. 13 years had passed slowly. Life is hard, but starting a new life is much harder. Is Demon still alive?

短篇故事：十三年的牢獄生涯快將過去。雖則度日如年，回頭看也不過眨眼之間。再過五個星期，咕嚕便可以恢復自由，重新做人。他現在才發覺，做人難，重新做人更難。太陽出來之後，心魔還有活下去的空間嗎？

歷史有時像一酲酒，時間可以把它變醇變辣變香變酸。因果循環這東西，並非十年八載可以看得出來的。 話說1792年，英皇喬治三世（外國的皇室替孩子改名似乎不大創新，來來去去不是亨利便是喬治，結果要加版本號辨認）剛剛丟了北美州這大片殖民地，氣得發瘋，於是跟今天的美國一樣，把精力轉移...

The irony of history often becomes sharper with time. Given enough of it, the intricate matrix of cause and effect often produces results...

習近平和奧巴馬應該在即將舉行的高峰會議中，研究把三億中國人轉移美國。這是個三贏方案。 根據國際民調機構（如 PEW）的報告，中國政府的民間支持率大概80%。如此高的民望，單數位的「民主國家」 望塵莫及。可惜中國太大。20%的人不滿，代表...