The Last Days of Old Beijing
VIEW EVENT DETAILSEvening presentation by Michael Meyer, author
Drinks reception: 6:30 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Close: 8:00 pm
In The Last Days of Old Beijing, author Michael Meyer takes us into the daily life of Dazhalan, Beijing's oldest neighborhood of courtyard homes and dense lanes (hutong). For three years, he shared one of these homes — minus heat, toilet and hot water — with several Chinese families as their lives and the neighborhood underwent tremendous change, and also destruction. Meyer’s book answers the question: What does it take to protect architectural and cultural heritage in Beijing and beyond, and at what cost? Book sale at program.
Michael Meyer first came to China in 1995 as a Peace Corps volunteer, and for several years worked as a Beijing-based journalist, contributing to The New York Times, TIME, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post and many more. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and residencies at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, as well as the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center. He is on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Center. His next book, In Manchuria: Journeys Across China's Northeast Frontier, will be published this year.