If there is a gene for bluntness, Liu likely had it. In the 1980s, while still a graduate student in Chinese literature, he was already known as a “black horse” for denouncing nearly every contemporary Chinese writer: the literary star Wang Meng was politically slippery; “roots-seeking” writers like Han Shaogong were excessively romantic about the value of China’s traditions; even speak-for-the-people heroes like Liu Binyan were too ready to pin hopes on “liberal” Communist leaders like Hu Yaobang. No one was independent enough. “I can sum up what’s wrong with Chinese writers in one sentence,” Liu Xiaobo wrote in 1986. “They can’t write creatively themselves—they simply don’t have the ability—because their very lives don’t belong to them.”
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Royal Shakespeare Company To Stage “Chilled” Performances
“The performance will be characterised by a more casual approach to noise and movement in the auditorium. However, the performance itself will be unchanged. Chilled performances are aimed at people who feel more at ease knowing they are able to leave the auditorium at any time. These include people with dementia and people with babes in arms. They are similar to relaxed performances, which the RSC already runs. However, unlike relaxed performances they do not make any changes to the production, such as reducing sound volume, turning up the lights or providing break-out areas.”
NPR, Unions Make Agreement On A New Contract
SAG-AFTRA and NPR had been approaching a standoff as the union balked at management’s proposals for lower minimum salaries for new hires and more flexibility in allowing union work to be contracted out to its 600 member stations, most of which use employees who are not covered by the bargaining unit.
Blame Shakespeare For The Gender Imbalance On Canadian Stages
Dozens more men than women are acting on stage because of the continuing fascination by arts institutions and audiences with William Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies and histories – written during a time and in a place where women were legally prohibited from acting.
UK Report: Music Participation Versus Football Participation – Some Jarring Inequities
“The report makes a direct comparison between choirs and amateur sports clubs, noting that while around 300,000 more people sing in choirs than play amateur football, football receives £30m in funding every year – compared with under £500k a year for choirs.”
What Is The Cure For A Love Of Culture? Why, More Culture, Of Course
“So what do you do when you have the fever and work in a field more or less unrelated to your love for Friedrich Nietzsche and Emily Dickinson? Naturally, you spend your off hours reading books and talking about them with others who share the fever. There are legions of us, and in truth I’m one of the more dilettantish members of the tribe.”
Linguistic Theory Is So Abstract, Maybe It’s Not Really A Science?
“The nub of the disagreement here boils down to what exactly linguistics says about the world, and the appropriate archetypes we should apply to make it effective. So just what kinds of questions does linguistics want to answer? What counts as evidence? Is universal grammar in particular – and theoretical linguistics in general – a science at all?”
Study: Yoga Might Slow Cognitive Decline (Scientists Don’t Know Why)
Compared to their counterparts, the longtime yoga practitioners showed significantly greater cortical thickness “in left prefrontal lobe areas associated with attention and other executive functions,” the researchers report. Previous research has linked activity in this area of the brain with language and memory.
Tomb-Robbing Has Become A Very Big Business In China
“With prices for some Chinese antiquities reaching into the tens of millions of dollars, a flood of amateur and professional thieves looking to get rich quick has hit China’s countryside. While accurate figures are difficult to come by, the looting has resulted in the permanent destruction of numerous Chinese cultural heritage sites.”
Louvre Says Violent Storm Damaged Some Of Its Art
“The French museum confirmed that water had invaded the mezzanine of the Denon wing, affecting the “Arts of Islam” and “From the Mediterranean Orient to Roman Times” rooms, both of which have been closed pending hygrometric stabilization. Water also entered the first floor of the Sully wing, affecting the “Salle des Sept-Cheminées” and Henri IV staircase, and the second floor of the Cour Carrée, affecting some rooms housing French paintings.”