Title really says it all. As monster cities go, Shanghai has got to be one of my favourites — this video is a nice tribute to her.
videos Posts
Interview with Charles Custer, director of ‘Living With Dead Hearts’
Nearly a year ago I posted about a documentary film being made by ChinaGeek‘s founder (and one-time Lost Laowai contributor), Charlie Custer.
The film, now titled Living With Dead Hearts, explores the issue of kidnapped children in China and how it affects the parents, the children and the whole community. And it needs your help to finish being made.
Earlier this week on his blog Imagethief, Will Moss wrote a poignant and humorous post that couldn’t have summed up better why, as a new father, this issue touches me deeply. So rather than rehash that point here with half the quality of Will’s post, please go read it.
After you’ve done that, please take a moment to watch the following trailer for the film, read my interview below with Charlie and consider giving what you can to help this film be made.
History of China in 3½ Minutes
This is just all sorts of awesome. Created by the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors (bio below), the video delivers what’s on the box — the (abridged) history of China in 3 1/2 minutes.
Canuck expat loses it at train ticket office
Some Gems:
“Chinese people need to learn brains.”
“It’s 2011. Chairman Mao is dead.”
And the kicker:
“See, I’m Canadian, I don’t have to shut up. Chinese people have to shut up. Canada people [sic] don’t have to shut up.”
Bad Teacher, Good Teacher
Caught these two videos during my rounds today. The first comes from the Shanghaiist and shows why China should never trust a Russian screen their ESL teachers: Shanghaiist reader (and tipster), Alexander, explains why appending English phrases with “BLYA” makes videos of Chinese kids viral in Russia: On this video Laowai-teacher (maybe from Russia) teaches [...]
Video: Chinese flight attends shake things up with safety dance
I’ve been on my share of flights where the flight attendants tried to spice things up with a bit of comedy or improv, but this is a first. The video below shows three flight attendants from China’s Capital Airlines putting a bit of a shimmy in their safety instructions.
Video: 2011 Year of the Rabbit
So, it’s a little late and most of us have begrudgingly returned to work, but 新年快乐 fellow laowai.
I captured my own thoughts, photos and videos of my 6th Chinese New Year’s Eve on my blog, and so won’t waste space with a reiteration here.
However, I wanted to share this great short video by Jonah M. Kessel, Paul Morris and Kit Gillet:
China Geeks helping Chinese children find home
Our friends at ChinaGeeks.org have recently started an ambitious new project that I have been meaning to find the time to write about for a couple weeks now. Check out this video for an introduction to “Finding Home”, a documentary that will explore on a personal level the terrible practice of kidnapping and selling children in China:
The film needs all our of help to be made. If you have any means to, please consider donating what you can. Here is a note from the documentary’s director, well-known China blogger (and one time Lost Laowai contributor), Charlie Custer:
Video: Young & Restless — China’s Graduate Dilemma
Video: Peter Hessler on China’s Past and Present
While it’s not new (but new to me), here is an interesting talk on C-SPAN by Peter Hessler, best known as the author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
Particularly interesting for people new to China or looking for some even-handed information on China is the Q&A period mid-way through the talk. If you don’t have much time (the whole video is nearly an hour), I suggest jumping over to the source page and checking out the chapter breakdown to cherry pick some of the more interesting questions.
