Another look at Beijing’s Hutongs

It’s been almost a year since I’ve left Beijing and I still think about how the city landscape was in such dramatic change while I was there, as I’m sure it still is. At that time I also met Jonah Kessel (via Twitter), who filmed a series of short videos for Asia Society, the first is titled “A Disappearing World.” […]

invasion of public space: chinese sausages

Found in Danshui (淡水), a port city north of Taipei, Taiwan: “禁止设摊” (Jin4 zhi3 she4 tan1) translates to “It’s forbidden to set up a vendor’s stand” I suppose as long as you are not directly selling the items from this public space, it’s perfectly acceptable to use the space for storage or display of your vending […]

Design Museum Boston

Last night DesignMuseumBoston hosted an event in collaboration with Office Environments of New England to not only eat, drink, and meet some wonderful people, but to also give some background and insight into what the Design Museum is trying to accomplish.  In addition to opening nomadic and ever-changing ‘pop-up museums’ in empty store fronts, DesignMuseumBoston […]

laundry on the streets

A look into the interpretation of “public space”…. There’s one thing with hanging laundry outside one’s window out in the open; it’s certainly another to hang laundry to dry from public lamp posts! Love these silly Chinese.

virtual street corners: Boston

John Ewing‘s public art project Virtual Street Corners unveils in June to connect and encourage a better connection between two very different Boston neighborhoods of Brookline and Roxbury. The project aims to facilitate dialogue and connection between the predominately African-American and Jewish neighborhoods. In conversations with the public he found people kept to their own neighborhoods, rarely […]

this city needs a bike rental system

It’s been about 2 months since I’ve arrived in this sprawling city of Beijing. I find myself keeping quite active with exploring and meeting some great people. Though, I continually wish for a more walkable city and more manageable scale. I wonder how long it will take me to fully adjust, or if I will. […]

public toilet map

So smart to orient the map the same way the street is laid out! Proof that community living and communal bath houses and toilets are still used and needed, even in a ‘developed’ city like Beijing: I do wonder if this map is for locals or tourists, since it’s placed on a main street that currently […]

Beijing’s artist communities

As I’m getting prepared to do some exploring. I leave you with this short article from thebeijinger: Rumors have been circulating for some time that Caochangdi, the area past Dashanzi that’s home to a number of high-profile galleries, may be razed for redevelopment, but it’s far from the only “art zone” under threat by voracious real estate agents. Red […]

‘Neighborhood Gem Project’

It’s the last day to submit a contribution for the Neighborhood’s Gem Project at Good in collaboration with Pictory. After arriving to Beijing and being a little homesick, I’m happy to have submitted :) I hope my photo makes the cut! It’s great to see a compilation of local neighborhood sites with emphasis on the importance of […]