“Framing History: A Review of Nanjing Photo Studio” by Phil Cunningham
Today, China commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with a military parade, an anniversary that has, predictably, inspired the usual slew of wartime films. None has been bigger than “Nanjing Photo Studio” reviewed here by Phil Cunningham, and set during the Nanjing Massacre (and filmed at our own Shanghai Film Park).
Cunningham worked on Empire of the Sun when it was filmed in Shanghai, and for us Old Shanghai fans, his mentions of parallels between the two films are especially interesting.
The Rise and Fall of Chinese Pidgin English by Hugo Tseng
If you’ve been on an Historic Shanghai walk, you’ve heard us talk about the origins of pidgin English, the Chinese-English patois that originated in Guangdong to facilitate communication between the early English traders and Chinese businessmen.
You’ll recall that the Shanghai version was Yangjingbang English, and maybe even the etymology of some of these words, like ‘tiger windows’. Hugo Tseng’s article in Sixth Tone explains all this beautifully:
https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1017541
