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Jottings from the Granite Studio
A Qing historian reads the newspaper. Commentary and observations on China and Chinese history. Â
Let the 1911 Foolishness Begin…
This article was aggregated from Jottings from the Granite Studio
I’m sure this is not the first time I’ll write about this over the coming year BUT… The centenary of the Wuhan Uprising/Xīnhà i Gémìng 辛亥革命 is, well, nearly 18 months away which makes the planning process in Wuhan a little premature perhaps, but nobody ever lost a wager betting against the reflexive compulsion on the part [...]
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Red,White and Blue in Beijing…new blog in the roll
This article was aggregated from Jottings from the Granite Studio
Through Twitter and a bit of procrastination, I stumbled across the very well-written and often chortle-worthy blog Red, White and Blue in Beijing.  While clearly of a genre, it’s nice to see the “expat rambles” thing done so well. For those of you familiar with the Beijing blog world, think of it as a Yankee [...]
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Henan Cultural Preservation Office resists calls to commercialize Cao Cao’s tomb
This article was aggregated from Jottings from the Granite Studio
Even centuries later, Cao Cao sure knows how to start a turf war. This week the Henan Cultural Preservation Office issued a statement saying that there were no plans to commercialize the recently discovered tomb of Three Kingdoms era general Cao Cao. Spokesperson Sun Yingmin said that great care was needed to preserve and study [...]
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Be careful when you ask for a little cream for your coffee…
This article was aggregated from Jottings from the Granite Studio
I’m usually resistant to the mystical properties of Chinglish and knock-off English, but this is positively transcendent.
(h/t Danwei.)
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If only we could all be like Liu Xiang…then we’ll REALLY be ready for the Japanese next time
This article was aggregated from Jottings from the Granite Studio
Amidst the usual nonsense in China’s annual head feint toward participatory democracy, CPPCC celebrity watchers have enjoyed gaping as the likes Song Zuying (whose political credentials so far as we know mainly revolve around her — ahem — presidential services during the Jiang Zemin administration) and TV host Yang Lan play politician for the masses.
And [...]
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From the archives: Learn from Lei Feng Day!
This article was aggregated from Jottings from the Granite Studio
On this date in 1963, Mao Zedong launched the “Learn from Lei Feng” campaign. The most important lesson I’ve learned from Lei Feng is to look out for falling telephone poles, but maybe I’m not the target audience. Anyway, in case you missed it, Lei Feng was a young soldier in the PLA whose selfless [...]
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