Classic China

Updates on SW China cultural and education sector lifestyle blog

  • China and the Interality of the New Silk Roads

    China and the Interality of the New Silk Roads

    Cultural considerations are fluid, transitioning as we measure them away from the ‘interality’ (jianxing 间性) of culture. The ‘interality’ culture is its gestalt and relational nature.

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    February 9, 2022
    Cultural Studies, Interality, New Silk Roads, People-to-people, Political Economy of Culture, Sophia Kidd
    Actor-Network Theory, Belt and Road Initiative, Bruno Latour, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese Studies, Interality, Interality Studies, International-Style, Lin Tian, New Silk Raods, One Belt One Road, Peter Zhang
  • The crux of the CCD project is to stress what in Chinese is known as he er bu tong 和而不 同, which translates literally as ‘harmonious but different,’ and bears some similarities as well as differences in comparison to ‘E pluribus unum,’ (‘Out of many, one), the traditional motto of the United States. 

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    January 8, 2022
    Cultural Studies, New Silk Roads, People-to-people, Political Economy of Culture
    Belt and Road Initiative, Boao Forum for Asia, Cao Wei, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese Studies, Community of Common Destiny, e pluribus unum, Eastern Han, heerbutong, International-Style, junzi, Mencius, New Silk Raods, One and the Many, One Belt One Road, Spring and Autumn period, Three Kingdoms period, Wei and Jin period, Western Jin, Ye Yan, 和而不同
  • I Hosted a Special on the Chengdu Biennale

    I Hosted a Special on the Chengdu Biennale

    Wrapping my head around so much art felt good.

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    January 5, 2022
    Chinese Contemporary Art, Cultural Studies, New Silk Roads, People-to-people, Political Economy of Culture, Sophia Kidd, Uncategorized, Yanlu Arts and Culture
    Belt and Road Initiative, Biennale, Chengdu, Chengdu Biennale, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese Studies, Contemporary Chinese Art, Fan Di'an, Fang Zhenning, Han Tao, He Guiyan, International-Style, Jeffrey Shaw, Ji Shaofeng, Ji Yujie, Li Keke, Lu Peng, New Silk Raods, One Belt One Road, Sichuan, Wang Chunchen, Wu Hongliang, Xue Jiang, Yang Wei, Zhou Bo
  • Five ‘Pillars’ of the New Silk Roads

    Five ‘Pillars’ of the New Silk Roads

    I propose that rather than ‘pillars’ holding up the roof of an overarching structure; these five tongs configure as a hub of People-to-People connectivity; around which four main spokes of policy, infrastructure, trade, and finance revolve.

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    November 28, 2021
    New Silk Roads, People-to-people
    Belt and Road Initiative, China, Chinese Studies, New Silk Raods, One Belt One Road
  • 3 Things that Keep me Here in China

    3 Things that Keep me Here in China

    As the city of Chengdu skitters on the edge of another lockdown (the first and last one was a year and a half ago, ending in April, 2020), I go to bed and wake up thinking about fear. Sometimes I feel fear, but more often I’m thinking about fear. Thinking of the guard downstairs who pointed to my bare lips and then to his mask. Recalling the woman standing by the gate who scornfully reiterated his request. I saw only her eyes, and her eyes were full of fear. Fear of COVID-19, fear of getting sick, and fear of being shut in one’s apartment in a Chinese lockdown. 

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    November 8, 2021
    COVID-19, Cultural Studies, New Silk Roads, People-to-people, Sophia Kidd, Teaching in China
    Belt and Road Initiative, Chengdu, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese Studies, COVID-19, Culture Paves the New Silk Road, International-Style, Lockdown, New Silk Raods, One Belt One Road, Sichuan
  • Tianxia of the Mind

    Tianxia of the Mind

    So what do I mean by my post’s title, ‘Tianxia of the Mind”? I am referring to the need for Tianxia, above all, to gain ritual power, this power being specifically the power to ‘transform any regional space into the center of the world.’ That is, a notion (Tianxia) must have the power to create not only a nation (China) as an ‘imagined community,’2but to give that community, or empire, a geographical grounding. In this sense place becomes space,3 and our bodies are now contained within a network of power, now subjects in a ‘bio-polity.’ 

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    October 27, 2021
    Cultural Studies, Genre of Geographical Literature, Geography, Literary Geography, New Silk Roads, Political Economy of Culture, Regional Metaphysics, Sophia Kidd
    Belt and Road Initiative, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese Studies, International-Style, New Silk Raods, One Belt One Road
  • SheLeads Summit 2021, a creative conference for all professional females working in China to celebrate female leadership

    SheLeads Summit 2021, a creative conference for all professional females working in China to celebrate female leadership

    I look forward to learning from women here, to networking and gaining insights into the Chinese business world. As co-founder and CEO of Yanlu Arts and Culture, I am hungry for knowledge about how various sectors interact, and really excited to do so from a new perspective, that is, an empowered woman’s perspective.

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    September 22, 2021
    Cultural Studies, Sophia Kidd, Women in Business
    Chengdu, China, Entrepreneur, Female Entrepreneurs, SheLeads International, Women in China, Yanlu Arts and Culture
  • Oh the obstacle course of starting a business in China right now…

    Oh the obstacle course of starting a business in China right now…

    Then imagine my sadness again when my business partner (who’s a Chinese national) told me that, while she could open a business account for Yanlu Arts & Culture, WeChat had shut down registration for new users. What a Saturnine feeling that is. To be young and nascent, and yet to have doors close on you.

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    August 6, 2021
    China tech sector, Chinese Calligraphy, Cultural Studies, Foreign-owned business in China, New Silk Roads, People-to-people, Political Economy of Culture, Sophia Kidd, Starting a business in China, Teaching in China, Yanlu Arts and Culture
    Belt and Road Initiative, Business in China, Chengdu, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese Studies, Cultural Diplomacy, Culture Paves the New Silk Roads, Geocultural Power, International-Style, New Silk Raods, One Belt One Road, Sichuan, Yanlu Arts and Culture
  • Return to China

    Return to China

    Caught so soon in a confluence of cultural forces.

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    June 24, 2021
    Cityscape, Continuities, Cultural Studies, New Silk Roads, People-to-people, Sophia Kidd, Teaching in China, Uncategorized
    Chengdu, China, Chinese Culture, Contemporary Chinese Art, International-Style, Sichuan, Southwest China
  • “Minxin Xiangtong ⺠心相通 and People-to-People Relations Along the New Silk Roads” with Sophia Kidd

    “Minxin Xiangtong ⺠心相通 and People-to-People Relations Along the New Silk Roads” with Sophia Kidd

    Sophia Kidd of Sichuan University joined the University of Virginia to discuss the New Silk Road’s (NSR) fifth ‘pillar’ in her talk on Minxin Xiangtong ⺠心相通 and People-to-People connections along the New Silk Roads; giving examples of how P2P connections support and sustain other NSR objectives: policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, and financial integration. This talk, held March 12, 2021, was part of UVA’s “Assessment of China’s BRI” Project.

    Dr. Sophia Kidd

    March 16, 2021
    Cultural Studies, Lectures, New Silk Roads, People-to-people, Political Economy of Culture, Sophia Kidd, Uncategorized
    Assessment of Belt and Road Initiative Project, Complementary Grassroots, Contemporary Chinese Art, East Asian Center, Five Pillars, New Silk Raods, P2P, Supplementary Grassroots, Top-Down, University of Virginia, 民心相通, 五通
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