Julius Hui’s eclectic Chinese typography Instagram stream

October 23, 2018 by Jason Li

Hong Kong-based typographer Julius Hui has recently started an Instagram account dedicated to Chinese type design with insightful and incisive bilingual commentary. Below we’ve captured our some of our favorites:

1.

Inspiration_Calligraphers in Qing dynasty are usually not recommended by scholars, they are always being criticised as ‘too rigid’ and ‘too robotic’.…

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Chinese Comics Review

WeChat Cats, Romantic Blunders & Lightning Dogs: Paradise Systems Year 1

October 9, 2018 by Jason Li

“Paradise Systems publishes exemplary comics from the United States and China.” This is the story of their first year, broken up into three acts.

Our story begins in Brooklyn, where long-time translator and former China resident Orion Martin sets out on his publishing adventure. Wanting to foment a a cultural exchange of comics, he tests the waters…

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Air purifier best practices & how to DIY for 166 RMB

August 28, 2018 by Jason Li

From Particle Counting, a formerly Beijing-based geek’s blog about air pollution and filters:

How to Make a DIY Air Purifier

Based on my research into how different filters work, I concluded that a HEPA filter is all you really need to fight particulate air pollution in China. Given the fact fancy air purifiers…

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Drones are making farming “cool” again

July 10, 2018 by Jason Li

From Liao Yue on Sixthtone:

Zhao has been a professional drone pilot since 2015, when he gave up his life as a migrant laborer and returned to his hometown to work in the country’s nascent drone industry. Although he is only 23 years old, Zhao is already a veteran of sorts in this emerging field.

When I…

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Chinese Comics Review

China King of Fighting: An action graphic memoir that ended too soon

July 3, 2018 by Jason Li

Chinese King Of Boxing Covers

China King of Fighting was created by a pro boxer-turned-cartoonist, who tells the life story of boxing living legend Zou Shiming after they befriend one another in the ring. Zou, commonly hailed as China’s most successful boxer, is famous for having won Olympic gold twice in a row, as well as winning and defending the WBO flyweight title for a…

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Design Society Shenzhen: conservative curatorial at a cutting-edge institution

April 9, 2018 by Jason Li

After much fanfare, I had a chance to visit the two opening exhibitions at the new Design Society 设计互联 in Shenzhen – “China’s first design museum.” Freshly unveiled last December, Design Society is located at the newly-constructed Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shekou, one of the most historically-progressive areas in Shenzhen. That it is…

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Melon Festival Year 2: emphasizing the science in science fiction

March 29, 2018 by Jason Li

The second Melon festival about “science fiction, innovation and the future” took place in Hong Kong on March 17 and was markedly more packed, slick and diverse than its predecessor. Festival organizers added a third set of speakers – scientists – to their roster this year on top of the previously-featured science fiction authors and…

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An inside look at one of China’s first Taobao villages

January 9, 2018 by Jason Li

Over on e-flux, Stephan Petermann takes us on a narrated tour of Dong Feng, one of the first “Taobao villages” in China:

When we arrive in Dong Feng in the spring of 2017, the number of Taobao shops has increased from the initial three to nearly 16,000, with an average density of more than three per capita, the highest…

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Toysoul 2017: a focused and curated Asian toy fair

December 21, 2017 by Jason Li

This was my first year at Toysoul, but the fair’s third year in operation. Billed as the “Asian Toy Fair,” this Hong Kong-based mostly-vinyl toy festival comprises products and designs from Greater China, Japan, Korea and Thailand. In sharp contrast to the more established ACGHK, Toysoul was a more…

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Chinese Comics Review

My Beloved Mother: A Comic Book Epic About Human-Android Discrimination

December 6, 2017 by Jason Li

My Beloved Mother covers

My Beloved Mother (机器妈妈) is a science fiction tale of dystopia about the frayed relationship between a boy and his android mother. Originally serialized in 漫友·动画100, the comic has won multiple awards, been re-published in Malay and English, and helped launch the career of its creator, Wang Xiao Yang. Today, we turn back to the clock to look at the…

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八八吧 · 88 Bar

Author: Jason Li

Julius Hui’s eclectic Chinese typography Instagram stream

WeChat Cats, Romantic Blunders & Lightning Dogs: Paradise Systems Year 1

Air purifier best practices & how to DIY for 166 RMB

How to Make a DIY Air Purifier

Drones are making farming “cool” again

China King of Fighting: An action graphic memoir that ended too soon

Design Society Shenzhen: conservative curatorial at a cutting-edge institution

Melon Festival Year 2: emphasizing the science in science fiction

An inside look at one of China’s first Taobao villages

Toysoul 2017: a focused and curated Asian toy fair

My Beloved Mother: A Comic Book Epic About Human-Android Discrimination