This is at once a specific story —one day in Boston Chinatown during the lunar new year parade — and an expansive one, which has played out time and time again in cities around the world. This is a story about colors, red fabric draped over a dancer’s back, golden sequins that catch the light, yellow fur in the lion’s mane, the whites of its eyes. This is a story about sound, the bright crash of red tasseled cymbals, the […]
A red snake with gold “scales” is winding through the walls of the Pao Arts Center in Chinatown as part of a celebration of the Lunar New Year. “We invited people to come and cut out scales from a gold shimmery paper, and then we prompted them to write or draw their Lunar New Year wish,” said artist Amanda Beard Garcia, who painted the indoor mural over several days in January. “Some people made one wish and a few people […]
Sometimes the thrill of a strange novel comes in fits and starts. It’s less thrilling in its explosive consistency than it is in its ability to sustain a mood, to build and maintain a premise. Sayaka Murata’s new novel Vanishing World succeeds in more ways than it probably knows. It’s a novel of suppositions. It’s a speculative dystopian story in which society reproduces solely by artificial insemination. Traditional reproduction between a husband and wife is considered incest. As we come […]
About a decade ago, while in grad school, artist Verónica Pérez received a strange gift: a trash bag full of hair. And they immediately put the furry find to good use. “That was my foray into using hair to represent a human or a body, without actually putting a body into the piece,” says Pérez of their method of creating sculptures. Since that time, the artist’s main medium has become artificial hair. Perez is among the 14 artists who are […]
During my Sophomore year in high school, I sat down with my beloved Chinese Culture Club adviser to begin planning one of the most significant events our school club has ever held: a townwide Lunar New Year celebration. I am now a junior at Natick High School, and have been president of the Chinese Culture Club since my sophomore year. In the town of Natick, an unremarkable little suburb a fifth the size of Boston, town-wide holiday recognition only really […]
You could say that artist Carlos Hernandez Chavez has taken a bit of the Mexican Muralist Movement of the 1900s to modern-day New England. But his path to painting on walls and buildings here after growing up in Mexico was a winding one. In the mid-1960s, Chavez devoted his education to the arts while still in Mexico. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas-UNAM at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico and INBA’s Escuela de Pintura y […]
Looking back on 2024, Sampan’s arts writer, Harmony Witte, compiled the following list of influential and important films of the year with connections to immigration in some way, or with foreign cast members. Some have immigration-focused stories, others have immigrant directors or actors or other cast members. Witte’s list includes hard-hitting documentaries, a martial arts adventure, both tense and funny crime stories, a surreal art romp and even a big-budget mystery thriller.“This selection of films,” writes Witte, “is of the […]
By Han Teen See To see the full version of these horoscopes, please go to https://jmine.com.sg/chinese_horoscope2025.htmReprinted with permission. Rat Those born under the Rat sign will continue to strive. You will enjoy a lot of good food and company. You can expect significant career advancements, including promotions and pay raises, supported by strong backing from management and stakeholders. However, you should remain vigilant against unexpected challenges and maintain a professional demeanour to avoid misunderstandings and potential conflicts. Financially, you will […]
The Boston Chinese Photography Association is not just about helping people take better pictures, according to its leaders. The group is also about helping turn hobbies into lifelong forms of artistic expression.“Some people are very interested but don’t know how to shoot,” April Chai, the chair of BCPA, told the Sampan, in a recent interview. “Sometimes we start from helping them choose a camera, guiding them step by step. Many new members quickly win awards, which is deeply gratifying for […]
There’s a reason why some stories should not be told by people outside their world. In the case of Arthur Golden’s 1997 novel “Memoirs of a Geisha,” adapted into a hit 2005 eponymously titled film, the Orientalism whitewashing was in full flower. Golden’s novel, set in the late 1920’s, roughly 25 years later than the events of Kiyoko Murata’s “A Woman of Pleasure,” told basically the same story. A daughter is sold into prostitution to cover her family’s debts. Both […]
