Just finished reading James Fallows’ Postcards From Tomorrow Square: Reports from China.

Even though he only spent 3 years in China, Fallows has definitely done his homework as a journalist by making sure he saw a wide range of places (from factory floors to post-earthquake villages) and talked to people from top to bottom (CEOs of billion dollar enterprises as…

Continue readingFor an insightful overview of China…

Source: I Heart Recession

Disclaimer: It’s my own comic; I don’t normally self-promote but it’s been a slow post month 🙂

From a Xinhua news photography competition:

“Bronze Prize: An accident caused mother and daughter to lose one leg each, but did not take away their joie de vivre”

Via ESWN.

Eileen Chang was a popular Chinese novelist around the 1950s. She wrote the novel “Lust, Caution” that was recently adapted into a film by Ann Lee (involving some controversial nudity).

In the video interview above, Roland describes her as someone writing free from the shackles of politics, as someone describing “petty bourgeois” life…

Continue readingDocumentary short on Eileen Chang

There’s been a bit of noise recently about a glaring New York Times article entitled “American Graduates Finding Jobs In China.”

First thing I noticed in the article: the photos of the said American graduates in China.

These photos carry a strong and offensive message: White American man on top!

The…

Continue readingThe New York Times gets it wrong about young Americans going to China

My dad sent me the clip above from 周立波’s “I’m Mad About Wealth” show, who is a famous talk show comedian from Shanghai.

It’s in Mandarin with simplified Chinese subtitles. For those of you who don’t understand Chinese, here are some of my observations:

• His body language is very measured (in a way…

Continue readingA brief look into Chinese talk show humor

“Palomar5, a young non-profit-initiative founded in Berlin, is looking for creative and eager minds from all over the world to invite them to take part in a 6-week-innovation-camp in October/November 2009.”

• You must be below the age of 30.
• They pay for everything.
• They have specifically stated interest in having someone from China.
• They have agreed…

Continue readingBerlin-based innovation camp is looking for Chinese participants

A very cheesy (though also priceless) parody of Estelle’s ‘American Boy’, done by Only Won and Larissa Lam, two Chinese American artists in LA.

Above: WoW protestors at the ChinaJoy (digital entertainment) conference And here’s a clip of them being escorted out of the conference.

World of Warcraft has been down for almost two months now, as it transitions from one operator to another in China (from the9 to Netease). An internet meme has already started…

Continue readingBreaking news! Protests in China over… World of Warcraft?

Stella So is an up and coming illustrator and graphic novelist in Hong Kong. I recently purchased her graphic manual of old Hong Kong titled 粉末都市—消失中的香港 (City of Powder — the disappearing Hong Kong), pictured above.

She’s also done some illustration work for magazines and newspapers, and she’s recently released an autobiographical graphic novel about day-to-day life (stories are a…

Continue readingFeatured HK artist: Stella So