Yesterday I had the good fortune of spending the evening at Zhang Yimou's folk musical, "Impression Liu Sanjie." The stage itself is on the Li River in Yangshuo with mountains in the backdrop. The visuals are breath-taking. If you are familiar with Zhang Yimou's movies, you might know that the director is also famous for his use of color. It took 600+ performers to fill … [Read more...] about An evening at Zhang Yimou’s folk musical, “Impression Liu Sanjie”
清明节 (Qingming Festival), paying respect to the ancestors
April 5th is officially 清明节 (Qingming Festival). It is a Chinese tradition to pay respect to ancestors and make symbolic offerings so they have a better after-life. This tradition is accompanied by "扫墓" or sweeping of the tomb. Today, I was able to witness this tradition as practiced in Guilin with my wife's side of the family. … [Read more...] about 清明节 (Qingming Festival), paying respect to the ancestors
All happy on the Wangfujing front
As I was strolling through Wangfujing today, I couldn't help but recall reading the tense "crack downs" narrated in the Western media over a possible Jasmine Revolution in China. Honestly, I was hoping to snap a few shots of some BBC journalist lurking around, but they were nowhere to be seen. I suppose they have finally understood that China does not like them messing … [Read more...] about All happy on the Wangfujing front
2009 World Military Budgets
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. … [Read more...] about 2009 World Military Budgets
The New York Times Paywall
As many of you already know, the New York Times is now requiring people to "pay" for their content. Actually, it's a little more complicated then that. While NYT wants to realize additional revenues for their content, they also don't want to chase away too many people and have the effect of reducing advertising revenue. The wall is thus "leaky" by design. … [Read more...] about The New York Times Paywall