Asian Studies 2018

Last week in my Modern Times class, which is facilitated by Dr. Cole we watched a film called Civilizations.  The reason I bring up this film is because towards the end there was an artist by the name of Cai Guo-Qiang, who is a Chinese artist who currently lives and works in New York City and New Jersey. Cai Guo-Qiang was exposed early on to western literature as well as traditional Chinese art forms due to his father Cai Ruiqin who was a calligrapher and traditional painter who worked in a bookstore. He grew up in a setting where explosions were common, whether they were the result of cannon blasts or celebratory fireworks. He also saw gunpowder used in both good and bad ways, in destruction and reconstruction. Cai channeled his experiences and memories through his numerous gunpowder drawings and explosion events.  Much of Cai’s works draws on Maoist/Socialist concepts for content, especially his gunpowder drawings, which strongly reflect Mao Zedong’s tenet ...

I had the opportunity to interview one of my best friend’s for this week’s blog post who gave me insight on a trip she took to Thailand with her longtime boyfriend last October. During her trip, she went to an Elephant Jungle Sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is about a 1.5 hour drive away. She met about seven female elephants and one baby male elephant. Since it is a sanctuary you are not allowed to ride the elephants because it is seen as a form of animal cruelty. During their time there they were able to feed the elephants sugar cane, bananas and bamboo.   My friend Jasmine described the elephants as being super friendly and playful. After feeding them, they were given the chance to give the elephants a mud bath, which was intimidating due to their size but in the end they went into the river with them to wash off the mud. The elephants seem very relaxed after their mud bath. Fun fact: after elephants eat it stays in their stomach for about an hour and a half befor...

This past weekend I had the pleasure of finally going to the movie theaters and watching  'Crazy Rich Asians'  a film I've been intrigued to watch since its release date in mid-August. I learned that this movie is the first major studio film since  'The Joy Luck Club'  opened almost a quarter-century ago in which an Asian filmmaker has told an Asian-American story with Asians in all of the leading roles.  Crazy Rich Asians  is an American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu, from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on Kevin Kwan's 2013 novel Crazy Rich Asians. The film follows a Chinese-American professor Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) who accompanies longtime boyfriend Nick(Henry Golding) to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. She's surprised to learn that Nick's family is extremely wealthy and is considered one of the country's most eligible bachelors. Rachel must contend with jealous societies, quirky relatives an...

It  lo oks like my blog from last week didn’t post so here it is again! Last week I discussed the Desi Hoppers, which is a dance group from Mumbai, India that competed on the World of Dance competition show here in the United States. I wanted to point this group out because in their dancing during the competition they incorporated traditional Indian dance moves with Western dance moves demonstrating how versatile they are with dance. On this second season of World of Dance I have seen more dance groups come on the show from all parts of the world and it’s a delight to watch dance bring together people from all different backgrounds. I have posted a video below of the Desi Hoppers during the competition so please enjoy!

On TV, there's a dance competition show called World of Dance. Dancers from all parts of the world enter the competition and on this second season a group called Fabulous Sisters from Fukushima, Japan entered the competition. These girls are young but extremely talented. For their performance on last week's episode their dance routine was based on the holiday Hinamatsuri also called Girls Day celebrated every year on March 3rd. On this special day in Japan, platforms are covered with a red carpet material are used to display a set of ornamental dolls, which represent the emperor, empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional attire of the Heian period.  Fabulous Sisters costumes represented dolls and they incorporated the color red with their props, enjoy the full performance video  below!

On Thursday, an earthquake paralyzed the northern island of Hokkaido. They have reported that at least one person was killed and 32 are still missing. This triggered landslides and knocked out power to its 5.3 million residents. It is reported that 120 people have been injured after the 6.7 magnitude quake. Dozens of landslides exposed barren hillsides near the town of Atsuma in southern Hokkaido. According to an article, "the entire island was without power after Hokkaido Electric Power Co said it conducted an emergency shutdown of all its fossil fuel-fired power plants following the quake." The quake hit at exactly 3:08 a.m. Luckily it did not pose a tsunami risk. However, it was still registered as a strong 6 on Japan's 7-point earthquake scale. Other agencies reported after shocks but it did not cause major damage. https://japantoday.com/category/national/1-dead-at-least-32-missing-after-M6.7-quake-hits-Hokkaido

Over the summer I came upon an article on snapchat and it caused my attention because in the title I read Giant Unicorn Island in Asia . After reading the article I learned there's a giant floating playground located in Subic Bay in the Philippines. The Inflatable Island is said to be the biggest playground in Asia. The entire place covers 36,600 feet of water or about eight basketball courts placed side by side! There's inflatable slides, bridges, towers and a "human launcher" After reading this article and seeing the photos this island is on my bucket list. As if this wasn't already something exciting and new, can any of you think of how much the entrance fee is? To enjoy the inflatable island with an all day pass from 8am- 5:50pm it cost 849 Pisos, which converted to US dollars is a little over $16!! https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a19833813/unicorn-inflatable-island-philippines/