Last Days of Limehouse
After Yellow Earth’s fantastic Dimsum Nights, I have been following the troupe’s movements, and when I saw that their new production, charting London’s original China Town, would be performed at the old Limehouse Town Hall, I practically leapt for a ticket. Directed by Gary Merry, and Yellow Earth’s overall artistic director, Kumiko Mendl, I’m very glad I did.
Posted in Commentary and tagged china, Chinatown, Chinese, conservation, culture, demolition, heritage, Last Days of Limehouse, Limehouse, london, progress, promenade, theatre, Yellow Earth
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 alley, architecture, china, Chinese, community, culture, Guangzhou, heritage, Lingnan, Xiguan
Reclaiming Yellow: What does it Mean to be Chinese
I have always been proud to be Chinese. Growing up in Britain during the 1990s, surrounded by a mix of Chinese family, friends of mixed ethnicity, and generally accepting people all round, it was not something I felt I needed to defend or actively promote. It wasn’t until I went to university, and came into contact with a wider public, that I began to see a problem.
Posted in Commentary and tagged china, Chinese, commentary, culture, ethnicity, heritage, identity, race