“High Tech, Low Life”
Documentary (Chinese with English subtitles) – Playing in NYC January 9-15, 2013!
Director: Stephen Maing
2012
High Tech, Low Life follows two of China’s most prominent citizen journalists as they go about reporting issues the mainstream media can’t touch.
This beautiful and insightful documentary tells the story of Tiger Temple, 57, a retired divorcee, and Zola, 26, a vegetable seller, two well-known Chinese citizen journalists. The film shows the two men loading up their bikes with laptops, digital cameras, video cameras and other high tech equipment, turning themselves into “one-man news stations.” The two have different styles, but their goal is the same—--to uncover the truth. As Zola says in the beginning of the film: “I live in an environment where all of the news is good news. I think this news is crap. Not all news is good news.” The two men pedal their bicycles throughout small villages and towns of China in search of stories that the mainstream media is forbidden from reporting. Their news gathering completed, they put their photos, video and text on their blogs, giving voice to China’s voiceless.
Recommended by HRIC.
“Chinese Cultural Renaissance and Its Prospects”
(中国式文艺复兴及其可能性前景)
Li Jie (李劼)
Caijing
December 10, 2012
In this thought-provoking essay, Li Jie, the well-known U.S.-based scholar of contemporary Chinese culture, argues that the power of a nation must be backed by its culture, and that a nation cannot project its power without a cultural foundation. He says that this is the case with China today, because its cultural renaissance, occurring in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 C.E.), has remained stagnant over the past thousand years.
Jie, the author of many books that challenge dominate cultural and historic views, writes that culture—whether it manifests itself in the Dream of a Red Chamber or the works of Shakespeare—is the soul of a nation, and the amalgam of aesthetics and logical thinking, and culture cannot flourish if the people are not allowed to develop a system of aesthetics and logical thinking.
Recommended by Ron.
Dalai Lama Calls for Release of Liu Xiaobo
YouTube Video （English）
December 8, 2012
Length: 7’08”
This is a video message by the Dalai Lama shared at a press conference held by the Friends of Liu Xiaobo in Flushing, New York, on December 8, 2012, where democracy activists called for the release of Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In the video, the Dalai Lama describes Liu as a Chinese intellectual with vision, and praises the noble value of his efforts as evident in Charter 08, of which Liu was a drafter. His Holiness reiterates the call to release Liu and urges Chinese leaders to reflect upon their policies and not to sacrifice the people’s rights and wishes. He also urges people to remember Liu and mobilize to support him. He encourages participants to overcome obstacles and carry on Liu’s work because this helps not only China but also the world.
Recommended by Yi Ping.
Dream of Ding Village (丁庄梦)
Yan Lianke (阎连科)
Grove Press/麦田出版社
January 4, 2011/April 30, 2006
Hardcover: 352 pages/平装：352页
Dream of Ding Village is the story of a blood collection craze that led to an outbreak of HIV/AIDS and a huge loss of life in rural Hunan due to poor transfusion/collection practices and lack of regulations and national oversight. Yan’s prose is a pleasure to read; neither overly dense nor overly simplistic. Yan has admitted that he censored his book in order to get it published, yet it was still banned after its first run.
Recommended by AW.
China in Ten Words (十个词汇里的中国)
Yu Hua (余华)
Pantheon; Tra edition
November 8, 2011
Hardcover: 240 pages
A look at contemporary China through essays written on ten Chinese terms, including “disparity” (差距), “grassroots” (草根), “copycat” (山赛), and “bamboozle” (忽悠). Part personal stories, part social analysis, this book—in the words of a reviewer for The Wall Street Journal—“captures the heart of the Chinese people.”
Recommended by Mi Ling.
中国求生手册 (China Survival Guide App)
Made by Zhe Liu 可牛网络
Free on Apple iTunes Store
This app provides updates on food safety scandals in China day by day, and categorizes the information to make searching easy. For today’s Chinese people, nothing is more important than food safety! The app surpassed 200,000 downloads within three days of its launch on May 23, 2012. Because it’s updated daily, it’s an important online resource more people should know about.
Recommended by Ron.
This app is not created or certified by HRIC. Users should carefully review all permissions requested by the app and understand the potential risks before installation.
“China’s Cyberposse”
Tom Downey
The New York Times Magazine
March 3, 2010
A New York Times Magazine article about the “human-flesh search engines” (人肉搜索), which has become a form of online vigilante justice in China. Downey sheds light on the unique power of the Internet in China, providing several shocking examples of the “human-flesh search” in action, while simultaneously exploring various analyses and opinions, and some potential political and cultural roots of this phenomenon.
Recommended by Rose.
The New Labor Art Troupe (新工人艺术团)
A Chinese rock and folk band that makes it its mission to give a voice to China's more than 200 million migrant workers. The band was founded in 2002 by Sun Heng (孙恒), who is also founder of Migrant Worker's Home (工友之家), an NGO funded by all the proceeds made by the band. Over the past ten years, the band has reached an audience of about 200,000 migrant workers, performing at construction worksites, schools, companies, and migrant schools. On the album "Our World, Our Dream, (我们的 世界，我们的梦想), particularly with at construction worksites, schools, companies, and migrant schools. On the album "Our World, Our Dream” (我们的世界，我们的梦想), particularly with the song, Industrial Zone, you are transported into the hearts and minds of migrant workers. Another great song is Day Worker which you can check out on YouTube!
Recommended by Sara.
