"Dialect and the Making of Modern China," November 7 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of History and the Asian Studies Center will present Dr. Gina Tam and her talk "Dialect and the Making of Modern China" on November 7.

Taking aim at the conventional narrative that standard, national languages transform 'peasants' into citizens, Gina Anne Tam centers the history of the Chinese nation and national identity on fangyan - languages like Shanghainese, Cantonese, and dozens of others that are categorically different from the Chinese national language, Mandarin. She traces how linguists, policy-makers, bureaucrats and workaday educators framed fangyan as non-standard 'variants' of the Chinese language, while simultaneously highlighting, on the other hand, the 1920s folksong collectors, communist-period playwrights, contemporary hip-hop artists and popular protestors who argued that fangyan were more authentic and representative of China's national culture and its history. These intertwined visions of the Chinese nation - one spoken in one voice, one spoken in many - interacted and shaped one another, and in the process, shaped the basis for national identity itself.

It runs from 4:00 to 5:30 pm in 3703 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

Leonard Suryajaya's Novi, Dear at Silver Eye Center for Photography, October 31 - January 11; opening reception on 31st features artist talk.

Leonard Suryajaya's exhibition Novi, Dear will be on display at the Silver Eye Center for Photography from October 31 through January 11.

Leonard Suryajaya uses photography to test the boundaries of intimacy, community, and family. In elaborately staged photographs bursting with patterns and colors, Suryajaya creates absurd and affectionate tableaux featuring his family, strangers, and friends. The results are photographs that are tender and critical, bound up as they are with the struggles of familial authority and self identity. Suryajaya’s work is rooted in this upbringing as an Indonesian citizen of Chinese descent, as a Buddhist educated in Christian schools in a Muslim-majority country, and as someone who departed from his family and his culture’s definitions of love and family. His dazzling photography explore the tensions of everyday interaction, culturally-coded objects, and in the disruptions stirred by queer relations.

The opening is at 7:00 pm on the 31st and features a talk with the artist; the reception is free and open to the public, though registration is required. Silver Eye Center for Photography is located at 4808 Penn Ave. in Bloomfield (map).

KPDC Fall 2019 Showcase: Uprising, November 17 at Carnegie Mellon University.

Carnegie Mellon University's K-Pop Dance Club will present its Fall 2019 Showcase: Uprising on November 17.

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Join KPDC at our 2019 Fall Showcase on Sunday, November 17th from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm in UC Rangos! Come see what our talented dancers have been working on this semester, along with a guest performance by KASA. Doors open at 7:45 pm.

The Rangos Auditorium is located in the Cohon University Center on Forbes Ave. (map).

Pittsburgh Chinese School hiring teachers.

The Pittsburgh Chinese School, which meets on Sundays at Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill, is hiring teachers.

匹兹堡中文学校诚聘有爱心和责任心，有教学经验, 并有工作许可的有关人士加入教师队伍。

岗位要求:
1、热爱中国文化，并有热情将中国的文化广泛传播。
2、喜欢孩子，有爱心、耐心，责任心，有亲和力。
3、普通话发音标准清晰，语言表达能力强。
4、有基本的英语表达沟通能力。
5、有中文教学经验，尤其是有中小学教学经验者优先。
6、有教育或中文相关学历者优先。
7、文艺课教师有相关学历或工作经验者优先。

2018 Chinese film An Elephant Sitting Still (大象席地而坐) in Pittsburgh, November 17.

The 2018 Chinese film An Elephant Sitting Still (大象席地而坐) will play in Pittsburgh on November 17 as part of this year's Three Rivers Film Festival. The film's official site provides a synopsis:

Under the gloomy sky of a small town in northern China, different protagonists’ lives are intertwined in this furious tale of nihilistic rage. While protecting his friend from a dangerous school bully, 16-year-old WEI Bu pushes the tormentor down a staircase. WEI escapes the scene and later learns that the bully is hospitalized and gravely injured. WEI’s neighbor, the 60-year-old WANG Jin, is estranged from his family and, with nothing to lose, decides to join him. Later the pair is joined by HUANG Ling, WEI’s classmate. She is bedeviled by a destructive affair with a married school official. Together, this unlikely and desperate trio, decide their only hope is to flee as the bully’s gangster brother, enraged parents, and vindictive school authorities all go on a cold-blooded hunt for WEI across town. As WEI threads his way through the urban wilderness, he begins to come to terms with his own lost life. In the end, he boards a long-distance bus with HUANG and WANG toward a city in Manchuria, where it is a rumored that a circus elephant is said to be sitting still, seeming oblivious to pain and tribulations of the world at large.

It will play at the Regent Square Theater at 1:00 pm, though tickets are not yet available.

Jin and V (of BTS) cup-sleeve event, December 14 at Ineffable Ca Phe.

A Singular Epiphany will hold a cup-sleeve event on December 14 to commemorate the December birthdays of BTS members Seokjin (Jin) and Taehyung (V). It will be held at Ineffable Ca Phe in Lawrenceville (map) from 11:30 am to 6:00 pm and those interested in a sleeve will need to purchase a beverage.

Japanese Tea Ceremony, November 3 at Blue Monkey Tea in Squirrel Hill.

Squirrel Hill's Blue Monkey Tea will host Yuko Eguchi Wright and a Japanese Tea Ceremony on November 3.

Tea ceremony, or Chado (The Way of Tea), is a traditional Japanese art involving the ritualistic preparation of tea. Influenced by the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, the core teaching of chado is to attain a spiritual state of selflessness and peacefulness through making and sharing tea while maintaining harmony and balance with nature. Join us to learn about the Japanese tea ceremony through tasting tea and sweets.

Yuko Eguchi is a native of Tokyo, Japan and holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh. She received her tea master title and name, Soyu, in 2009 and the associate professor of tea title in 2013, certified by the head master of the Urasenke school. Yuko currently teaches at Pitt and has performed and lectured on Japanese traditional arts at various higher institutions. Visit her website: www.yukoeguchi.com

The event starts at 6:00 pm and the required tickets are $25. Blue Monkey Tea is located at 5872 Forbes Ave. (map).

Films from Korea, Japan, China, and Thailand at Pittsburgh Shorts Festival, November 1 through 7.

Films telling stories from Korea, Japan, China, and Thailand are among the dozens playing at the 2019 Pittsburgh Shorts Festival from November 1 through 7.

FORUM Accent and Dialect Discrimination: From Northern Japan to Western Pennsylvania, November 10 in Shadyside.

By Tokyo Times (Creative Commons)

The First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh will host "FORUM Accent and Dialect Discrimination: From Northern Japan to Western Pennsylvania" on November 10. It runs from 9:00 to 10:30 am at 605 Morewood Ave. (map) in Shadyside and is free and open to the public.

1954 film Godzilla (ゴジラ) at Phipps Conservatory, November 8.

Phipps Conservatory will show the 1954 film Godzilla (ゴジラ) on November 8 as part of its Fall Flower Show: Japanese Inspirations. From the distributor:

Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels.

It will play from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in Japanese with English subtitles and will have an introduction from Stephen Wludarski of the University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center. Those interested must register online and are required to purchase admission to Phipps. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is located at 1 Schenley Drive in Oakland (map).