Walmart for the Soul

13 June 2005

After going to a Christian Church on Sunday with some friends that Patricia had met, we walked over to a bookstore to find postcards of Nanjing for Patricia and a Herald Tribune for me. On the second floor of the bookstore, along with educational materials for high school kids, I saw a whole table of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. In the US, I’ve seen them in the bookstore but have never read one — and I was amazed to find so many of them in a Nanjing bookstore (and yes, they were in English). I probably should read them before saying anything about them, but I’m wondering what Chinese young adults think of America if this is one of their windows into American life. And after having done research on Kentucky Fried Chicken in Beijing (and yes, they are all over the place here in Nanjing as well), I guess what Chinese young adults are learning about the US from “Chicken Soup” books is probably better than that other American exemplar, shown below. Before I leave Nanjing, I will have to go in and check out the Walmart. In the meanwhile, I’ll stick to my Herald Tribune — but in case you get the wrong idea, I have lots of trashy science fiction novels on my Treo that I read in the evenings!