An interesting interview over at China Digital Times (CDT), Gerald Roche on the Erasure of Tibet's Minority Languages, explores the linguistic map of Tibetan-speaking regions in China. Roche is an anthropologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Politics, Media, and Philosophy at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Much of it is about his research into … Continue reading Language Dominance and Assimilation in Tibetan Regions
Author: xumushi
Chinese-to-English literary translator. Interested in topics such as fiction by the non-Han peoples of China, storytelling by Altaic peoples, and Silk Road cultures.
Newly Published: Memoir of Fan Jinshi, Pioneering Buddhist Grotto Archaeologist
The story of Fan Jinshi (樊锦诗), female graduate of New China's first four-year program in archaeology, who went on to spend 50-plus years in the desert overseeing the study, restoration and preservation of Buddhist cave-temples in Gansu Province, is now available in English --- via my translation --- as Daughter of Dunhuang: Memoir of a Mogao … Continue reading Newly Published: Memoir of Fan Jinshi, Pioneering Buddhist Grotto Archaeologist
The Dream of Han Innocence & “Nomad Sedentarization” of Xinjiang’s Kazakhs
Guldana Salimjan, a Kazakh born and raised in China, reviews the popular Chinese TV mini-series “To the Wonder," (我的阿尔泰) literally "My Altai," inspired by Li Juan's writing: Ta-Nehisi Coates [Afro-American author] explains how literary works, public monuments, and eventually movies reinforced the pernicious myth of white supremacy and innocence in the long aftermath of the … Continue reading The Dream of Han Innocence & “Nomad Sedentarization” of Xinjiang’s Kazakhs
Rectification of Names: Uyghur Towns, Chinese Names
In China has renamed hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns, we learn of the latest policy in the campaign to make Xinjiang look and feel like mainstream, Han-dominated China: Hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns have been renamed by Chinese authorities to remove religious or cultural references, with many replaced by names reflecting Communist party … Continue reading Rectification of Names: Uyghur Towns, Chinese Names
Profile: Literary Translator Bruce Humes in Tainan
In Letter from Tainan, I speak with China hand Thomas Bird --- author of the newly published Harmony Express --- about today's Tainan, and mainlander-dominated Taipei back in 1978 when I had just made my side-door entry into China: Humes describes a very different cityscape from the malls and skyscrapers of contemporary Taipei: “First-floor garage-like … Continue reading Profile: Literary Translator Bruce Humes in Tainan
Banner of the Week: “Show us some Humanity!”
Movie Review: Focus on the Endangered “Nikah” Uyghur Wedding Rite
In ‘Nikah’: An astonishing portrait of Uyghur life on the edge of erasure, Darren Byler introduces a film about a traditional Uyghur wedding rite that has been banned in Xinjiang: The story on the surface is a simple one. Two daughters in their twenties, Dilber and Rena, are caught between their own ambitions — careers, … Continue reading Movie Review: Focus on the Endangered “Nikah” Uyghur Wedding Rite
Disappeared in Xinjiang: Uyghur Ethnographer Rahile Dawut
In A Disappearance in Xinjiang, Financial Times' Edward White profiles Uyghur female ethnographer Rahile Dawut, who disappeared into China's Xinjiang Gulag in 2017: Rahile’s life was devoted to the preservation of cultural diversity across the vast Xinjiang region, nearly three times the size of France and covering about one-sixth of modern China. For centuries, ancient Silk … Continue reading Disappeared in Xinjiang: Uyghur Ethnographer Rahile Dawut
Quote of the Week: Yiyun Li
Once you’re Chinese, you’re always Chinese. They put a mark on you . . . And I don’t want to be owned. (Writer Yiyun Li, speaking in Mother Tongues at China Books Review)
Shanghai Baby’s Translator, Author Wei Hui & Abu Ghraib
At the turn of 21st century, three young female Chinese novelists were busy boldly writing about their sexuality, orgasms and all, and being lambasted for it by the critics and Chinese society at large. The trio were Jiu Dan, who chronicled the exploits of China's“Little Dragon Girls” in Singapore in Crows (乌鸦); Mian Mian, author … Continue reading Shanghai Baby’s Translator, Author Wei Hui & Abu Ghraib
Altaic Storytelling 