Chinese ‘Pop’ Art I : Drinks with Faces
This year’s Qixi (Double Seven) festival was marked in a few interesting ways. Western brands like Gucci released ‘couple’ ads featuring LGBT partners, and Gong Jun, star of hit series Word of Honour appeared on Xuehua Beer cans. Though dressed in modern clothing, he is depicted wielding a paper fan, and surrounded by a colour scheme reminiscent of his character’s signature teal hanfu. He is just one of thousands of Chinese stars who lend their images to advertising, and there is a particular dynamism to Chinese drinks can and bottle art, which has flourished over the last decade, inspiring the art of other media and reaching far outside China.
Posted in Blog and tagged advertising, art, bottles, cans, china, Chinese, culture, drinks, food and drink, marketing, pop art, pop culture, soft drinks
Of White Tea and Wuhuang
This year in Britain, summer arrived with a fiery flourish, got chased away by the rain and is now hiding, hesitant to emerge again. A great way to enhance the vibe of this lovely season amidst intermittently grey skies, gusts of wind and rain, is to drink white tea.
Posted in Blog and tagged cats, china, Chinese, comic, culture, feline, illustrator, manhua, review, tea, white tea
Chinese Science Fiction: Net v.s Core
There is currently an explosion of creativity, growing out of China’s flourishing internet literature sites, which I have found myself happily getting lost in, as a researcher and a reader. Trying to stay within the lines of my professional interest, I found myself mainly looking into the multitude of nascent fantasy genres, but the segregation between this realm and my sources for science fiction, has not escaped me.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, culture, fiction, Internet, internet literature, literature, net novel, science fiction, SFF, speculative fiction
Space Myths Part II: China’s Scientific Future and Mythical Past
China is currently well into its age of space exploration. With the launch and landing of its Mars exploration programme Tienwen1 earlier in the year, and the docking of its first manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou12, this new frontier is at not only the forefront of China’s consciousness, but the world’s. A glance at the names of China’s space projects, and you’ll see that rather than paying tribute to the proletariat struggle, as programs did in the 1960s and 1970s, the country is now invoking its ancient scholars and scientists who mapped out the stars, and its mystical beings whom they thought lived in the skies. In the second part of this two-parter, I look at China’s Mars program, latest satellite launch facilities and Dark Matter exploration.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, culture, Dark Matter, launch, Mars, mythology, myths, satellite, space, space age
Space Myths Part I: How China is Taking its Mythos to the Stars
China is currently well into its age of space exploration. With the launch and landing of its Mars exploration programme Tienwen1 earlier in the year, and the docking of its first manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou12, this new frontier is at not only the forefront of China’s consciousness, but the world’s. A glance at the names of China’s space projects, and you’ll see that rather than paying tribute to the proletariat struggle, as programs did in the 1960s and 1970s, the country is now invoking its ancient scholars and scientists who mapped out the stars, and its mystical beings whom they thought lived in the skies. In part one of this series, I look at China’s manned space programme, space station and lunar exploration programme.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, culture, lunar, mythology, mythos, myths, Shenzhou, space, space station, spacecraft
Congee Concepts
I like congee. When my western friends reach for pizza or tomato soup as comfort foods, I do find myself missing that fragrant rice porridge with its accompanying bowls of tasting toppings. It seems I am not alone. I’ve been seeing a lot of social media and articles discussing this south-east Asian dish. They mainly focus on it being the secret of a healthy life, and a pick-me-up when you’re ill. Whilst all of this is true, I can’t help but feel that these representations are somewhat missing the main point, and perpetuating some misperceptions. The Chinese, for one, eat congee as an everyday staple, some even consider a delicious treat. With family roots across central, northern and southern China, I have grown up with a variety of experiences of the 粥zhou (Mandarin for congee).
Posted in Blog and tagged Cantonese, Chaozhou, china, Chinese, congee, cuisine, culture, food, jook, Teochew, tradition
Taiping Hou Kui (Nothing But Tea)
As there was so much interest and enthusiasm surrounding the tea panel I appeared on at this year’s EasterCon21, I’m publishing a series of mini reviews on the spring teas I’m drinking this year, provided by the lovely NothingButTea.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, culture, green tea, review, tasting Taiping Hou Kui, tea
Cyborg Ghosts, Space Dragon Boats, and the Deep Roots of Chinese Sci-Fi
Science fiction is about the future, or at least that’s how it’s usually perceived. In fact, the genre is one of the most versatile forms of speculative fiction, allowing the writer to draw from all manner of dimensions — past, present, and future — for their world building. A brief glance at recent stories from around the world confirms this, whether it’s Adrian Tchaikovsky’s exploration of non-human sapient worlds or Rebecca Roanhorse’s adaptation of Native American stories to a futuristic setting.
This is particularly true of the current golden age of Chinese sci-fi, or kehuan, one of the most distinctive features of which is the clever use of concepts, constructions, and imagery from traditional and classical Chinese culture.
Posted in Blog
The Untamed: Why Here? Why Now?
Though I have very much appreciated The Untamed and Modao Zushi, and have written about both the works, and the phenomena of their success, I have generally avoided being drawn into the fandoms, (though there’s nothing wrong with enthusiastic love for a show) or dampening any gushiness with my cultural critique. However, I knew that I would invariably be talking about it professionally at some point, as I ended up doing on a panel discussing the show at 2021’s Eastercon, ConFusion2021, along with two enthusiastic fanfic writers, and a moderator who turned out far more interested in joining in the discussion than facilitating it.
Posted in Blog and tagged C Drama, china, Chinese, culture, Daoism, fantasy, idol drama, MDZS, MXTX, SFF, society, The Untamed, TV, Xianxia, xiuzhen, xuanhuan
The Pandemic and SFF: Thoughts on the Eastercon21 Panel
Despite Covid restrictions, I returned this year to convention life, at least virtually, as a guest at EasterCon, and in an event driven to digital by a global pandemic, it couldn’t have been more appropriate to talk about how all this has affected science fiction and fantasy works. The hour-long panel featured myself, along with the editor and authors of New Con Press. There was a lot to talk about in the one-hour slot, and with so many of us having lived near hermit like existences for the last few months, personal take-aways from lockdown becoming a central topic for some of the more loquacious guests, and there were so many points that were left unexplored.
Posted in Blog and tagged china, Chinese, culture, fiction, literature, outbreak, pandemic, science fiction, SF in Translation, SFF, society, translated, virus