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Classic Danwei Posts

Posted by Danwei, August 24, 2008 12:23 PM

Many articles on Danwei do not grow stale even as they scroll off the main page. Over the years Danwei has been in operation, the archives have amassed quite a number of posts whose information is still current and which we believe may still be of interest to readers.

For the convenience of the Danwei readership, who would otherwise be forced to slog through hundreds of posts worth of old breaking news, announcements, calls-to-arms, and Skinhua alerts to find these gems, we have collected them below.

Random "Classic Danwei posts" will be linked off the sidebar, and this list will be updated as Danwei contributors continue to generate classic posts.

+ In Wang Shuo's No Man's Land (2008.08): Geremie Barme addresses Wang Shuo's 千万别把我当人.

+ Don't ask so laowai don't have to tell (2008.07): An essay was written by Geremie Barmé, scholar, filmmaker and author of the new book The Forbidden City.

+ CCTV's gatekeepers discuss TV drama censorship (2008.07): Oriental Outlook reports on CCTV's in-house tv censors.

+ Willow fluff and trashy romance novels (2008.05): Flying Catkin (飞絮) by Zhang Ziping (张资平) has echoes in today's publishing landscape.

+ Lupine lactose intolerant (2008.05): A book review of Wolf Totem by Linda Jaivin.

+ Wang Xiaofeng: Why is SARFT so uptight? (2008.03): A translation of a Wang Xiaofeng blog post about SARFT and their ban on actress Tang Wei.

+ China's TV regulator frowns on crime reenactments (2008.03): SARFT reiterates its disapproval of crime reenactment shows. The Oriental Morning Post laments the blandness of current TV offerings.

+ Boom times for Chinese film, but what comes next? (2008.02): Oriental Outlook (瞭望东方周刊) and Sanlian Life Week (三联生活周刊) examine China's film industry.

+ The top Chinese books in 2007 (2008.02): China Reading Journal (中华读书报), Yazhou Zhoukan (亚洲周刊), and City Pictorial (城市画报) choose mainland China's top books for 2007.

+ Paper tigers, whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears (2008.02): An article originally published in 1999 by Geremie Barmé about newspapers in China and how they have changed since the Cultural Revolution.

+ Lost in Beijing finally gets killed (2008.01): SARFT (广电总局) brings down the hammer on Lost in Beijing (苹果), one year after its offense.

+ The most famous junk collector in Xi'an (2007.10): Gaoxing (高兴) by Jia Pingwa (贾平凹) is actually based on the life experiences of his friend Liu Shuzhen (刘书祯), aka (刘高兴).

+ Some questions about SARFT's full-stop for Red Question Mark (2007.09): SARFT axes Red Question Mark (红问号). He Dong (何东) responds.

+ Women writers in 1940s Shanghai who were not Eileen Chang (2007.09): Xiaojie Ji (小组集), an anthology of literature by women in 1940s Shanghai. Chen Zishan (陈子善) writes the foreword.

+ SARFT's guide to talent show etiquette (2007.09): SARFT releases a new notice regarding talent shows (广电总局进一步加强群众参与的选拔类广播电视活动和节目的管理).

+ Hai Yan: books with the reach of television (2007.09): Hai Yan (海岩) is interviewed by Oriental Outlook (瞭望东方周刊).

+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas.

+ The horrors of SMS messaging (2007.09): Naraka 19 (地狱第19层), based on the Cai Jun (蔡骏) novel, gets neutered by SARFT.

+ Of banned books and reading habits (2007.08): The Hong Kong Book Fair's theme is Reading Hong Kong (阅读香港). Yau Lop Poon (丘立本) writes about reading banned books.

+ Harvest turns 50 (2007.07): Harvest magazine (收获) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with the July, 2007 issue.

+ Yu Qiuyu on the hardships of reading (2007.07): Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨) writes about trunks of books.

+ Haruki Murakami in Chinese (2007.07): Lin Shaohua (林少华) talks about how his translations of the works of Haruki Murakami (村上春树) are received in China.

+ Some like them uncut (2007.06): Hu Tong (胡同) of Booyee Bookshop (布衣书局) writes about the popularity of uncut editions.

+ Lu Jinbo: Marketing the Wang Shuo brand (2007.06): Larry Lu Jinbo (路金波) talks about how he markets books by Wang Shuo (王朔), Han Han (韩寒), and Annie Baobei (安妮宝贝).

+ Trend-spotting in online fiction (2007.06): An interview with Daniel Dan Fei (丹飞), publisher of Notes on Graverobbing (盗墓笔记), Rear Palace (后宫), and Those Ming Dynasty Things (明朝那些事).

+ Two decades of profitable Chinese book agents (2007.05): An Min (安民) writes in Southern Weekly (南方周末) about Chinese book agents (书商) and Xue Mili (雪米莉).

+ Yu Dan: defender of traditional culture, force for harmony (2007.05): Yu Dan (于丹) gets criticized by 'real scholars'. He Dong (何东) writes in her defense, saying that TV program hosts are the ones who ought to be upset. Zhao Yong in Southern Metropolis Daily writes that she upholds the mainstream government line.

+ Zhu Dake on literature and literary prizes (2007.04): Cultural critic Zhu Dake (朱大可) talks about online literature and the Nobel Prize (诺贝尔奖).

+ Ex-cons writing about prison life (2007.04): Four Walls (四面墙) by Zhang Chunlei (张春雷 aka 哥们儿), Female Psychologist (女心理师) by Bi Shumin (毕淑敏), and two prison blogs.

+ SARFT uncovers a poisoned apple (2007.03): Chang Ping (长平) on SARFT's criticism of Lost in Beijing (苹果 aka Apple), Still Life (三峡好人), and Thirteen Princess Trees (十三棵泡桐).

+ Yu Qiuyu: why book reading is a waste (2007.03): Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨) comments on National Reading Day (国家阅读日) and raises a ruckus.

+ What's wrong with Thirteen Princess Trees? (2007.03): The movie Thirteen Princess Trees (十三棵泡桐) directed by Lu Yue (吕乐) is delayed for a second round of review by the China Film Bureau.

+ New Years Past: Other Spring Festivals by Geremie R. Barmé (2007.02): Sang Ye interviews two people about their experiences during Great Leap Forward-era Spring Festivals. Translated and annotated by Geremie R. Barmé.

+ 2006 in review: arts & entertainment (2007.01): Links to SARFT's rules for movie titles, a 2006 online media quiz, and end-of-2006 entertainment roundups from The Beijing News and China Daily.

+ Pseudoscience in four glorious colors (2007.01): Philosopher Li Ming (黎鸣) threatened to commit suicide if his Laozi-based proof of the Four Color Theorem was wrong. Turns out it is. Also, Liu Zihua's Eight Trigrams Cosmology (八卦宇宙学理) as an example of the relationship of traditional Chinese culture to modern science.

+ Slow, polluting seniors removed from Beijing city streets (2007.01): Zhang Rui writes about a Beijing plan to ban seniors from the city's streets, with the goal of reducing gridlock among pedestrians.

+ A fairy tale in Guangxi (2006.12): Guangxi schoolchildren write in to the People's Daily complaining about fraud perpetrated by their county leadership.

+ Who has it in for China? (2006.12): Global People (环球人物) magazine looks at people who have said bad things about China this year.

+ When corruption investigations were all the rage (2006.12): An essay inspired by the Gao Qinrong (高勤荣) case looks back at the anti-corruption campaigns of the early 1950s. Also, details about the Huang Yifeng Affair (黄逸峰事件) and a review of party regulations encouraging a critical press....in 1950.

+ Learning about America from prison flicks (2006.12): What Hollywood is teaching the world through prison films and TV shows like Prison Break and The Shawshank Redemption

+ Old fables retold: The Tortoise and the Hare (2006.12): The story of The Tortoise and the Hare (龟兔赛跑) told from a Chinese bureaucratic perspective.

+ Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei.

+ Dragons and branding (2006.12): Should the dragon be retired as China's national emblem? Were dragons real? Read on...

+ These films are not yet rated (2006.12): Ng See-Yuen (Wu Siyuan, 吴思远) argues that Chinese movies are bland because there's no rating system in place: they have to be acceptable for everyone, from children to the elderly, and they can't criticize contemporary society. That's why there are so many costume dramas.

+ Apathy -- Glimpses Inside the Chinese Media by Ann Condi (2006.12): What do people think when they are shown a tool to help them access off-limits sections of the Internet?

+ Insulting the Monkey King (2006.11): A Japanese adaptation of the Journey to the West has Chinese netizens and filmographers angry over its unfaithfulness to the book; a blogger comments that JttW may have inspired Tolkien.

+ China Writers' Association: what good is it? (2006.11): Tie Ning becomes president of the China Writers' Association. Is it nothing more than a useless political organization, as Wang Lixiong alleges?

+ Will the Boat Sink the Water? a review by Göran Leijonhufvud (2006.11): Göran Leijonhufvud, former China correspondent of several Scandinavian newspapers, is now researching village elections in minority nationalities areas in Yunnan.

+ Yu Qiuyu on cross-cultural communication (2006.10): A piece by Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨) adapted from a presentation given at August's 2006 Cross-Cultural Communication Forum.

+ Dreck, the new bestseller by your local party secretary (2006.10): Li Dalun writes books, Yu Qiuyu gives advice on officials writing, and two columnists discuss the corruption involved in publishing officials' works.

+ Writing and packaging young adult fiction for teenage girls (2006.10): YA novels for girls, featuring GirlneYa vs. Xiao Nizi.

+ Putting animal protection in the dictionary (2006.10): Animal protection advocates in China are upset at definitions in the Xinhua Dictionary that refer to the tasty flesh of animals.

+ The 'national' in National Day (2006.10): Xiao Feng writes about China's national flavor, national curse, national bird, national car, and so forth, Dongfang Yu writes on the true meaning of China's National Day in the age of angry youth.

+ Another National Day by Geremie R. Barmé (2006.09): A translation by Geremie R. Barmé of interviews by Sang Ye of two individuals about their experiences before and after the revolution.

+ A recipe for intrigue: an opportunistic novelization, an anonymous blurb, and the censorship board (2006.09): 暗算, a novelization of a television series adapted from a novel by Mai Jia (麦家), quotes an anonymous online source for a back-cover blurb. Also, the censorship process in regards to code-breaking subject matter.

+ Who's doing the censoring, exactly? (2006.09): Lou Ye gets banned from filmmaking, and workers in a Beijing film processing plant confiscate copies of a movie they think is too sexy.

+ Migrant worker blues: Who cares? by Bruce Humes (2006.09): Bruce Humes reviews two recent books about migrants in China: 'I Shall Shed No Tears' (我的眼泪不会掉下来) by Wang Lili and 'La Promesse de Shanghai' by Stephane Fiere.

+ A medical scam's willing participants (2006.08): From Oriental Outlook, a personal account by a doctor of patients shilling for bad medicine. Also, a Legal Report episode on how commercials are faked.

+ Online video tainted by spoofs (2006.08): Translation from Qiu Ao, and bits from the Legal Mirror about the SARFT regulations on personal internet video.

+ Beijing's Bloody August by Geremie R. Barmé (2006.08): Two first person accounts of the beginning of the decade of chaos in the Cultural Revolution, recorded by Sang Ye and translated by Geremie R. Barmé.

+ The General Administration of Anxiety about Radio, Film and TV (2006.08): 'Sanlian Life Week' contributing editor Wang Xiaofeng's short blog essay about the new rules issued by the State Administration of Radio, TV and Film (SARFT) that seek to control online video.

+ Let the Spiel Begin by Geremie R. Barmé (2006.07): Zhang Yimou, the Olympics opening ceremony, and a historically positive song and dance epics.

+ Educational gravediggers (2006.07): A teacher gets fired for defending students who complained about having to sit for hours in the hot sun waiting for a ceremony to start, while the leadership sat in air-conditioned cars.

+ Churches and the market economy (2006.07): A translation of Zhao Xiao's famous essay, 'Market Economies with Churches and Market Economies without Churches', and a critique by CASS academician He Fan.

+ Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels (2006.06): Culture Wars: author Xiao Ding (萧鼎) takes on stuffed shirt Tao Dongfeng (陶东风) over fantasy literature.

+ Is there such a thing as Chinese indie music? (2006.06): Blogger Wan Yi writes about the sad state of Chinese independent record labels.

+ Gnawing at language, biting the ankles of Chinese media (2006.05): A look at the Chinese magazine 'Correct Language' (咬文嚼字 - 'Yaowen Jiaozi') and language pedantry.

+ Barmé on Ba Jin (2005.11): Geremie R. Barmé dissents from Ba Jin.

+ A positive look at the Nationalist Party (2005.06): A book applauds KMT contributions to the anti-Japanese war effort.

+ How much money does a Beijing lawyer make? (2005.06): Today's edition of the Legal Mirror (法制晚报) featured a new financial column called 'Checking Your Pockets' (钱包大兜底). The aim of the column is to inform the readers about how much money people in selected industries make in Beijing. To pay respect to its name, Legal Mirror kicked off with lawyers. Here are the results of the report:

+ New classical education fills a void (2005.06): Why the sudden interest in guoxue (国学)?

+ A Joint Approach to History (2005.06): The joint Korean-Japanese-Chinese history textbook, 东亚三国的近现代史, published by Social Sciences Academic Press, is reviewed by Danwei.

+ Test Questions (2005.06): Test questions from the 2005 gaokao.

+ Anatomy of a bogus drug ad (2005.05): When I opened my paper yesterday evening, I discovered a garish four-page insert from a company called Warner advertising a product called "Shark" 帅克. My suspicions were aroused by the unnumbered pages and curious celebrity endorsements, and a quick survey of other news kiosks confirmed that this ad did not come from the Mirror distribution center.

+ China's illegal yellow press (2005.05): On the left is the front page of 'Military News', a newspaper without masthead, contact phone number or any kind of publication licence (required by Chinese law). The paper was purchased on the Beijing subway for two yuan, which is relatively expensive, as most of the city's daily newspapers cost only half a yuan.

+ Self-censorship: the 2,000 pound rhinoceros on the dining table (2005.04): In sum, the Chinese government's censorial authority in recent times has resembled not so much a man-eating tiger or fire-snorting dragon as a giant anaconda coiled in an overhead chandelier. Normally the great snake doesn't move. It doesn't have to. It feels no need to be clear about its prohibitions. Its constant silent message is "You yourself decide."

+ Importing Inspiration: Plagiarism in Pop Music (2005.04): Nicholas Tse and Lee-Hom are suspected of not being entirely original in their music writing.

+ Men behind the Nanny (2005.04): The Publicity Department (formerly known as the Propaganda Department) has held a "forum" in Beijing to promote what it calls "news editorial staff management regulations (in testing phase)". These regulations appear to be same the set of rules earlier reported on Danwei of which the stated intent is to clear up corrupt journalistic practices.

+ Lip-Service: Lip-Synching in Chinese Pop Music by David Moser (2005.03): When we showed up at the studio for the taping, we discovered that there was no microphone for our singer, no recording equipment or hookups for our amplifiers, and not even any electrical outlets on the stage. "How are we supposed to do our number?" I asked the studio crew. They looked at us incredulously. "You actually want to sing the song live?" they said

+ China's 50 Most Beautiful People (2005.03): The Beijing News borrows a picture of Maggie Cheung from Cosmo for the cover of today's Entertainment insert, "50 Most Beautiful People in China". Ms. Cheung takes the top spot, with Takeshi Kaneshiro, Little S, Zhang Ziyi, and Liu Ye rounding out the top five in this exercise that is a conscious imitation of People magazine's yearly rundown.

+ Asimov Published, Interviewed in Beijing (2005.03): Cover story from this week's Book Review section of The Beijing News announces the publication of a Chinese translation of Isaac Asimov's complete Foundation series. Yup, the Beijing News has scored a fictional interview with "I, Asimov". They've been taking similar liberties recently in their entertainment sections, captioning photographs of celebrities with made-up quotes.

+ An Imperial Personality (2005.03): This is Mr. Aisin Gioro Zhoudi (爱新觉罗·州迪), who claims to be a distant relative of Puyi, the last emperor of China. Having spent time living in both Taiwan and Hong Kong, he has worked as a bus driver and fortune-teller, but now he seems to be spending most of his time at home in Guangzhou. He's in the news this week for his willingness to undergo a DNA test to prove his link to the royal family, although it does not seem that many people are doubting him.

+ People: Nicholas Bonner and his North Korean films (2005.03): Nick Bonner is one of Beijing's most eccentric residents, in all the right ways. He is a painter, cartoonist, landscape artist and filmmaker who has been living in the capital for more than fifteen years.

+ One Country, Two Versions (2005.02): CEPA eases co-productions between the mainland and Hong Kong, but does it undermine creativity?

+ Do whatever the hell you want, as long as you don't do it on paper or via broadcast (2005.01): Do whatever the hell you want, as long as you don't do it on paper or via broadcast

+ People: Wang Zhaohui (2004.12): Wang Zhaohui is the production manager of CCTV 6's weekly magazine program, World Film Report. World Film Report covers films from all over the world, film festivals and news about directors and actors. Wang answered some questions from Danwei...

+ Public intellectuals on the road to debauchery? (2004.12): Southern People Weekly gets the authorities in a snit with its feature on Public Intellectuals.

+ Stifled Laughter: How the Communist Party Killed Chinese Humor (2004.11): The Chinese government has systematically stifled crosstalk by bowdlerizing its tradition, restricting its natural growth and evolution, and reducing the form to a sycophantic, unsatisfying -- and unfunny -- shadow of its former self.

+ David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.

+ The Three Stooges in China (2004.09): "Can you do the laugh?" I ask him. "You know, that laugh?" He nods. He knows what I'm talking about. "Nyuk nyuk nyuk!" he suddenly erupts, in an imitation of Curly so compelling that I'm suddenly transported from Beijing to my family's living room floor in Eureka, Kansas, circa 1959...

+ People: Tina Liu (2004.09): Tina Liu is Hong Kong's most prominent image stylist, but her mercurial career has involved her in almost every aspect of Hong Kong's media world.

+ Southern loving: the rise and fall of an independent media entity (2004.08): Washington Post article on Cheng Yizhong, Yu Huafeng, and the beleagured Southern Metropolis Daily (南方都市报) newspaper.

+ People: Lolita Hu (2004.07): Novelist, essayist, editor of Playboy, frequent traveller to India: Lolita Hu life does not match with what you imagine when you first hear her English name.

+ Ben Marcom Weekly: Sex appeal in Chinese advertising (2004.07): Most Chinese people will remember a TV commercial for a gum called Qing Zui with the opening line of: "Do you want to feel the taste of kissing?" Advertising using explicit sexual messages did not go further on Chinese TV:...

+ Ben Marcom Wednesday: Grannie Wang and the IT industry (2004.06): There's a Chinese saying 'Grannie Wang boasts about her melons in order to sell them' (王婆买瓜，自卖自夸). In other words, she blows her own trumpet, so you can't really believe her when she says the melons are tasty. So what does Grannie Wang do? Well, she can hire a 'tuor' ( 托儿) and a 'muliao' (幕僚). A tuor is a kind of tout employed to say good things about a company or product to entice customers; muliao is an old Chinese word meaning an advisor to a high official or general.

+ People: Chen Daming, director (2004.06): Chen's own life story could be rich material for a feature film. After being rusticated from the Henan Opera School, he was forced to move away from Kaifeng to look for work. The Film Academy is the most prestigious film school in China, counting the directors Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige among its alumni, and competition for place to study there is fierce. Chen Daming came to Beijing for an audition, and was accepted after three auditions.

+ People: Dirk Eschenbacher, Ogilvy One (2004.06): Dirk Eschenbacher is Ogilvy One's Regional Creative Director for Asia Pacific, in charge of all interactive creative in the world's fastest-growing online marketing environment. Originally from Munich, he has been in Asia for six years. After living in Thailand for three years running his own web design studio, he moved to Beijing to join Ogilvy One.

+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12)

+ People: Chan Koon-chung (2004.06): John Koon-chung Chan profiled; He is one of the most experienced players in Chinese media, having founded magazines, written and produced feature films and TV dramas, started and run a satellite TV station, and written novels, collections of essays and even a treatise on Marxist literary criticism.

+ Chinese reggae pioneers (2004.03): Maybe Chinese doctors started using some of the local herbs in their remedies because something different happened in Jamaica: Kingston's Chinese population was involved from the earliest days with the down and dirty ghetto music that became reggae.

+ A short interview with Muzi Mei (2004.02): Danwei interviews Muzi Mei

+ Red Egg (2003.11): Red Egg was a Mainland China magazine about technology, lifestyle, and digi-cool. The magazine flowered for a brief time after the Great Nasdaq Crash. Before the Great Nasdaq Crash really hit the pocketbooks of the Great Nasdaq Boom's investors' pocketbooks.

+ Dreams of mansions, stories of stones (2008.04): A look at sequels, retellings, and pastiches of Cao Xueqin's immortal Dream of the Red Mansions.

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