Dominic Yang and "The Great Exodus from China," November 3 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Dominic Yang and his talk "The Great Exodus from China" on November 3.

The Great Exodus examines one of the least understood forced migrations in modern East Asia—the human exodus from China to Taiwan following the Nationalist collapse and Chinese Communist victory in 1949. Peeling back layers of Cold War ideological constructs on the subject, the book tells a very different story from the conventional historiography.

Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang (楊孟軒) is Associate Professor of East Asian History in Department of History, University of Missouri-Columbia. Dominic completed his PhD in Department of History, University of British Columbia (2012). He has been a recipient of multiple SSHRC awards (Canada) and Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation grants, as well as the Taiwan Fellowship. His first book The Great Exodus from China won the Memory Studies Association First Book Award in 2020, and in 2021, was selected as a Finalist for the International Book Award in the category of History: General. For his research, Dominic also received University of Missouri Provost’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award in 2020

The event will be held on Zoom and will begin at 7:30 pm. Registration is required.

Kiku hiring servers, experienced sushi chef.

Kiku Japanese Restaurant, located in Station Square and considered among the best and most authentic Japanese restaurants in the area, is hiring servers and an experienced sushi chef. The ads are reposted below; those interested should send their resumes to contact [at] kikupittsburgh.net.

K-pop Halloween Party, October 31 at Phat's Bar in Oakland.

Phat's Bar in Oakland will host a Kpop Halloween Party on October 31, in collaboration with the local group that hosts BTS cupsleeve events. The 18+ event runs from 7:00 pm to 12:00 am, and attendees must be vaccinated.

Phat's opened in January and is located at 418 Semple St. (map). It's run by the family behind Ineffable Cà Phê.

"Belonging Otherwise: Chinese Undergraduate Students at South Korean Universities," November 1 at Pitt.

via moreweeping

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present Dr. Jiyeon Kang and her talk "Belonging Otherwise: Chinese Undergraduate Students at South Korean Universities" on November 1, part of the center's Asian Now Fall Lecture Series.

Following the South Korean government’s drive in the 1990s for globalization and deregulation of higher education, Korean universities aggressively recruited Chinese students as both symbolic and economic resources. The number of Chinese students studying at Korean universities consequently increased 57-fold between 2000 and 2019 (from 1,200 to 68,537). This presentation will share the findings from interviews with some of these Chinese students, who chose South Korea with academic and cultural aspirations but often found that neither Korean students nor the university itself welcomed them into classes or communities. As a result, Chinese students have not adapted to Korean university in the ways imagined by the normative framework, but instead make their study-abroad experience livable by constituting material, technological, and imagined modalities of belonging. These modalities of “belonging otherwise” reveal South Korea as a node of commercialized, non-elite, inter-Asian student mobility, and illuminate Chinese students’ strategies in this new regime of study abroad.

It runs from 4:30 to 5:45 pm in 211 Lawrence Hall, and is free and open to members of the Pitt community who abide by the university's health guidelines.

"Digging Cambodian Rock: Global Media Archaeologies of Popular Music," October 27 at Pitt.

via KUNR, story by NPR.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present David Novak and his talk "Digging Cambodian Rock: Global Media Archaeologies of Popular Music" on October 27, part of its Asia Now Fall Lecture Series.

Thinking toward a media archaeology of global popular music, this presentation will trace the contemporary circulation of “golden era” 1960s and 1970s "Cambodian Rock." The lecture seeks to contextualize and historicize revivals of pre-Khmer Rouge pop recordings through the mediated movements, dubs, and remixes of cassette tapes among North American independent labels and the activities of online archivists and heritage centers in present-day Cambodia, which helped to generate the documentary film Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten, the play Cambodian Rock Band, and the Los Angeles based group Dengue Fever. Drawing from ethnographic interviews with contemporary preservationists and reissue labels in Cambodia, California, Oregon, and Massachusetts, the lecture considers the role of music in memories of genocide and war, the importance of physical materials in the global recognition of Southeast Asian history, and the ethical politics of media access in the transition to a digital archive.

It runs from 4:30 to 5:45 pm in 211 Lawrence Hall, and is free and open to members of the Pitt community who abide by the university's health guidelines.

"Not Safe For Life" 1999 Takashi Miike film Audition (オーディション) at Row House Cinema, October 29.

The 1999 Takashi Miike film Audition (オーディション) will play at Row House Cinema on October 29.

In this Japanese thriller, a widower schemes to find love but finds his dream woman to be a hellish nightmare. Director Takashi Miike’s film starts off feeling like a heartwarming romantic comedy before descending into grisly and terrifying chaos.

Pitt hiring part-time Chinese instructors for spring 2022.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures is hiring part-time Chinese instructors for the spring 2022 term.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures seeks part-time instructors of Chinese Language for the Spring term of 2022. The position is semester-based. Instructors must have at least a Bachelor’s degree, native or native-like proficiency in Chinese, and have status to work on University of Pittsburgh campus. Preference will be given to applicants who have background knowledge and prior experience in teaching foreign languages, language pedagogy and second language acquisition. Duties include teaching recitation sections. Interested applicants should submit a CV and cover letter. The position will be filled as soon as qualified candidates are found.

Those interested should apply on the university's site.

2021 movie My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (僕のヒーローアカデミア THE MOVIE ワールドヒーローズミッション) in Pittsburgh, from October 29.

The 2021 movie My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (僕のヒーローアカデミア THE MOVIE ワールドヒーローズミッション) will play in Pittsburgh from October 29 through November 4. A synopsis, from the distributor.

When a sinister organization threatens to wipe out all superhuman powers, the fate of the world is on the line. With two hours until the collapse of civilization, Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki manage to work as a team, but there’s still one problem. Deku’s on the run for murder.

It is scheduled so far to play at the AMC Loews Waterfront, the Waterworks Cinemas, the Cranberry Cinemas and Cinemark Theaters in Monaca, Monroeville, North Hills, and Robinson. Tickets are available online; please note, some shows are dubbed in English while others are in Japanese with English subtitles.

Miyazaki Week coming to Row House Cinema, from November 12.

Following its Wong Kar-Wai film series from November 5, the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville will present Miyazaki Week from November 12 through 18. The films announced so far are 1979's Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (ルパン三世 カリオストロの城), 1997's Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫), and 2001's Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し). Tickets and showtime information is now available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street (map) in Lawrenceville.

2019 Taiwanese film Detention (返校) available virtually via Row House Cinema.

The 2019 Taiwanese film Detention (返校) is now available virtually via Row House Cinema for a limited time.

Set in Taiwan during the “White Terror” period of martial law, a high school girl awakens in an empty school only to find that her entire community has been abandoned except for one other student. Soon they realize that they have entered a realm filled with vengeful spirits and hungry ghosts.

Adapted from the eponymous video game, this masterful debut from director and co-writer John Hsu creates an at once shocking historical drama, a melancholy coming-of-age tale, and a nightmarish horror film; that recalls the best of Guillermo del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone, and Pan’s Labyrinth), and with enough blood, striking sound design, art direction and special effects to evoke the best of Silent Hill.

The film is available to those in North America, and the cost to unlock is $10.