One can not pick up a newspaper without seeing a story about China. Articles about Tibet, the Olympics, contaminated products and natural disasters cover the front page. But it is the stories in the back of the paper that might be more revealing about the unprecedented growth and accumulating power of this ancient and highly modern country. The full significance of this tale is not yet known because it is being written as we watch. We are witnessing a new amalgam of economic and political power, specific to this time and place yet hitherto non-existent in world history. Authoritarianism combines with market forces as both are driven by global shifts. Certainly at the core is the most striking of all of the facts about China—its 1.3 billion people comprise 20 percent of the world's population. Throughout its four thousand year history, China always has been more than a physical place but a conceptual one as well.

Debra Block, Director of Education, NBLMC