In Beijing and Shanghai: Feasts and Leftovers

February 17 — Shanghai Bund. My 33 year old friend Wang Qian is one of the best feasts of human nature that I have encountered in China. Call that a mixed metaphor. But it’s true. I ran into her at the Bookworm Book store in Beijing last September during a lecture on the… Read More

‘Remains of the Grains’ — Dynasty dolls in Xian are all faces in the dust, reminding me of what I should leave behind in my own afterlife

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Bin Ma Yong, a Terra Cotta Warrior, Tomb #3. Photo by Arielle Emmett (c) Arielle Emmett *No photos or text reproduced without permission. In Xian yesterday I made a clean sweep of all the Han and Qin Dynasty tombs. Hadn’t been there for 17 years, and all I remember were dusty roads and the army of terra… Read More