Category: China

Weiwei-isms

Later I became very involved in writing. I really enjoyed that moment of writing. People would pass around my sentences. That was a feeling I never had before.  It was like a bullet out of…

Mao’s Revolution

Yet a Maoist doctrine that played so vital  role during the revolutionary years, bringing about a historically necessary revolution in the social state of China, paradoxically had disastrous human and political consequences when it was…

For K. L.

After his own New York show in 1988, his work dried up. He moved many times and every time he moved he dumped what little work he had produced. But he didn’t stop thinking of…

An Hour for Ai Weiwei

After meeting with Marty, J’Ann, and Suzanne, I offered to propose something for a gathering of old and new friends Thursday 1 October at Hartford Coffee on Hartford from 4:30-5:30. I want us to discuss…

It’s Michelle Yeoh’s Face

A skeptical friend asked why I like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon so much… so the following, off the top of my head, even though I recognize de gustibus non est disputandum… Why is it the best (for…

Reading Du Fu

Some friends and I are reading Du Fu in David Young’s translation. Here’s what Ye Xie (1627-1703) had to say about him– “Take any one of Du Fu’s poems, or even one line, and everywhere…

Three Anthologies

Cristina, As you continue your journey into the world of poetry, I can enthusiastically recommend the following anthologies compiled by Eliot Weinberger: The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry American Poetry since 1950: Innovators and…