the Beijinger

                                 A Nazi meeting in Buenos Aires, 1938

Just after the close of WWII, a group of Nazi scientists began construction on a top-secret project on a remote island in Argentina.

The goal of “Project Huemul” was to produce limitless nuclear fusion energy – and along with it, enough power and nuclear weapons to rule the world.

With Beijing's air pollution casting a dark gray shroud over our city sky this summer, its hard not to wonder what all that particulate matter, ozone, and other contaminates are doing to your body. We asked Dr. William Chickering, one of four American Board-certified Emergency Physicians at BJU, a few questions about it. Dr. Chickering has lived in Beijing almost four years after time on the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia. He has practiced for prolonged periods in Guatemala, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, and Korea.

David Quammen has a gift not many people do: the ability to understand scientific writing. What makes Quammen special though, is he then turns all that jargon into words that are comprehensible, compelling explanations of complicated ideas. The bridge he builds between the scientific community and the rest of us is a facinating one to cross, and lucky for us, he's coming to visit!

Long before embarking on a career in photojournalism that would include winning a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the collapse of the Soviet Union, before winning the 1989 Picture of the Year award for his coverage of China, before photographer Liu Heung Shing had ever picked up a camera - he was attending grade school in Fujian province. Years later, in 2008, Liu put his lifetime of experience photographing China to work editing China: Portrait of a Country. The huge book of photographs, taken by 88 Chinese photographers, gives a visual history of the country from 1949 to the present day, and has been hailed by many as one of the best books on the “New China” ever published. Liu will be taking part in the sold out Committing Journalism session at the Bookworm's International Literary Festival The Beijinger asked Liu about the book, and about his extraordinary career. You can browse our March issue (online version here) for interviews with many of the other authors appearing at the festival. You can browse the events here or on the Bookworm's official Literary Festival page.

All photos and photo captions below are taken from Liu Heung Shing's book, China: Portrait of a Country.

In April 2009, British photojournalist Sean Gallagher traveled 4000km through Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang documenting China’s struggle with desertification. An exhibit of “China’s Growing Sands” will be opening on July 4, at 6pm at Café Zarah, on 42 Gulou Dongdajie (8403 9807) and will run through August 5. The opening, which is open to all, will include a 15-minute multimedia presentation by Gallagher. The Beijinger asked Gallagher a few questions about his work:

the Beijinger talked to Steve Zdarsky, China’s “Godfather of Snowboarding,” about how Beijing’s own Nanshan Open grew to be one of Asia’s biggest events on the Ticket to Ride (TTR) tour.

If you’re looking for a hot idea for a Valentine’s Day date, check out the stage production of the 80’s classic movie Dirty Dancing being put this weekend. The sexy, cheesy, 80s dance extravaganza is sure to be an original date idea as well as an undeniable good time.

 The Beijinger talked to producer Anna Grace, choreographer/actress Stephanie Azuelos (Baby), and actor Gordon Kutil (Johnny) to get a better idea of what the expect from the proformance.

How close is your production to the original movie?

It’s fitting that a woman with a name that evokes bright red and an ambrosial aroma would find her calling as a Chinese chef. Meet Fuchsia Dunlop. The spirited young Englishwoman has a healthy obsession with Chinese cuisine, and a talent for writing about it.

Before I met Ray Plummer, who manages the Beijing International Ice Hockey League, he sent me a one-line e-mail in response to coming to one of their games: “Drink lots of beer when watching.”