from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704082104575516082963460938.html
Spurred by separate pushes by the U.S. and Chinese governments, more schools in Greater New York have begun offering—even requiring—the study of Mandarin at the elementary level.
Starting this month, Manhattan's New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math, or NEST+m, replaced Spanish with Mandarin for kindergarten through fifth grades. Some city elementary schools, such as PS 310 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, have launched Chinese bilingual programs aimed at native Chinese speakers. Others, such as as PS 20 on the Lower East Side, have opted for dual-language programs, where half of the class is fluent in English and the other half is fluent in Mandarin. The programs this year add to about 25 bilingual and dual-language ones that already existed in the city, according to Matthew Mittenthal, city Department of Education spokesman.
"Mandarin is a language that has symbols that are very different than our written language," said Olga Livanis, the principal of NEST+m, a K-12 gifted-and-talented school on the Lower East Side. "The more difficult, the earlier a child needs to learn it."
The rise in Mandarin comes amid increased federal funding for programs that teach it and from school administrators' recognition of China's growing influence in the global economy. China is also cultivating the study of Mandarin abroad, sponsoring teachers, materials and visits to China.
As of the end of 2008 school year, about 50 public and two dozen private schools in New York City had Chinese classes, according to Robin Harvey, coordinator of a Chinese-language teachers program at New York University. Since then, the number has increased by 5% to 10%, she said.
Several new programs certifying teachers in instruction of Chinese as a second language are launching around the city. NYU, for example, had more than 42 graduates from its master's program over the past three years, said Ms. Harvey. "Most of our teachers once they graduate find work in the New York metropolitan area," she said.
Chinese is one of of the languages considered to be critical to the U.S. national security by the U.S. Department of Education, which helps schools secure funding if they agree to teach the languages.
Last year, New Rochelle began offering Mandarin in its middle and high schools, and this year the language is offered to some kindergarteners and fourth-graders. Being aware that "we could possibly get support to introduce" Mandarin played a role in starting the language up throughout the school system, said Richard E. Organisciak, the Westchester County district's superintendent. New Rochelle received about $1.5 million in federal grants, and the approval for the money came within weeks of application, said Mr. Organisciak.
Support from China is also helping Chinese instruction grow around the country. U.S. schools are able to get a guest teacher for two years sponsored by the Chinese government via a program with the College Board.
In New York State, only two schools have guest teachers, whose stipends and international travel is sponsored by the Chinese government, while housing and administrative fees are taken on by school districts. Both New York guest teachers starting this school year at Medgar Evers College Preparatory school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and the Brewster School District, about 50 miles north of the city. In Connecticut, nine guest-teachers are working, all having started in 2009 or this year, according to the College Board. New Jersey has two guest teachers, who also arrived in the past year or so.
But Rocco Tomazic, superintendent of Linden, N.J., school district, said that he chose to decline and find permanent teachers. NEST also found a teacher on its own and is paying for the teacher out of its own budget.
Several schools in Greater New York are part of a new grant program called the Confucius Classroom, sponsored by the Chinese government through the New York-based Asia Society, which selects programs that could serve as models for Chinese-language instruction. These classrooms are matched with partner schools in China for joint projects and exchanges and are provided with teacher development.
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Julie Platner for The Wall Street Journal
Students work on pronunciation and geography of cities in China by coloring in their own maps.
.Offering Chinese was a leap of faith, said Linden's Mr. Tomazic, "in a working-class town that has no significant number of Chinese." But a recent "China night" filled a school auditorium for students singing in Mandarin, he said. Now about 400 elementary-school children in the Linden school district are learning Mandarin.
For James Lee, principal of PS 20, a public school on the Lower East Side, introducing a dual-language program this year in two kindergarten classes was a matter of satisfying the needs of the growing number of children learning English in the district the school serves, he said. About 47 children, mixed English and Mandarin speakers, are enrolled this year, studying a full-day in Mandarin, followed by a day in English.
PS 20 received applications from English-speaking students in upper Manhattan and Brooklyn, said Mr. Lee. "The interest is huge," he said. Preference was given to children in District 1.
Two weeks into the program, things are going well, said Mr. Lee. He called the program, "a fairly challenging setting." "To be taught in a language that you only comprehend in small amounts, that's a lot to ask of a five year old."
Write to Yuliya Chernova at yuliya.chernova@dowjones.com
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
NBC Today Show Hosts Chinese Language Learning Segment
NBC's Today Show sponsored a segment on the importance of learning Mandarin Chinese.
According to Daniella Montalto, NYU's Institute of Learning and Achievement, learning a language at a very young age can help improve children's reading, writing, math and IQ scores.
Watch it here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39154226/vp/39418545#39418545
According to Daniella Montalto, NYU's Institute of Learning and Achievement, learning a language at a very young age can help improve children's reading, writing, math and IQ scores.
Watch it here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39154226/vp/39418545#39418545
Beijing's First Confucian Temple Service in 60 years
Confucius' birthday, celebrated in China. Photograph: Wu Hong/EPA
When a man has reached 2,561 years, it is hard to distinguish each birthday from the last. But anniversary celebrations for China's best-known philosopher included one notable change today: the first service at Beijing's Confucian temple since the Communists took power in 1949.
Once reviled as backwards and feudalist, Confucius has made a comeback since the 1990s, his work again openly a source of moral instruction and social debate – although it is also used to legitimise a party that once denounced him, to bolster tourism, and to soothe the souls of stressed workers.
Today hundreds of schoolchildren gathered to pay their respects. Dancers in red robes and students in flowing black drifted through the courtyards of the 14th century temple complex in central Beijing.
For Confucian teacher Yang Ruqin, the event was a welcome sign of renewed interest in the philosopher's thought.
"Confucianism has always been in Chinese people's blood. Although negated for many years, it is still there and when the environment is right, it will come back. I think it is a very good thing, especially in today's materialistic society," he said. "Most people now are just curious about it instead of really understanding the theory, but that's okay: as time goes on, they will know better. Plus Confucianism is something really suited to the Chinese people."
Although celebrations of Confucius have become a valuable money-spinner in Qufu, his birthplace, Yang said it was the first officially-approved service at the Beijing temple for six decades.
Disapproval of Confucianism, and destruction of temples during the cultural revolution, had made people cautious, he said.
"But people started to understand the core values, the true concepts, and started to find that those values are not completely irrelevant to their lives," he said.
Virtue, filial duty, obedience to rulers and benevolence from them are all key themes. But like most influential schools of thought, Confucianism can be interpreted in apparently limitless ways.
A Taiwanese speaker described Confucianism's relevance to cross-Straits ties.
Yu Dan – China's best known populariser of the philosopher's work – made him sound more like a self-help guru. "Now that everyone is busy, it seems that the things that actually make people happy are drifting further away from us. A child should have a dream. This is all related to what Confucius says in ethics."
The country's leaders too have co-opted the thinker. He has reappeared in school textbooks, and President Hu Jintao drew on Confucius in establishing his vision of the "harmonious society".
Dr Daniel Bell, a scholar at Tsinghua University and author of China's New Confucianism, said: "[Historically] it was part of political legitimation – and maybe that helps to explain the revival now to the extent [China's leaders] appeal to Confucianism for legitimacy. Obviously they don't want to become liberal democrats, but Marxism does not really grab people any more."
But he added: "The revival is happening at different levels of society, with some [Confucian theorists] having a much more critical way of thinking. In Imperial China it was a conservative tradition, but always had a critical edge; Confucius and Mencius were social critics."
Li Gengwu, a retired newspaper employee attending the service, studied Confucius as a child before the revolution. "All the good traditional values were abandoned. Now it seems more people are interested. Confucius advocates loyalty and trust and caring for others. In today's society, all people care about is money, so it's good to promote these values."
Younger people were less enthusiastic.
"Confucius is an important part of Chinese culture, related to everyone," said Han Bing, 30, a musician at the event. But she was "not really sure" how he was relevant.
Xue Wenjuan, 23, was swift to quote "Learning is our belief," but added: "That's a commercial for a language training centre."
Additional research by Lin Yi
Monday, September 27, 2010
Parents Debate the Merits of Chinese
Maybe they should sign their youngest children up for toddler league T-ball, instead?
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/09/27/parents-debate-the-rise-of-mandarin-at-elementary-schools/
By Yuliya Chernova
The growth of Mandarin classes at elementary schools in and around New York City stirred debate at UrbanBaby.com, a popular forum website for parents.
As The Journal reported, more schools around the city this year started offering — and in some cases requiring — Mandarin instruction, including New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math (known as NEST+m), PS 20 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and PS 310 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The rise of Mandarin stems, in part, from separate programs backed by the U.S. and Chinese governments that offer resources for the classes.
The UrbanBaby discussion took on the issue of whether Mandarin is appropriate for elementary-school children. Some writers on the anonymous forum suggested that there is no need to introduce a difficult language so early on, arguing that children won’t gain proficiency anyway when taught just once a week. As one commenter put it:
anyone who has tried to teach toddlers a foreign language that no one in their household speaks (inc nanny) will realize that the classes are just not enough - you need to either live there and immerse or have the immersion at home for it to take hold.
Other commenters suggested that it’s harder to find Mandarin practice outside of school, making it even more unlikely that the language would stick for young students. Some contributors to the forum argued that Spanish will be the predominant and most useful second language in the U.S. for years to come, so schools should focus on it. One commenter was skeptical about language instruction in general for elementary students: “But is it really necessary for a child at the age of 5 to be taught some random language? I can think of 10 other things that could be done with that time.”
Some contributors spoke out in support of early exposure to Mandarin. One person, identified as a NEST+m parent, argued that “the daytime class gives you a place to start if you decide to embrace it. Otherwise just do the minimum and treat it like on of the other non-core subjects e.g. dance.”
Another self-identified parent of a student in the NEST+m Mandarin program said the once-a-week class was “more about the culture/geography so far and less about the language,” which served as an important introduction to China generally.
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/09/27/parents-debate-the-rise-of-mandarin-at-elementary-schools/
By Yuliya Chernova
The growth of Mandarin classes at elementary schools in and around New York City stirred debate at UrbanBaby.com, a popular forum website for parents.
As The Journal reported, more schools around the city this year started offering — and in some cases requiring — Mandarin instruction, including New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math (known as NEST+m), PS 20 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and PS 310 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The rise of Mandarin stems, in part, from separate programs backed by the U.S. and Chinese governments that offer resources for the classes.
The UrbanBaby discussion took on the issue of whether Mandarin is appropriate for elementary-school children. Some writers on the anonymous forum suggested that there is no need to introduce a difficult language so early on, arguing that children won’t gain proficiency anyway when taught just once a week. As one commenter put it:
anyone who has tried to teach toddlers a foreign language that no one in their household speaks (inc nanny) will realize that the classes are just not enough - you need to either live there and immerse or have the immersion at home for it to take hold.
Other commenters suggested that it’s harder to find Mandarin practice outside of school, making it even more unlikely that the language would stick for young students. Some contributors to the forum argued that Spanish will be the predominant and most useful second language in the U.S. for years to come, so schools should focus on it. One commenter was skeptical about language instruction in general for elementary students: “But is it really necessary for a child at the age of 5 to be taught some random language? I can think of 10 other things that could be done with that time.”
Some contributors spoke out in support of early exposure to Mandarin. One person, identified as a NEST+m parent, argued that “the daytime class gives you a place to start if you decide to embrace it. Otherwise just do the minimum and treat it like on of the other non-core subjects e.g. dance.”
Another self-identified parent of a student in the NEST+m Mandarin program said the once-a-week class was “more about the culture/geography so far and less about the language,” which served as an important introduction to China generally.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Black Market For Mooncakes.
From NPR: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/21/a-black-market-for-mooncakes-in-china/
A black market for mooncakes in China
China's mid-Autumn Festival and its tradition of eating mooncakes has lent itself to an underground economy worth billions.
KAI RYSSDAL: There's a big festival coming up on the Chinese calendar tomorrow: It's called the mid-Autumn festival. For the past week or so, stores over there have been stocking up on the traditional gift of the season: Mooncakes. They're pastries, small but rich, with a flaky crust and a sweet filling, usually made of lotus paste.
More than a billion people wanting the same thing on the same day? Smells like a business opportunity to me. Our Shanghai Correspondent Rob Schmitz takes us inside the mooncake economy
ROB SCHMITZ: Mooncakes have been likened to pastry hockey pucks. At around a thousand calories, they're almost as dense. This helps explain why the Chinese don't buy mooncakes for themselves. They gift them.
Shaun Rein is a strategy consultant in Shanghai.
SHAUN REIN: It's a way of showing respect to business partners and people you want to be close to, and it's also a way to give them outright bribes.
Yes, bribes -- and we're not talking about briefcases full of mooncakes, but their paper representations, mooncake vouchers.
Here's how it works: Buy a voucher from a company that makes mooncakes. Give it to your friend, client, local government official. And they, in theory, redeem the voucher for mooncakes. What most people do, though, is sell the vouchers on the black market for cash.
REIN: There's no embarrassment about saying, "We don't want this mooncake." Let's be pragmatic and get some money out of it.
And when a fifth of the world is in on this, that money becomes an underground economy worth billions.
Dozens of workers pack boxes of mooncakes at a Haagen-Dazs redemption center in Shanghai. Thirteen years ago, the company had an epiphany: They realized the Chinese give mooncakes, but many don't eat them. It's like the Christmas fruitcake dilemma in the West. So they thought: Why not make ice cream mooncakes? The ice cream mooncake was born.
Gary Chu manages the company's China operation.
GARY CHU: It's huge business. It's a very important business for us. It's growing at double digits every year.
Soon after, Starbucks, Nestle and Dairy Queen got into the business. This year, Haagen-Dazs sold 1.5 million boxes. To buy one, you'll need $50 to $100 worth of vouchers. Want an ice cream mooncake this year? Sorry. Vouchers are sold out. Your only option is the black market.
A back-alley vendor named Yin Jing wears a fanny pack full of Haagen-Dazs mooncake vouchers. They're made of thick paper; each one has a laser engraved hologram, just like currency. They float like currency, too. Last week, their price peaked. Now with just days to go before the festival, Mr. Yin is looking to unload.
YIN JING: After the festival's over, all these vouchers will be expired. So I have no choice. I've got to start dropping the price.
This selling frenzy reaches the highest levels of society. Just blocks away, a vendor who only gives his surname -- Zhang -- just negotiated a deal on reams of vouchers.
ZHANG: These are all from government officials. They get so many as gifts, and they feel too embarrassed to sell them to me in person, so they ask their wives to meet me in a coffee shop.
Fresh from his secret government rendezvous, Zhang's got his game face on, trying to sell all these vouchers before time runs out. If he fails? He'll be forced to succumb to the spirit of the season by giving away dozens of boxes of mooncakes and keeping a few for himself, at which point the giving will stop, and the losers of this annual game will be forced to eat.
In Shanghai, I'm Rob Schmitz for Marketplace.
A black market for mooncakes in China
China's mid-Autumn Festival and its tradition of eating mooncakes has lent itself to an underground economy worth billions.
KAI RYSSDAL: There's a big festival coming up on the Chinese calendar tomorrow: It's called the mid-Autumn festival. For the past week or so, stores over there have been stocking up on the traditional gift of the season: Mooncakes. They're pastries, small but rich, with a flaky crust and a sweet filling, usually made of lotus paste.
More than a billion people wanting the same thing on the same day? Smells like a business opportunity to me. Our Shanghai Correspondent Rob Schmitz takes us inside the mooncake economy
ROB SCHMITZ: Mooncakes have been likened to pastry hockey pucks. At around a thousand calories, they're almost as dense. This helps explain why the Chinese don't buy mooncakes for themselves. They gift them.
Shaun Rein is a strategy consultant in Shanghai.
SHAUN REIN: It's a way of showing respect to business partners and people you want to be close to, and it's also a way to give them outright bribes.
Yes, bribes -- and we're not talking about briefcases full of mooncakes, but their paper representations, mooncake vouchers.
Here's how it works: Buy a voucher from a company that makes mooncakes. Give it to your friend, client, local government official. And they, in theory, redeem the voucher for mooncakes. What most people do, though, is sell the vouchers on the black market for cash.
REIN: There's no embarrassment about saying, "We don't want this mooncake." Let's be pragmatic and get some money out of it.
And when a fifth of the world is in on this, that money becomes an underground economy worth billions.
Dozens of workers pack boxes of mooncakes at a Haagen-Dazs redemption center in Shanghai. Thirteen years ago, the company had an epiphany: They realized the Chinese give mooncakes, but many don't eat them. It's like the Christmas fruitcake dilemma in the West. So they thought: Why not make ice cream mooncakes? The ice cream mooncake was born.
Gary Chu manages the company's China operation.
GARY CHU: It's huge business. It's a very important business for us. It's growing at double digits every year.
Soon after, Starbucks, Nestle and Dairy Queen got into the business. This year, Haagen-Dazs sold 1.5 million boxes. To buy one, you'll need $50 to $100 worth of vouchers. Want an ice cream mooncake this year? Sorry. Vouchers are sold out. Your only option is the black market.
A back-alley vendor named Yin Jing wears a fanny pack full of Haagen-Dazs mooncake vouchers. They're made of thick paper; each one has a laser engraved hologram, just like currency. They float like currency, too. Last week, their price peaked. Now with just days to go before the festival, Mr. Yin is looking to unload.
YIN JING: After the festival's over, all these vouchers will be expired. So I have no choice. I've got to start dropping the price.
This selling frenzy reaches the highest levels of society. Just blocks away, a vendor who only gives his surname -- Zhang -- just negotiated a deal on reams of vouchers.
ZHANG: These are all from government officials. They get so many as gifts, and they feel too embarrassed to sell them to me in person, so they ask their wives to meet me in a coffee shop.
Fresh from his secret government rendezvous, Zhang's got his game face on, trying to sell all these vouchers before time runs out. If he fails? He'll be forced to succumb to the spirit of the season by giving away dozens of boxes of mooncakes and keeping a few for himself, at which point the giving will stop, and the losers of this annual game will be forced to eat.
In Shanghai, I'm Rob Schmitz for Marketplace.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Promoting Multi-Culturalism in our Schools
From: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/119031-we-must-promote-multilingualism-in-our-schools-rep-judy-chu?sms_ss=facebook
We must promote multilingualism in our schools (Rep. Judy Chu)
By Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) - 09/15/10 04:31 PM ET
Yesterday, President Obama gave his second annual back-to-school address. In a speech to students at Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia, he urged them to take responsibility, work hard and dream big.
The words that really stood out to me, however, came at the end of his remarks when he said, “I want you to take away the notion that life is precious, and part of what makes it so wonderful is its diversity, that all of us are different.” I couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately, the current system too often limits our students’ exposure to other cultures and languages. If we’re to fully embrace life’s wonderful diversity, this must change.
About a year ago, the President set a goal for our country to reclaim the highest college graduation rate in the world. It’s a worthy goal and one I strongly support, but it’s not enough. We don’t just need college graduates. We need college graduates ready to compete on the world’s stage.
Years ago, my mother immigrated to America at the age of 19, right before our country prohibited travel to China. For the next 25 years, she had virtually no contact with her family. But what isolated her even more was her inability to use English. Until she went to an adult education program to learn her second language, she never fully integrated into American society.
Today, the lack of a second language doesn’t just isolate people. It makes them less competitive. There’s a Spanish proverb that says, “The person who speaks two languages is worth two." And that’s why neglecting foreign language instruction prevents students from realizing their full worth.
Lacking international knowledge and experience, many of today’s young Americans aren’t prepared for the increasingly global economy of tomorrow. This shortcoming limits our ability to address future international challenges. It restrains our relationships with other nations and could someday threaten our national security.
Moreover, studies show that learning a second language improves cognitive flexibility. Because dual language learners naturally consider multiple meanings for words, they’re better able to manage complex situations. And that’s a skill our next generation of supervisors and executives can all use.
That’s why legislation that creates a multilingual society is so important. These programs don’t just promote a second language; they advance the American workforce. Unfortunately, current instruction in our country lags behind our global competitors’. In Asia and Europe, the question is not whether you speak another language – it’s how many.
That’s why I strongly support the Providing Resources to Improve Dual Language Education (PRIDE) Act, which establishes and expands language programs in classrooms across the country, closing this gap. And since children more easily absorb foreign languages than older students and adults, I’ll soon introduce the Global Languages Early Education (GLEE) Act to focus funds on early education. Because, developing our youngest minds is the best path toward increased fluency now and improved competitiveness later.
I’ll be pushing for a greater focus on foreign and dual-language programs in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this effort.
Promoting multilingualism in our nation’s schools ensures that the next generation of American students won’t just travel the globe, they’ll shape it.
We must promote multilingualism in our schools (Rep. Judy Chu)
By Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) - 09/15/10 04:31 PM ET
Yesterday, President Obama gave his second annual back-to-school address. In a speech to students at Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia, he urged them to take responsibility, work hard and dream big.
The words that really stood out to me, however, came at the end of his remarks when he said, “I want you to take away the notion that life is precious, and part of what makes it so wonderful is its diversity, that all of us are different.” I couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately, the current system too often limits our students’ exposure to other cultures and languages. If we’re to fully embrace life’s wonderful diversity, this must change.
About a year ago, the President set a goal for our country to reclaim the highest college graduation rate in the world. It’s a worthy goal and one I strongly support, but it’s not enough. We don’t just need college graduates. We need college graduates ready to compete on the world’s stage.
Years ago, my mother immigrated to America at the age of 19, right before our country prohibited travel to China. For the next 25 years, she had virtually no contact with her family. But what isolated her even more was her inability to use English. Until she went to an adult education program to learn her second language, she never fully integrated into American society.
Today, the lack of a second language doesn’t just isolate people. It makes them less competitive. There’s a Spanish proverb that says, “The person who speaks two languages is worth two." And that’s why neglecting foreign language instruction prevents students from realizing their full worth.
Lacking international knowledge and experience, many of today’s young Americans aren’t prepared for the increasingly global economy of tomorrow. This shortcoming limits our ability to address future international challenges. It restrains our relationships with other nations and could someday threaten our national security.
Moreover, studies show that learning a second language improves cognitive flexibility. Because dual language learners naturally consider multiple meanings for words, they’re better able to manage complex situations. And that’s a skill our next generation of supervisors and executives can all use.
That’s why legislation that creates a multilingual society is so important. These programs don’t just promote a second language; they advance the American workforce. Unfortunately, current instruction in our country lags behind our global competitors’. In Asia and Europe, the question is not whether you speak another language – it’s how many.
That’s why I strongly support the Providing Resources to Improve Dual Language Education (PRIDE) Act, which establishes and expands language programs in classrooms across the country, closing this gap. And since children more easily absorb foreign languages than older students and adults, I’ll soon introduce the Global Languages Early Education (GLEE) Act to focus funds on early education. Because, developing our youngest minds is the best path toward increased fluency now and improved competitiveness later.
I’ll be pushing for a greater focus on foreign and dual-language programs in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this effort.
Promoting multilingualism in our nation’s schools ensures that the next generation of American students won’t just travel the globe, they’ll shape it.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Peabody Essex Museum the First to Show Off Hidden Works
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist/2010/07/peabody_essex_m.html
By Geoff Edgers
Globe Staff
A special international partnership will make the Peabody Essex Museum the first place in the world to display a group of 90 imperial objects from a hidden Chinese palace complex inside Beijing's Forbidden City.
Related
Photos
Rare art on display
•Video A preview of the show in Salem
For nearly 500 years, the sprawling Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors. When the last emperor was forced out in 1924, the government closed the doors on a two-acre compound deep within the Forbidden City, filled with magnificent 18th-century artworks and other objects.
Now the US public will see those works for the first time in a show called "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City." The objects, which range from paintings and murals to exquisite pieces of furniture and jades, will make up an exhibition running Sept. 14-Jan. 9 at the Salem museum. Organized by PEM with the Palace Museum, Beijing and the New York-based World Monuments Fund, the show will then travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Milwaukee Art Museum.
“These are objects created by the finest artists at the time, and they’ve never been seen before,” said PEM curator of Chinese art Nancy Berliner, speaking by phone this week from the Forbidden City, where she and a group of museum workers are readying the objects that will be brought to Salem for the show.
It is extremely unusual for China to send cultural objects abroad, and the museum will be the first place anywhere -- including China -- that these pieces will be shown to the public.
The partnership springs from an ambitious $25 million project to renovate the palace garden complex, a project that began in 2001 and won’t be complete until 2019. Officials from the World Monuments Fund overseeing the restoration were impressed by PEM’s installation of Yin Yu Tang, a late Qing dynasty merchants' house, at the museum. After viewing the house in 2004, the nonprofit organization hired Berliner as a consultant.
That led to the Salem museum's coup.
This week, as temperatures in Beijing have risen to 104 degrees, Berliner and four other museum staffers have been meticulously packing up the objects in the palace compound created by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century and last occupied by Emperor Puyi. It is a quiet, contemplative space, Berliner said, where there is often only room to walk single file because the emperor never intended it to be experienced by groups. Of the
27 buildings in the garden complex, just one has been restored so far.
Speaking by phone from a building that had not yet been restored, Berliner said she was holding a flashlight because there were no lights.
“The feeling inside these buildings and in the garden as a whole is a little bit like being in an incredibly luxurious and contemplative playground,” said Berliner, who noted that she has visited the Forbidden City hundreds of times since her first visit in 1980 but only gained access to Qianlong's complex in recent years.
The museum has great expectations for the exhibition, projecting that it will draw as many as 85,000 visitors. That would make it the second most attended at the museum since its reopening after a major expansion in 2003.
But bringing “The Emperor’s Private Paradise” to Salem is not cheap. The exhibition will cost $1.8 million, or more than the museum spent on exhibitions for all of 2009. All but $300,000 is being covered through support from the Carpenter Foundation, American Express, Mandarin Oriental, and other sponsors.
“This is once-in-a-lifetime material,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, the museum’s chief curator. “This truly is one of those shows where a lot of stars have aligned to make this possible.”
In Salem, Berliner hopes to use architectural flourishes to re-create the feel of the 18th-century garden complex. The works on hand will provide a stunning window into the private universe crafted by China’s rulers. A Buddhist shrine painted on silk shows a series of holy and supernatural figures with Qianlong, depicted in gold, at the center. A carved wooden throne features bamboo thread marquetry, gold paintings, and a jade inlay. And then there is the jade screen depicting the 16 disciples of the Buddha. Only recently did restorers discover that Qianlong, who commissioned the work, had the screen installed in a way that hid the golden images painted on its reverse side. Conservators never knew of that other side.
“He installed it so the panels were actually up against walls," Berliner said. "When they took it out, they discovered that on the side of the panels that faced the walls were these incredibly beautiful paintings of botanical motifs that had never been seen before.”
The Forbidden City is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than seven million people a year. None of the buildings in Qianlong garden complex, however, have been open to the public.
Peabody Essex Museum director Dan Monroe said that he was moved, walking through the hidden space for the first time.
"There are several gates and doors and pathways, but it shocks you with its immensity," he said. "It’s full of large monumental buildings and small buildings and water features and bridges. And it’s a spectacular space that was designed for tranquility and harmony."
Henry Ng, executive vice president of the World Monuments Fund, said that the Palace Museum's trust in Berliner made it possible to bring the works to the United States.
"I don't think it could be done anywhere else," said Ng. "Nancy is the reason they're letting them go."
Hartigan emphasized the beauty of the works that will be on display.
"The fact that the garden itself is this exquisite combination of art, architecture, and nature and that this comes across so clearly in the exhibition is another important aspect of this," she said. "The notion that not even the Chinese themelves have seen these artworks is really remarkable."
Berliner believes it is unlikely that works from the garden complex will ever be allowed out once the restoration is complete. That means, she says, this will be the first and last time these objects will be seen in the United States.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com
By Geoff Edgers
Globe Staff
A special international partnership will make the Peabody Essex Museum the first place in the world to display a group of 90 imperial objects from a hidden Chinese palace complex inside Beijing's Forbidden City.
Related
Photos
Rare art on display
•Video A preview of the show in Salem
For nearly 500 years, the sprawling Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors. When the last emperor was forced out in 1924, the government closed the doors on a two-acre compound deep within the Forbidden City, filled with magnificent 18th-century artworks and other objects.
Now the US public will see those works for the first time in a show called "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City." The objects, which range from paintings and murals to exquisite pieces of furniture and jades, will make up an exhibition running Sept. 14-Jan. 9 at the Salem museum. Organized by PEM with the Palace Museum, Beijing and the New York-based World Monuments Fund, the show will then travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Milwaukee Art Museum.
“These are objects created by the finest artists at the time, and they’ve never been seen before,” said PEM curator of Chinese art Nancy Berliner, speaking by phone this week from the Forbidden City, where she and a group of museum workers are readying the objects that will be brought to Salem for the show.
It is extremely unusual for China to send cultural objects abroad, and the museum will be the first place anywhere -- including China -- that these pieces will be shown to the public.
The partnership springs from an ambitious $25 million project to renovate the palace garden complex, a project that began in 2001 and won’t be complete until 2019. Officials from the World Monuments Fund overseeing the restoration were impressed by PEM’s installation of Yin Yu Tang, a late Qing dynasty merchants' house, at the museum. After viewing the house in 2004, the nonprofit organization hired Berliner as a consultant.
That led to the Salem museum's coup.
This week, as temperatures in Beijing have risen to 104 degrees, Berliner and four other museum staffers have been meticulously packing up the objects in the palace compound created by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century and last occupied by Emperor Puyi. It is a quiet, contemplative space, Berliner said, where there is often only room to walk single file because the emperor never intended it to be experienced by groups. Of the
27 buildings in the garden complex, just one has been restored so far.
Speaking by phone from a building that had not yet been restored, Berliner said she was holding a flashlight because there were no lights.
“The feeling inside these buildings and in the garden as a whole is a little bit like being in an incredibly luxurious and contemplative playground,” said Berliner, who noted that she has visited the Forbidden City hundreds of times since her first visit in 1980 but only gained access to Qianlong's complex in recent years.
The museum has great expectations for the exhibition, projecting that it will draw as many as 85,000 visitors. That would make it the second most attended at the museum since its reopening after a major expansion in 2003.
But bringing “The Emperor’s Private Paradise” to Salem is not cheap. The exhibition will cost $1.8 million, or more than the museum spent on exhibitions for all of 2009. All but $300,000 is being covered through support from the Carpenter Foundation, American Express, Mandarin Oriental, and other sponsors.
“This is once-in-a-lifetime material,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, the museum’s chief curator. “This truly is one of those shows where a lot of stars have aligned to make this possible.”
In Salem, Berliner hopes to use architectural flourishes to re-create the feel of the 18th-century garden complex. The works on hand will provide a stunning window into the private universe crafted by China’s rulers. A Buddhist shrine painted on silk shows a series of holy and supernatural figures with Qianlong, depicted in gold, at the center. A carved wooden throne features bamboo thread marquetry, gold paintings, and a jade inlay. And then there is the jade screen depicting the 16 disciples of the Buddha. Only recently did restorers discover that Qianlong, who commissioned the work, had the screen installed in a way that hid the golden images painted on its reverse side. Conservators never knew of that other side.
“He installed it so the panels were actually up against walls," Berliner said. "When they took it out, they discovered that on the side of the panels that faced the walls were these incredibly beautiful paintings of botanical motifs that had never been seen before.”
The Forbidden City is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than seven million people a year. None of the buildings in Qianlong garden complex, however, have been open to the public.
Peabody Essex Museum director Dan Monroe said that he was moved, walking through the hidden space for the first time.
"There are several gates and doors and pathways, but it shocks you with its immensity," he said. "It’s full of large monumental buildings and small buildings and water features and bridges. And it’s a spectacular space that was designed for tranquility and harmony."
Henry Ng, executive vice president of the World Monuments Fund, said that the Palace Museum's trust in Berliner made it possible to bring the works to the United States.
"I don't think it could be done anywhere else," said Ng. "Nancy is the reason they're letting them go."
Hartigan emphasized the beauty of the works that will be on display.
"The fact that the garden itself is this exquisite combination of art, architecture, and nature and that this comes across so clearly in the exhibition is another important aspect of this," she said. "The notion that not even the Chinese themelves have seen these artworks is really remarkable."
Berliner believes it is unlikely that works from the garden complex will ever be allowed out once the restoration is complete. That means, she says, this will be the first and last time these objects will be seen in the United States.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com
The World of Khublai Khan at the Met
Special Exhibition
The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty
September 28, 2010–January 2, 2011
The Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor
This exhibition will cover the period from 1215, the year of Khubilai's birth, to 1368, the year of the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China founded by Khubilai Khan, and will feature every art form, including paintings, sculpture, gold and silver, textiles, ceramics, lacquer, and other decorative arts, religious and secular. The exhibition will highlight new art forms and styles generated in China as a result of the unification of China under the Yuan dynasty and the massive influx of craftsmen from all over the vast Mongol empire—with reverberations in Italian art of the fourteenth century.
The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty
September 28, 2010–January 2, 2011
The Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor
This exhibition will cover the period from 1215, the year of Khubilai's birth, to 1368, the year of the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China founded by Khubilai Khan, and will feature every art form, including paintings, sculpture, gold and silver, textiles, ceramics, lacquer, and other decorative arts, religious and secular. The exhibition will highlight new art forms and styles generated in China as a result of the unification of China under the Yuan dynasty and the massive influx of craftsmen from all over the vast Mongol empire—with reverberations in Italian art of the fourteenth century.
NY Times on Chinese Language Learning and Testing
From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/weekinreview/12rosenthal.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&sq=Testing,%20%20the%20Chinese%20Way&st=cse&scp=1
When my children were 6 and 8, taking tests was as much a part of the rhythm of their school day as tag at recess or listening to stories at circle time. There were the “mad minute” math quizzes twice each week, with the results elaborately graphed. There were regular spelling quizzes. Even today I have my daughter’s minutely graded third-grade science exams, with grades like 23/25 or A minus.
We were living in China, where their school blended a mostly Western elementary school curriculum with the emphasis on discipline and testing that typifies Asian educational styles. In Asia, such a march of tests for young children was regarded as normal, and not evil or particularly anxiety provoking. That made for some interesting culture clashes. I remember nearly constant tension between the Asian parents, who wanted still more tests and homework, and the Western parents, who were more concerned with whether their kids were having fun — and wanted less.
I still have occasional nightmares about a miserable summer vacation spent force-feeding flash cards into the brain of my 5-year-old son — who was clearly not “ready” to read, but through herculean effort and tears, learned anyway. Reading was simply a requirement for progressing from kindergarten to first grade. How could he take tests and do worksheets if he couldn’t read the questions?
But Andrew and Cara, now 16 and 18, have only the warmest memories of their years at the International School of Beijing — they mostly didn’t understand that they were being “tested.” As educators and parents in the United States debate new federal programs that will probably expose young children to far more exams and quizzes than is the current norm, I think often of the ups and downs of my children’s elementary education. What makes a test feel like an interesting challenge rather than an anxiety-provoking assault?
Testing of young children had been out of favor for decades among early-childhood educators in the United States, who worry that it stifles creativity and harms self-esteem, and does not accurately reflect the style and irregular pace of children’s learning anyway. (There may be some truth to that. My son, who suffered the flash card assault, was by age 7 the family’s most voracious reader.) Testing young children has been so out of favor that even the test-based No Child Left Behind law doesn’t start testing students’ reading abilities until after third grade — at which point, some educators believe, it is too late to remedy deficiencies.
But recently, American education’s “no test” philosophy for young children has been coming under assault, as government programs strongly promote the practice.
First there was No Child Left Behind, which took effect in 2003 and required states to give all students standardized tests to measure school progress.
Now, President Obama’s Race to the Top educational competition — which announced billions of dollars in state grants this month — includes and encourages more reliance on what educators call “formative tests” or “formative assessments.” These are not the big once-a-year or once-in-a-lifetime exams, like the SATs, but a stream of smaller, less monumental tests, designed in theory, at least, primarily to help students and their teachers know how they’re doing.
Some education experts hail the change as a step forward from the ideological dark ages. “Research has long shown that more frequent testing is beneficial to kids, but educators have resisted this finding,” said Gregory J. Cizek, a professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Of course, the tests have to be age-appropriate, Professor Cizek notes, and the Race to the Top program includes funds for research to develop new exams. Filling in three pages of multiple-choice bubbles may not be appropriate for young children. Likewise “high stakes” tests — like the Chinese university entrance exam, which alone determines university placement — create anxiety and may unfairly derail a youngster’s future based on poor performance on a single day.
But Professor Cizek, who started his career as a second-grade teacher, said the prevailing philosophy of offering young children unconditional praise and support was probably not the best prescription for successful education. “What’s best for kids is frequent testing, where even if they do badly, they can get help and improve and have the satisfaction of doing better,” he said. “Kids don’t get self-esteem by people just telling them they are wonderful.”
Other educators recoil at the thought of more tests. “The Obama administration is using the power of the purse to compel states to add more destructive testing,” said Alfie Kohn, author of “The Case Against Standardized Testing” and many other books on education. “With Race to the Top the bad news has gotten worse, with a relentless regimen that turns schools into test prep courses.”
He said genuine learning in young children was a global process, while tests look at narrow and specific skills, and good teachers don’t need tests to know if a child is learning. He added that for young children, good test results were more a function of whether children can sit still or hold a pencil. “These tests are being added in the name of accountability despite the objections of early-childhood educators who say they have no place in the classrooms,” he said.
Rather than a “low-stress tool to identify gaps in the learning process,” he added, “they are used as a club to punish students who need help.”
I will not pretend that raising children amid a stream of tests is a Zen experience, for them or for their parents. In Beijing, both of my children had subjects or grades in which they performed poorly. There was an entire elementary school year in which my son got consistently mediocre grades in math, in English, in everything, it seemed. It took endless parental cheerleading to maintain his self-esteem. And there were times when — yes — I’m sure he felt bad about himself.
But let’s face it, life is filled with all kinds of tests — some you ace and some you flunk — so at some point you have to get used to it. “Schools do a lot of nurturing and facilitating, and then it’s a bit of a shock for children when they have to sit at a desk all alone and be tested,” Professor Cizek said.
When testing is commonplace and the teachers are supportive — as my children’s were, for the most part — the tests felt like so many puzzles; not so much a judgment on your being, but an interesting challenge. It is a testament to the International School of Beijing — or to the malleability of childhood memory — that Andrew now says he did not realize that he was being tested. Will tests be like that in a national program, like Race to the Top?
When we moved back to New York City, my children, then 9 and 11, started at a progressive school with no real tests, no grades, not even auditions for the annual school musical. They didn’t last long. It turned out they had come to like the feedback of testing.
“How do I know if I get what’s going on in math class?” my daughter asked with obvious discomfort after a month. Primed with Beijing test-taking experience, they each soon tested into New York City’s academic public schools — where they have had tests aplenty and (probably not surprisingly) a high proportion of Asian classmates.
When my children were 6 and 8, taking tests was as much a part of the rhythm of their school day as tag at recess or listening to stories at circle time. There were the “mad minute” math quizzes twice each week, with the results elaborately graphed. There were regular spelling quizzes. Even today I have my daughter’s minutely graded third-grade science exams, with grades like 23/25 or A minus.
We were living in China, where their school blended a mostly Western elementary school curriculum with the emphasis on discipline and testing that typifies Asian educational styles. In Asia, such a march of tests for young children was regarded as normal, and not evil or particularly anxiety provoking. That made for some interesting culture clashes. I remember nearly constant tension between the Asian parents, who wanted still more tests and homework, and the Western parents, who were more concerned with whether their kids were having fun — and wanted less.
I still have occasional nightmares about a miserable summer vacation spent force-feeding flash cards into the brain of my 5-year-old son — who was clearly not “ready” to read, but through herculean effort and tears, learned anyway. Reading was simply a requirement for progressing from kindergarten to first grade. How could he take tests and do worksheets if he couldn’t read the questions?
But Andrew and Cara, now 16 and 18, have only the warmest memories of their years at the International School of Beijing — they mostly didn’t understand that they were being “tested.” As educators and parents in the United States debate new federal programs that will probably expose young children to far more exams and quizzes than is the current norm, I think often of the ups and downs of my children’s elementary education. What makes a test feel like an interesting challenge rather than an anxiety-provoking assault?
Testing of young children had been out of favor for decades among early-childhood educators in the United States, who worry that it stifles creativity and harms self-esteem, and does not accurately reflect the style and irregular pace of children’s learning anyway. (There may be some truth to that. My son, who suffered the flash card assault, was by age 7 the family’s most voracious reader.) Testing young children has been so out of favor that even the test-based No Child Left Behind law doesn’t start testing students’ reading abilities until after third grade — at which point, some educators believe, it is too late to remedy deficiencies.
But recently, American education’s “no test” philosophy for young children has been coming under assault, as government programs strongly promote the practice.
First there was No Child Left Behind, which took effect in 2003 and required states to give all students standardized tests to measure school progress.
Now, President Obama’s Race to the Top educational competition — which announced billions of dollars in state grants this month — includes and encourages more reliance on what educators call “formative tests” or “formative assessments.” These are not the big once-a-year or once-in-a-lifetime exams, like the SATs, but a stream of smaller, less monumental tests, designed in theory, at least, primarily to help students and their teachers know how they’re doing.
Some education experts hail the change as a step forward from the ideological dark ages. “Research has long shown that more frequent testing is beneficial to kids, but educators have resisted this finding,” said Gregory J. Cizek, a professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Of course, the tests have to be age-appropriate, Professor Cizek notes, and the Race to the Top program includes funds for research to develop new exams. Filling in three pages of multiple-choice bubbles may not be appropriate for young children. Likewise “high stakes” tests — like the Chinese university entrance exam, which alone determines university placement — create anxiety and may unfairly derail a youngster’s future based on poor performance on a single day.
But Professor Cizek, who started his career as a second-grade teacher, said the prevailing philosophy of offering young children unconditional praise and support was probably not the best prescription for successful education. “What’s best for kids is frequent testing, where even if they do badly, they can get help and improve and have the satisfaction of doing better,” he said. “Kids don’t get self-esteem by people just telling them they are wonderful.”
Other educators recoil at the thought of more tests. “The Obama administration is using the power of the purse to compel states to add more destructive testing,” said Alfie Kohn, author of “The Case Against Standardized Testing” and many other books on education. “With Race to the Top the bad news has gotten worse, with a relentless regimen that turns schools into test prep courses.”
He said genuine learning in young children was a global process, while tests look at narrow and specific skills, and good teachers don’t need tests to know if a child is learning. He added that for young children, good test results were more a function of whether children can sit still or hold a pencil. “These tests are being added in the name of accountability despite the objections of early-childhood educators who say they have no place in the classrooms,” he said.
Rather than a “low-stress tool to identify gaps in the learning process,” he added, “they are used as a club to punish students who need help.”
I will not pretend that raising children amid a stream of tests is a Zen experience, for them or for their parents. In Beijing, both of my children had subjects or grades in which they performed poorly. There was an entire elementary school year in which my son got consistently mediocre grades in math, in English, in everything, it seemed. It took endless parental cheerleading to maintain his self-esteem. And there were times when — yes — I’m sure he felt bad about himself.
But let’s face it, life is filled with all kinds of tests — some you ace and some you flunk — so at some point you have to get used to it. “Schools do a lot of nurturing and facilitating, and then it’s a bit of a shock for children when they have to sit at a desk all alone and be tested,” Professor Cizek said.
When testing is commonplace and the teachers are supportive — as my children’s were, for the most part — the tests felt like so many puzzles; not so much a judgment on your being, but an interesting challenge. It is a testament to the International School of Beijing — or to the malleability of childhood memory — that Andrew now says he did not realize that he was being tested. Will tests be like that in a national program, like Race to the Top?
When we moved back to New York City, my children, then 9 and 11, started at a progressive school with no real tests, no grades, not even auditions for the annual school musical. They didn’t last long. It turned out they had come to like the feedback of testing.
“How do I know if I get what’s going on in math class?” my daughter asked with obvious discomfort after a month. Primed with Beijing test-taking experience, they each soon tested into New York City’s academic public schools — where they have had tests aplenty and (probably not surprisingly) a high proportion of Asian classmates.
Friday, September 10, 2010
NY Times: Following Workers' Trails of Tears in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/movies/29home.html?_r=2&ref=movies
IN the quietly devastating documentary “Last Train Home” Chinese migrant workers huddle together in an overcrowded railway car, sweating through their annual ride home for the New Year holiday. One nattily coiffed young man inveighs against the West, complaining bitterly that American consumers who buy the cheap Chinese goods he makes also get to spend most of their higher salaries on discretionary items, while he, who makes those goods, must send most of his earnings home to support his family.
Lixin Fan, who shot, edited and directed the film, might have chosen to stick with this feisty representative of the new China. Instead his camera cuts away to a middle-aged couple who sit in silence. Zhang Changhua and Cheng Suqin, who make this trip every year to visit the children they left behind nearly two decades ago, belong to a mostly ignored generation of roughly 130 million migrant workers who have sacrificed their productive years, and possibly the integrity of their families, in service to China’s headlong rush into global economic supremacy.
“Many times I was in tears at all this misery,” Mr. Fan said, seated in an anteroom at the Los Angeles Asian-Pacific Film Festival, where “Last Train Home” played in May after winning praise at the Sundance Film Festival. “If you were on this train with hundreds of migrants around us — it stinks, it’s dirty and everyone’s trying to survive, just to see their kids.”
In 2006 Mr. Fan and a skeleton crew of three began documenting the effects of industrial change on this family, with whom he spent three years, on and off.
Mr. Zhang and Ms. Cheng left their village in Sichuan — Mr. Fan’s home province and the country’s largest exporter of labor — to work in Guangzhou, the world’s largest manufacturing source of denim jeans. The film cuts between the factory where they toil seven days a week, and the bucolic but chronically poor countryside where they visit their little boy and teenage daughter, who are raised by a careworn yet uncomplaining grandmother who suffered even worse privation under Mao Zedong.
Mr. Fan, a slender 33-year-old who cheerfully attributes his fluent English to “fighting with my Chinese-American girlfriend,” showed a sociologist’s grasp of the broad shifts that have afflicted workers like this couple. The lack of farm subsidies and expropriation of farmland for urban construction have crippled agriculture, while an outdated housing registration system that denies education and social services to rural migrants in the city has created a sharp class divide and placed untenable strains on the traditionally close-knit Chinese family.
The film’s unnerving railway station scenes — panoramic views of frustrated crowds surging forward, barely contained by nervous police officers with truncheons — underscore these changes and the growing specter of civil war. “The government does not have a perfect track record of dealing with dissent,” Mr. Fan said carefully. “So civil war would be a terrible thing. While I was making this film, it was difficult to figure out where to point the finger. At the government? The factory owners and corporations? The West? I’m not in a righteous place to answer, but I hope to raise this question for my audience.”
Mr. Fan encountered little serious official opposition, perhaps because of his accommodating demeanor, or because national issues are kept mostly in the background of this intimate film, which opens Friday at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village.
To gain the family’s trust Mr. Fan and his crew ate with them in their dormitory in Guangzhou, taught them how to manage their own wireless mikes, which they wore constantly, and would sleep on the pile of warm jeans the couple made while the crew waited to tag along after they finished their shift at midnight. “So 15 minutes into the film, after that first train ride,” he said proudly, “we’d already known each other for a year.”
“The mom once told me that they worked for 29 days, 15 hours a day straight,” Mr. Fan said. “The dormitories are right across the street from their factory, so it takes one minute exactly to go from their sewing machine to their bed. So that’s what they did for that month — sewing machine, bed, sewing machine, bed.”
At home Mr. Zhang and Ms. Cheng encountered their deeply resentful daughter, Qin, 17, who rebels against her parents’ pressure to get the grades they see as her passport to a better life. At one point the simmering tensions come to a boil, forcing Mr. Fan to decide on his feet whether to intervene. “The kids want more attention, and the parents are never around,” he said. “The parents know that education is the only way to, as we call it, jump out of the dragon’s door, out of poverty. But Qin, who is rebellious, independent and smart, did it her own way.”
Still, Mr. Fan doesn’t believe that the Chinese family is close to collapse. “Down deep we are still very family oriented,” he said. “When Qin gets a little older, she will come to understand that.”
He added, laughing, “I still call my mom every other day.”
If Mr. Fan belongs to a new generation of Internet-savvy filmmakers schooled in Western liberal ideas, his spiritual, intellectual and cinematic influences reflect both ancient tradition and modernity. His father was a college professor and projectionist, and Mr. Fan grew up watching foreign films. Like many of his generation, he broke with tradition by leaving home for Beijing, then gave up a prestigious job (“My mom thought I was crazy”) with the CCTV network, briefly relocating to Canada before working as a sound man and associate producer on the well-received 2007 documentary “Up the Yangtze,” about the mass displacements caused by the building of the Three Gorges Dam.
“Lixin is not from the foreign-influenced cultural centers,” said Daniel Cross, president of EyesteelFilm company in Montreal, which produced “Up the Yangtze” and co-produced “Last Train Home” with the ITVS television and cable company, which holds the North American television rights. “He comes from the sticks, and that’s what makes him unique.”
Mr. Fan said he is a committed Taoist, and his eye for the interplay of beauty and ugliness is influenced by what he calls the “epic poetry” of the director Jia Zhangke, whose 2004 feature “The World” centered on the youthful staff of a giant theme park that replicates the world’s famous tourist spots.
“I see a lot of Chinese philosophy in Jia’s film,” said Mr. Fan, who added that he hopes to seed his next project, a documentary about China’s green initiative focusing on a state-financed wind farm on the Silk Road in the Gobi Desert, with his earnings from “Last Train Home.”
“I’ll shoot there and in a remote mountain school where Taoist philosophy originated, where they recruit peasant children to teach them Tai Chi with martial art,” he said. “It’s yin and yang, keeping the balance between human desire and what nature can give you
IN the quietly devastating documentary “Last Train Home” Chinese migrant workers huddle together in an overcrowded railway car, sweating through their annual ride home for the New Year holiday. One nattily coiffed young man inveighs against the West, complaining bitterly that American consumers who buy the cheap Chinese goods he makes also get to spend most of their higher salaries on discretionary items, while he, who makes those goods, must send most of his earnings home to support his family.
Lixin Fan, who shot, edited and directed the film, might have chosen to stick with this feisty representative of the new China. Instead his camera cuts away to a middle-aged couple who sit in silence. Zhang Changhua and Cheng Suqin, who make this trip every year to visit the children they left behind nearly two decades ago, belong to a mostly ignored generation of roughly 130 million migrant workers who have sacrificed their productive years, and possibly the integrity of their families, in service to China’s headlong rush into global economic supremacy.
“Many times I was in tears at all this misery,” Mr. Fan said, seated in an anteroom at the Los Angeles Asian-Pacific Film Festival, where “Last Train Home” played in May after winning praise at the Sundance Film Festival. “If you were on this train with hundreds of migrants around us — it stinks, it’s dirty and everyone’s trying to survive, just to see their kids.”
In 2006 Mr. Fan and a skeleton crew of three began documenting the effects of industrial change on this family, with whom he spent three years, on and off.
Mr. Zhang and Ms. Cheng left their village in Sichuan — Mr. Fan’s home province and the country’s largest exporter of labor — to work in Guangzhou, the world’s largest manufacturing source of denim jeans. The film cuts between the factory where they toil seven days a week, and the bucolic but chronically poor countryside where they visit their little boy and teenage daughter, who are raised by a careworn yet uncomplaining grandmother who suffered even worse privation under Mao Zedong.
Mr. Fan, a slender 33-year-old who cheerfully attributes his fluent English to “fighting with my Chinese-American girlfriend,” showed a sociologist’s grasp of the broad shifts that have afflicted workers like this couple. The lack of farm subsidies and expropriation of farmland for urban construction have crippled agriculture, while an outdated housing registration system that denies education and social services to rural migrants in the city has created a sharp class divide and placed untenable strains on the traditionally close-knit Chinese family.
The film’s unnerving railway station scenes — panoramic views of frustrated crowds surging forward, barely contained by nervous police officers with truncheons — underscore these changes and the growing specter of civil war. “The government does not have a perfect track record of dealing with dissent,” Mr. Fan said carefully. “So civil war would be a terrible thing. While I was making this film, it was difficult to figure out where to point the finger. At the government? The factory owners and corporations? The West? I’m not in a righteous place to answer, but I hope to raise this question for my audience.”
Mr. Fan encountered little serious official opposition, perhaps because of his accommodating demeanor, or because national issues are kept mostly in the background of this intimate film, which opens Friday at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village.
To gain the family’s trust Mr. Fan and his crew ate with them in their dormitory in Guangzhou, taught them how to manage their own wireless mikes, which they wore constantly, and would sleep on the pile of warm jeans the couple made while the crew waited to tag along after they finished their shift at midnight. “So 15 minutes into the film, after that first train ride,” he said proudly, “we’d already known each other for a year.”
“The mom once told me that they worked for 29 days, 15 hours a day straight,” Mr. Fan said. “The dormitories are right across the street from their factory, so it takes one minute exactly to go from their sewing machine to their bed. So that’s what they did for that month — sewing machine, bed, sewing machine, bed.”
At home Mr. Zhang and Ms. Cheng encountered their deeply resentful daughter, Qin, 17, who rebels against her parents’ pressure to get the grades they see as her passport to a better life. At one point the simmering tensions come to a boil, forcing Mr. Fan to decide on his feet whether to intervene. “The kids want more attention, and the parents are never around,” he said. “The parents know that education is the only way to, as we call it, jump out of the dragon’s door, out of poverty. But Qin, who is rebellious, independent and smart, did it her own way.”
Still, Mr. Fan doesn’t believe that the Chinese family is close to collapse. “Down deep we are still very family oriented,” he said. “When Qin gets a little older, she will come to understand that.”
He added, laughing, “I still call my mom every other day.”
If Mr. Fan belongs to a new generation of Internet-savvy filmmakers schooled in Western liberal ideas, his spiritual, intellectual and cinematic influences reflect both ancient tradition and modernity. His father was a college professor and projectionist, and Mr. Fan grew up watching foreign films. Like many of his generation, he broke with tradition by leaving home for Beijing, then gave up a prestigious job (“My mom thought I was crazy”) with the CCTV network, briefly relocating to Canada before working as a sound man and associate producer on the well-received 2007 documentary “Up the Yangtze,” about the mass displacements caused by the building of the Three Gorges Dam.
“Lixin is not from the foreign-influenced cultural centers,” said Daniel Cross, president of EyesteelFilm company in Montreal, which produced “Up the Yangtze” and co-produced “Last Train Home” with the ITVS television and cable company, which holds the North American television rights. “He comes from the sticks, and that’s what makes him unique.”
Mr. Fan said he is a committed Taoist, and his eye for the interplay of beauty and ugliness is influenced by what he calls the “epic poetry” of the director Jia Zhangke, whose 2004 feature “The World” centered on the youthful staff of a giant theme park that replicates the world’s famous tourist spots.
“I see a lot of Chinese philosophy in Jia’s film,” said Mr. Fan, who added that he hopes to seed his next project, a documentary about China’s green initiative focusing on a state-financed wind farm on the Silk Road in the Gobi Desert, with his earnings from “Last Train Home.”
“I’ll shoot there and in a remote mountain school where Taoist philosophy originated, where they recruit peasant children to teach them Tai Chi with martial art,” he said. “It’s yin and yang, keeping the balance between human desire and what nature can give you
Autumn Moon Festival
Mid-Autumn Moon Festival
Sara D. Roosevelt Park
9/19, 12pm - 4pm
Boxes of mooncakes are everywhere in Chinatown, and the Better Chinatown Society will be holding its annual festival at Sara Roosevelt Park (Canal and Forsyth Streets) to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (aka August 15th on the Chinese calender).
It's hard to believe that this harmless-looking bun was used to incite rebellion against the Mongols who ruled China.
Nowadays, mooncakes signfy unity and perfection, and are indispensible gifts, this time of year, for friends and family.
Traditional mooncake fillings are still made from lotus-seed paste (lían róng), and bean paste, but anything goes with innovative bakers with flavors such as green tea, durian, egg custard, and XO brandy. Mooncakes are labor-intensive to make at home, so sample some at local bakeries when you stop by the festival.
The Museum of Chinese in America has also prepared a day-long program of activities on September 19th to celebrate this significant Chinese holiday.
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