Jottings from the Granite Studio

Via Danwei comes a report that inclusion of the Cultural Revolution film “Though I am Gone” (我虽死去) has resulted in the cancellation of the Yunnan Film Festival. The film, available in 10 parts on YouTube, documents the horrific killing of Bian Zhongyun, the principlal of the Girls Middle School attached to Beijing Normal University. Her [...]

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SI is reporting that the NFL will announce on Monday that the game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks scheduled for this August in Beijing has been canceled.
Which genuinely sucks but at least makes my Chinese Tom Brady jersey an instant collectible.

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One more on this subject and then I’ll stop. I think. But for the love of Pedro, China is blocking the blog of Curt Schilling, RHP for the Boston Red Sox. Seriously.
Was Mao a Yankees fan? (On a certain level, that would make sense.) Or is this all part of the deal Brian [...]

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At the risk of slipping into what China Law Blog refers to as a “noodle” blog, I had some thoughts while wandering around Tianjin the last couple of days before the Spring Festival.
YJ’s mother is the sweetest human being on Earth. She really is. But like an evil genie, when you are in her presence [...]

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Chow Yun-fat is starring in the third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean as Chinese pirate Sao Feng. (Whose name refers to the classical Chinese poem: “The Asian market, he whispered/at a board meeting for Disney/how best to capture it/hire a Chinese guy/said the marketing rep softly.”) Piracy in China has a [...]

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Der Spiegel online has a good overview of China’s environmental problems including a study done by researchers from UC Davis on pollution from China along the California coastline. (Via Arts & Letter Daily)

Long before the controversies surrounding Zhang Ziyi and Bai Ling, there was Anna May Wong. In the new edition of Danwei.tv’s Sexy Beijing [...]

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UPI reports: “Five South Korean female short track players raised signs reading, “Mount Paekdu is our (Korean) territory” during an awards ceremony Wednesday.” The incident is the latest in a series of back and forth sniping between China and Korea in a variety of media including competing op-ed pieces, ‘scholarly’ articles, and even teledramas [...]

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Last month, 7′6″ Yao Ming had a shot blocked by 5′9″ Knick guard Nate Robinson. If there was ever a moment when Yao seemed to epitomize his country’s struggles over the last few centuries, there it was….even more so when you look at the video and realize that Robinson got away with a poke in [...]

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Warning: The following post has nothing to do with China but a little to do with history.
Today is not only Pearl Harbor day but also the 50th birthday of one Larry Joe Bird, known forever as “The Basketball Jesus.”
It’s easy to forget just what a special player Bird was and too many people who are [...]

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It’s fair to say that when the Pats play the Seahawks next year in Beijing, there won’t be any Chinese playing on either side. Korea has claimed (finally accepted?) Hines Ward but so far no NFL equivalent of Yao Ming, Sun Jihai, or even a Wang Chien-ming has emerged on the gridiron. But that [...]

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