Jottings from the Granite Studio

I haven’t read the book in years, so memory might fail, but I seem to recall a line (perhaps the opening line) from William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer: “The sky was the color of a tv set turned to a dead station.”
Such is Beijing.
Beijing has announced ’special environmental measures’ that can be implemented on an ad [...]

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I have a new post up over at The Peking Duck on some of the things I love about living in the ‘Jing.

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Yung Wing (容闳, 1828-1912) was the first Chinese graduate of Yale University (class of 1854) and went on to have a long and diverse career as an interpreter, tea trader, diplomat, educator, military procurement specialist, and writer.
In his autobiography 我在中国和美国的生活 My Life in China and America, he recounts an incident that took place in Shanghai [...]

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Listening to NPR this evening, today’s installment of the series “China Rising” looks at the China-Africa connection through the life and career of British army officer and adventurer Charles “Chinese” Gordon (1833-1885).  Gordon took over for Frederick Townsend Ward against the Taiping in 1862 and was later killed by the forces of Mahdi Mohammed Ahmed [...]

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Shameless promotion….
The Christian Science Monitor has a new blog, Olympic Glory, up and running.  Yeah, I know I’m biased (YJ works for the CSM), but for my money, the Monitor has consistently published interesting stories on China while avoiding some of the sensationalism and bias associated with the ‘foreign media in Beijing.’
Be sure to check [...]

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At 3:42 local time on July 28, 1976, a massive earthquake struck the Hebei industrial town of Tangshan, destroying the city and damaging buildings in neighboring Beijing and Tianjin.  The official figure issued by the Chinese government (Read: The number the politicians pulled out of their ass) was 242,000 killed.  Other estimates, including initial reports, [...]

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Well after one week of odd/even traffic restrictions, I stood on the pedestrian overpass on Chao Nei Dajie and looked west.  On a good day, you can see Xiang Shan and the Western Hills.  Today you could see about 200 meters and then the street dissolved into a smog bank so thick it was positively [...]

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On this date in 146 A.D., the treacherous Han Dynasty courtier and official Liang Ji (梁冀) poisoned the young Emperor Zhi (Liu Zuan b. 138).  Liang Ji was the brother of the Empress Dowager and he used his position to amass considerable wealth, power and political control, making deals with eunuchs, allegedly carrying out homosexual [...]

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Today is the birthday of painter Xu Beihong (徐悲鸿), born this date in Yixing, Jiangsu in 1895.  Xu studied painting in Shanghai until at the age of 22 he was hired by Cai Yuanpei to teach at Peking University.  After a two-year stint at the university, Xu traveled to France where he studied at the [...]

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Today is the birthday of Aisin-Gioro I Ju, the Xianfeng 咸丰 Emperor, born this day in 1831.  He was the last of the Qing Emperors to take the throne after reaching the age of majority, but his short reign was nothing less than disastrous, a perfect embodiment of the Chinese phrase 内乱外患 (internal turmoil, external threats/calamity). Under his watch, the country became embroiled [...]

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