The 2019 Year of the Pig, starting on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year which falls on the 5th of February, is cause for celebrating the inestimable qualities of the domestic pig, a creature that features prominently in Chinese history, culture, the economy and, above all, cuisine. … Read

China Heritage foreshadows the 2019-2020 Year of the Pig 己亥豬年 with a New Year’s card designed by Callum Smith. Here, we use the sheathed bronze Pig’s head from Ai Weiwei’s ‘Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads’ to:

Reflect on the mainland Chinese regime of censorship and guided opinion that enters its seventieth year in 2019;

Recall the detention of the artist-writer Ai Weiwei in 2011 (see A View on Ai Weiwei’s Exit) and the plight of victims of state repression;

Remember people in- and outside China who, through their words and deeds, reject attempts to 鉗口結舌 qián kǒu jié shé — ‘seal mouths and knot tongues’; and,

Reconsider 2019, a year of historical commemoration, anniversaries and mourning.

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Dog Days (X)   We conclude our series of Dog Days, serialised over that past year in China Heritage and featured in New Sinology Jottings, with a poem about a humble animal whose cruel fate contributed to greatness.… Read