Jottings from the Granite Studio

There’s been quite a lot going on over the past month in the news and in the blogosphere and it’s a real honor to be this month’s host for the 14th installment of the Asian History Carnival. If I hadn’t spent the last month scouring the internet for worthy entries (seeing as I received exactly [...]

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As part of the facelift for 2008, Beijing’s star attraction is getting a much-needed makeover. CCTV reports (with video) that the Palace Museum (better known to laowai as “The Forbidden City”) is undergoing its “biggest renovation in 600 years.” While the palace has withstood the Boxers, 1911 Revolutionaries, Imperialist armies, Japanese troops, Red Guards, and [...]

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Something has to be done about the traffic situtation in Beijing and the idea of raising parking fees seems at first glance to be a good start. But the increase is only from 2 RMB to 5 RMB per hour which begs the question: That’s it? This means you can drive your US$80,000 BMW downtown [...]

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Glad to see that longtime Granite Studio favorite Anna “Su Fei” Loewenberg and the gang at Danwei.tv are getting some well-deserved props. CNN.com today has a story on Anna and the “Sexy Beijing” series. I know the whole thing has its detractors (check out the strong responses, pro and con, in the comments [...]

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David Lampton, dean of faculty and a professor at SAIS, takes Jim Mann to task over Mann’s recent book, The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression. In the book, Mann argues that the two dominant competing schools on China, one arguing that China is on a path of increasing democratization, the other [...]

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At the risk of talking about the weather…
Woke up this morning to a dusty, windy day…the kind of day where particulate matter is considered a food group. Sure enough, I just got back from my morning jog and coughed up so much dust and dirt that I seriously have potting soil sufficient to start [...]

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Der Spiegel Online profiles Hu Jie, the filmmaker behind the Cultural Revolution documentary, “Though I am Gone.” The film has run into trouble with CCP censors but is available on You Tube.

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