It’s 19 years since June 4th, liusi, entered the China lexicon as a tragic day in Beijing. But the date meant something to my clan long before that; June 4th, 1924, was my father Ted Polumbaum’s birthday. After a forty-year career as a photojournalist and a year and a half in the grip of a mysterious brain disease, he died in early 2001. June 4th, 2008, would have been his 84th birthday, so today I have at least two sad things to think about.

Yet I’m happy as well, because my new book China Ink: The Changing Face of Chinese Journalism just showed up at my doorstep. The cover is a reminder of my father’s legacy; it features a striking close-up of a Peking Opera monkey king face, one of tens of thousands of images in his archive at the Newseum in Washington DC.

China Ink is based on interviews with 20 young Chinese journalists, and is testimony, I believe, to the high ideals one finds in the field and the crucial role of folks working day-to-day within the system to promote positive social change. We hear a lot about the views and troubles of dissidents in China–and they are important too, particularly in drawing attention to critical problems. But we don’t hear nearly as much about more mundane and subtle efforts to expand the realm of information and expression, which are surely more common and widespread. This book is intended to help fill that gap.

I hope that starting off this blog this way won’t be seen as self-promotion, which is one of my reservations about blogging in general. I do want to promote these journalists’ voices and stories, however, and am likely to return to these individuals from time to time, as fresh news from them reaches me. Although only a few of them are fluent in English, I know they will all be excited to get their copies of the book.

Meanwhile, I will try to address with reasonable regularity matters I’m supposed to know something about: China, journalism and media, sports and culture, writing and teaching.

So how about that Newseum? As a glitzy “museum of news” and one of those cultural institutions that aims to edify through entertainment, it can be criticized; Slate’s Jack Shafer tells why. At the same time, in protecting, sharing and showcasing journalism and photojournalism collections that chronicle our times, the place does an important service. I for one am grateful.

Another time, I’ll relate why–along with those decades’ worth of photos for the likes of Life and Look as well as books and independent projects–a transcript of testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and a 167-page FBI file are part of my dad’s repository.