Artist Talk: Zhong Biao, February 22 at Pitt.

Chinese artist Zhong Biao will give a talk at the Frick Fine Arts Center on Monday, February 22. From the University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center:

In his earlier paintings from the 1990s and 21st century, Zhong intimately portrayed Chinese urban residents from acute angles or distanced perspectives, often collaging them with religious, traditional, historical, and commercial imagery. Later works tend more toward abstraction, incorporating fantastic and celestial elements. In so doing, he has imaginatively and insightfully captured the lived experience of Chinese urbanization and globalization, with a particular emphasis on the ways urban space and global time influence individual states of being and local contexts.

The talk runs from 6:00 to 7:30 pm in 204 Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map), and is free and open to the public.

Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Workshops to continue at Pitt this semester, from February 26.

The University of Pittsburgh's School of Education will host more Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language [CFL] Workshops this semester, with the first scheduled for February 26.

The workshop on CFL Assessment will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in 5401 Posvar Hall (map).

Year of the Monkey Lunar New Year Parade, February 21.

Pittsburgh's first Lunar New Year Parade through Squirrel Hill on Sunday, February 21.

Colloquium "Transcreation: Intersections of Culture and Commerce in Japanese Translation and Localization" at Pitt, February 19.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will host M.A. candidate Dylan Reilly and his colloquium "Transcreation: Intersections of Culture and Commerce in Japanese Translation and Localization" on Friday, February 19. The abstract:

New Stephen Chow movie The Mermaid (美人鱼) in Pittsburgh from February 19.

The 2016 movie The Mermaid (美人鱼) will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront from February 19. The South China Morning Post provides a summary in a review of the Stephen Chow directed movie:

Mermaid is a solid dramedy with heart and, more importantly, a message. This Chinese production tells the story of Liu Xuan (Deng Chao) a young business mogul attempting to clear a recently acquired bay of its marine life for property development. Unbeknownst to him (and the rest of the world), the waters are home to a clan of mythical half-human, half-fish creatures, who send one of their own to kill Liu. Posing as a human, the mermaid (newcomer Jelly Lin Yun) ends up falling in love with Liu.

With real documentary footage of water pollution, dying sea life and the destruction of natural resources spliced into the film’s opening montage, it’s clear from the start what Chow is trying to say. Credit to the 53-year-old star, then, for crafting a morality play that features the CGI-heavy visual effects that Chinese audiences love so much. There are laughs too, so it’s hit and miss: an early scene, of the mermaid clan’s failed attempt to take Liu’s life despite deploying a vast armoury of weapons, successfully evokes the manic shenanigans of older Chow films; other gags, like an overweight male actor dressing up as a mermaid, fall flat. Stephen Chow-style mo lei tau gags only work when Chow is involved.

The movie was released in China on February 8, 2016, and recorded the largest opening day ever for a Chinese movie in China.

The movie will play in Mandarin with English subtitles, and will have both 2D and 3D showings. Tickets and showtimes are available at the AMC Loews Waterfront website. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

Gabriella Lukacs lecture "Career Porn: Blogging and the Good Life" at Pitt, February 18.

University of Pittsburgh Associate Professor of Anthropology Gabriella Lukacs will give a lecture "Career Porn: Blogging and the Good Life" at Pitt on Friday, February 18. "The talk", says the university's Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies Program hosting the event, "is taken from Prof. Lukacs's book manuscript titled: 'Diva Entrepreneurs: Gender and Labor in the Digital Economy.'"

Throat Singing Workshop with Ensemble Alash at Pitt, February 22.

via Alash Ensemble official website.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Music and the Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies will host a throat singing workshop with Ensemble Alash, from the Republic of Tuva, on Monday, February 22.

Take part in a throat-singing workshop taught by throat-singers from the Republic of Tuva.
Contact Robbie Beahrs for more info: robeahrs@pitt.edu

The event runs from 2:15 to 4:15 in 132 Music Building (map), and is free and open to the public. More information about Alash Ensemble is available on their website.

"Talking About Asia: Chinese Migration in Cuba, Mexico, and Peru: From 19th Century Coolie Labor to 20th Century Nationalist Sinophobia" at Pitt, February 19.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Elliott Young---a professor of history at Lewis & Clark College and his talk "Talking About Asia: Chinese Migration in Cuba, Mexico, and Peru: From 19th Century Coolie Labor to 20th Century Nationalist Sinophobia" on February 19.

Many people are looking to travel to Cuba now that it has opened relations with the US, but did you know Chinese migrants have already been there since the 19th century? Come learn about the effects that Chinese migration has had on views of the Chinese in the western hemisphere for centuries.

The talk will begin at 3:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map), and is free and open to the public.

Lunar New Year Teen Time at Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill, February 16.

Via Uncover Squirrel Hill.

The next installment of the Squirrel Hill Carnegie Library's bi-weekly Teen Time is focused on the Lunar New Year, as part of Squirrel Hill's first Lunar New Year Celebration.

If you're into cool art projects, epic games, music, movies and just chilling out, come kick it at Teen Time! For teens in grades 6-12.

The event runs from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, and is free and open to the public. The library is located at 5801 Forbes Ave. (map) and is accessible by buses 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 64, and 74.

New executive chef at Shadyside's Soba "obsessed with Jiro ramen right now".

Pittsburgh Magazine takes a quick look at Lily Tran, the new executive chef at Soba. Tran, 30, says she will bring some changes to the menu.

Don’t expect by-the-books throwback cuisine at Soba, though. Tran says she’s interested in blending her heritage with contemporary foodways. Hawker markets, street food, robata grills are all on her mind, as is big Burrito’s deep relationship with area farms such as One Woman Farm and Who Cooks For You? Farm.

Tran says she’s still working on how she plans on changing the Soba menu, but did offer a clue as to what she’s thinking: “I’m obsessed with Jiro ramen right now. I want something towering with really rich broth and slurpy noodles and cabbage, with bean sprouts piled high,” she says.

Ramen Tokyo has a write-up on Ramen Jiro; an excerpt:

Ramen Jiro is certainly not for those who are health conscious, and those of weaker constitutions can feel a bit queasy after eating there for the first time, especially if they force themselves to finish the whole bowl. The general recommendation that I have heard from Ramen Jiro customers is that on the day you go to Ramen Jiro, you should eat a pear ("nashi" or 梨 in Japanese) for breakfast or lunch that day, and nothing else.