NPR's Shanghai Series, Part 2

Part 4: Cinematic Ode to a Vanishing World

December 14, 2006 · Shanghai has a population of almost 18 million, but only 632 protected historic sites. Its distinctive traditional architecture is rapidly disappearing, and along with it, a way of life. A local filmmaker has produced an ode to these vanishing neighborhoods.

Part 5: Shanghai Writers -- Dream World to Cosmopolis

December 15, 2006 · Shanghai is changing at breakneck speed. That transformation, along with the hope, fear, greed and nostalgia that it engenders, is the stuff of novels. Three authors talk about the inspiration that China's most exciting city provides them. Web Extra: Hear, Read Excerpts

Shanghai Series on NPR, part 1

In a week long series in 2006, NPR's Louisa Lim looked at Shanghai's unprecedented building boom and how the city is preparing for its future, as a meta-city or a mega-metropolis.

Overview: Architecture Reflects City's Many Faces

Part 2: China Gets a Slice of English Countryside

Part 3: Evictions, The Dark Side of Shanghai Growth

Yellow River: A Journey Through China

The Yellow River has long reflected the glories and the problems of China's past. Today, China's rapid industrialization is taking its toll on the environment surrounding the country's mother river. In this five-part series, NPR travels along the river to see the threats and challenges that lie ahead.

Here is the link to the entire series: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17101893

There is a beautiful audio slide show on this page: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17098207

A New Five Part Series on China from NPR

The Yellow River: A Journey Through China
NPR's Rob Gifford returns to China for another series about the changes taking place in the country. This time, he focuses on the Yellow River -- a bed of cultural development for thousands of years, the river now faces environmental, political, and social challenges.

Tune in during All Things Considered (4-6:30 p.m. M-F on KCUR) every day, starting Dec. 10th.

Rob Gifford was NPR's correspondent in Beijing for six years. His book, CHINA ROAD: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power was published in 2007 by Random House. CHINA ROAD tells of his 3,000 mile odyssey across China, following the country's equivalent of the US Route 66 –- called Route 312 — all the way from Shanghai to the Kazakh border. The book is based upon a seven-part radio series that Gifford filed for Morning Edition.

Multimedia Timeline of Modern China History

MSNBC.Com has an interesting online historical slideshow about modern Chinese history.

China Orders Lust Removed from Movie

From NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16315156

Morning Edition, November 15, 2007 · It's not surprising that China's censors insisted the lust be cut out of Ang Lee's steamy new movie Lust Caution. What is surprising is that a disappointed movie-goer sued. Graduate student Dong Yanbin says that the removal of most of the on-screen sex infringed on his consumer rights. As he explained to the Beijing Times, "the incomplete structure makes it hard to appreciate the movie's art."

James Fallows: 'China Makes, The World Takes'

Fresh Air from WHYY, October 30, 2007 · Journalist James Fallows, a 25-year veteran of The Atlantic Monthly, is living in China and writing about it. He joins Dave Davies to discuss his recent article "China Makes, The World Takes" — and the booming Chinese factories that are its subject.

"I was prepared for the skyline of Shanghai and its 240-mph Maglev train to the airport," he writes in the introductory paragraphs of that article, "and for the nonstop construction, dust, and bustle of Beijing. Every account of modern China mentions them.

"But I had no concept of the sweep of what has become the world's manufacturing center: the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong province (the old Canton region), just north of Hong Kong. That one province might have a manufacturing workforce larger than America's."

Young China series

From PRI's The World

China’s young generation is like none that has come before in the People's Republic. It’s grown up riding the wave of China’s growing prosperity, of hi-tech advances and of globalization. And this generation includes more “only children” than anyplace else on earth, probably anytime in human history. About 100 million of them have been born since the Communist government enacted a one-child policy, 27 years ago. That’s compared to compared to about 20 million only children, of all ages, in the United States. This new generation is starting to come of age – and as it does, it’s changing China. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports on this new generation in a seven-part series.

Listen here

The World airs each weeknight at 7 p.m. on KCUR

China's Question: Who Will Follow Hu?

Morning Edition, October 15, 2007 · China's ruling Communist Party on Monday begins a national congress that is expected to give President Hu Jintao a final, five-year term.

The question facing the congress is who will follow Hu? For the first time since the communists came to power, China's leader has no heir apparent.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15276525

Rising Dragon: Ancient Treasures from China

New Exhibit Opening at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

October 6, 2007—February 10, 2008

Reaching across the rich heritage of China’s ancient dynasties, this exhibition features never before seen new acquisitions from the Nelson-Atkins extraordinary Chinese collection. Each object tells a story of the culture, the people and their beliefs that have endured for centuries. Among the finest surviving examples, from nearly seven centuries of China’s past, these works exhibit master craftsmanship in bronze, stoneware, jade and more. A royal palace dragon stands guard, just as it did nearly five hundred years ago, beckoning visitors to discover the treasures of ancient China.

This exhibition will be ticketed.

Wowed by China's Net

The Chinese commitment to the Net is also apparent in the broadband statistics. Government figures show that 162 million people in China have Internet access and 122 million have broadband. That is way more than in the U.S. Even small villages in China now typically have broadband.

Read the article here

China tinkers with smog repair

From Marketplace..
The IOC has warned Beijing that it needs to do something about its pollution problem or risk losing some events during the 2008 Olympics. So the Chinese government forced some 1.3 million cars off the roads in a four-day experiment to clean up the air.

Songs of the Old Days at Chinese Park

by Anthony Kuhn

All Things Considered, September 12, 2007 · At Beijing's Coal Hill Park, older residents gather to sing Mao-era songs and gripe about current day discontents. The Sunday get-togethers are a sort of living oldies radio channel.

Learn more about Coal Hill Park: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/jingshan.htm

Join us on Sunday, September 9th

Please join us for a Near & Far Travel Club reunion, Get-Together, Presentation and Party!

A representative from the tour company will show a presentation on our China tour and our upcoming Portugal tour.

Anyone interested in joining Near & Far on a 2008 tour is also invited to attend. Help spread the word to your friends and family!

Sunday, September 9, 2007, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
The Diastole House (directions)
(The Mary Clark and E.Grey Dimond Scholar's Center)
2501 Holmes Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64108

Schedule:
2 p.m. - Meet and Greet, Sample Dim Sum from Bo Lings Restaurant
3 p.m. - Presentation of "A Public Radio Tour to China" and the "Fado, Food and Festivals of Portugal" tour.

RSVP by September 7^th at noon please!

sarajane@kcur.org
816.235.2884

Chinese Menus, Lost in Translation

Morning Edition, September 3, 2007 · Before hosting the 2008 Olympics, China is trying to clean up English translations on the city's menus. Tourism officials discovered one menu with a dish listed as "steamed crap." Oops. That was supposed to be "steamed carp."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14136217

Learn Chinese

Fall 2007 Chinese Language Classes
The Confucius Institute

September- December 2007
KU Edwards Campus

Information and Enrollment: For class information and to enroll early and take advantage of the discount, when available, download the online form at http://www.confucius.ku.edu/language_classes.shtml.and mail the completed form, with a check made out to the University of Kansas Confucius Institute (see address below), by September 1. To reserve a place and pay the full fee on the first day of class, fill out the online form at http://www.confucius.ku.edu/language_classes.shtml.

Lecture Series: China - The Latest View

Part of the Carolyn Benton Cockefair Lecture Series, Continuing Education, UMKC
Four lectures by Robert Gamer, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Political Science
Tuesdays, Sept. 11, 18, 25 and Oct. 2
10:30 a.m. - noon
UMKC Administrative Center, Brookside Room
Cost: $45

Professor Gamer has been traveling in parts of China seldom seen by Americans - old capitols, ancient cities and oases along the Silk Road, monasteries and festivals in Tibet, and a 42 hour ride on the new sky train from Lhasa to Beijing. Gamer will share his impressions of China's diverse population, its dynamic growth and it's social and environmental challenges as it moves to overtake the U.S. in the emission of greenhouse gases, economic output and much more.

There are only a few seats left in this class. Call 816-235-2736 to register.

China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power

In this utterly surprising and deeply personal book, acclaimed NPR correspondent Rob Gifford, a fluent Mandarin speaker, takes the dramatic journey along Route 312 from its start in the boomtown of Shanghai to its end on the border with Kazakhstan.

Buy it from NPR's Shop

A Great Place to Learn about Chinese Music

I really love the World Music section of National Geographic online. You can read about traditional music styles and listen to samples here.

Welcome Travelers!

你好 (Hello!)

If you are viewing this page, then you must be one of the very smart and lucky public radio listeners that will be joining us on a two week tour of China next September!

Near & Far is a public radio travel club that was started by KCUR 89.3 FM (out of Kansas City, MO) in 2002. Earlier tours have included a Smithsonian Journey to Costa Rica, The Kingdom of Thailand, Washington D.C. (including a tour of NPR headquarters), Christmas on the Danube, and Mystical Peru. Near & Far is now partnering with other public radio stations in the creation of tours specifically for the public radio audience. Public radio listeners are wonderful people with which to travel. They are intelligent, adventurous, caring, friendly and a lot of fun!

Check back to this blog regularly for added information about this tour. We also encourage you to submit your own comments with your suggestions for related reading, etc. If you are looking for a roommate or would just like to chat with other Near & Far travellers, then this is the place for you.

Yours in travel and adventure,

Sara Jane Crane
Near & Far Group Manager
sarajane@kcur.org