Joel Petersson Ivre is a freelance writer, researcher, and translator from Sweden. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Language from Stockholm University and a Master’s Degree in International Security and East Asian Studies from Yonsei University in Seoul, where he has remained since. His last name means “drunk” in French.
Westerners have a habit of making China seem more mysterious than it actually is, and dressing up their vapid or commonplace ideas in an aura of Chinese mystique.