A description of news reports on the earthquake in Sichuan, and a visit to a Shanghai nightclub...
Read MoreSix Shanghai Walks: One Down, Five to Go
On Friday May 16, I took 20 NYU in Shanghai students on a walking tour of the heart of the old French Concession. I’d given tours of the area before, which is rich in historical buildings and neighborhoods, including the old French Park (now Fuxing Park) and the home of Sun Yat-sen. This time I decided to use the book The Streets of Changing Fortune: Six Shanghai Walks as the basis for the tour. Written by Barbara Green, Tess Johnston, Ruth Lear, and Carolyn Robertson, this is the first of a (now) two-part series of guided walking tours of the city.
Read MoreShanghai in May: A Renewed Love Affair with the City
May has arrived in Shanghai, and with it the best weather this city offers. The trees are all in full leafy array. Birds twitter in the parks. The skies are generally sunny, and the air is warm but not yet hot and sultry. A cool breeze blows through the city, keeping the air as clean as a metropolis of 20 million residents could be.
Read MoreA Virtual Tour of the Paramount Ballroom, 1930s Shanghai's Finest Dance Palace
In 2004 I made these short films discussing the history of the Paramount Ballroom, Shanghai’s finest ballroom in the 1930s.
Read MoreHoly Hollywood! Welcoming John Cusack to Shanghai
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."
Read MoreA Week in Shanghai with Dr. Nightlife and Dr. Sex Life
A week in Shanghai with James Farrer, AKA Dr. Sex, is always a lively one, and this week while researching our book we hit up several clubs, restaurants, and bars in town
Read MoreGoodbye Sydney, Farewell UNSW
I'm writing from my office at UNSW in Sydney, where I've spent the last week or so packing and taking care of loose ends before heading back to Shanghai this weekend, this time for good. The unseasonably cold weather of the previous week has given way to the usual glorious Sydney summer, blue skies and a light smattering of clouds, making it even harder to leave this place.
Read MoreChinese New Year Resolutions
Some resolutions for the new year...
Read MoreChasing the Shanghai Winter Blues
Shanghai can be a cold place in winter. Unlike Beijing, there’s no central heating, so people have to rely on space heaters to keep warm. Or by piling on lots of warm clothing. Or warm bodies. Whatever method you choose, winter in Shanghai is still a rough ride.
Read MoreNile Perch and Blue Jeans: Videographing inequalities in globalized labor in China and Africa
Anybody concerned with globalization and the inequalities it produces ought to be aware of where the clothing and food he or she consumes on a daily basis comes from and who made it. Yet when it comes to the labor that goes into producing our consumables in the modern industrial world, as Karl Marx understood so well, we are too often in the dark. Enter two filmographers who have managed to shed some light on the globalizing forces of labor and production.
Read MoreAnother Week of Rock, Art, and Beauty in Beijing
It was another whirlwind week in the dusty capital, folks. Here are some of the highlights.
Read MoreBeautiful Ugliness: The Aesthetics of Jia Zhangke's Film _Still Life_
I just showed the movie Still Life (sanxia haoren) by Chinese director Jia Zhangke to my Dartmouth FSP students. The viewing conditions were not ideal. I suggest to anyone who wishes to view this film that they do so in as dark a room as possible. The film itself is very dark, and so are the people. I mean visually dark, but there is also a darkness to the subject matter and the characters. Be warned, this is not a happy film.
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