Tag Archive > china

Pimp my ride, China-style!

Cars are a symbol of modernity and luxury, and particularly so in China, the largest car market in the world. Everyone is in on this: the government, auto companies, and of course, the sacred cow of the international economy, the rising Chinese middle class. As a country and a generation goes wheels up, one of [...]

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Did China invent the restaurant?

From Wikimedia Commons It’s hard to imagine nowadays, but restaurants as we know them today did not always exist. French Revolution Paris in the late 18th century is usually cited as the birthplace of the restaurant (the word itself is French), but many of the characteristics that define a modern restaurant were already in place [...]

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Variations on a Theme: I Want Your Love

1950s Chinese actress, singer and superstar Grace Chang (葛兰 Ge Lan) really deserves a post that is devoted entirely to herself, but I’m going to start here with just one song. Recently, I spent a rather enjoyable morning watching Grace Chang clips on YouTube. My favourite is 我要你的爱 I Want Your Love. It’s a Chinese [...]

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beijing in vintage postcards from images of asia

Street cleaners wash down a city street in old Beijing. Chinese Lunch Counter on the Streets of Beijing   Chinese Water Carrier The Images of Asia stock image website combines two of my favorite things: vintage postcards and historic China. These evocative postcards, some with their original stamps, are organized by cities and by studios.  [...]

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what’s in and what’s out in chinese popular culture

A few months ago in my spoken Chinese class, my teacher displayed this fascinating list of what was in and out in Chinese popular culture as part of her lesson about the internet and slang. Through the miracle of Baidu, I managed to track down the original list to the June 1st edtion of The [...]

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The World At Your Fingertips

The setting of the highly recommended Jia Zhangke film The World 世界, World Park brings the world’s greatest monuments in miniature straight to residents without ever having to leave China. As even obtaining a passport is an excercise in bureaucracy, never mind trying to get tourist visas, it’s easy to see why World Park would [...]

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“none holds for me the abiding charm that is peking”

I have just discovered the Travel Film Archive, a collection of travel footage from 1900 to 1970 available on YouTube. If you’re a fan of old newsreels, you’ll probably love this.  Complete with serious voiceovers and the slightly patronizing tone of the man on the spot to those funny foreigners, they capture a time when [...]

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