21 Oct, 2009 in Chinese culture by Fili An
Chinese Songs Translated (Pinyin, Hebrew & English)

My friend Lin, a Chinese teacher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who runs the Chinese Garden, has been translating Chinese songs for her students for years. I have very fond memories of sitting in on her classes where all the students were KTVing together to some old Chinese folk songs. Lin’s quite good [...]

19 Aug, 2009 in Chinese culture, Shenzhen by Fili An
Bian lian - Sichuan's Face Changing Mask Performing Art

Based in China’s Sichuan province and originally performed as part of Chinese Opera is the beautiful performing art of face-mask changing – Bian Lian (变脸, 變臉, Biàn Liǎn).
Watch this next routine I recorded in a Sichuan cuisine restaurant called Sichuan Folk in a Shenzhen Overseas Chinese District (posh) shopping mall.

Although I’ve previously heard about [...]

4 May, 2009 in Chinese culture, Hong Kong by Fili An
Tin Hao Festival Joss House Bay-38.JPG

Tin Hau – Goddess of the sea, better know in Taiwan as Matzu (媽祖 Māzǔ), is one of the most popular Gods in the Taiwan, southern China and Hong Kong area. Discover Hong Kong alerted me to the celebrations of Tin Hau festival taking place not too far away from the campus in Sai Kung’s [...]

24 Apr, 2009 in Chinese culture, HKUST by Fili An
Chinese and Cantonese Opera at HK

Till HK, my encounters with Chinese opera amounted to a short opera class in China Town Singapore …
To sum up my Chinese experience at Singapore I went on my final night for some classic Chinese dinner and opera with the Chinese Theater Circle (http://ctcopera.com.sg) and was surprised to be part of an exclusive 8 [...]

20 Apr, 2009 in Chinese culture, Movie reviews by Fili An
The Battle of Red Cliff Movie : Absolutely Perfect

The Battle of Red Cliff (part 1 and part 2) is absolutely brilliant. Perfect. To me – it’s as good as it gets. There aren’t many films that I leave with an incredible "WOW" effect, but this one did it … twice.

John Woo did a superb job. It’s been over 2 months since [...]

6 Mar, 2009 in Asia-Israel connections, Chinese culture by Fili An

Thanks to Ran, the best Israeli blog in China, I heard of this odd news piece. Israeli YNet recently reported that one of my all-time least liked songs "Heat of Tel-Aviv" received a Chinese version.
Compare the Israeli version…

To the Chinese one…

Which one do you like more? Did you like the Shabbat/Hannuka candle effect in the [...]

9 Jun, 2008 in Chinese culture, Tainan by Fili An
Dragon Boat Festival Tainan 2008-1.JPG

Tainan’s 2008 Dragon Boat Festival was held yesterday at the Anping Tainan Canal with both the NCKU IIMBA students and NCKU Chinese Language Center participating.
The Duanwu Festival is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in mainland China and in Taiwan, where it is known as the “Duanwu Festival”.
The Duanwu [...]

8 Jun, 2008 in Chinese culture, Taiwan by Fili An
My favorite movie - Eat Drink Man Woman. The relationship between Taiwanese parents and their children

… is something I know very little about. Although there is a very strong stereotype from both Taiwanese and foreigners about Taiwanese parents I would dare say that Taiwanese parents tales that I hear prove to me time and time again that stereotypes are not always relevant and that by following those stereotypes in [...]