Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim on AM 1490 WGCH and Anywhere on WGCH.com: July 2016

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Coming Up Next: Hei Ming: “A man who captures real life with his camera rather than a photographic artist.”

Hei Ming is nationally known as a visionary and an accomplished photographer in his native China -but he is no ordinary cameraman.

His images of average Chinese people are coupled with rich, imaginative and compelling stories that document the lives around them. Since 1997 Hei Ming has published a fine portfolio of photographic albums, all focusing on everyday people of all kinds in China.

I recently caught up with Hei Ming in midtown Manhattan, New York City, joined by Liming Guan of The China Press who translated Hei Ming’s Chinese language comments to English.

Hei Ming describes himself as “a man who captures real life with his camera rather than a photographic artist.”

Remember to tune in to AM 1490 WGCH and WGCH.com everywhere on Saturday, August 6, 2016, 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Eastern USA Time/10:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m. China Time.

Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim's broadcasts are from AM1490 WGCH and everywhere on WGCH.com in Greenwich, Connecticut USA.

This show is title-sponsored by Beijing AmBridge International Culture Development Ltd. You are invited to explore how an alliance with Beijing AmBridge can help your company or organization grow and prosper. Call Beijing AmBridge's office in Beijing at 86-10-80775517 or email ambridge01@163.com.

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The Treasures of China: Suzhou Market Street at the Summer Palace

Welcome to Suzhou Market Street at the Summer Palace, Northwestern Beijing.

If you come to China intending to visit the cultural sites you will surely find yourself at a loss where to begin. The old life still breathes in little corners all over China. To visit the famous and not-so-famous shrines, temples, museums and palaces is, of course, an unforgettable experience. It is delightful, too.

A casual stroll may become a fantastic journey. In this modern age when other cultural treasures are disappearing from the landscape, the treasures of China attract us even more.

I've introduced a new segment to Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim: The Treasures of China. Our first?

Suzhou Market Street is at the Rear Lake of the Summer Palace in northwestern Beijing.

Suzhou is a legendary city located 62 miles northwest of Shanghai in Jiangsu province. It is well known though out the world for its bridges, canals and classical gardens. The city was founded in 514BC and has been dubbed the Venice of China.

I visited Suzhou Market Street in September 2015 with Ms. Liu, an instructor with Beijing Sihai Confucius Academy. We took a boat ride from the Summer Palace.

With a waterway passing through and shops perching on banks, the street looks like the very scene from the city of Suzhou in the southern region of the Yangtze River.

Over 60 stores extend from North Palace Gate entrance into a street about 300 meters (328.1 yards) in length. Along the Back Lake, the street design imitates the ancient style of shops on the banks of rivers in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, that is, taking the running water of Back Lake as the street and its banks as a market.

The area served as an entertainment place where Emperors and concubines could feel as if they were strolling on a commercial street. When the royals went there, eunuchs and maids of honor would playact as peddlers, customers and shop assistants to mimic market activities.

It was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799). Sadly, it was burned down by a British-French allied force in 1860.

It was rebuilt in 1986 and in 1990 it was opened to the public. Today's market includes stores with clerks dressed in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) costumes.

That all this should exist at this one place only -and nowhere else in the world- is truly a cause for celebration.

Remember to mark your calendar and tune in each week as we continue our journey together through the Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Coming Up Next on July 30: Nancy Yao Massbach, President/Director of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution in New York City that presents the living history, heritage, culture and diverse experiences of Chinese Americans through exhibitions, educational services, and public programs. Starting in 1980 as the community-based New York Chinatown History Project, it was founded by historian John Kuo Wei Tchen and Charles Lai.

We're welcoming Nancy Yao Massbach, president and director of MOCA. She holds a degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs with a minor in Chinese language from Occidental College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Before being named president/director of MOCA, Massbach served as the executive director of the Yale-China Association, the managing director of the corporate programs at the Council on Foreign Relations where she had also been an International Affairs Fellow in Japan and a research associate on China.

Massbach also worked in Goldman Sachs' investment banking division and executive office in Hong Kong and New York. She was the associate producer at CNN during the handover coverage of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997. She served on the national board of the Association of Asian American Yale Alumni.

MOCA's mission is "to celebrate the living history of the Chinese experience in America, to inspire our diverse communities to contribute to America's evolving cultural narrative and civil society, and to empower and bridge our communities across generations, ethnicities and geography through our dynamic stories."

We will learn from Nancy Yao Massbach about the founding of MOCA, its location on Centre Street that was designed by Maya Lin-who came to fame as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.- about MOCA's amazing programs, educational services and collections, and much more!

Please join us on Saturday, July 30, 2016 on AM1490 WGCH and everywhere on WGCH.COM 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Eastern USA Time/ 10:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m. China Time.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Step Inside the Most Expensive Home Ever Sold in China

Take a look at this! A friend of mine in Hawaii USA sent me this link to this Business Insider article dated July 19:

At 1,000,000,000 Chinese Yuan (£113 million/$149 million), this mansion is the most expensive home ever sold in mainland China.

The 1,663-acre estate is named Taohuayuan, which translates to "Utopia" or "Peace Blossom Land," located on a private island on the city of Suzhou’s Dushu Lake.

It comes complete with 32 bedrooms, a cavernous wine cellar, a lakeside swimming pool, and breathtaking gardens modelled on a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I invite you to click this link to Sotheby's International Realty's listing for this magnificent home, which includes a photo gallery.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Coming Up Next: Brian Goldberg of Mr. Bing Beijing Street Crepes!

You must tune in to the broadcast this coming Saturday, July 23! You'll meet one of New York City's finest purveyors of Chinese jianbings, Brian Goldberg of Mr. Bing Beijing Street Crepes.

Writing in New York's Grub Street, Chris Crowley has proclaimed the Chinese jianbing as the 2016 "cheap eat of the year."

I've already decided that my 2017 New Year's resolution will be to extend my passion for these delightful Chinese crepes well into the years ahead.

"Twenty-first-century culinary anthropologists could very well chart a course for migratory foodstuffs from country of origin to outer-borough enclave to Smorgasburg stall. And so it is with jianbing, the Chinese street-food breakfast that has emerged as this year’s microcraze. Typically made from a batter of green mung bean, wheat, or other grains and starches and spread with egg, the savory crêpe is strewn with some combination of cilantro, scallions, and pickles; brushed with a chile-paste sauce and a sweet bean paste like tianmianjiang; and folded around either a thin, crispy cracker called baocui or a chewy cruller and chopped in half — all in under 45 seconds."

When I savored my first bite into a jianbing I exclaimed to those around that this is what fast-food was truly meant to be.

I met Brian Goldberg and his team at a food-tasting event at the China Institute in America in Manhattan. What a time it was! I've been hooked on jianbings since.

It took no time at all for me and the other attendees to become enamored with these tasty treats that are sold on the streets of Beijing and other cities. Now they've come to America!

Brian will share with us how his journey began, the process of bringing his entrepreneurial dreams to reality, his thoughts on the fusion cuisine movement, how New Yorkers and others have responded to jian bings, what the future holds and more!

Remember to tune in to AM 1490 WGCH and WGCH.com everywhere on Saturday, July 23, 2016, 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Eastern USA Time/10:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m. China Time.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Coming Up Next: Ako of the Takarazuka Revue - “Japan’s answer to the Ziegfeld Follies"- on July 16, 2016

I'm looking forward to welcoming Ako of the Takarazuka Revue in the Conversations segment of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim's July 16 broadcast.

She will share with me and our global audience how she became involved with Takarazuka Revue, its rich history and traditions, how women train for its programs and performances, fan clubs and how it has influenced theater.

The Takarazuka Revue was formed by railroad tycoon Ichizo Kobayashi in 1913 to help draw tourists to hot springs of Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture in Japan.

The all-female stage troupe itself has gone on to be phenomenally successful in Japan, the USA, China and around the world.

This summer the troupe is heading to New York City's David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center for six performances over five days of Takarazuka CHICAGO. It's all part of the annual 2016 Lincoln Center Festival.

(Click here for a short YouTube clip)

Purchase your tickets for any of the performances July 20-24 at this link.

Go to this link for special offers.

Remember to tune in to AM 1490 WGCH and WGCH.com everywhere on Saturday, July 16, 2016, 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Eastern USA Time/ 10:30 p.m. China Time.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Update! Newly Archived Broadcasts: June 11, June 18, June 25 and July 2

Four of our most-recent broadcasts have been archived and made available for you on the show's Podcasts.com site.

They are:

Show #19: June 11, 2016

Go to this link.

The Saturday, June 11 Conversations segment of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim featured Mr. James Heimowitz, president of the China Institute in America.I had the pleasure of lecturing on my late-father and the post-World War II American China Marines at the China Institute's former location in Lenox Hill, Manhattan in November, 2014 as reported by The China Press. Founded 90 years ago in 1926, the Institute was founded by a group of distinguished American and Chinese educators. They included John Dewey, Hu Shih, Paul Monroe and Dr. Kuo Ping-wen. It is the oldest bicultural organization in America that is devoted exclusively to China. In 1944, the China Institute in America was chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York as a school of continuing education. The Institute's language and cultural school is the oldest educational center of its kind in the USA.

Newly located in Lower Manhattan off Washington Street -and near Wall Street- the China Institute in America "advances a deeper understanding of China through programs in education, culture, business and art in the belief that cross-cultural understanding strengthens our global community."

My conversation with James Heimowitz covered a range of topics from the Institute's new location, its variety of cultural programs and activities, how the Institute addresses the needs of the business community, what's in store for the future, and how people like you can join the Institute and support its mission.

Show #20: June 18, 2016

Go to this link.

My guest on this broadcast of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim was such a delight! Qian Yi is "China's reigning opera princess." She is the star of Paradise Interrupted which the Wall Street Journal calls "a mesmerizing new work that is part opera, part dynamic art installation."This chamber opera is part of Lincoln Center Festival 2016 in New York City. It is being performed July 13-16.

Qian Yi shared stories and memories of her roles in past productions such as The Peony Pavilion, Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Butterfly Dream and more. We heard about Qian Yi's early career, about the challenges behind blending Western and Chinese elements of opera into production, and so much more.

Show #21: June 25, 2016

Go to to this link.

It was my pleasure to announce that my guest on the June 25, 2016 broadcast of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim was Dr. Ren Youqun, Ph.D. He is the Vice-President of East China Normal University (ECNU), Vice-Chaiman of ECNU's University Council and a professor of Education Science. Dr. Ren's research interests are focused on Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Technology, Teacher Education and Learning Sciences. He has published two books and more than 80 academic papers. Dr. Ren has also translated ten English books in these fields into Chinese.

With a passion for teaching known internationally, Dr. Ren has been lecturing on information and communication technology (ICT) since 2003, focusing on its integration with curriculum and teacher education for Chinese graduate students. We discussed all this, ECNU's internationalization efforts and how information and communication technology is being utilized to improve the efficiency of education management, governance and administration.

Show #22: July 2, 2016

Go to this link.

On the Saturday, July 2, 2016 of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim we welcomed E. Samantha Cheng from Washington, D.C., USA, and Dr. Gwendolyn Gong from Hong Kong, China. Both are the executive producers of Honor and Duty: The Mississippi Delta Chinese. I was privileged to attend the recent New York screening at this documentary at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in Chinatown

This three-part documentary series tells the story of an almost forgotten community of Chinese in America's Deep South. It is an American story like no other anywhere.

The story of Chinese immigration and integration into the Mississippi Delta region begins just after the American Civil War with the introduction of 16 Chinese men. How did this community evolve and proper within the segregated South? What lessons does this story provide for immigrants today?

Honor and Duty: The Mississippi Delta Chinese documentary series focuses on people who built an enduring kinship through small town markets and grocery stores drawing in part on the memories of the patriotic Chinese World War II veterans who lived in this area and stepped forward to serve.

Coming Up Next: Roy Rowan, 'Chasing The Dragon: A Veteran Journalist's Firsthand Account of the 1949 Chinese Revolution'

Roy Rowan is a living legend. He is a veteran author-journalist and avid fisherman -but he is much more. For over fifty years Rowan covered the world for Time, Life and Fortune magazines.

His book, Chasing the Dragon: A Veteran Journalist's Firsthand Account of the 1949 Chinese Revolution was given to me by a mutual friend of ours. I was captivated.

In another twist of circumstance, it turned out that 96-year-old Roy Rowan and I were almost neighbors here in Greenwich, Connecticut USA. I couldn't believe my luck.

Accompanied by Mr. Liming Guan of The China Press of New York City, we paid Roy Rowan a visit to his home on Steamboat Road near Greenwich Harbor. Another dimension of China's history came alive that day from the comfort of Mr. Rowan's living room.

"Roy Rowan's spellbinding account of China's earth-rattling Communist Revolution," said Tom Brokaw of NBC News, "is high drama and great journalism-all that I'd expect from one of the best."

Stella Dong, author of Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City 1842-1949 said, "Chasing the Dragon is both enthralling personal history and an invaluable eyewitness account of China. Rowan offers a riveting insider's view of pre-Communist China and records its last death those with a keen eye for history and human detail."

Waltar Isaacson, president of the Aspen Club and author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life has this to say about Roy Rowan and his memoir: "This colorful eyewitness account of the Communists' 1949 takeover of China is the perfect blend of journalism and history. Roy Rowan tells this amazing tale with the firsthand excitement of a young reporter and the wisdom of a veteran China watcher. In a very personal and readable way, his book explores war, historic forces, colorful characters and the thrill of journalism."

Tune in on Saturday morning, July 9, 2016 to AM1490 WGCH 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Eastern USA Time/10:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m. China Time to hear Roy Rowan in his own words talk about his book and his memories of a time of great change in China and the world.

Monday, July 4, 2016

America's 240th Independence Day-and the Chinese Connection

Today marks the 240th Independence Day of the United States of America. This is a good day to remind ourselves that the connection between the USA and Chinese civilization has been in existence almost since the beginning.

The U.S. Founders and China blog site by Dr. Dave Wang features a treasure-trove of little-known facts that Dr. Wang has been researching, publishing and lecturing about for many years.

On this day Dr. Wang has published Confucian Virtue and the Founding of the United States. Click here to read it.

We also remind our friends across the world that Dr. Wang was our guest on Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim on February 13, 2016. Click here to listen to the show.

After the American Revolution succeeded in establishing independence the nation found itself cutoff from trade with Europe and the West Indies. On May 21 we welcomed Eric Jay Dolin, author of When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail. Click this link to listen to his broadcasted interview.

The illustrations in this blog post are examples of Chinese export porcelain made specially for the American market. You can view examples of these at museums and in private collections.

So, to one and all, Happy Fourth of July! 七月生日快乐!