This episode of ‘Deadliest Warrior’ pits a Shaolin Monk against a Maori Warrior. Who will win…? Only tangentially related to Kiwese, but thought this battle scenario was too ridiculous not to post here!! Check out the link to watch trained martial artists destroy large pieces of meat with Shaolin and Maori weapons. FIGHT!! https://youtu.be/SYgKmb_YIoAContinueContinue reading “Fight Club: Shaolin Monk or Maori Warrior?”
Author Archives: Kristen Ng
Year of the (Scape)goat: Responding to Phil Twyford on Chinese sounding names
Crime rates rising? Road toll increasing? Quality of secondary or tertiary education declining? No jobs? Housing bubble in Auckland? Just blame the Chinese. New Zealand’s social media is aflame with hot and sour responses (from people with Chinese sounding names and non-Chinese sounding names) to comments from Labour’s housing spokesman Phil Twyford on TV3’s The Nation in an interview with Lisa Owen on Saturday evening,ContinueContinue reading “Year of the (Scape)goat: Responding to Phil Twyford on Chinese sounding names”
He Tangata: Interview with Mayor Meng Foon
Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa, “the Great standing place of Kiwa,” formerly “the first city to see the sun” (jeez… thanks, Apia), whānau hometown Gisborne on the North Island’s East Coast is a very special place indeed. Beaches, cicada song, 50c ice-blocks from the dairy, backyard cricket with the cuzzies! Those hot summers up at Por Por’s are seared into my memory, us Chinese kids barefootContinueContinue reading “He Tangata: Interview with Mayor Meng Foon”
“Respect that, bow down bitches / 尊重吧，向她鞠躬”: ‘Flawless’ and Language Learning
Sometimes there are days in as a language student in China where group discussions just make me want to scream and/or smash my head against a wall for not being able to sufficiently articulate myself on the thinly veiled sexism and objectification that lies beneath almost every text or topic that relates to women. At least not inContinueContinue reading ““Respect that, bow down bitches / 尊重吧，向她鞠躬”: ‘Flawless’ and Language Learning”
Hanzu in a Headscarf: Travels in Xinjiang
Xinjiang شىنجاڭ 新疆 is a mountainous, oil-rich region that forms the bulbous bump of northwest China. Bordering Tibet to the south, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west, Xinjiang (lit. new frontier) has long been a vital trading hub and cultural melting pot at the heart of the Central Asian Silk Road. BuddhismContinueContinue reading “Hanzu in a Headscarf: Travels in Xinjiang”
WATCH: Ai Weiwei’s Appeal ¥15,220,910.50
Ai Weiwei’s Appeal ¥15,220,910.50 is a film that documents the long and tedious legal proceedings that hound Beijing artist Ai Weiwei 艾未未, son of famous poet Ai Qing 艾青, on alleged tax evasion charges against FAKE Design, following his unlawful imprisonment in 2011. His associates Wen Tao, Liu Zhenggang, Zhang Jingsong and Hu Mingfen were also imprisoned for over 80 days. Text from Youtube: Ai Weiwei’s Appeal ¥15,220,910.50 opensContinueContinue reading “WATCH: Ai Weiwei’s Appeal ¥15,220,910.50”
Why Robin Hyde is My Homegirl
Robin Hyde, born Iris Guiver Wilkinson, was a New Zealand journalist, poet and novelist who raised her middle finger at the expectations of housewifery in post-WWI society by travelling solo to the frontline in China during the war with Japan in 1938. The resulting work was Dragon Rampant. “I haven’t attempted anything so presumptuous as a book about China– only aContinueContinue reading “Why Robin Hyde is My Homegirl”
Lest We Remember, Lest We Forget: Interview with Hiperson 海朋森
On a hot summer’s afternoon, the sound of birdsong and motorbike alarms chorus together in the warm air at Zaoshanghao on Democracy Road. Excitedly chattered about for the past few years and praised by Douban Music as “the true spirit of rock and roll” “amidst this increasingly conformist, fast-food generation,” Chengdu’s poetic post-punk band Hiperson greets youContinueContinue reading “Lest We Remember, Lest We Forget: Interview with Hiperson 海朋森”
KIWESE 