Posts Tagged ‘China’

Summer Doldrums

Friday, July 15th, 2011

by Cathy Barbash As mid-summer approaches, US-China cultural exchange continues its lopsided dance. No American performers participate in festivals in Xinjiang and Guangdong. Meanwhile, in Beijing, a consortium of U.S. conservatories attempts to woo Chinese students with their own show-and-tell festival. Way out in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, the second annual China Xinjiang International Folk Dance […]

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Shenzhen Odyssey: A stroll through the 7th International Conference for the Promotion of Chinese Cultural Products

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

 by Cathy Barbash Attendance at a Chinese performing arts trade fair-seminar hybrid is always a surreal affair, equal parts exhilaration, exasperation, unintentional hilarity and unexpected vignettes of our shared humanity. Further to my last post, here are highlights of my recent visit to the 7th International Conference for the Promotion of Chinese Cultural Products in […]

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What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

by Cathy Barbash Within the last six months, a Ministry of Culture subsidiary actually hired a local foreign media expert to advise them on the use of social and other internet media tools to improve its cultural diplomacy (aka soft power) initiatives. Foreign expert told them to use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the like. Ministry of Culture tossed the recommendation. […]

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Return of the King?

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

by Cathy Barbash Last weekend in Xi’an, my local cultural official friend, discreetly told us that artists in Shaanxi Province are quietly telling each other that “spring is coming.” Why their optimism? Shaanxi native Xi Jingping will become the next president of China. “The Tang Emperor is returning,” they say. They will need all the […]

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Passing It On: Thank you Elizabeth Kauffman

Friday, October 29th, 2010

or A brief history of cultural word of mouth in China by Cathy Barbash Way back around 2000, during one of my fact-finding trips to Beijing, I asked then Cultural Affairs Officer Elizabeth Kauffman what was new and interesting in town. She said she’d heard of a relatively new independent modern dance troupe, and gave […]

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