It’s a rainy day in Kunshan, not exactly ideal conditions for watching the solar eclipse that supposedly occurs today.  And so I retreat, for the third time since waking up, back to the billowy comforts of my hotel bed.  I realize how glad I am to have this hotel room, a small haven away from the (at times) shockingly public streets of China.                

I remember seeing my first half naked child at the local grocery store defecating into a nearby trashcan, and wonderin...