Chinese Culture & Avatar: The Legend of Korra: Part 1

As Avatar: The Legend of Korra Book: Change, has just started airing on Nikelodeon, I wanted to write about the Chinese elements in the series. The whole of the beautifully drawn and conceived Avartar series, including The Last Airbender, which a whole generation of fans grew up with, is steeped in Chinese culture. Whilst Aang’s journey through a Wuxia inspired landscape clearly drew influences from traditional Chinese and other Asian cultures, I want to focus on Korra, as the cross-over between East and West, ancient and the modern, has achieved some very interesting results.


Posted in Culture and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hidden Guangzhou – the Hong

When people think about Guangzhou, people think of factories, shops and a place where money can be made. But when you turn away from the over crowded main roads into the alleys, you’ll find a world utterly different from the commercial side of this age old city. Like the Hutongs of Beijing and the Long Dangs of Shanghai, the 巷 (“Hong” in Cantonese dialect) of Guangzhou has its own regional cultural uniqueness.


Posted in Culture and tagged , , , , , , , , ,