New Chinese movie My Best Summer (最好的我们) in Pittsburgh, from June 6.

The upcoming Chinese movie My Best Summer (最好的我们) will be released in China, and in Pittsburgh, on June 6. A synopsis of the film, which is based on a TV drama:

Geng Geng, a slightly awkward but adorable first year high schooler who feels like she's not smart enough to be at the prestigious Zhen Hua High School. The first day she happens to meet her future deskmate, the brilliant Yu Huai, and although they bicker at first, they soon form a strong friendship. They all become good friends with their classmates and have a strong bond with their teacher. But after the final exam in the last semester, Yu Huai suddenly disappeared. He hasn’t said his secret feeling for Geng Geng. When they re-meet years later, can Geng Geng find out what the secret is?

Tickets for two June 6 screenings are available online via AMC; future dates should be added shortly.

Chinese-language historical tour of Carnegie Library in Oakland / 将提供卡内基图书馆的中文导游, June 9.

via @CarnegieLibraryOfPittsburgh.


The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will host a Chinese-language historical tour of its Oakland (main) branch on June 9, part of this year's Summer Reading Extravaganza.

Join us as we take you on a guided tour in Chinese through Andrew Carnegie’s Main Library. You’ll get a look at the wonderful art and architecture that created this historic landmark, as well as how the building’s interior has changed over time.

This exclusive tour will be offered at 2:15 PM during Extravaganza, and will last 1 hour. Visit the Welcome Station located outside the Library’s Front Entrance to sign up.

下午2点15分将提供卡内基图书馆的中文导游，请于图书馆正门外的欢迎站注册游览。

The tour starts at 2:15 pm. The library is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map), accessible by buses 28X, 58, 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 67, 69, 71B, 71D, 75, and P3.

Weir Group hiring bilingual Mandarin-English International Projects Administrator for McKeesport location.

The Weir Group is hiring a bilingual Mandarin-English International Projects Administrator. An excerpt from the posting:

Business Need / Purpose of Role
Reporting to Engineering Manager, main emphasis will be on supporting existing and future international projects.

Ideal candidate will have the following:

• Fluency in both Chinese Mandarin and English Languages.
• Experience in communicating technically with international customers, primarily Chinese.
• Previous experience in the commercial nuclear power industry, ideally in a third tier supplier environment.

Reading and discussion with R.O. Kwon, August 4.

via ro-kwon.com / Smeeta Mahanti.

City of Asylum will host a reading and discussion with R.O. Kwon on August 4. Kwon provides a synopsis of her latest novel, The Incendiaries:

A powerful, darkly glittering novel about violence, love, faith, and loss, as a young Korean American woman at an elite American university is drawn into acts of domestic terrorism by a cult tied to North Korea.

Phoebe Lin and Will Kendall meet their first month at prestigious Edwards University. Phoebe is a glamorous girl who doesn’t tell anyone she blames herself for her mother’s recent death. Will is a misfit scholarship boy who transfers to Edwards from Bible college, waiting tables to get by. What he knows for sure is that he loves Phoebe.

Grieving and guilt-ridden, Phoebe is increasingly drawn into a religious group—a secretive extremist cult—founded by a charismatic former student, John Leal. He has an enigmatic past that involves North Korea and Phoebe’s Korean American family. Meanwhile, Will struggles to confront the fundamentalism he’s tried to escape, and the obsession consuming the one he loves. When the group bombs several buildings in the name of faith, killing five people, Phoebe disappears. Will devotes himself to finding her, tilting into obsession himself, seeking answers to what happened to Phoebe and if she could have been responsible for this violent act.

The Incendiaries is a fractured love story and a brilliant examination of the minds of extremist terrorists, and of what can happen to people who lose what they love most.

The event runs from 5:00 to 6:30 pm. It is free and open to the public, though RSVP is required (coming soon). The City of Asylum's Alphabet City venue is located at 40 N. West Ave. on the North Side (map).

Japanese film Shoplifters (万引き家族) at Northland Public Library, June 12.

The 2018 Japanese movie and Palme d'Or winner Shoplifters (万引き家族) will play for free at Northland Public Library on June 12.

Reading and conversation with author Gina Apostol, July 23.

City of Asylum will host author Gina Apostol for a free conversation and reading on July 23. A synopsis of her latest novel, Insurrecto:

Two women, a Filipino translator and an American filmmaker, go on a road trip in Duterte’s Philippines, collaborating and clashing in the writing of a film script about a massacre during the Philippine-American War. Chiara is working on a film about an incident in Balangiga, Samar, in 1901, when Filipino revolutionaries attacked an American garrison, and in retaliation American soldiers created “a howling wilderness” of the surrounding countryside. Magsalin reads Chiara’s film script and writes her own version. Insurrecto contains within its dramatic action two rival scripts from the filmmaker and the translator—one about a white photographer, the other about a Filipino schoolteacher.

The event runs from 7:00 to 8:30 pm; it's free but online RSVP is required. The City of Asylum's Alphabet City venue is located at 40 N. West Ave. on the North Side (map).

"Storytime: Japanese and English" at Carnegie Library in East Liberty, June 18.

via archdaily.org

The next installment of the monthly program "Storytime: Japanese and English" will take place on June 18 at the Carnegie Library in East Liberty.

Celebrate our city’s diverse culture as we explore new words through songs, action rhymes and stories in both English and Japanese for children and their parents or caregivers. For children age birth – 5 and their caregivers.

It runs from 11:00 to 11:30 am. The library is located at 130 S. Whitfield St. (map).

Homestay hosts needed for Chinese, Japanese, Korean visitors this year.

GlobalPittsburgh shares news of its needs for host families from July through next January for various cohorts of visitors, including Korean English teachers, Chinese students, and Japanese students from Yasuda University.

Love Ramen's Atwood Street location temporarily closed for renovations; new spot on Fifth Ave. open.

The Love Ramen at 229 Atwood St. in Oakland (map) is temporarily closed for renovations. During that time, according to a county inspection report, it will revamp the menu and add a new bathroom. A new self-serve noodle place from the owners of Love Ramen opened this month at 3608 Fifth Ave. (map), in what was formerly Hanami and Thai Hana. Staff refer to the place as Love Ramen in English, though it exists online as Malaxiangguo because the lone English-language signage on the window is an advertisement for hot pot.

Free Chinese, Japanese, Korean classes in Pittsburgh in June.

via @japangov

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will continue to offer free Chinese, Japanese, and Korean classes at some of its branches this June. Check out the class information below in addition to its language resources on the shelves and online.

As the library notes: these classes are free; registration is not required; no materials are needed and nothing needs to be bought; new participants are welcome at any time; classes are for adults (unless otherwise noted) but well-behaved young people are welcome to join as well.