Mahjong Illustrated: The Sound of Sparrows
The clickety-clack of mahjong tiles being mixed by a group of friends is one of the most soothing and distinctive sounds found across East Asia and, increasingly, North America. First developed in southern China in the early 19th century, mahjong – meaning ‘sparrow’ – is a fun and popular game that tasks you with solving a tile-matching puzzle before you run out of moves. Played by four people using 144 tiles, mahjong is not just a game of luck; it requires strategy, pattern recognition, and an understanding of the other players’ tactics.
Posted in Books and tagged books, china, Chinese, culture, games, Mahjong, majiang, strategy, tiles
The Literary Silk Road
One of the things I was unprepared for as I began my literary career, was the extent to which I would become ‘the oil to be borrowed’, writing blurbs for other writers, hosting panels at events, and being invited on junkets, to help promote new ventures. It was in this capacity that I was invited by the China Writer’s Association to attend the first Tacheng & Emin Literary Silk Road China and International Writer’s Exchange. An opportunity to showcase the diversity of China’s heritage, and the opening of the Tacheng Literature Museum.
Posted in Events and tagged author, culture, exchange, literary, silk road
The Mythos of Kunlun
Earlier this year, I was asked to participate in Erland Cooper’s Mythic Island series, part of The Essay on BBC3, for which I had the pleasure of discussing the myth and cultures of Kunlun with the host. We only had a short time, so I’ve written this article based on further insights from my research, to supplement the conversation.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged china, Chinese, culture, Kunlun, mountains, myth, mythology
The Phenomenal Popularity of Ne Zha 2
Ne Zha 2 hit the cinema screens this Spring Festival to phenomenal domestic success. This has been attributed to many things, including some secret technophile organisation of allegedly nationalistic Chinese entrepreneurs spreading their hidden agenda. The actual reasons are probably a mix of high production quality, the right place, the right time and as often is the case, cultural appeal. Nothing less than an icon in China, the legendary figure of Ne Zha has always enjoyed much love throughout the history of his cultural evolution. In this article I guide you through this development and explore the factors behind the immense appeal of his latest reincarnation. Nezha entered the Chinese pantheons during the Tang Dynasty with the spread of Buddhism, introduced into China in the previous centuries. Chinese Buddhist tales portray him as a deity sent to the mortal world to protect it against the rising number of yao. His legend evolved from the Song Dynasty, a tale of rage fights, heavenly judgements and gruelling atonement. Temples venerating him were found as late as the 1940s (if you’d like to learn more, you can read my book). In the contemporary times, he has been reborn in the modern temples of home and pocket entertainment. Most people in China will remember this figure from the 1979 Shanghai Animation classic Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (recently re-released), created in the style of the art of Dunhuang, a fitting tribute to the murals that his image first graced. Here he is the undaunted Continue Reading →
Posted in Articles and tagged china, Chinese, culture, film, mythology, pop culture
Wandering Earth 2 and the New Global Order
It was a pleasure being on a panel hosted by L.S.E. with fellow authors and scholars to discuss recent Chinese sci-fi blockbuster, The Wandering Earth II (Frant Gwo) Cinema plays a major role in furthering cultural understanding, and there is definitely more to both Chinese science fiction and this movie than some have considered them, as mere “tools for soft power”. We each spoke a little on the work before entering the discussion, here is the short talk I presented. Like Wandering Earth 1, this second film also depicts a geopolitical landscape that places China at the top of global political power. This is shown through the made-in-China technology that operates the Wandering Earth Project, the diplomatic influence the country exerts over international disagreements, and the decision making that affects the fate of the entire planet. I saw this film for the first time at the cinema in London, when it came out last year. Whilst I had also watched and written about the first film around its release, this was the one that made me to want to read Liu Cixin’s short story and see how its original creator envisioned an epic tale that involves a fundamental alteration to humanity’s existence. The world presented in the original short story is one of international co-operation. It quietly happens because it is taken as a given. In this global order, China holds as much of a stake as others in the running of this earth-moving operation, which I find far more interesting, Continue Reading →
Posted in Events and tagged blockbuster, china, Chinese, cinema, culture, film, Liu Cixin, movie, panel, science fiction, Scifi, society, The Wandering Earth 2
Chinese Monsters IV: Mythological Creatures
Having explored in the first three articles of this mini-series, deadly demons, friendly fiends, gorgeous ghouls and saucy spooks in Chinese supernatural lore, I come to the mythical monsters.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged china, Chinese, creatures, culture, horror, monsters, mythical, myths, supernatural
Tea Cabinet – An Exploration of Herbs
A while ago, I was given this beautiful old cabinet originally used for holding Traditional Chinese Medicines, so that I can store all the varieties of my loose leaf tea collection. Each of these many rows of small draws have the names of a herb carved onto it. Before I put my leaves into it, I thought it would be interesting to find out a little about each of these herbs.
Posted in Articles and tagged cabinet, china, Chinese, culture, herbs, medicine, TCM, tea, traditional medicine
Half the Universe: More On Chinese Women SF Writers
A couple of years ago, I wrote an article highlighting some of China’s female science fiction writers . It is a well-known fact that women in the SF community have been heavily overlooked in China, where a hard-science-heavy tradition took root in the genre’s first ‘golden age’ of the 1950s, which in itself was a continuation of a nation-building role for sci-fi that could be traced all the way back to the beginning of the century. Although women have been active contributors to the genre since at least the 1970s, with writers such as Zhang Jing and Ji Wei, their inclination, or perceived inclination to write ‘soft science fiction’, meant they have not been as visible as male writers in previous eras. In the twenty-first century however, kēhuàn (Hanyu for sci-fi) has diversified as a genre, branching off into more character driven fiction, which integrates science with story, shifting away from works that centrally focused on science theory or concepts.
Posted in Articles and tagged china, Chinese, culture, equality, feminism, fiction, literature, science fiction, SF, SFF, women's writing
The New New Year: Part I
Spring Festival planning actually starts as Christmas ends. That sad moment of shoving carefully boxed Christmas trees and garlands in the loft offset with bringing down another box, labelled “CNY DECS”. This box isn’t opened up immediately though, there’s a lot of real life things that need to happen, including cleaning and writing the inevitable articles for media who suddenly remember Chinese people exist. The box sits in a corner for a few weeks, saving us the effort of having to head to the loft a second time, but also taking the edge off the January blues, until we open it on Xiaonian.
Posted in Articles and tagged china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, culture, customs, Spring Festival, tradition