"Building Asia," September 4 at Pitt.

via tokyoform.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Maohong Bao and his talk "Building Asia" on September 4.

The steel industry has historically held a central place in the development of all modern industrial economies. Supporting the rise of East Asia in the postwar world, the rise of resource import-dependent steel industries in Japan, Korea and China has emerged alongside export-oriented mining industries in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and South Africa, etc., and steel products exported to the rest of world. These processes formed the global production network of East Asia’s iron and steel industry. This talk will address its global environmental history from four aspects: The development of iron and steel industry in postwar East Asia; East Asia’s iron ore and coal import and the environmental impacts of resource extraction in the producing areas; environmental consequences of iron processing in East Asia; East Asia’s Steel product export and its recycling in the consuming areas.

The talk runs from 12:00 to 1:30 in 4430 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

The Farewell continues in Pittsburgh through August 29, resumes September 6.

The Farewell, which opened in Pittsburgh on August 1, will continue at local theaters through August 29 and will resume at the Row House Cinema from September 6. From the distributor:

In this funny, uplifting tale based on an actual lie, Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai, has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself. To assure her happiness, they gather under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, uniting family members scattered among new homes abroad. As Billi navigates a minefield of family expectations and proprieties, she finds there’s a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother’s wondrous spirit, and the ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken. With The Farewell, writer/director Lulu Wang has created a heartfelt celebration of both the way we perform family and the way we live it, masterfully interweaving a gently humorous depiction of the good lie in action with a richly moving story of how family can unite and strengthen us, often in spite of ourselves.

It plays at the Waterworks Cinema, the AMC in Mt. Lebanon, the Squirrel Hill Manor, and the Tull Family Theater in Sewickley through Wednesday and remains at the latter two on Thursday. Tickets are available online. It will then play at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville from September 6 through 12 as part of the Amazing New Directors series.

Anime Series at Row House Cinema, September 13 through 19.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時をかける少女), Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊), Akira (アキラ), and Metropolis (メトロポリス) will comprise this fall's Anime Series at Row House Cinema from September 13 through 19. Tickets are now available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

"Materializing Memory: Contemporary Video Art from China," September 5 through October 11 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's University Art Gallery will host the exhibit "Materializing Memory: Contemporary Video Art from China" from September 5 through October 11.

Exhibited in Pittsburgh for the first time, Materializing Memory presents the work of five young Chinese artists, all born after 1980. These artists are part of China’s balinghou and jiulinghou (post-1980 and post-1990) generations. Unlike earlier practitioners, they came of age following the dramatic economic and cultural reforms of 1978. Through the medium of video art, these artists explore contemporary Chinese society during a period of profound technological and urban transformation. Their work is deeply informed by the Internet, rapid economic development, international communication and exchange, as well as opportunities to earn advanced degrees abroad. These videos document personal and collective experiences. Some record individual feelings of boredom and isolation, while others investigate broader social contradictions and complexities within China and beyond. Together, these works illustrate the plasticity of contemporary experience, and ask what it means to remember during a time when progress accelerates the urge to forget.

The exhibition's opening reception is scheduled from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on September 5; the gallery is open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm weekdays in the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map).

Korean-American singer Ronin to perform in Ambridge, August 22.

Korean-American singer Ronin will perform at Mario's Dockside Grille in Ambridge (map) on August 22. Writes the Beaver Valley Times:

Korean-American pop singer named simply Ronin [. . .] will hop on stage Thursday to sing a couple songs at the weekly open mic/jam night at Mario’s Dockside Grille in Bridgewater. These jam nights are co-hosted by Ambridge rocker David Granati, brother of percussionist Rick Granati, who’s friends with Vulpis, hence the local tie.

Ronin might treat his Beaver County audience to his single “Chemical Smile,” now being played by 15 Top-40/pop radio stations from San Francisco to Atlantic City.

He is also performing at Hambone's tonight at 7:00 pm.

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) in Pittsburgh, August 25, 26, 28.

The classic Japanese animated film My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) is will play in Pittsburgh on August 25, 26, and 28 as part of this year's GKIDS Studio 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?

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, Pittsburgh Mills, and Robinson. The August 25 and 28 shows are dubbed in English and the August 26 show is in Japanese with English subtitles. Tickets are available online.

Lauren Yee's play "Cambodian Rock Band," with music from Cambodian-American band Dengue Fever, in Pittsburgh from September 14 through October 6.

Lauren Yee's "Cambodian Rock Band" will run at the City Theater from September 14 through October 6. Yee offers a summary:

Discover Cambodia’s lost surf rock scene through the eyes of a young Cambodian American woman and her father, a Khmer Rouge survivor who begrudgingly returns to his home country for the first time in thirty years. This thrilling story toggles back and forth in time, as father and daughter face the music of the past. An intimate rock epic about family secrets set against the dark chapter of Cambodian history. Featuring actor/musicians who perform the show’s mix of contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies.

There has been some interest in Cambodian surf rock music in recent years, with the 2014 documentary Don't Think I've Forgotten playing at the Row House Cinema, Hollywood Theater, and Melwood Screening Room in 2015 and 2016. Dengue Fever has played in Pittsburgh, too, most recently as an opening act in 2017.

Tickets are available online. The theater is located at 1300 Bingham St. in the South Side (map).

10% off at Panda Supermarket, August 19 - 25

Squirrel Hill's Panda Supermarket is offering 10% off everything for its second anniversary, August 19 through 25. The store is located at 5846 Forbes Ave. (map).

"Storytime: Chinese and English" in Squirrel Hill, August 24.

via Ed Massery.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branch in Squirrel Hill will hold its next "Storytime: Chinese and English" on Saturday, August 24.

Celebrate our city’s diverse culture as we explore new words through songs, action rhymes and stories in both English and Chinese.

Storytime runs from 11:00 to 11:30 am and is free and open to the public. The Carnegie Library branch in Squirrel Hill is located at 5801 Forbes Ave. (map), accessible by buses 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, and 74.

Free Mid-Autumn Concert at Rivers Casino with Mai Tiến Dũng, Nguyễn Hồng Nhung, Đặng Thế Luân , and more, September 8.

Rivers Casino (map) will host a free Mid-Autumn Concert on September 8, featuring a number of Vietnamese and Chinese performers. The concert runs from 9 to 11 pm. Tickets are limited and those interested should call 412-566-4615.