I have been reading posts at a new blog out there called the Boulder2Beijing (砬到北京). It is written by two lawyers who just moved to Beijing, and they describe their blog as "chronicles the life of two American attorneys moving along the 40th parallel from Boulder, Colorado to Beijing, China for a year." Any time you link your experience with earth's parallel, it just sounds intelligent, somehow.
The authors, Katie and Micah Schwalb (not sure if they are related), write about their encounters in China, observing life with their acute lawyers' eyes. For a sampling, the following is an excerpt of a confession written to the Beijing police for "violating" Chinese law:
Under prompting by the female officer, Katie wrote the following:
I have lived at Yicheng Dongyuan Garden and did not re-register at the local police station as I was unaware of the necessity to do so. I understand that I have been given a warning. I apologize for not complying with the requirement, and will comply this afternoon.
The officer really wanted Katie to write, "I know I was wrong to break the law and apologize for doing so," but Katie just couldn't bring herself to take the dictation of that last sentence. She got pretty close, though.
Imagine an American lawyer admitting that she violated the law in a written confession handed to the police...Her constitutional criminal procedure prof would not be happy had she succumbed to the officer's demand.
The blog has been added to my blog roll.
