Rime and Persue in China

Persue's new blog

Persué brings us news of his recent trip to the Wall Lords jam in China, and more.

pronunciation key: per-sway, not per-soo. 

Graffiti in Hong Kong

This PopMatters article discusses the Wall Lords event in the greater context of HK graffiti over the years.

GRL's Powderly and other 5 American detainees released in Beijing

China apparently relented before the 10 days' sentence was up. They'll be in L.A. today.

Political protests get Americans arrested in China

BoingBoing broke the bad news this morning:

Beijing: Five US activists detained after lighting up "Free Tibet" LED Throwies banner near Olympics site and
[Graffiti Research Lab's] James Powderly detained in Beijing for planning pro-Tibet "L.A.S.E.R. Stencil" art protest

Internationally known artist, technologist and co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab, James Powderly, was detained in Beijing early this morning while preparing to debut a new work and technology of protest, the L.A.S.E.R. Stencil. According to a ?twitter? message received today by Students for a Free Tibet at approximately 5 pm Beijing Standard Time, Powderly had been detained by Chinese authorities at 3 am. His current whereabouts remain unknown.

[...]

Students for a Free Tibet has staged six protests in Beijing over the last two weeks, placing the issue of Tibet?s occupation front and centre as China hosts the Olympic Games. The protests have included a dramatic banner hang near the Bird?s Nest Stadium; a display of Tibetan flags near the Bird?s Nest just before the opening ceremony began; a symbolic die-in at Tiananmen Square; a protest by a Tibetan woman with flags outside Tiananmen Square; a blockade of the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park; and ?Free Tibet? banner hang outside the CCTV headquarters. Thirty-seven members and supporters have been detained and deported, not including those detained today.

James and the other protesters who have been arrested deserve our support and respect. Let's hope they all get to come home soon as some other protesters have.

ZON

"Zon is an unique interactive massively multiplayer online role playing game for learning Mandarin Chinese.

"By interacting in the Zon environment you will be exposed to Chinese language and cultural knowledge in a new and exciting way. Everything that you do in the game is another chance to learn new words, phrases and cultural info about China. Never before has learning Chinese been more fun.

"The nice part about Zon is it is all browser based. No client applications are required, so you can log in and play from school, work or home. Zon is a persistant environment, so when you log off, the world still keeps going.

"As you progress through the game, your character graduates from the tourist class, to a resident of Zon and then finally a citizen, where you can own businesses and create new content for the world. "

[The website is coy about pricing, but it seems to be free for a while anyway. It's in beta still. A university project of some kind. - Susan]

Graffiti in Shanghai