Lately I’ve been dusting off my old photographs of Shanghai to show a man who plans to play an American in a film about Shanghai in 1941. Last week John Cusack arrived in Shanghai with his mate/producer/handler, Nick Gillie.
Read MoreTintin in the Land of Snow: Tibet, China, and the West
Ah, Tibet. Land of the high plateau, the monstrous snowy peaks, the lofty lamaseries, and the mysterious Yeti. When I was a child, I devoured the Tintin books. The story of how Tintin and Captain Haddock bravely rescue the Chinese boy Chang after Tintin has a premonitional dream of his friend surviving a plane wreckage somewhere in the mountains of Tibet—what an epic tale! Who could forget the surly Nepalese porter, the wonderfully humane Abbot who harbours Tintin and the Captain after their near death, the levitating seer, the heroic struggle and refusal to abandon their Chinese friend despite all the dangers, and of course, the loveable and misunderstood Yeti?
Read MoreDartmouth in Beijing Presents: Preserving the Hutongs of Beijing
Last fall, at the end of the Dartmouth in Beijing FSP program, my students delivered several outstanding presentations on the history and contemporary society of Beijing. I am putting these online so that others may benefit from them. The file size is a problem, since these are all nearly one-hour presentations, so I've compressed this one in mp4 form, hence the fairly low quality. If anybody has an idea for doing it better, let me know. This presentation is about the Hutong neighborhoods of Beijing and what is and can be done to preserve them.
CIEE Workshop On Improving Teaching, Learning, and Intercultural Understanding
Two weekends ago CIEE (the Council for International Educational Exchange, a program that I teach for involving American students studying abroad in China) organized an excellent workshop here in Shanghai.
Read MoreSUBS in Shanghai : Great band but the venue needs work
Hard rock band SUBS from Wuhan playing at Windows Tembo, a short-lived music club in Shanghai
Read MoreSparrow Village: A Film about China's Miao Minority People
Two days ago for the NYU program in Shanghai we watched a film about a Miao village in Guizhou, directed by Christine Choy, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who teaches at NYU and is currently teaching for our program. The film, called "Sparrow Village," focuses on the lives of young girls in a mountainous Miao village who make a three-hour trek every week to the nearest school to be educated.
Read MoreTianzifang: A Close Look at Shanghai’s “Creative Art Park”
Shanghai's Taikang Road has become a magnet for art galleries for some time, but I didn’t realize until recently that many of the old rowhouse apartments in the neighborhood between Taikang Road and Jianguo Road have been renovated and turned into shops, galleries, cafes, and restaurants--several hundred and growing.
Read MoreChina's Jimi Hendrix? The Guitar Work of Zhou Chao 周朝
A couple of months ago I became acquainted with the guitarist Zhou Chao, who plays every Monday night with his band at the Melting Pot at 288 Taikang Lu in Shanghai. Zhou Chao's guitar work is deeply rooted in folk and blues styles. Lately he's been experimenting with a more free-form blues with a lot of wah-wah thrown in.
Read MoreShanghai Spring has Finally Arrived
Ah, Spring. After five years in Sydney, I'd forgotten how long and arduous the winters in the northern hemisphere can be. It's been a long and lonely winter, but as George Harrison sang, "Here comes the sun."
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