Jottings from the Granite Studio

Hong Kong-based citizen journalist and Global Voices Online contributor Oiwan Lam is facing charges of indecency in Hong Kong for posting an artsy topless photograph found on Flickr. She is facing a lengthy–and expensive–court battle and needs your help. The case has quickly become a cause célèbre in the China blogosphere. More information […]

[Read more →]

Since many researchers are here on some cobbled-together amalgam of dodgy Z visas, F visas, and/or multiple extensions of an L visa…the pre-Olympic “harmonization” of the foreign community may have implications for research plans in the PRC beginning this month:
From Today in China:

I received the following notification from […]

[Read more →]

It’s another of those cherished myths–that Ming Dynasty explorer Zheng He made his way as far as the coasts of North America and Europe. It does a lot for Chinese national pride and it has certainly made Gavin Menzies a well-known and wealthy author. He’s become something of a strawman in China history circles, but […]

[Read more →]

On this date in 1864, Zeng Guoquan, the brother of the late-Qing statesman and official, Zeng Guofan, ordered his engineers to blow a section of the wall surrounding the Taiping capital, Tianjing (Nanjing). The wall caved and government troops charged into the city. The Taipings gave some resistance but soon Nanjing was in complete chaos […]

[Read more →]

A 600-year old tomb (ming zuling 明祖陵) built for the parents and grandparents of Ming dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398, r. 1368-1398) is in danger of being inundated with floodwaters from nearby Hongze Lake.
Via Xinhua:

A 2,700-meter-long cofferdam built in the 1970s separates the tomb from the Hongze Lake, which covers an area of 2,069 square […]

[Read more →]

Jottings from the Granite Studio has been nominated for the 2007 China Blog Awards. First of all kudos to Chinalyst for organizing the voting and to Ryan at Lost Laowai/Life in Suzhou for designing the cool logo/image.
Now: shameless plug time…if you like the blog, give us your vote. As of the last tally, […]

[Read more →]

Mao’s “closest comrade in arms” Lin Biao is finding his way back into Chinese history, 36 years after the former defense minister died fleeing from a failed coup attempt against the Chinese leader.
From the IHT:

A portrait of Lin Biao is included in a display of the “Ten Marshals,” a group lauded as founders of China’s […]

[Read more →]

I’m starting at a new gig this autumn. I’ll write more about it as the details get finalized but it looks like one of my responsibilities is to lead field trips.
The problem is that I am very much a book-and-document historian. Buildings and “stuff” have never been my strong points. I tend to get bored […]

[Read more →]

As the dog days of summer descend on Beijing…word from The China Daily that 50% of the water used in water coolers across the city of Beijing is probably fake or substandard: either straight tap water or water from smaller brands with lower quality standards repackaged with ’seals of quality’ for sale to Beijing homes […]

[Read more →]

Today is July 4, American Independence Day. On this date in 1776…not much happened. The document had been completed two days earlier. As John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail:
“July 2nd will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations […]

[Read more →]