Category Archives: Culture

Stanley Yu: China’s most literary cities and most popular books of 2015

red_guards_readingChina has released this year’s stats for book sales, and the results are somewhat surprising. Pretty much all of the cities that made the top ten list of most literary cities were third or second-tier cities located in the south of China. Continue reading

Nobel winning writer Svetlana Alexievich returns to Belarus

Born in Ukraine in 1948 Alexievich was recognised for her portrayal of life in the Soviet Union

Nobel literature prize winner Svetlana Alexievich has been greeted by her fans on her return to Belarus. At Minsk airport she answered well-wishers who said she had made them cry with happiness. Continue reading

China Turns to Online Courses, and Mao, for Soft-Power Mission

22mao-web-articleLargeBy JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ October 22, 2015

Guards changing shifts beneath the portrait of the former Chinese leader Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing after a flag-raising ceremony this month.
Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press

HONG KONG — Karla Cabrera, a 29-year-old lawyer in Mexico City, was excited when she came across “Introduction to Mao Zedong Thought,” an online course about the Chinese revolutionary leader. She has a passion for Chinese history, and she hoped the class would shed light on the brutal Continue reading

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei set for huge London retrospective

Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:14pm EDT

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses for photographers during a photocall for his exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Britain September 15, 2015. REUTERS/Neil Hall

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses for photographers during a photocall for his exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Britain September 15, 2015. REUTERS/Neil Hall

LONDON | BY MICHAEL RODDY

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses for photographers during a photocall for his exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Britain September 15, 2015.
REUTERS/NEIL HALL

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei has had his run-ins with Continue reading

Bon Jovi’s first gigs in China cancelled by officials

8 September 2015

_85428452_bonjovilive-getty
Image caption

Frontman Jon Bon Jovi had said he was ‘excited’ to be playing China
Bon Jovi’s first ever concerts in China have been cancelled by government officials, the BBC has learned.

No reason was given, but media reports Continue reading

Setting a Stage for Kindness in Chinese Society

By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW August 27, 2015

In the children’s play “Five Fools,” Circus Master, right, learns a lesson about the power of kindness as she pressures Little Flower, left, to talk.
Wang Zhaohui

26sino-letter01-articleLargeAt the Drum Tower West Theater in Beijing last week, Circus Master was torturing Little Flower because she would not speak and was ruining the show.

She ordered Clown and Strong Man — other members of her troupe Continue reading

Science-Fiction Prize Is Awarded to Chinese Writer for First Time

By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW August 25, 2015

24SINO-LIU02-articleLargeLiu Cixin won the 2015 Hugo Award for
Courtesy of Liu Cixin

The Chinese writer Liu Cixin has won the 2015 Hugo Award for best science-fiction novel. It is the first time the prestigious prize has gone to a Chinese writer and the first time that multiple finalists were originally written in languages other than English, the World Science Fiction Society announced.

The award is for “The Three-Body Problem,” Continue reading

Yu Ying-shih: The Chinese Communists Are Not Confucianists

By Yu Ying-shih, published: July 1, 2015

The following is an unauthorized translation of an excerpt from an interview with Prof. Yu Ying-shih [via Skype] during a symposium in November 2014 marking the 65th Continue reading