See China

Can a joke kill a king? Retired professor Zhang Huicheng (张惠诚) recently published a book named “History of Chinese Court Coups” (中国历代宫廷政变), which recorded many seemingly ridiculous mishaps that accidentally led to the demise of a certain kingdom or dynasty.

A Chinese named Yang Heyang wrote an article on Sina.com, recalling how he became “the funniest man in the world”, a titled conferred to him by the kind citizens of Kiel, Germany.

Any urban children growing up in today’s China would be familiar with the Big Big Wolf and the Pleasant Goat (喜羊羊与灰太狼), an animation series broadcast, merchandized and publicized almost anytime, everywhere. The 7-year-old son of the protagnist is no exception.

The first really wellknown Chinese novel on migrant workers was finally written by the migrant worker himself. Zhou Shuheng (周述恒), 31-year-old migrant worker who bent himself on nightly writings after backbreaking work in the daytime from different jobs, hopes that this 450,000-word novel will help more people to respect and protect the full rights and interests of 280 million Chinese people who have silently contributed to the economic boom of 1/5 of the world in blood and sweat.

The National Library of China, the world’s largest archive of Chinese books and manuscripts, is now soliciting old pictures about the life and history of global Chinese descendents. Donars of pictures eligible to be permanently collected by NLC will be conferred with an official certificate. Please contact nlcoldphoto@yahoo.cn for details.

A book written by Lu Shi’e (陆士谔) in 1910 fortold the event of Shanghai World Expo in a very fasinating way. Lu, a Qing dynasty novelist and doctor, wrote a fictional book entitled New China (新中国) when he was 32 years old, in which the protagonist “dreamed” of Shanghai’s bustling business, subway, Pudong Bridge and above all, the opening of Shanghai World Expo exactly a hundred years later.

For over 6 months, severe drought unseen in 60 years have reigned over Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, Qinghai, Gansu, Guangxi and Tibet. Altogether 26 million people are affected, 11 million acres of land have dried up and more than 15 million people and 9.23 million big livestocks are having difficulties in getting drinking water.

Zhang Zao (张枣,1962-2010), respected as one of the best Third Generation poets of China, passed away in the University of Tubingen of Germany from lung cancer on March 8th at the age of 48. Zhang Zao’s poems are very finely structured with both eastern and western historical connotations, sensitive emotional nuances and a deep sense of philosophical awareness.

As China’s most important “lianghui”, or Two Sessions of the Year: the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, open in March, we want to encourage our readers to raise YOUR questions that are most intriguing to you as for the understanding of China and her people’s contemporary life (or history, since we all have the impression that someone is making it somewhere in this country everyday…), so as to “communicate” with this country and her extremely diversified communities of people. Please send them to seechina10@gmail.com…

Outspoken artist, author and critic, Chen Danqing (陈丹青) will talk about the influence of western music on China in a book salon jointly hosted by Trendslounge and Guangxi Normal University Press from 19:00 to 21:00 on March 3rd, 2010. The venue is Trendslounge, L214, Building 2, No. 9 Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District (朝阳区光华路9号时尚大厦2楼L214), SeeChina Club members and readers will be welcome to this event.