Staff Pick Favorite: Yang Jin (杨瑾) & Friends, December 2 (online) with City of Asylum.

The City of Asylum will replay its February 2020 program Yang Jin (杨瑾) & Friends on December 2.

This holiday season, City of Asylum has swan-dived into our archives to bring you some of our most memorable programs for our new series “Staff Pick Favorites.’ Tonight, we’ll be revisiting an evening of world music with a cross-border concert featuring pipa virtuoso Yang Jin!

This program will feature extremely talented and passionate musicians from all over the world. Together they will explore the relationship between East and West through creativity and virtuosity. The program will feature songs spanning traditional music, world music, classical music & modern music combining Chinese, Middle Eastern, South American & other regional elements.

Featured Musicians:

Yang Jin (pipa, zhongruan, Guzheng), John Marcinizyn (Guitar), Dariush Saghafi (Santur), Yahya Golestan (Tar, Tomback), Mimi Jong (Erhu), Alejandro Pinzon (Bandoneon), David Bennett (Cello), Gina Ketter (Violin), Joe Sheehan (Piano), Jeff Berman (Percussion)

It runs online from 7:00 to 8:00 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required.

Jackie Chan movie Vanguard (急先锋) continues in Pittsburgh through December 3.

The 2020 Jackie Chan film Vanguard (急先锋), which opened in Pittsburgh on November 19, will continue here through at least December 3.

Covert security company Vanguard is the last hope of survival for an accountant after he is targeted by the world's deadliest mercenary organization.

It plays locally at several theaters on different days, including AMC Loews Waterfront, Cranberry, Waterwork, Phoenix in Chartiers Valley, and the Cinemarks in McCandless, Monroeville, and Robinson. Tickets are available online via Fandango.

SAP Ariba hiring bilingual Mandarin-English Procurement Specialist for overnight call center position in Pittsburgh.

SAP Ariba hiring bilingual Mandarin-English Procurement Specialist, this time through a staffing agency. An excerpt from the job ad:

***Candidates must be fluent in both Mandarin and English***

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provides inbound application and functional support for all relevant Ariba applications, both internally and externally, by way of email, webform and phone.

• Resolves 80% of issues without escalation.

• Respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner and within service level objectives.

• Successfully documents all requests through the CRM system while adhering to all documented procedures.

• Provides general assistance to other teams within Global Customer Support and Ariba.

• Conducts all customer interactions in a manner that presents Ariba in a positive light. Specialists are required to be respectful, fair, gracious and knowledgeable and to uphold the core values established by Ariba.

• Ensures that individual performance meets or exceeds the department standards.

• All other duties as assigned.

New Jackie Chan movie Vanguard (急先锋) in Pittsburgh, from November 19.

The 2020 Jackie Chan film Vanguard (急先锋) will play around Pittsburgh from November 19: a fan event will be held at select theaters on the 19th while the film will open in most theaters on the 20th.

Covert security company Vanguard is the last hope of survival for an accountant after he is targeted by the world's deadliest mercenary organization.

It's not quite clear what the fan event involves, but another theater says it includes a behind-the-scenes special of the film. The fan event will play locally at the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, and Robinson, and the Movie Scoop theaters in Cranberry and Waterworks; tickets for it are available online.

The movie will play in Mandarin with English subtitles from the 20th at the above-mentioned theaters plus some screenings at the Chartiers Valley Luxury, the AMC Loews Waterfront, the AMC Luxury South Pike, and the Cinemark in Monaca. Tickets are available online from Fandango.

Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star, online at Carnegie Museum of Art, November 18 through February 14.

An exhibition by Diane Severin Nguyen, Tyrant Star opens online today from the Carnegie Museum of Art.

This iteration of Carnegie Museum of Art’s online exhibition series features Tyrant Star, a 16-minute video work by artist Diane Severin Nguyen (American, b. 1990). It marks the first time that the work, a new acquisition, will be exhibited at CMOA.

Filmed entirely in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tyrant Star prompts viewers to consider how cultural touchstones like songs and shared histories are fragmented and woven together in new ways over time. The work unfolds in three chapters, beginning with a view of the metropolis set to Ca Dao, or Vietnamese folk poems, before shifting to an aspiring YouTube star performing a cover of “The Sound of Silence” and concluding with footage of children at a Ho Chi Minh City orphanage. Although each chapter focuses on different voices and perspectives, they are linked by messages of grief and care that remain unheard or misunderstood and by reminders of pain, isolation, and trauma. Nguyen’s camera captures trash-strewn landscapes, quiet interiors, and fragmented bodies, highlighting subtle movements that suggest our surroundings are alive, swelling with the memories of the past.

Diane Severin Nguyen: Tyrant Star is organized by Hannah Turpin, curatorial assistant for modern and contemporary art and photography.

It is available online at the CMOA's website through February 14, 2021.

Pittsburgh/Saitama Business Matching with Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO).

via @SaitamaCityPR

The Japanese External Trade Organization and Saitama City Foundation for Business Creation is looking to facilitate business connections between Saitama and its Sister City Pittsburgh. Those interested are requested to complete a Google Form.

Companies based in the Japanese city of Saitama, a Pittsburgh sister-city near Tokyo, are interested in connecting with Pittsburgh-based companies to explore mutual opportunities for sales, distribution, manufacturing, and joint research. The Saitama companies represent a variety of industries, but many are involved in creating components for medical devices or robotics. Pittsburgh/Saitama business connections are being facilitated by the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO) in partnership with the Saitama City Foundation for Business Creation (SFBC). If there appears to be a good match, we will facilitate an introductory virtual meeting. If there is not a good match, we can retain your information for future opportunities with JETRO or Japanese companies. This is a great opportunity for Pittsburgh businesses interested in exploring international markets or looking for quality manufacturing options. If you would like to learn more or participate you can fill out this form, or contact Ryan O'Shea at Ryan@futuregrind.org.

Jasmine Cho honored as CommUNITY Champion.

Baker, author, and activist Jasmine Cho is recognized by WTAE news today as a CommUNITY Champion.

Cho said, "There's this representation and example of possibility when you see somebody whose story and whose face looks like yours."

Cho is Korean American. She studied art therapy at Carlow University and was part of designing a mural. She said the cookies help her in two ways. Baking them is therapeutic and decorating the cookies reconnects her to her heritage.

"Gathering these missing pieces of my personal identity. I feel like I'm on this continuous excavation of my history so there's a lot of mixed feeling between feeling very liberated and empowered but also very angry and sad that I didn't learn about these people sooner," said Cho.

Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute assistant professor ordered to remove mention of BTS from lecture on K-pop's soft power.

by Cindy Ord / WireImage

The South China Morning Post writes about Areum Jeong, an assistant professor at the Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute who was recently ordered to remove mention of BTS from a lecture on K-pop's soft power.

She had been expected to give a lecture about K-pop’s soft power at the university’s business school until a course coordinator told her to omit any mention of the BTS band, she said in an interview.

“I was offended that an academic institution was trying to censor a talk, especially because it’s based on nonsense spewed by nationalists,” said Jeong, who refused to give the lecture in the end. “I don’t self-censor.”

SCUPI was announced in 2013 as a joint partnership between Sichuan University and the University of Pittsburgh

Fan event for new Jackie Chan movie Vanguard (急先锋) in Pittsburgh, November 19.

Local Cinemark theaters are hosting a fan event for the 2020 Jackie Chan film Vanguard (急先锋), which will play around Pittsburgh from November 20.

Covert security company Vanguard is the last hope of survival for an accountant after he is targeted by the world's deadliest mercenary organization.

It's not quite clear what the fan event involves, but another theater says it includes a behind-the-scenes special of the film. The fan event will play locally at the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, and Robinson, and tickets are available online. The movie itself will play at those theaters plus the Waterworks Cinema.

"Here and There: Anti-Racist Perspectives from Japan and Germany," November 16 (online) at Carnegie Mellon.

Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Modern Languages presents "Here and There: Anti-Racist Perspectives from Japan and Germany" on November 16. It runs from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required.