Asia Blog

Long-Awaited 'Art of Gandhara' Exhibition Draws NY Times Rave

Asia Society Museum’s John H. Foster Curator for Traditional Asian Art Adriana Proser (R) works with art handlers installing a piece in the exhibition The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara. (Bill Swersey/Asia Society)

Arts

Asia Society Museum's latest exhibition, The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara, which opened August 9 after a delay of several months, receives a gratifying burst of publicity with a rave review in today's New York Times.

August 11th by Jeff Tompkins | Comments

China Unable to Keep Handle on Ai Weiwei's Twitter

Ai Weiwei's Twitter page shows him to be back in political action.

Arts

Chinese dissident artist has broken his government-mandated Twitter silence to speak out against the detainment of his friends.

August 10th by Bryan Le | Comments

Asia Society's Rachel Cooper Honored at Manhattan Iftar Dinner

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer hosted the Iftar Dinner which recognized Asia Society's Rachel Cooper on August 9, 2011.

Arts

Asia Society Director for Performing Arts and Programs Rachel Cooper was honored with an award yesterday at the Fourth Annual Iftar Dinner, a celebration of Ramadan that brings together leading members of New York's Muslim community.

August 10th by Bryan Le | Comments

Podcast: Dr. Geet Chainani, American Doc, Speaking Sindhi, in the Flood Zone

Dr. Geet Chainani at a medical camp in a village near Dadu, Sindh. (Beena Sarwar)

Policy

Dr. Geet Chainani is an American born in India, raised in New York City, trained as a medical doctor in the Caribbean, treating families in the tent cities of the flood waters of the Indus River, upstream from Karachi.

August 10th by Christopher Lydon | Comments

Podcast: Mohammed Hanif and the Explosive Case of Karachi

Arts

Mohammed Hanif is the pride of literary Pakistan these days, but he is warning us that the arts and liberated media in Pakistan all live in something of a bubble.

August 9th by Christopher Lydon | Comments

Karabell: Developing Countries Key to Curing Economic Woes

Indian stockbrokers react as they monitor share prices during intraday trade at a brokerage firm in Mumbai on August 5, 2011. Indian shares plunged by nearly four percent to its lowest point in over a year, triggered by US economic worries and the European debt crisis which have spooked world markets. (Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images)

Business

Asia Society Associate Fellow Zachary Karabell took stock of Thursday's market crash in The Daily Beast:

August 5th by Dan Washburn | Comments

Ai Weiwei: 'I Was Like a Little Soybean'

UPDATE: Ai Weiwei appears to be testing his limits again. The artist — supposedly banned from Twitter by the Chinese government — sent out two short tweets today (or someone using his account sent them out). The first tweet said 问个好吧。(Let's say hi.) and the second tweet said 嗯，抱抱。安 (Ah, hugs. Peace.).

August 5th by Dan Washburn | Comments

Dairy Queen and Ikea, China-Style

Lifestyle

Chinese knockoffs of well known brands and items, often called shanzhai, are nothing new — from phones and game systems to, oddly enough, seeds and eggs — but some rec

August 5th by Bryan Le | Comments

New Music Video: Indonesian Hip Hop in NYC

Arts

In May, Asia Society brought the Jogja Hip Hop Foundation — the foremost hip hop group in Indonesia — to New York to perform their unique blend of ultra-modern hip hop beats and protest lyrics, mixed with traditional Javanese spells, wishes and poetry.

August 4th by Rachel Rosado | Comments