Category Archives: culture

PROMPT: Traveled from Home

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Daily writing prompt
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.
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”Home” and “away” lost all meaning long ago, becoming a false dichotomy. “Furthest” is likely presumed to mean the most distant in space, but that is not always the greatest mental distance. Sometimes a place changes while you were away, and that shift through time becomes the most jarring distance.

BOOK: “How to be an Alien” by George Mikes

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How to Be an Alien: A Handbook for Beginners and Advanced PupilsHow to Be an Alien: A Handbook for Beginners and Advanced Pupils by George Mikes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Penguin

This book is hilarious… unless you’re British — in which case it probably reads like a swift kick in the crotch. Well, if you’re from continental Europe, many of the comparisons with Britian are no more favorable to Europe and are just as comically searing. But if you’re American, it’s a laugh riot. Well, except for when it delivers reminders of the absurdity of xenophobia, triggering realizations that one’s own country is in the midst of a crisis of that malady. However, the book is not primarily a rebuke of xenophobia, but rather an accounting of what immigrants to Britain find strange and unwieldy about their new country.

George Mikes, born Mikes György, was a journalist and humorist of Hungarian birth who lived most of his life in England, and it’s this experience that the author draws upon to describe of what immigrants to Britain must accustom themselves.

Among Mikes’ prolific body of writings, there are a number that take this form — humor disguised as a how-to guide. The first one that I read was How to Be God, which was his last such book. The book under review was his first and continues to be the most popular.

I’d highly recommend this book for humor readers… unless you’re British… or European… or are experiencing dread over the Pheonix-like rebirth of xenophobia in the world. If there’s any one left after that who reads in English, this is the book for you.

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PROMPT: Traditions

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Daily writing prompt
What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?
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All of them. As a traveler, I am more an anthropologist of traditions than a practitioner of them.

PROMPT: Comfort Food

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Daily writing prompt
What’s your go-to comfort food?
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It depends on where I am. I recently discovered that my Busan comfort food is “Hotteok with seeds.” In Central Asia, it’s tandoor bread — by whatever name it’s called in the local tongue. In Tblisi, it’s khinkali. In Peru, a lomo saltado is a beautiful thing. Chicago is the only place I’ll eat a hotdog, but I do love one there.

As a traveler, I find it’s important to not get attached to any one thing. If you crave a bagel, you’re great if you’re in New York or Tel Aviv, but if you insist on one in Hyderabad, it will be a sad experience. But, by the same token, if you order Chicken Biryani in Des Moines, expect to be underwhelmed (or — if not — to pay an exorbitant amount, either way it’s depressing.)

Probably the single most widespread comfort food would be whatever the local dumpling is, be it called mo-mo, khinkali, pierogi, dim sum, etc. All quite unique, but with an underlying familiarity.

So, in the immortal words of (the apparently quite slutty) Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, “If you can’t be with the one you love… love the one you’re with.”

BOOK REVIEW: “New Story of the Stone” by Jianren Wu [Trans. by Liz Evans Weber]

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New Story of the Stone: An Early Chinese Science Fiction NovelNew Story of the Stone: An Early Chinese Science Fiction Novel by Jianren Wu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Columbia University Press

This book is presented as a sequel to the Chinese literary classic (alternatively) known as Dream of the Red Chamber or Story of the Stone. The central character is a scholarly traveler by the name of Baoyu. The first part of the book is set in China around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, an event that features in the story. Throughout this portion, the book reads like historical fiction. However, Baoyu’s travels eventually bring him to a hidden realm, a technologically advanced utopia within China. It is here where Baoyu’s adventures get fantastical and otherworldly, and the book ventures into the domain of Science Fiction.

The setting of the book reminds me a little of Marvel’s Wakanda from Black Panther. Perhaps both instances of worldbuilding were motivated by the humiliated colonists’ fantasy of being more advanced than those who pull the strings for once, or of showing their (respective) lands to be places of “crouching tigers and hidden dragons” (i.e. where great talents exist but remain unseen.) (Note: While China wasn’t on-the-whole colonized by a Western country, its interaction with England and other Western nations left it forced to accept terms unfavorable and undesirable to China (not to mention the outright colonized enclaves such as Hong Kong and Macau.) While the publisher has emphasized the science fiction aspect of this work, it is an anticolonial work through and through. The book can come across as xenophobic and nationalistic in places, but this only reminds the reader of how such positions might be arrived at under the boot of foreign influence.

The book is readable though philosophical and is well worth reading for those interested in developing a deeper insight into Chinese perspectives.

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DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Incheon Chinatown

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BOOKS: “Violence: A Very Short Introduction” by Philip Dwyer

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Violence: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)Violence: A Very Short Introduction by Philip Dwyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Oxford University Press

This is a brief overview of various types of violence, starting with the question of what counts as violence. The book explores violent acts carried out by individuals, mobs, movements, governments, and religions. It reflects upon how the nature of violence has changed over the centuries while hinting at potential reasons for said changes (along with counterarguments.)

This book raised some provocative questions, such as: Why would people go to watch executions? Does Steven Pinker’s hypothesis that humanity is becoming less violent hold water? [Pinker made this argument in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, but it has been refuted on number of grounds — definitional, methodological, etc. Though Dwyer only briefly touches on Pinker’s book and its critics in this book and a detailed critique will require looking elsewhere.] How (and why) do violent tendencies vary across cultures. And, when and how did governments end up with a monopoly on legitimate use of force.

I found this book interesting and informative and would recommend it for those looking for answers as to why and how our species is so violent.

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BOOKS: 千字文 [Thousand Character Essay] by 周兴嗣 [Zhou Xingsi]

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千字文千字文 by 周兴嗣
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A version with English commentary can be found at the IFA Gallery

This short work, consisting of just one-thousand characters, is first and foremost a teaching tool for children. While it presents a thousand of the most important Chinese characters, it also delivers lessons on history, ethics, philosophy, and culture by way of short sayings.

It’s arranged into 250 4-character phrases (125 sentences) and reads as a lyric poem, though because it dates to the Sixth Century, the degree to which the rhyme scheme holds varies depending upon the which spoken language one speaks (e.g. Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hakka.)

There have been different versions of this work over the centuries.

This is a much beloved work of literature among Chinese, though its sayings do not necessarily hold up as well as works like Sunzi’s Art of War or Laozi’s Daodejing. Some do, but most are much less relevant than when written.

As someone learning Chinese, I’d highly recommend this work as a way to expose oneself to language while gaining insight into Chinese culture.

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BOOKS: “The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction” by Richard Curt Kraus

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The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short IntroductionThe Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Curt Kraus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – OUP

The decade-long Cultural Revolution in China is generally looked upon as a bleak time and place to be alive. This brief guide reflects on the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of Mao’s attempt to root out capitalist and middle-class influence from Chinese society. The book also reflects upon other events in China during the period (e.g. detente) and how they related to the Cultural Revolution. It also explores how China came out of the Cultural Revolution.

The author makes efforts to be diplomatic and evenhanded about the event. Some readers will find this beneficial to their purposes and may even see the occasional glimmer of a bright side to a dismal period in human history. However, one should not expect to gain any visceral insight into the sadness and chaos of the era. While there was discussion of not only the end of the Cultural Revolution but what China’s continued path looked like, it didn’t get much into whether there was a long shadow to the revolution and what that shadow might look like.

I found the book informative though there were dimensions into which I would have liked to gain more insight (e.g. it doesn’t go much into the influence on religion, nor on more peripheral arts,) but that’s the challenge of such a concise guide. Also, the author is of a political science background, and this informs what elements are given more or less discussion.

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BOOKS: “A Carpet Ride to Khiva” by Christopher Aslan Alexander

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A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk RoadA Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road by Chris Aslan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – ICON Books

“Travel-centric memoir” is how I’d classify this book, but it’s one of those books that isn’t easily categorized. The author cleverly interweaves explorations of Uzbek history and culture with his own story of living in the Uzbek city of Khiva for seven years as an NGO worker and traditional crafts entrepreneur. The side voyages into history and culture not only support the readers’ contextual understanding of the author’s story but also make for a fascinating journey of understanding of the locale. Uzbekistan has had many lives, from beating heart of the Silk Road to forgotten backwater of the Soviet Union, and these many lives have shaped what Uzbekistan is, and what it’s becoming.

I should point out that Uzbekistan has apparently made a hard shift since the days described in this book (late 90’s early 2000’s, i.e. fairly early in the wake of independence from the Soviet Union.) I mention this to avoid discouraging travelers through discussion of the author’s experiences. [I, myself, am planning a trip in the near future.] I’m sure that Uzbekistan continues to have deep-seated problems, but it seems to be making great efforts to be tourist-friendly these days. Which is not to say that the individuals were ever unfriendly to travelers. The author describes an Uzbek people who are warm-hearted, welcoming, and helpful. But when the author was there it was also on the list of the biggest human rights violators, corruption was ubiquitous, and tourism was almost non-existent. In fact, the penultimate chapter of the book describes the author’s experience of a visa denied, ping-ponged deportations, and a life sharply diverted by corruption.

The final chapter is intensely compelling and describes the author’s (late 2000’s) visit to Afghanistan to help apply the lessons he learned in Uzbekistan to building a rug weaving operation in that war-torn country (allowing women to make some money, an activity disallowed by the Taliban before and since.)

This is a fascinating book, and I’d highly recommend it for travelers and those interested this lesser-known part of the world. Even the descriptions of silk production, rug weaving, and natural dyes (topics that I expected wouldn’t resonate with me) were interesting and engaging.

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