This one might take the World Book Day cake. On World Book Day in China Premier Li Keqiang sent a letter to the staff of Beijing's Sanlian Taofen Bookstore. Recently the bookshop, which is owned by the China Publishing Group Corp, started a government-funded trial period of staying open 24 hours a day. And it looks like its working. Li praised the creative idea of a 24-hour bookstore and that it sets a good example for nationwide reading and hoped it could become a spiritual landmark of a city to make reading a common practice. Hmm.. "could become a spiritual landmark...to make reading a common...
The Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center
This installment of In The Stacks takes us to The Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center. The museum was founded by Yang Pei Ming who started collecting posters in 1995, the year the Chinese government ceased the long-standing practice of creating these propaganda-laced posters.The collection is "dedicated to documenting the changes of modern China as depicted on thousands upon thousands of striking posters from 1910 to 1990."The collection holds 6000 posters produced from 1940 to 1990. The museum also holds a significant collection of Shanghai Lady Calendar posters from 1910 to 1940.Shanghai Lady Calendar posterNPR's Shanghai correspondent Frank Langfitt pays a visit to the museumPreviously on In...
Rare Bamboo-Strip Books Discovered in Chinese Tomb
Archaeologists in China have discovered a trove of rare bamboo-strip books uncovered within an excavated tomb in Yancang, a village near Jingmen in Hubei province.Experts believe the site dates back to the Warring States Period (475 BC to 221 BC) and hope that the books will reveal the name of the entombed owner; it is possible that the strips contain a written introduction by the owner of the tomb, "like a letter of recommendation the deceased would carry with them to the underworld to give Yanluo, the god of death," Shen Haining, director of the provincial cultural heritage bureau, told...
Has the Government of Nepal Shut Down the Kathmandu Post?
Servers for the Kathmandu Post have been been non-responsive for the last forty-eight hours in the wake of two stories within the last week involving books, freedom of the press and speech issues.In the midst of gathering material for yesterday’s post on Barnes & Noble in Kathmandu, I came across a curious story in the online Kathmandu Post (aka Kantipur Online) about the rare book trade in Nepal.On September 20, 2009, Harsha Man Maharjan reported that “the rare book business is expanding in Kathmandu. But the sellers do not want to divulge much information, because they don't want their competitors...