The World of Matteo Ricci
A 16th century Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci was the founder of the Catholic Mission in China and one of the most famous missionaries of all time. A pioneer in bringing Christianity to China, Ricci spent twenty eight years in the country, in which time he crossed the cultural divides between China and the West by […]
Asian Film Series: Mongolian Ping Pong
The Asian Studies Program presents Mongolian Ping Pong (2005). Written and directed by the Chinese director Ning Hao, the film develops a cultural conversation between local tradition and Western modernity that includes episodes of strident hilarity. The main narrative around the fantasy world of a group of Mongolian children and the magic power of a ping pong […]
Asian Film Series: Sita Sings the Blues
The Asian Film Series continues with Sita Sings the Blues (2008). Directed by the American cartoonist Nina Paley, this modern transformation of the ancient Indian epic Ramayana into a fascinating mixture of animation techniques sheds new light on meaning and relevance of Hindu gods and morals. The parallel between the legendary story of Rama and Sita and the life […]
Asian Film Series: Dreaming Lhasa
The third and final film for this second edition of the Asian Film Series is Dreaming Lhasa (2005). Directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, this movie alternates the main narrative with a documentary of the oppressed Tibet, and thus has been endorsed by Human Rights Watch. Three Tibetans (a filmmaker from New York, a […]
International Workshop: “China After Comparison, Comparison After China,”
The workshop features short presentations by thematically organized groups of participants from the US and China, followed by extensive discussion. Our goal is as much to bring together (and build) a community of like-minded scholars as it is to work through the challenges of such things as the transnational and the transpacific, theory “and” China, […]
Zhu Yufan: Public lecture at Jury Space, Stuckeman Family Building | “The meaning of Original Position in Landscape Design”
The Department of Landscape Architecture and the Asian Studies Program present a public lecture by Professor Zhu Yufan of the Institute of Landscape Architecture at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University. Zhu Yufan is a landscape architect, deputy chair and professor at the Institute of Landscape Architecture at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University. His research focuses […]
Japanese Program Open House at the HUB Heritage Hall
Do you have an interest in Japan or its culture? The Penn State Japanese Program is holding an open house with an informative poster session. View the Flyer
Zhang Li: Lecture at Jury Space, Stuckeman Family Building
Zhang Li is a professor of architecture and assistant dean in the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, China. He leads the design practice TeamMinus in Beijing, and is a board member of the Architectural Society of China. He is fall 2012 professor of practice at the Syracuse University’s School of Architecture.
Daphne Lei: Talk at the Comparative Literature Luncheon
Dr. Lei is an Associate Professor in the Department of Drama at UC-Irvine. Her work focuses the ways in which gender and ethnic identities are enacted and nuanced in intercultural performance. In particular, she examines intercultural exchanges along the Pacific Rim and negotiations between Asian and non-Asian cultures through a powerful combination of literary, theatre […]
Exhibit at Penn State’s Palmer Museum of Art: Floating Between Worlds: New Research on Japanese Prints in the Permanent Collection
Katsushika Hokusai, Fuji from Shichirigahama (Soshushichirigahama), from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei) [Seven-league Coast near Kamakura], c. 1830, woodblock print. Gift of William E. Harkins, 79.24. Over the last several decades, Dr. William Harkins donated a sizable number of Japanese woodblock prints to the Palmer Museum of Art. Researching and contextualizing […]