A review of a doc film on photographer Greg Girard and his work photographing Shanghai's disappearing neighborhoods
Read More(mis)Representing Beijing: A Review of _Beijing Time_ by Dutton et al
In an effort to cash in on the Olympics, a flurry of books has been published recently on the topic of Beijing. These include several histories of the city, such as Geremie Barme's _The Forbidden City_ and Lillian Li et al, Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City as well as books by Stephen Haw and Jasper Becker, all of which have come out in the past year or so. It seems that everyone is rushing to the publisher to get their Beijing book out before the Olympics hit in an effort to boost sales. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does have the potential pitfall of creating a bunch of hastily written thinkpieces.
Read MoreSex and Politics in the Orient: An Interview with James Farrer
James Farrer is a sociologist at Sophia University in Tokyo. Author of the book _Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai_ (Chicago, 2002) he specializes in the study of modern and contemporary sexuality in China and Japan. For several years, James and I have been collaborating on various projects surrounding nightlife cultures in Shanghai and Tokyo (see my previous blogs on Dr. Sex Life and on our special nightlife issue). I've been meaning to post an interview with him about his various research projects for a while now. Finally got round to it. Here are my questions to James and his responses:
Read MorePunks on Stage in Shanghai: Re-TROS at Moganshan Lu STD Party
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: The Rogue Transmission, Boys Climbing Ropes, and Joyside at Windows Underground
Somehow I managed to get the boys out of the restaurant and into a taxi without any violence and we headed over to Windows Underground. We got there in time to see Dan Shapiro’s band Rogue Transmission.
Read MoreWindows Underground: A New Bastion for the Rock Scene in Shanghai
Last night Mency and I met my friend Mo Jin, who is back in town for the weekend, and together headed over to the new Windows Underground. We arrived at 11 pm in the middle of the Secondhand Roses (ershou meigui) concert. This Beijing-based band delivers a powerful mix of northern-style folk rock enhanced with traditional Chinese instruments. The male lead singer has a campy singing and operatic performance style, and is known to dress up in women’s costumes. They looked like regular rockers last night though, and like my friend Dan Shapiro (Handlebar Dan, though he shaved his whiskers for the summer) said, these guys don’t need a gimmick—they’re solid.
Read MoreHappy Children’s Day, Shanghai
Yet another week gone by, with me getting older, fatter, and none the wiser. Isn’t that just life? The only consolation I have is to live vicariously through younger folk like my three-year old daughter Sarah. In celebration of Children’s Day, we took her out to brunch at the Paulaner Brauhaus with our friend LK and his wife Ranran and daughter Samantha. The heavy German fare now sits in my intestines like a lead weight. So much for losing a few pounds. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.
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