Attended a public interview/discussion with Chinese author Mian Mian tonight. Mian Mian is probably best known for her novel "Candy" which kickstarted the trend of gen-X women writers in China writing about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. ( More about Mian Mian )

I had been planning to post something about the Sichuan earthquake for ages but couldn't think of the words. I just can't even begin to get my head around the thought of 80 000 people, mostly children, dead - and in so many cases purely because of shonky construction of the schools they attended. I have been a little obsessive about looking at ( Read more... )

I should be working on the edits for a journal article that is due asap, but true to form instead of doing that I've been looking up short-term rentals in Beijing this year in preparation for when I will *fingers crossed* be over in China from late June and in Beijing from sometime in July a few weeks before the Olympics craziness starts. I'm ( Read more... )

Today is Peng Xiaolian day for real. I have to call her in five and a half hours before interviewing her. I'm approaching the blindly terrified side of nervous about the interview ;) Funnily enough, yesterday afternoon while browsing in a bookshop in the Duolun Lu Cultural Street, I found a film magazine from the 80s which talked about her first ( Read more... )

I live in hope that one day I will be able to hire a research assistant to do all my dirty work, i.e. transcribe interviews for me. I'm doing more transcribing for work, and it is just so mindblowingly dull. At least I get paid for it - I couldn't imagine being kind-hearted enough to do this for nothing! If the people being interviewed actually ( Read more... )