Most Americans, only marginally less ethnocentric today than twenty years ago, have a simplistic, nuance-free view of China and the Chinese people. Although apprehensive about the rise of an economic juggernaut and its impact on the American way of life, the images China casts up are rooted in the past.

For the last ten years, my friends Keegan and Tanya have been fighting tirelessly to raise funds for and awareness about Prader-Willi Syndrome. One of the many issues that goes along with this disorder is never-ending hunger.

The extraordinary display of 8000 Terra Cotta Warriors posed in formation to protect the first Chinese emperor in his afterlife is customarily the #1 reason tourists visit Xi'an.