"Mandarin Chinese Speed Language Partnering" at Pitt, January 22.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center is hosting "Mandarin Chinese Speed Language Partnering" on Friday, January 22.

Want to improve your Mandarin Chinese or help new language learners? Join us at our inaugural speed networking event where native and mandarin speakers of all levels will converse in a series of brief exchanges. Meet, socialize, and hopefully find a great language partner! Light refreshments will be served.

The event starts at 12:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map).

Pitt's new wushu club.

Today's Pitt News profiles Gina Bao,a first-year student at the University of Pittsburgh who started a wushu club there in December.

Before she had ever attended class, had midnight fries at market or swiped her panther card, Gina Bao had already written the constitution for her wushu club at Pitt.

Bao, a first-year student studying neuroscience, started the club in December 2015 to teach students about wushu, a modern version of kung fu that involves combat martial arts moves with jumps and aerials. The club held its second practice Jan. 9, when eight members from all experience levels showed up to learn wushu techniques in the William Pitt Union Dance Studio. Beginning with simple lessons in bowing and stretching and progressing to complex combinations of running and kicking, Bao hopes to train the members to compete in a national collegiate wushu tournament in just four months.

Tanpopo Ramen, izakaya coming to Shadyside.

Tanpopo Ramen is coming to 815 S. Aiken Ave. (map), the former location of the S. Aiken Bar and Grille. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette alluded to it in a December 24 piece looking back at 2015 and looking ahead to the new year:

What’s coming for 2016? I predict more out-of-town restaurateurs discovering Pittsburgh; more fast-casual restaurants; a couple of chef-driven Japanese places, from an izakaya to a ramen shop to a yakitori place; and more food trucks with the city’s end-of-year rule changes that will make things easier for mobile food.

Interesting to note that Tanpopo Ramen, LLC is registered to Mike Chen, the owner of Everyday Noodles and several other restaurants in the area. Records also show that a Tan Izakaya has had the 815 S. Aiken as its principal address since October, and is a registered as a Pennsylvania Fictitious Name under the purview of Tanpopo Ramen, LLC, with the address on file that of Everyday Noodles in Squirrel Hill.

2015 Chinese movie Mr. Six (老炮儿) in Pittsburgh through January 14 (at least).

The 2015 Chinese movie Mr. Six (老炮儿), which opened in China and Pittsburgh on Christmas Eve, will continue to play at AMC Loews Waterfront through at least January 14.

申通快递 coming to Pittsburgh?

That sign is in the window of 2023 Murray Ave. (map) in Squirrel Hill, in what was most recently a dentist's office. STO Express (申通快) is a Shanghai-based shipping and logistics company that has been expanding globally in the last few years, and in 2015 it opened stateside locations in: New York City; Brooklyn, NY; two locations in Flushing, NY; Edison, NJ; and Las Vegas, NV.

Nothing about a possible Pittsburgh expansion is online yet, though Squirrel Hill would make sense if the opening, in fact, happens. It is a neighborhood with a significant international population and one that borders on two universities with growing Chinese student bodies. A 2014 Brookings Institute report notes that the top origin for Pittsburgh's international students is China, with Beijing and Shanghai being the #1 and #4 cities, respectively. According to a piece in The Pitt News last fall on the growing Chinese student bodies at two universities a few miles from Squirrel Hill:

The 2,404 Chinese international students at [the University of Pittsburgh] account for more than 50 percent of the University’s total international students. In the summer and fall of 2015 alone, Carnegie Mellon University admitted 1,101 students from China.

For what it's worth, that feature---as well as an article linked yesterday and two pieces by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's food critic Melissa McCart, "America's Next Great Chinatown Takes Root in Pittsburgh" and "The Asian influence"---cites that population growth as the impetus being more authentic, and more-authentic, Chinese restaurants in the area.



Update (9:00 pm): Yes, that's a STO Express. These photos were taken later in the day.

"No Chinatown? No Problem!" writes James Chan on Pittsburgh's Chinese food offerings.

"No Chinatown? No Problem!" writes critic James Chan in a round-up of Chinese restaurants in Oakland and Squirrel Hill. The reason Pittsburgh has an increasing number of authentic Chinese restaurants in spite of lacking an ethnic Chinese enclave is its growing Chinese student population:

The answer to the 21st century emergence of authentic Chinese food in Pittsburgh is actually related to another phenomenon I recently chronicled: the appearance of authentic Chinese restaurants in college towns. The surge in mainland Chinese college students has brought authentic Chinese food to dozens of towns like Storrs, CT, Tallahassee, FL, and Lawrence, KS, for the first time ever. Today’s Chinese foreign students from mainland China are more numerous, more well-heeled, and less inclined to compromise their eating habits than prior generations of international Chinese students from Hong Kong and Taiwan. While Pittsburgh is not a college town in the traditional sense, it is home to major universities like the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne, and Carnegie Mellon, which have brought thousands of mainland Chinese students into Pittsburgh in search of education… and authentic Chinese food.

For other recent articles on the topic of authentic Chinese and Asian food in Pittsburgh, see the Pitt News's November 19 piece "Hungry for more: Competition heats up among Oakland’s Asian restaurants" and a piece by Post-Gazette food critic Melissa McCart for Saveur, "America's Next Great Chinatown Takes Root in Pittsburgh".

On Ensemble: Contemporary Taiko Quartet in Pittsburgh, January 14.

via the On Ensemble website.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh Taiko will present "On Ensemble: Contemporary Taiko Quartet" for a January 14 performance in the Hill District. From the JASP website:

On Ensemble is at the forefront of the growing taiko (Japanese ensemble drumming) community in the United States. Led by childhood friends Shoji Kameda and Masato Baba, On Ensemble has made a name for itself by combining the powerful rhythms and singing of traditional taiko with vibrant jazzy melodies.

The group has achieved recognition worldwide, from being the first American group to have been invited to perform at the prestigious Nihon no Taiko concert series in Japan in 2013, to their three critically-acclaimed albums. Their fearless musical explorations have taken the ancient instruments of taiko into new realms and have established a distinctly modern expression for the art form.

The event runs from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in the Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium at the Hill House on 1835 Centre Ave. (map). Tickets are $20 for JASP members, $25 for adult non-members, $10 for students grades 5 through university, and free for students grade 4 and under. Ticket information is available at the JASP event page.

Free Chinese, Japanese, Korean courses at Carnegie Library in Oakland continue in 2016.

As the new year begins, a reminder that the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has free Chinese, Japanese, and Korean classes at its Oakland branch (map). Depending on the class and the particular volunteer teacher, the sessions range from a period of casual free talking to more rigorous class with workbooks and chalk-and-talk instruction on grammar and usage.

Here's a look at what's coming up, in order of proficiency level:

* Let's Learn Chinese (next meeting January 7). Presented by University of Pittsburgh School of Education graduate Kasper Hua every Thursday evening from 6:30 to 7:00 pm in the Children's library, and aimed at small children through stories, songs, and games.
* Chinese for Beginners (next meeting: January 10). Held the second and fourth Sunday of the month from 3:30 to 4:30 in the Large Print Room.
* Chinese II (next meeting: January 3). Held the first and third Sunday of the month from 3:30 to 4:30 in the Large Print Room.
* Chinese Conversation Club (next meeting: January 14). Held the second and fourth Thursday of each month from 6:00 to 7:00 in the Large Print Room. For intermediate and advanced learners.

* Japanese for Beginners (next meeting: January 11). Second and fourth Monday of the month from 6:30 to 7:30 in Classroom A.
* Japanese II (next meeting: January 12). Second and fourth Tuesday of the month from 6:30 to 7:30 in Classroom A. "Japanese II is geared toward those who already have a basic understanding of Japanese and are interested in increasing proficiency," says the library website. "Ability to read and write hiragana is required to take this class."
* Japanese Conversation Club (next meeting: January 5). Held on the first and third Tuesday of the month from 6:00 to 7:00 in the Large Print Room. For intermediate and advanced learners.

* Korean for Beginners (next meeting: January 3). Every Saturday from 1:00 to 2:30 in the Large Print Room. Focuses on reading Hangeul and producing basic phrases.
* Korean II (next meeting: January 2). Every Saturday from 11:00 to 12:30 in the Large Print Room.

Students may join the class at any time of the year, though registration is now required for many of the classes. This can be done online by clicking on the class and submitting your name and email address. For more information about the courses, and to register for one, visit the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh homepage, click events, and search for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

2015 Hong Kong movie Ip Man 3 (葉問3) at Hollywood Theater, from January 22.

The 2015 movie Ip Man 3 (葉問3) will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont from January 22. The South China Morning Post has a review and summary of the third instsallment of the biographical trilogy starring Donnie Yen:

Played by Yen with an effective blend of deadpan delivery and formidable combat skills, Ip Man has been portrayed in the series as a family man from Foshan in southern China who involuntarily gets sucked into epic battles. Having defied Japanese occupiers in Ip Man, set in the 1930s, and restored Chinese pride against British colonisers in Ip Man 2, set in 1949 Hong Kong, this long-awaited sequel finds the legend in a relatively peaceful period in 1959 Hong Kong.

Still, the stability of Ip’s low-profile life is temporarily disrupted when local thugs – led by the henchman (Patrick Tam Yiu-man) of corrupt American businessman Frank (Mike Tyson) – are sent to vandalise the primary school his young son attends. Ip puts his prowess to pragmatic use when he volunteers to stand guard with his protégés in the absence of police protection. There he befriends Cheung Tin-chi (Max Zhang Jin), a fellow parent and wing chun exponent who aspires to Ip’s accomplishments.

The movie was released in Hong Kong on December 24, and will play at the Hollywood Theater from January 22 to 27. Showtimes and ticket information are available online via the theater's website. The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont (map), and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station.

Pitt's Confucius Institute named among 2015 Confucius Institutes of the Year.

The University of Pittsburgh's Confucius Institute was named one of the 20 Confucius Institutes of the Year in 2015 at the 10th Confucius Institute Conference in Shanghai on December 5 and 6. It received the same honor in 2008, 2011, and 2013, and is one of five United States Institutes to receive the honor this year. An excerpt of the award text:

In 2015, the Confucius Institute hosted over 30 cultural events of various kinds, attracting more than a total of 37,000 participants. Among the "Confucius Institute Day" events, the Institute successfully held the '1st Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Festival". This was in cooperation with fifteen local Chinese science and technology, language education, fok art and business organizations. This June, Madam Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, visited the Confucius Institute at University of Pittsburgh, where she highly appreciated the Institute's achievements in teaching and used the expression "Only One" to describe its excellence.