Category Archives: Xuanchen Fan

Media focus on Putin, China’s First Lady

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By XUANCHEN FAN

At an APEC event in Beijing on Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin put a shawl over the shoulders of Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Peng Liyuan kindly accepted the offer, but seconds later she slipped the shawl off into the hands of a waiting aide.

The small act aroused media’s attention and put Chinese First Lady in the news again.

Since Peng Liyuan’s first debut as China’s First Lady in March, 2013, she grabbed the world’s attention and media began to notice her and her clothes.

Peng Liyuan sang at Chinese New Year Gala.

Peng Liyuan sang at the Chinese New Year Gala.

Peng Liyuan is China’s most enduring pop-folk icon and performing artist. She gained popularity as a singer from her regular appearances on the annual CCTV New Year’s Gala (a widely viewed Chinese television program during Chinese New Year).

She holds a master’s degree in traditional ethnic music and now serves as the dean of the Art Academy of the People’s Liberation Army. She holds the rank of a major general.

When it was announced that Xi Jinping would become China’s next president, people even joked: “Who is Xi Jinping? He is Peng Liyuan’s husband.”

At Peng’s international debut as China’s First Lady, she wore a belted overcoat, accented by a stand-up collar and a light blue scarf in Moscow. Smiling radiantly, she shook hands with the Russian hosts, a step or two behind her husband.

The glamorous and fashionable look leaves a good impression. Chinese analysts even think that Peng can similarly help burnish China’s image overseas.

“Because of her performer’s background and presence, I think she will definitely add points for her husband,” said Tian Yimiao, an associate professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. “It could make her into a diplomatic idol.”

It seems that Peng’s star power will push the diplomats into the background. The only one concern is that she might unintentionally upstage Chinese president.

Does Japan-China relationship change?

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By XUANCHEN FAN

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Beijing on Nov. 10, 2014.

The meeting lasted just 25 minutes. President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan tried a new beginning; however, the atmosphere is not that optimistic.

Through body language, two leaders seemed a little awkward. Before they were seated, Premier Abe spoke to President Xi. Cameras caught that instead of listening and answering, Xi turned toward the photographers to snap an awkward, less enthusiastic handshake.

“Obviously, Xi did not want to create a warm or courteous atmosphere,” said Kazuhiko Togo, director of the Institute for World Affairs at Kyoto Sangyo University interviewing with The New York Times. “It was a very delicate balancing act for Xi.”

Chinese news media also maintains negative opinion. The news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying: “Severe difficulties have emerged in Sino-Japanese relations in recent years, and the rights and wrongs behind them are crystal clear.”

Nonetheless, Abe holds an optimistic opinion.

“Japan and China, we need each other,” Abe told a news conference at the close of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting. “We are in a way inseparably bound together.”

The tension between Japan and China has been existed in recent years. It started with the crisis over the islands. In September 2012, the Japanese government purchase Diaoyu island in China from a private owner.

The Chinese, who claim the islands were wrongfully taken from them by Japan at the end of the 19th century, sent squadrons of paramilitary vessels into the waters around the islands, and Japanese Coast Guard boats fended them off in what became a cat-and-mouse-game.

From World War II to nowadays, Japan and China had conflicts on many issues. Those contradictions are unable to be melted by a 25 minute meeting. In the future, it is possible that two countries can get long with one another.

Documentary, journalism share much

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By XUANCHEN FAN

Basically, journalism and documentary film own many common characters. According to Wikipedia, journalism is gathering, processing, and dissemination of news and information related to the news to an audience. The function of journalism is similar to documentary film. Only difference is that the journalism is real-time reporting and the documentary film is a historical record.

Nowadays, many documentaries are finding news publishers to build the ideal platforms for their work. At the same time, schools of journalism increasingly offer courses related to multimedia production and film editing.

Journalists and filmmakers are increasingly using the same methods to tell stories. For instances, “A Short History of the High Rise” is a documentary film which tells ts istory in a reporter’s tone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr9Y0C3pPxk).

One of the reasons that journalists began to tell stories in a different way is that images and videos contain a power to move and persuade audience to believe the fact. Conversely, the words and data are not convincing enough for the modern society.

People are able to see many news videos on CNN, New York Times or other news websites. Journalists are more and more adapt to use these technologies to tell a story.

Like Andrew DeVigal, the chair in Journalism Innovation and Civic Engagement at the University of Oregon, posted on Twitter “I came for the technology and stayed for the story.”

An interesting fact is that “storytelling” is the word of the day. Journalists and reporters are preferred to be named “storytellers” and “story-makers” rather than the original names “journalist” or “filmmaker.” No one wants to be maligned as a “content creator.”

Journalism and documentary films are gradually combined and build a clearer picture for their audience. As DeVigal posted on Twitter “Let’s move from ‘public service media’ to ‘public participation media.'”

Ebola virus now threatens U.S.

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By XUANCHEN FAN

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. The first EVD outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rain forests. Currently, the virus is threatening the United Sates.

On Sept. 30, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), announces the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States. Then government officially release the name of the first diagnosed: Thomas Eric Duncan. Unfortunately, Duncan died of Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 8.

Then, on Oct. 10, Nina Pham, a healthcare worker at Texas Presbyterian Hospital tested positive for Ebola. Another nurse, Amber Vinson, who treated Duncan became the third person diagnosed with the virus.

The government has done much to protect citizens from Ebola virus. Since Sept. 29, the U.S. military sent 4,000 troops to West African to establish treatment centers, which are called Expeditionary Medical Support Systems (EMSS).

At the same time, airports in New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta are examining certain international passengers for fever. The main target is West African visitors.

Lisa Monaco, assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, sent a brief announcement that “We are not facing just a health crisis –– We are facing a national security priority.”

As for President Obama, he has directly kept sending military to West Africa. The president is personally and actively demanding more troops to fight the disease.

The use of the military increases discontent among citizens.

“We make no apologies for being deliberate about the use of force, particularly when it engages the United States in conflicts in a region like the Middle East,” deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told CNN’s “The Situation Room” on Monday. “The American people want a president who is going to think hard before making those decisions who …. makes sure he is drawing from the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan.”

However, it is interesting that some merchants use the virus situation to sell Ebola productions. For instance, one merchant printed “Ebola” on a handbag and other accessories.

A look at the Hong Kong protesters

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By XUANCHEN FAN

Since Oct. 1, Hong Kong Protesters have been gathered for a rally. Apparently, democratic Hong Kong is not pleased with the current political situation. All of this has gained international and global news media attention.

So, these days, many people have asked me about my opinion toward Hong Kong. And people want to learn what is really going on in Hong Kong.

In my opinion, the citizens in Hong Kong are a little excessive on the political issue. As a financial center in Asia, Hong Kong is abundant and the environment is quite comfortable for living. For students, the University of Hong Kong is one of the best colleges around Asia.

Many Hong Kong residents maintain that Chinese government is not fair to them. The Chinese government in Beijing has overseen Hong Kong since 1997. For example, Disney World originally was planned for Shanghai. However, in an effort to promote Hong Kong’s economic development, it was built in Hong Kong instead. Shanghai is only now, 17 years later, getting its own Disney park.

Some economists even calculated that if the government used the money which develop Hong Kong to develop the north of China, the north of China would be as advanced as Shanghai nowadays.

Taking a parallel comparison with Macao, another special administrative region of China, Macao was impoverished at the beginning of 21st century. Few people in Macao were capable to use telephone back that time. Nonetheless, they focused on development and constructions for Macao’s economy.

Even though the Chinese government never did anything special for Macao, people never heard that Macao residents were dissatisfied with government policies. Now, Macao is the “Asian Las Vegas” and succeeding by its own efforts.

Standing with a citizen’s point of view, Hong Kong residents should be satisfied with the current situation and use their vigor for something meaningful instead of rallies on the streets.

Drag queens more visible in today’s culture

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By XUANCHEN FAN

A drag queen is a man who dresses like a woman. The purpose of dragging is a self-expression, performance and entertainment. Years ago, people regarded this as a sort of perverted behavior. However, nowadays, drag queens have become a non-mainstream culture.

There are many drag artists in different fields and they vary greatly in dedication, from professionals in movies to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and even vary within the same country.

While drag is very much associated with gay men and gay culture, many artists are famous for being a drag queen. RuPaul Andre Charles is the one of the most representative drag queen artists.

RuPaul is noted among drag queens for his indifference toward the gender-specific pronouns used, like he said: “You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee; I don’t care! Just as long as you call me.”

RuPaul also joined in an American reality competition television series –– RuPaul’s Drag Race. He plays the roles of host, mentor and source of inspiration for this series.

All contestants for the show must be 21 years of age or older. They may have any sexual orientation, although most contestants to date have been gay men.

David Bowie is the most representative drag queen musician. He is known for his distinctive voice as well as the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work. In his music video, he always dress like a woman to present a different inner part of himself.

Even in China’s famed Peking opera, there is a Dan character similar to a drag queen. Peking opera is a form of traditional Chinese theater which combines music, vocal performance and dance. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty and is regarded as one of the culture treasure of China. The Dan refers to any female role in Peking opera and all Dan roles were played by men.

Should we download music for free?

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By XUANCHEN FAN

U2’s new album has been posted on the iTunes store for free download. The new album “Sounds of Innocence” is free to the more than 500 million iTunes customers in 119 countries.

U2's new album (source: from pitchfork)

U2’s new album (Source: from Pitchfork)

Maybe it is surprising, but more people are willing to buy the new edition CD after downloading the new album online.

At the beginning, iTunes was free to download music. Then musicians begin to sue Apple, saying that people are freely downloading the music and no one is willing to buy their edition or even deluxe edition CD.

However, given the situation with U2’s new album, artists should reconsider the methods of selling albums. People realized that the free download music and the edition CD are different. The latter one possesses the possibility of increasing in value and has collection value.

Moreover, the deluxe edition CD’s acoustic quality is much better. Music we are able to  download for free possesses poorer acoustic quality. It is like a sales strategy to encourage consumers to listen to better quality music.

The free download music is also a sale strategy that can help more people get to know the band. Taking U2 as an example, U2 is a famous band around America and Europe. Nonetheless, this iTunes free download experience enable more Asian know this band.

Listen to the U2’s new album at http://www.apple.com/U2/.

Trends from London Fashion Week 2014

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By XUANCHEN FAN

The Scottish question may be the biggest issue in Great Britain right now, but on London’s other side, people are enthralled in the fashion world. During Sept. 12-16, London collected a mountain of brands for Fashion Week 2014.

And the news media are present, telling us what is new and hot. As with previous years, the week is dominated the main fashion trends for the upcoming year. Let’s take a look at items that caught the eye of fashion journalists:

Trainers

Trainers are always popular and they’re always comfortable. This year, trainers appeared on the catwalks of Burberry and Temperley. Burberry Prorsum tried its best to prove that trainers are good with everything, even dresses. And Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer and chief executive, used a nostalgia denim jacket with collaged chiffon dresses to match the trainers, which is creative and stylish.

School

Anya Hindmarch showed clutch bags with a pencil cases as an accessory. Meanwhile, Christopher Kane showed off her latest school uniforms. London is a city famous around the world for its school uniforms. They are fashionable and still classical and always catch designers’ eyes.

Venn diagram curves

Among the best of Christopher Kane, Jasper Conran and Stella McCartney, you can find the semi-circles of overlapping colors. This type can also be found in the New York Fashion Week, which showed during earlier this month.

Denim jackets

Demin jackets are very common and almost everybody has one in the closet. Christopher Bailey nipped them in at the waist on the Burberry Prorsum show. And Bailey matched it with dresses, which is cool and a little show off.

Leather

This theme happens in every fashion week. Now it is Mulberry’s turn to present this cutie.

Compared to the used London fashion week, this one is more vivid. Designers fully used colors to highlight the the variable clothes. And as I mentioned above, the elements in the fashion week, which contains school, leather and ancient style, attracted mounts of people to London.

Apple’s new iPhone 6 debuts

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By XUANCHEN FAN

The new iPhone 6 was finally shown to the world on Tuesday of this week. Pre-orders start on Sept. 12.

Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 1.58.14 AMThe iPhone 6 is 4.7 inches diagonally and 6.9 mm wide.

The iPhone 6 Plus is 5.5 inches diagonally and 7.1 mm wide.

Moreover, the iPhone 6 Plus has a full 1080p HD display than a 720p HD display than iPhone 6 which apple calls it Retina HD.

The iPhone 6’s Wi-Fi speeds are up to three times faster than those of the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 6 also has faster LTE than the iPhone 5s. Some details on the landscape is also improved, like, some apps, mail, and weather.

Apple also advanced its iPhone camera. The all-new feature on the camera called Focus Pixels, which has an eight megapixel iSight camera, a 1.5u pixel sensor and a f/2.2 aperture lens. Apple says, “That’s a nerdy way of saying, we’ve made the iSight camera a lot better.”

The new iPhone’s body is larger and more rounded edges make the sizes feel good. And Apple CEO Tim Cook maintains that the new appearance make it more comfortable for people to hold it. However, many people argue than the new look make the iPhone 6 looks ugly.

Every time, Apple makes new products, a side of people argue that the products are worse than before and Apple’s creation begins to decline. But Apple’s product is still the best-selling around the world and iPhone 6 is the best among the telephones nowadays.

New iPhones are available in gold, silver, and space grey, and are available in 16 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB capacities. The iPhone 6 pricing starts at $199, while the iPhone 6 Plus pricing starts at $299.