Believe it or not, a 37-year-old point guard from Coney Island, New York who played 13 years in the NBA is putting the city of Beijing on his back.
With one CBA championship on his resume -- and a statue outside MasterCard Center -- Stephon Marbury already is a Chinese basketball living legend. So what happens if he wins another, all while averaging 28 points per game this postseason on a bum knee? Read more »
Thanks to everyone who attended the Blogging China panel last night at Bookworm with Jeremy Goldkorn, Mia Li, Alec Ash and Tao Stein. If you were there and it inspired you to blog, get in touch! Read more »
Several more months of terrible air, bad publicity and one inspired brainstorm session with my friend Kyle convinced me that this was a movie that needed be made. Beijing right now is one of the most fascinating clusters of humanity in the world and yet it’s almost perpetually shrouded in a layer of physical and public relations pollution. I get that. I’ve read the history, I breathe the air, I eat the gutter oil, and yeah, that all sucks. But at the end of the day this place just has an energy that I’m in love with. Read more »
Tom Chou played the Chinese character in the music videos for "Chinese Food" and "Get In My Car," both produced by "Friday" producer Patrice Wilson. Although criticized by some as racially insensitive and tacky, the two videos together have amassed more than 16 million views on Youtube and Youku. Read more »
Happy St. Patrick's Day links. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention real quick that Poetry Night in Beijing packed the house last night, so thanks to all those who came out. And of course, thanks to all our readers and Canaan, Eleanor, and Helen. We'll have to do that again sometime. Read more »
This is it: your final reminder that I'll be joined by three docents and five poets tonight at the Bookworm to celebrate poetry in Beijing. The event will feature Peter Behr, Stephen Nashef, Edward Ragg, Emily Stranger, and Yuan Yang (and Gower Campbell) reading selected works, as curated by Canaan Morse, Eleanor Goodman, and Helen Wing. (The curators and I will present a little something as well.) The festivities begin at 8 pm. Tickets are available at the door. Read more »
Continuing our ongoing series in Wuhan is The One, a classic rock 'n' roll band following the likes of Chuck Berry and early Elvis Presley. They are also employees at the legendary VOX Livehouse, the only large-scale venue in a city with more than a million students. Read more »
Today on C4: Rumors of a great C4 hosting explosion were greatly exaggerated. Here's Stuart and Rob with their 100th (!) episode. Maybe they've just had some miscommunication problems. What? Read more »
Judging by the latest collection at Asian Art Works, the life of the modern artist is world-weary and pessimistic.
The new exhibition, titled Collections of Asian Art Works, reflects the personal attitudes of the gallery’s collected artists. Those attitudes may be a symptom of China’s general outlook on prosperity. Read more »
The professional basketball team in Beijing is called the Ducks, but I don't see why. It should be the Beijing Stephon Marburies. There is no player more valuable to his team -- not Yi Jianlian for Guangdong, not Doug McDermott for Creighton, not even LeBron James for Miami -- than Marbury is to Beijing, and if you needed any proof, just fire up last night's decisive Game 5 of the CBA semifinals, which saw the Ducks beat the Guangdong Southern Tigers 110-102 in Dongguan. Read more »
Last month we made an open call for poets to participate in a curated community event at the Bookworm Literary Festival, and the response was exceptional. Please consider this our official thank you to all who answered. The curators of Poetry Night in Beijing -- Canaan Morse, Helen Wing and Eleanor Goodman -- read nearly 200 poems before finally (painstakingly) choosing five writers whose works resonated with them in style and substance. Read more »
State media is reporting that at least three are dead after a knife attack this morning in Changsha, Hunan province. There were multiple assailants, one of whom was reportedly shot dead by police. Read more »
In Taiwan, it is hard to get away from the image of Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Xinhai Revolution and one of the key figures in the history of the Guomindang (KMT): his portrait is on the money, in schools, museums, and a host of other public places. He is also the only KMT figure to be officially honored in the Chinese Communist Party’s narrative of 20th century Chinese history, and even has his own memorial in Nanjing.
The narrative of the CCP’s triumph over the KMT needs Sun’s legacy to fit events in Chinese history into a Marxist framework. Read more »
