By Helen Wang, March 23, '12
In repsonse to the recent post "Chris Livaccari on Overcoming Misconceptions about China"...
The little that schoolchildren know about China is usually what they learn from school and family (and advertising, TV, commercial stuff etc). Lots of primary school activities relating to China at school are projects about dragons, lanterns and lots of red, so no wonder this is their response.
By Helen Wang, March 23, '12
http://english.qstheory.cn/culture/201112/t20111231_133081.htm
Salon.com posted an interview with Chris Livaccari of the Asia Society (New York) with a guided reading list of how to overcome misconceptions about China. Here’s how he begins his responses:
I recently asked some school kids, “If you had the opportunity to go to China today, what do you think you would see?” One of the students said there would be a lot of lanterns everywhere, a lot of red, and a lot of dragons. I thought, “Wow. If this kid stepped into Shanghai in 2012, he would really be bowled over.”
The books he mentions are...
By Helen Wang, March 22, '12
http://www.englishpen.org/writing-in-a-city-thats-collapsing/
Just Launched!
By Nicky Harman, March 22, '12
The Free Word Centre, London, now has a whole section devoted to translation: its Translation Programme. This has partly arisen out of the Translator Residencies last autumn, of which I had one, but there's now lots more going on. Keep an eye on it!
By Helen Wang, March 22, '12
http://www.hotinchina.net/?p=677
Ten Years in the History of Chinese Online Literature — (1) Beginning with the Free Serials
By the Editor, Verbena, Gaines Post:
By Helen Wang, March 22, '12
http://www.hotinchina.net/?p=756
By the Editor, Viola tricolor, Gaines Post:
On February 16th, 2012 the Beijing Open Book IT Corporation published its 2011 annual retail book market best-seller rankings for the fiction category. The following are the Top 15 on the rankings as well as an introduction...
By Helen Wang, March 22, '12
A review of Aneurin Wright's Things to do in a retirement home trailer park (www.trailerparkbook.com) prompted me to do a quick search on Chinese graphic novels....
The New York Times / International Herald Tribune blog ran a particularly frustrating piece the other day under the title “Rendezvous Always Knew ‘Bilinguals Are Smarter.’” Yes, I agree that mastering other languages benefits intelligence, but it was the particular smugness–and cultural superiority–that I writhe against. In particular...
The London newspaper voices Bei Ling's criticism of the London Book Fair's decision to compromise with GAPP. Soft power, anyone?
By Helen Wang, March 21, '12
http://www.ou.edu/clt/about.html/
Chinese Literature Today, a title from award-winning World Literature Today, produced its inaugural issue in the summer of 2010. It is based at the University of Oklahama.
By Helen Wang, March 20, '12
As recommended by Yvonne Zipp, in The Christian Scientist Monitor, 19 March 2012:
Five Bells by Gail Jones, Picador, 2012
"...But the heart of the novel belongs to Pei Xing, whose parents vanished during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution and who endured her own imprisonment and torture..."
By Helen Wang, March 20, '12
If you're interested in Du Fu, see also some of the recent publications by Brian Holton...
