I normally log in as “Wumingren” on social media comment pages. “Wumingren” is Chinese for “Anonymous”: “wu” meaning “negative,” “ming” meaning “name,” and “ren” meaning “person.”

I chose this pseudonym because I don’t like to provide personal identifying information online. Likewise, I never provide my real birthdate, choosing “05/05/1955” instead, because it’s easy to remember.

I do provide some background information to help readers to understand why I hold certain points of view, so they can judge the validity of my responses on subjects that I have been involved in for decades. I am into geopolitics, history, medicine, teaching, the U.S. Constitution, and much more.

Chief experiences that inform my comments stem from decades as a “China watcher.” I’m a Vietnam vet who served on active duty for 12 years as a cryptologic linguist in the Air Force. I followed with 8 years in service to our country as an asset for civilian intel operations overseas. All told, I lived and worked in East and Southeast Asia for 20 years.

I learned Chinese Mandarin at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and earned a BA degree in Asian Studies. I learned some Japanese, Korean, and Tagalog (enough to get myself in trouble at local bars), but I was rated at the “near-native” level of proficiency in Mandarin. I immersed myself in Asian history, culture, art, music, and cuisine. While in the Air Force, my fellow airmen accused me of “going native,” because I broke away from the standard bar-running life of the typical G.I. and lived off base among the locals.

I married a great gal in Taiwan and have many close friends there still. My wife is a dedicated professional, currently employed at a major aerospace technology firm here in the States. I had planned to teach History and Chinese in high school, but medical problems forced me to drop out of my M.Ed. program.

I’m not employed because of disability: my kidneys failed and I’m seeking a living donor. My kidneys failed due to an antiv***l drug used to combat v***l encephalitis. My i****e s****m was blown away, so I also succumbed to an infection in my spinal cord and two bouts with sepsis. I lived, when doctors thought I would die. I’m walking, when they believed I would never get out of bed, let alone walk again.

As a “Mr. Mom,” I raised our two daughters, when otherwise unable to work. Now that they’re going off to college, I have time to write bilingual children’s books. I love writing. I had worked as a newspaper editor, a magazine editor, and a copywriter for 8 years in Taiwan. I also taught English to students hoping to score high on the TOEFL. I worked as a t***slator and interrogator for a company investigating ships lost at sea. Documents were used in insurance claims and lawsuits filed through Lloyd's of London. Finally, I worked to proof dissertations and papers being submitted by Chinese authors to academic and scientific journals in the U.S.