Chinese Language Social Hour, October 2 at Pitt.

via Pietro Motta (Creative Commons)

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host a Chinese Language Social Hour on Tuesday, October 2.

For the students who want to learn and practice Mandarin and Cantonese, also the Chinese speakers who want to practice and improve their English, please come and join our event! Music, free food, make friends, lots of activities! Mark it on your calendar!!

The event is free and open to the Pitt community, and will be held in 4217 Posvar Hall (map) from 4:30 to 6:00 pm.

Kang to rejoin Pirates for the final weekend of the season.

Via Newsen.

Korean infielder Jung-ho Kang will rejoin the Pittsburgh Pirates for their final weekend of the 2018 season.

Kang has been playing games in the fall instructional league in Bradenton, Fla., after undergoing surgery to debride cartilage in his left wrist. Kang completed his rehabilitation by playing five instructional league games. General manager Neal Huntington said Kang will get some playing time, but he didn't anticipate him starting all three games.

"We only have three games left in our season after today and wanted to respect his hard work, his intent to get back, his work to get back," Huntington said. "It's not really going to help us a lot in our evaluation process as to where we take this, but at the same time, give him an opportunity to get back to the big leagues, which is any guy's goal."

Kang was not able to enter the United States last year after a December 2016 DUI arrest in South Korea, later revealed to be his third such charge since 2009. He was also investigated but not charged by the Chicago Police Department in 2016 after a sexual assault allegation was made against him.

Kang joined the team in 2015 after being a top prospect in the Korean Baseball Organization.

"Rotating to the Top: How Career Tracks Matter in the Chinese Communist Regime," October 2 at Pitt.

via mit.edu

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Political Science will host Yiqing Xu of the University of California San Diego and his talk "Rotating to the Top: How Career Tracks Matter in the Chinese Communist Regime" on October 2.

This paper takes a novel perspective on the selection of leaders by depicting the importance of career tracks. Using full and alternate Central Committee members of the Chinese Communist Party from 1982 to 2017, we measure career tracks - both the horizontal and vertical movement of individuals - using machines learning techniques, and link them with political selection. Our main finding is that career tracks play an important role in the Chinese political system despite the in influence of patronage networks. In addition, when comparing the roles of career tracks and personal ties over time, we find suggestive evidence that Chinese politics becomes more paternalistic in the 19th Party Congress.

The talk runs from 12:00 to 1:30 pm in 4801 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

Day of the Western Sunrise, documentary on the nuclear contamination of Daigo Fukuryū Maru and the aftermath, at Row House Cinema, September 29 and 30.

The Row House Cinema will hold the premiere of the documentary Day of the Western Sunrise on September 29 and 30. Pittsburgh Filmmakers provides a summary:

"Day of the Western Sunrise" tells of real life story the Japanese tuna trawler Daigo Fukuryu Maru, or the Lucky Dragon No. 5, and it's 23 man crew. On March 1st, 1954, the fishermen onboard the Lucky Dragon survived the biggest explosion ever caused by man, the Castle Bravo thermonuclear test in the Pacific Ocean. That's just the start of the story. Through survivor interviews and beautiful animation the film tells how their lives were forever changed while showing the long-term impact of this devastating event.

In 2015 Keith traveled to Japan to interview the surviving crew members of the Lucky Dragon, their families, and to visit their fishing village.

Members of the Pittsburgh Japanese-speaking community were involved in some of the scenes.

There are three screenings scheduled, and tickets are available online: September 29 at 7:00 pm, and September 30 at 2:00 and 8:00 pm. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival (匹茲堡龍舟節), September 30 at North Park.

The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans will present the Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival on September 30.

Join us at the Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival on September 30, 2018 for a day of fun at North Park Lake! Watch exciting races or form your own dragon boat and compete against other community teams for medals and awards. Cultural demonstrations, food, marketplace and other activities will be available, so bring the whole family to this FREE event!

The event starts at 8:30 am and runs until 5:00 pm, with cultural demonstrations running from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. It will be held at and around the Boathouse at North Park Lake in the North Hills (map) and is free and open to the public.

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) in Pittsburgh, September 30, October 1, and October 3.

The classic Japanese animated film My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) is celebrating its 30th anniversary and will play in Pittsburgh, September 30, October 1, and October 3 as part of this year's GKIDS Ghibli Fest. From a 2001 Roger Ebert review:

Miyazaki's films are above all visually enchanting, using a watercolor look for the backgrounds and working within the distinctive Japanese anime tradition of characters with big round eyes and mouths that can be as small as a dot or as big as a cavern. They also have an unforced realism in the way they notice details; early in ''Totoro,'' for example, the children look at a little waterfall near their home, and there on the bottom, unremarked, is a bottle someone threw into the stream.

The movie tells the story of two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe. As the story opens, their father is driving them to their new house, near a vast forest. Their mother, who is sick, has been moved to a hospital in this district. Now think about that. The film is about two girls, not two boys or a boy and a girl, as all American animated films would be. It has a strong and loving father, in contrast to the recent Hollywood fondness for bad or absent fathers. Their mother is ill; does illness exist in American animation?

The September 30 and October 3 shows are dubbed in English while the October 1 show is in Japanese with English subtitles. The film will play at the Cinemark theaters in Monaca, Monroeville, Pittsburgh Mills, and Robinson.

WholeRen Education (美国厚仁教育集团) hiring bilingual English+Mandarin GRE and SAT tutor.

Pittsburgh-based Chinese education and consulting company WholeRen Education (美国厚仁教育集团) has just announced openings for part-time bilingual GRE and SAT tutors.

The academic support department of Wholeren Education is looking for talented, experienced tutors in GRE/SAT for college level Chinese international students in the US. We help both struggling and gifted students reach their full potential by supplementing the instruction they receive in class and guiding them toward study practices and aides that can help them excel. Tutors work with individual students one-on-one, though we occasionally organize group activities for students who are studying the same material. Most of the time, we provide our students with online tutoring unless the tutor is located in the same area with the student. Our team offers compassionate, motivating assistance to students, and we expect our new hires to do the same. If you have experience tutoring students, please submit an application.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (僕のヒーローアカデミア THE MOVIE ～２人の英雄) in Pittsburgh, from September 25.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (僕のヒーローアカデミア THE MOVIE ～２人の英雄) will play in Pittsburgh from September 25. The distributor provides a summary:

The anime smash hit that’s swept the world now makes its debut on the big screen! Our favorite young hero-in-training is in for a wild ride when villains threaten the artificial moving city, I-Island.

Deku and All Might receive an invitation to I-Expo, the world’s leading exhibition of Quirk abilities and hero item innovations!Amid the excitement, sponsors, and pros from all over, Deku meets Melissa, a girl who is Quirkless just like he once was. Suddenly, I-Expo’s top-of-the-line security system gets hacked by villains, and a sinister plan is set in motion. It’s a serious threat to hero society, and one man holds the key to it all—the symbol of peace, All Might.

The movie will play at both the Southside Works Cinema and the Hollywood Theater in Dormont on September 25, 26, 29, and October 2. Tickets are available online.

Free performance by Taiwan Acrobatic Troupe, September 28 at Carlow University.

The Troupe of Acrobats at National Taiwan College of Performing Art will give a free performance, titled Taiwan Acrobatic Troupe: A Cultural Celebration, on September 28 at Carlow University.

The inspiration of the performance is founded on Taiwan's diverse heritage. Integrating elements of modern performance, the show will also incorporate folk dance, juggling, martial arts, and Taiwanese opera to showcase various expressions of Taiwanese lifestyle. The audience can look forward to this interactive performance!

The show runs from 7:30 to 9:00 pm at the Rosemary Heyle Theater in Antonian Hall at Carlow University in Oakland (map). The performance is free but advanced registration is required and can be completed online.

Sennan Asbestos Disaster (ニッポン国VS泉南石綿村), winner of 2018 Pittsburgh Japan Documentary Film Award, free at Pitt on September 27.

The first-ever winner of Pitt's first-ever Pittsburgh Japan Documentary Award, Sennan Asbestos Disaster (ニッポン国VS泉南石綿村), will screen on September 27 in Oakland.

More than ten years in the making, Sennan Asbestos Disaster follows a dwindling group of dying former asbestos workers as they seek justice and recognition from an indifferent Japanese government As Mr. Hara follows these plaintiffs through their successes and failures, his film also examines the power of the Japanese state and its continued responsibilities to its citizens. In praising the film for its profound effect, Mr. Soda notes that Sennan Asbestos Disaster “shows the painstaking process of the eight years of lawsuits. I was able to physically experience what it's like to fight against the Japanese government.” Mr. Hara, whose previous works include The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987), is well known for being unafraid to punch through walls of conventional society. Sennan Asbestos Disaster has already received the 2017 Audience Award at the Tokyo Filmex International Film Festival and the 2017 BIFF Mecenat Award at the Busan International Film Festival.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium in Oakland (map). The screening is free but tickets are required (and can be reserved online).