I suppose I should not have been surprised to open my friend's DIY child-friendly Haggadah and find a prominent Pesach Dry Bones cartoon. Though it did seem almost an extraordinary coincidence, a sign or an act of fate that Dry Bones made its way into this Haggadah in Hong Kong only hours after I touched base with Dry Bones creator, Yaakov Kirschen.

Dry Bones, a political cartoon from the Jerusalem Post, has been a Jewish household favorite since it first appeared in 1973. It has been reprinted or quoted in a myriad of publications including the NY Times, Time Magazine, LA Times, CBS, AP and Forbes. Kirschen's graphic art has for decades provided an insightful, pictorial commentary on many of the most significant events of the day. Collectively, the Dry Bones collection reads more like an academic treatise than a comic strip offering distinct graphic perspectives and snapshots of time. [...] [read online...]



My Life in Shanghai
The memories we took with us
by Harry Todtenkopf, edited by Howard Kleinmann

First of all, I would like to warn you: If you are expecting me to deliver a learned treatise about Chinese culture and the various dynasties, you will be sorely disappointed. When we reached Shanghai in the beginning of 1939, we did not have the slightest interest in Chinese culture, and when someone would mention that its culture was thousands of years old, there was inevitably someone else who would remark, having the rather primitive hygienic conditions in mind, that in all that time it had not mastered indoor plumbing.[...] [read online...]



Digging Out the Past
Quest to uncover Jewish Harbin
by Dan Ben-Canaan

Since its foundation by Czarist Russia as a strategic railway town in 1898, Harbin was in its essence a foreign domain on Chinese soil. The contract signed in Berlin on September 8, 1896 by the representative of the Qing government gave imperial Russia an opportunity to annex a wide corridor of land inside China making it a territorial possession for its ambitions of expansion. Harbin thus became home not only to Russians but to many foreign ethnic groups who came to form new future roots here.

Harbin became a home to Jewish entrepreneurs, settlers and émigrés and to members of many other nationalities, ethnicities and religions. It was a space where […] [read online...]



Loewenberg on Screen, Off Screen & Behind the Scenes

by Jocelyn Eikenburg

Sexy Beijing - Beijing's own version of "Sex and the City" - turned Anna Sophie Loewenberg, the star and producer, into an internet celebrity. Since its debut in 2006, Sexy Beijing has become one of the most popular online TV series about China, and has been featured on the BBC, CNN, NPR and even the Today Show. But behind that success is Anna Sophie Loewenberg's passion for making documentary films, and for telling stories about people on the margins. […] [read online...]