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LA Review of Books: Troubled Waters
The LA Review of Books blog has a spiffy new layout, and they’ve also promoted me to co-editor of the China Blog. My latest post is now up at the site—a discussion of new writing on the Empress Dowager Cixi, who has long been blamed for all of China’s troubles in the late nineteenth and…
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In Praise of Pleco
A few weeks ago, I was in Beijing having dinner with a group of people that included journalist Christina Larson. The table’s conversation turned to our unanimous love of Pleco, which is an incredibly powerful Chinese dictionary app. Christina called me a few days later to interview me about my own use of Pleco, and…
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I Do What the Tomato Tells Me
Chapter 5 of my dissertation is now just over 6,300 words (of an estimated 10,000—I’m getting closer!). Some of those words are (I think) pretty good ones; others I already know I will want to sweep into the dustbin before this whole thing is over. The vast majority of them I have written while half-aware…
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Official Member of the Sanmao Paradise Club
Many thanks to Sue Anne Tay of Shanghai Street Stories, who knows of my interest in Zhang Leping’s Sanmao comics and picked up this pin for me when she spotted it one day in Shanghai. The pin is a replica of one that I’ve seen on display at Song Qingling’s house in Shanghai. Such pins…
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LA Review of Books: The Wonderful World of Books
My latest column for the LA Review of Books China Blog is now up at their site, detailing my two visits to the Shanghai Book Fair when it was in town last month. I had expected the book expo to attract a good number of teachers, writers, academics, etc., but as I approached the Shanghai…
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Chinese Fluency: The Green Light in the Distance
A couple of weeks ago, I took myself to dinner at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. After a few rotations of the belt, I realized that some of my favorite types of sushi weren’t being offered, so I called the waitress over and asked for a caidan (menu) so I could order them directly. She…
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China: A Land Without Left-Handers
Yesterday, August 13, was International Left-Handers’ Day, and no one here even noticed. After running out to my mailbox to check for cards and gifts (I’m sure they’ll arrive soon; China Post is slow) and waiting around the apartment all day for flower deliveries (none, but I’m allergic to most flowers anyway), I finally placed…
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LA Review of Books: “Life Goes On”
At the main LA Review of Books website you can now read my review of Sheng Keyi’s Northern Girls: Life Goes On, an often sensationalist novel about the lives of young women working in the factory towns of southern China: Sheng’s book, translated by Shelly Bryant, is a raunchy and provocative account of the lives…
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LA Review of Books: “Material Girls”
My monthly column at the LA Review of Books China Blog just went live; this month, I review Tiny Times, the hit movie of the summer here. It is, to put it briefly, a terrible film: Tiny Times (Xiao shidai), a Chinese summer blockbuster based on a book of the same name, ranks as far…
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Bookshelf: Rock Paper Tiger and Hour of the Rat
As I’ve mentioned, it’s been really, really hot here in Shanghai lately. One of my favorite hot-weather activities is to turn on the air conditioning, lie on the couch, and devour mystery novels. I’ve been spending my summers doing this ever since first cracking open my mother’s hand-me-down Nancy Drew books somewhere around the age…
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Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 