Maisy Chan
Mambo in Chinatown: Dancing between Eastern and Western cultures
A book review feeds upon the book being reviewed. In Mambo in Chinatown, author Jean Kwok takes us on an excursion.
We visit Chinatown and places in the New York City backdrop, all woven into...
The Boat Rocker: Fiction, the press and the meaning of ‘Polity’
I always take notice of Ha Jin’s writings ever since, by surprise, I read his debut novel Waiting. The fictional “testimonial of sorts” of a love story in a dying culture has its intimacy...
‘Little White Duck’: Stories make up a world engrossed in the politics of a...
More than just a picture book
The Seattle Art Museum’s Luminous Asian Exhibit
Strolling into a museum, we see old and new art, ancient and contemporary. Juxtapose the two, then singular impressions reveal themselves for an audience.
In the "Luminous: The Art of Asia" exhibit, a Seated Guanyin...
Brush, Ink, Mind: The Practice of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting
Frederic Wong’s "Brush, Ink, Mind: the Practice of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting" takes the reader step-by-step through the elements of learning calligraphy and brush painting in the Chinese tradition. The book is methodical like...
“In the Lap of the Gods”
The making of modern China reaches beyond politics — its impact is often felt cruelly on ordinary people.
“Gold Boy” and “All Is Forgotten”
A woman’s sense of disconnect in an urbanizing China and the interconnected stories between students round out these tales from two compelling women writers.