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Thread: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Wuhan Pneumonia

  1. #271
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    I predicted this 12 years ago when I started this thread...

    ...but I didn't foresee it happening this way.

    It's Official: China Overtakes North America as World's Biggest Box Office in 2020
    9:43 PM PDT 10/18/2020 by Patrick Brzeski


    Courtesy of Beijing Culture
    'My People, My Homeland'


    As the American entertainment industry ponders whether the pandemic has done permanent damage to moviegoing, China's theaters have returned to strong earnings.
    China is officially home to the world's biggest movie box office.

    Movie ticket sales in China for 2020 climbed to $1.988 billion on Sunday, surpassing North America's total of $1.937 billion, according to data from Artisan Gateway. The gap is expected to widen considerably by year's end.

    Analysts have long predicted that the world's most populous country would one day top the global charts. But the results still represent a historic sea change: North America has been the global box office's center of gravity since the dawn of the motion picture business.

    It only took a pandemic to accelerate the transition.

    Thanks to China's effective containment of COVID-19, the country’s tens of thousands of theaters are operating at 75 percent of usual seating capacity, while filmgoers are demonstrating little hesitation about returning to the multiplex.

    During the recent weeklong National Day holiday, running Oct. 1-8, China's cinemas sold $586 million worth of tickets. Local blockbuster My People, My Homeland brought in $19.1 million over just the past weekend, lifting its total earnings to $360 million after 18 days. China also has produced the world's biggest hit of 2020, WWII epic The Eight Hundred, with $460 million and counting. (Hollywood's biggest global earner this year is Sony's Bad Boys for Life at $426.5 million.)

    The state of the North American box office, meanwhile, could scarcely be more dire. With theaters in many major markets still closed due to the United States' dangerously high COVID-19 infection rates, much of the industry's chatter has turned to the question of whether the damage done to the domestic theatrical film model might become permanent.

    The major studios have postponed all of their biggest tentpole releases — such as Marvel's Black Widow and the James Bond film No Time to Die — until at least early 2021. AMC Theatres, North America's largest cinema chain, warned last week that it could run out of cash by the end of this year.

    Liam Neeson's action flick Honest Thief, from Open Road, topped the North American box office over the past frame with just $3.7 million — results that were considered respectable given the state of cinemas.

    Some industry insiders also worry that escalating political turmoil between Washington and Beijing could soon undercut Hollywood's longterm foothold in China, the one market where sales are again strong.

    In the seemingly distant days of 2019, North America was still on top with combined annual tickets sales of $11.4 billion, with China trailing in second place at $9.2 billion. China's 2020 win comes with a COVID-19 asterisk — the question is whether the new order will prove permanent.

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  2. #272
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    What will Chinatown look like after the pandemic ends?

    There's an embedded vid but it says exactly what this article says.

    'It's a disaster:' SF Chinatown merchants, denied loans, speak out after 100-year-old staple forced to close
    This comes as news that Far East Café, a staple in Chinatown for more than a hundred years, announced they will close next week.
    By J.R. Stone
    Tuesday, December 22, 2020 11:17PM

    Business owners in San Francisco's Chinatown are speaking out, demanding that the city do more to help them. This comes as news that Far East Café, a staple in Chinatown for more than a hundred years, announced they will close next week.

    SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Business owners in San Francisco's Chinatown are speaking out, demanding that the city do more to help them.

    This comes as news that Far East Café, a staple in Chinatown for more than a hundred years, announced they will close next week amid the coronavirus crisis.

    "That's really sad to see that Far East is closing because it's one of the best restaurants in Chinatown," says Domingo Ortiz who works nearby.

    And there is a fear in this neighborhood that more businesses will close if help doesn't come soon.

    "For Rent" and "For Sale" signs already sit in the windows of vacant storefronts in the once-bustling area.

    Denis Xenos, the owner of Denis' Country Kitchen in Lodi, California, claims to have found a loophole to legally keep his small business open against the state's stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic.

    Sam Chen of Magical Ice Cream tried for a small business loan, but was denied.

    "I do try like four times but I couldn't get it," says Chen.

    Those across the street at New Age Camera tried for a loan. They were denied as well.

    "Over here it is a disaster," says Ortiz.

    Eva Lee of the Chinatown Merchants Association says city leaders need to help fight for these businesses by helping with grants and loans, or work to partner them with big companies.

    "What do we want our city to look like? Are we going to be like a typical suburbia with just Targets and big stores left? Is that what we want? The fabric of our city is being torn apart right now," says Lee.

    And as the city landscape changes, lawmakers in Washington D.C. are arguing about whether to give $600 or $2,000 to individuals.

    It's money that wouldn't go to businesses, but would go to those who work in these locations and are barely getting by.

    "Like I told my wife last night, anything the amount helps even if it's 600 dollars," says Ortiz.
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  3. #273
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    Thai herbal treatment

    Will there be anti-herbalists like the anti-vaxxers?

    Thailand Clears Use of Herbal Medicine for Covid-19 Treatment
    By Suttinee Yuvejwattana
    December 29, 2020, 10:02 PM PST

    Thailand’s health ministry approved the use of a herbal plant extract to treat early stages of Covid-19 as a pilot program amid a flareup in the coronavirus outbreak in the Southeast Asian nation.

    Andrographis Paniculata, commonly known as green chiretta, will serve as an alternative treatment to reduce the severity of the outbreak and cut treatment costs, the ministry said in a statement Wednesday. The treatment will be available in five state-owned hospital initially, it said.

    Thailand reported 250 new cases on Wednesday, taking the nation’s total to almost 7,000, and a government official said the rate of increase in local transmissions was alarming and urged people to stay at home to prevent the virus from spreading further. The government has also banned large gatherings in high-risk areas, said Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesperson for the national Covid-19 response center.

    The herbal treatment will be on a voluntary basis for those in the 18-60 age group with minor symptoms and should be within 72 hours of confirming infections
    The extract from the plant, known as Fah Talai Jone in Thai, can curb virus and reduce severity of inflammation, ministry says citing studies
    Human trials showed patient conditions improved within three days of the treatment without side effects if the medicine is administered within 72 hours of testing positive
    Separately, Thai Food and Drug Administration said it’s ready to register Covid-19 vaccines
    FDA has opened special channel for the registration to ensure speedy process
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  4. #274
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    Our newest article - Free from KungFuMagazine.com

    "In China, COVID-19 has been contained for a long time now" READ Rebuilding the Northern Shaolin Temple: Part 17: Beijing Shaolin Wushu School Meets North Shaolin Monastery on Panshan by Greg Brundage



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  5. #275
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    Hkiff

    Jan 12, 2021 10:20pm PT
    Hong Kong Film Festival Makes Plans for Hybrid Edition


    By Patrick Frater


    Courtesy of Celestial Tiger Entertainment
    The Hong Kong International Film Festival, delayed last year by the coronavirus outbreak, has announced plans to return to its normal Springtime slot. But with a lingering virus impact, the 2021 edition will be a hybrid, combining both in-theatre and online screenings and audience-engagement events.

    Executive director Albert Lee said that a hybrid 45th edition would allow audiences to connect through an online platform without sacrificing the irreplaceable big-screen cinematic experience. The event will run for 12 days, April 1-12, 2021.

    Selectors expect to have confirmed the full program by the end of February. They have scheduled a line-up announcement for March 9, 2021.

    “The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the international film festival circuit last year. Many festivals, including our very own HKIFF44, were either cancelled or forced to move online,” said Lee.

    “With the pandemic showing few signs of abating, we recognize the proactive need to confront the challenges by adding an online component to our festival for the first time.” Besides screenings, the festival will offer online streaming of some of the seminars, post-screening talks, and other events.

    “The HKIFF Society will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and comply with every health measure mandated by the government. Public safety remains our paramount concern,” Lee said.

    The Hong Kong FilMart and Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, which sometimes overlap with the festival, will this year both be held earlier, in March. An all-digital FilMart will run March 15-18, 2021, and HAF operate March 15-17, 2021.

    Hong Kong has endured several surges of the virus over the past year. The current fourth wave is the most serious in terms of infections, but has caused relatively fewer deaths. Cinemas and most entertainment facilities in the city are currently shut.

    A total of 612 cases was recorded in the 14 days from Dec. 29, 2020 to Jan. 11, 2021, including 555 local cases, of which 173 were from unknown sources. Since the beginning of the outbreak, Hong Kong has recorded 9,344 infections and 160 fatalities.
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  6. #276
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    reclosed

    Culture China 19:43, 13-Jan-2021
    Kung fu shrine Shaolin Temple and other temples close again amid COVID-19
    CGTN


    China's kung fu shrine Shaolin Temple at Songshan Mountain in central China's Henan Province has again closed its door since Wednesday amid COVID-19 concerns as its neighboring province Hebei is facing a new wave of infections and has reported more than 300 new cases since January 2.

    The management committee of the Songshan Scenic Area, where the temple is located, announced on Tuesday that public visits to Shaolin Temple and other religious places in the area would be suspended from January 13 until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    According to the announcement, other scenic spots in the area, including Songyang Academy, Luya Waterfall and Songyue Pagoda, are still open with stern epidemic control measures in place.

    Visitors are required to wear masks, scan the "health code" and get their body temperature checked before entering the scenic area.


    White Horse Temple in Luoyang, Henan Province, China. /CFP

    Other famous ancient temples in Henan, such as the White Horse Temple in Luoyang City and Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng, also followed suits to close their doors suspending public religious activities from Wednesday to prevent mass gatherings and cross infections.

    The move came as multiple cities in China have reported new COVID-19 cases related to public gatherings over the past weeks.

    The world-famous Shaolin Temple, like many other scenic spots and cultural sites in China, closed in late January 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19. The 1,500-year-old temple then reopened to the public last June after the five-month closure.

    (Cover: Shaolin Temple is located at Songshan Mountain in central China's Henan Province. /CFP)
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  7. #277
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    Chinatown blues

    CORONAVIRUS CALIFORNIA
    San Francisco's Chinatown clings to hope amid COVID-19 pandemic

    Small businesses and restaurants in the historic neighborhood are banding together. But they need your help.
    By Lauren Gee
    Monday, January 18, 2021 5:15PM

    San Francisco's Chinatown was one of the first neighborhoods to feel the impact of the coronavirus pandemic so we visited the neighborhood to see how businesses are surviving.

    SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- If you've ever been to San Francisco's Chinatown on any weekday afternoon, pre-pandemic, you'd be struck by the vitality of the community. Residents weaving through the tourists, the sound of children throwing poppers onto the ground, workers unloading boxes of fresh produce onto crowded sidewalks while locals compete to find the best deals.

    Now, many businesses in America's oldest Chinatown are at risk of closing. We spent a day in Chinatown to find out how the neighborhood is really doing.

    Our day started as we emerged from the underground parking lot at Portsmouth Square where we were first shocked to see dozens of people.

    It wasn't the normal sight of seniors huddling together playing cards and chess, or dancers practicing their Chinese fan dance routine. Instead, it was a sea of people wearing face masks and shields as they waited to get a COVID-19 test.

    Grant Avenue, Chinatown's most popular corridor for tourists, was empty. Entire blocks of businesses were adorned with closed signs, colorful toys inside souvenir shops were locked behind metal gates and the red lanterns dangling in the wind were the only moving objects in sight.

    "It feels depressed, you know, I mean, if there's no other way to describe it, it feels depressed and it doesn't feel like Chinatown," Malcolm Yeung, executive director of Chinatown Community Development Center, explained.

    San Francisco was one of the first cities in the nation to implement the shutdown, which prompted empty streets across town, but Chinatown Merchants Association's Advisor Betty Louie believes the neighborhood was hit even earlier because of xenophobia.

    What started as attacks, to empty stores, then a major decline in tourism, it has been a detrimental year for the community, Malcolm Yeung explained.

    "Even back then (pre-pandemic), I would say we have about 930 storefronts in Chinatown. I would be surprised if even 150 were operational right now," he added.


    Since the pandemic started, Eastern Bakery owner Orlando Kuan has moved his pastries outside for people to see on Grant Avenue.
    KGO-TV

    We spotted Eastern Bakery owner Orlando Kuan sitting on a plastic fold-out chair under his shop's awning with a table of freshly-baked treats.

    "Chinatown is almost dead," he explained.

    Even as the oldest bakery in Chinatown, Kuan says he lost at least 70% of sales since the shutdown started. It's his loyal customers who rave about the bakery's coffee crunch cake, moon cakes and Smackles (crispy savory cookies) that keep him going.

    "It's nothing like before," Yeung said. "I think that Chinatown and particularly Grant Avenue is like a ghost town right now."

    To prove just how empty the neighborhood is, we went to the most crowded shop we could think of -- Chinatown's iconic Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. The storefront is tucked in an alley, but you can't miss it because on any afternoon, you'd smell the sweet scent of cookies and see visitors lining out the door waiting to squeeze through for a peek at how fortune cookies are made. This time, we missed the alley and the store was empty.

    "It's just terrible, miserable and we have no business," Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company owner Kevin Chan explained.

    Now, Chan says he can't even afford to turn his machine on because no one is buying his fortune cookies. Since the pandemic, Chan says he's lucky to see 10 customers per day -- they're all local.


    "This business is 15 years here. I can't afford to shut it down because it's a legacy," said Kevin Chan, owner of Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in San Francisco's Chinatown.
    KGO-TV

    As we walked through the streets with Chinatown's Community Director Malcolm Yeung, we realized the neighborhood wasn't all that quiet. Shopkeepers shouted to one another from across the street, locals who recognized Yeung exchanged their greetings and, he pointed out a silver lining amid the pandemic -- community.

    Following the announcement of one of Chinatown's oldest and most iconic restaurants permanently closing, the community's resilience was on full display.

    Since the shutdown of indoor dining, Far East Cafe's 100-year-old hand-carved wooden chandeliers, prohibition-era dining booths and lazy Susan's have been collecting dust. Owner Bill Lee and his daughter, Kathy Lee, described how strange it was to stand in a dark space that was once a hub for family banquets, wedding celebrations and huge association gatherings. Bill Lee shared that he has less than 30 orders a day and the latest ban on outdoor dining was "the nail on the coffin."

    Longtime customers, neighboring business owners and even Supervisor Aaron Peskin plead with Lee to hold off on closing so they could secure $1.9 million, a relief package that would fund CCDC's Feed and Fuel Chinatown program, which pays local restaurants to make meals for neighbors living in single-room-occupancy hotels.

    Business owners in San Francisco's Chinatown are speaking out, demanding that the city do more to help them. This comes as news that Far East Café, a staple in Chinatown for more than a hundred years, announced they will close next week.

    The Lees said they're taking a break and hope the wait will give them time to reboot and figure out how to continue moving forward. "The community, they support us 100%."

    "I think the pandemic has really brought us much closer together," Merchant Association Advisor Betty Louie said. "We're all helping each other as much as possible."

    The closed streets program was another way the neighborhood was able to connect with one another and boost business. Louie is optimistic that the program brings a newfound perspective to the area and entices new businesses with lowered rent.

    As Lunar New Year soon approaches, the CCDC's executive director said it's going to be devastating since no parades or street festivals are scheduled. Chinatown businesses generate up to a third of their annual revenue during the holiday. "That's why the help from the city, the donors, from whoever....to keep the restaurants open, the immigrants employed is more critical now than ever," Yeung said.

    "The only way we'll survive is to have people come and support our small businesses and they won't know what it's like if they don't come and visit and they'll be pleasantly surprised," Louie adds.

    Louie was right -- we were prepared to see closed storefronts and quiet streets, but what we didn't expect to find was the generosity and resilience of business owners who refused to give up. Though Chinatown may look like a ghost town, the community is coming together and most importantly, clinging to hope.

    "When Chinatown reopens for business, it will be a great place to come."

    To help donate to Feed and Fuel Chinatown program, click here.

    Treat yourself during quarantine with Eastern Bakery's homemade pastries, artisan chocolates from Jades Chocolate, or delicious fortune cookies from Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company.

    ABC7 News' Alix Martichoux contributed to this report.
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  8. #278
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    Coronavirus (COVID-19) Wuhan Pneumonia

    I met Paul. Subitai introduced me. He was the first UFC fighter that I met in person (aside from Subitai of course). He was feckin huge.

    Paul Varelans, UFC pioneer, dies at 51 after COVID-19 battle
    By Dan Martin January 17, 2021 | 12:45pm | Updated



    Paul Varelans, an Alaska native nicknamed “The Polar Bear” at 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds, was diagnosed last month. His death was confirmed by MMA Junkie and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The 51-year-old Varelans had been in a medically induced coma.

    His UFC career began in 1995 and he reached the final of the UFC 7 tournament in Buffalo. His last fight was in 1998. Varelans also played college football at San Jose State.

    Even before his COVID digansosis last month, Varelans chronicled his battle online.

    “I have never felt so sick in my life, going to get tested today,” he wrote on Dec. 10.

    He later announced his positive diagnosis, saying “[I] feel like hell.”

    “Best way I can compare the feel of COVID-19 in my experience is, it’s like fighting a guy who specializes in kidney punches,” Varelans wrote in mid-December. “They never stop coming.”

    He was soon placed in a coma.
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    Wuhan No-monia

    Wuhan returns to normal as world still battling pandemic
    By EMILY WANG FUJIYAMA
    yesterday


    Residents practice tai chi at a park in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. A year after it was locked down to contain the spread of coronavirus, the central Chinese city of Wuhan has largely returned to normal, even as China continues to battle outbreaks elsewhere in the country. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

    WUHAN, China (AP) — A year ago, a notice sent to smartphones in Wuhan at 2 a.m. announced the world’s first coronavirus lockdown, bringing the bustling central Chinese industrial and transport center to a virtual standstill almost overnight. It would last 76 days.

    Early Saturday morning, however, residents of the city where the virus was first detected were jogging and practicing tai chi in a fog-shrouded park beside the mighty Yangtze River.

    Life has largely returned to normal in the city of 11 million, even as the rest of the world grapples with the spread of the virus’ more contagious variants. Efforts to vaccinate people for COVID-19 have been frustrated by disarray and limited supplies in some places. The scourge has killed more than 2 million people worldwide.

    Traffic was light in Wuhan but there was no sign of the barriers that a year ago isolated neighborhoods, prevented movement around the city and confined people to their housing compounds and even apartments.

    Wuhan accounted for the bulk of China’s 4,635 deaths from COVID-19, a number that has largely stayed static for months. The city has been largely free of further outbreaks since the lockdown was lifted on April 8, but questions persist as to where the virus originated and whether Wuhan and Chinese authorities acted fast enough and with sufficient transparency to allow the world to prepare for a pandemic that has sickened more than 98 million.

    Wuhan has been praised for its sacrifice in the service of the nation, turning it into a sort of Stalingrad in China’s war against the virus, commemorated in books, documentaries, TV shows and florid panegyrics from officials including head of state and leader of the Communist Party Xi Jinping.

    “We think Wuhan is a heroic city. After all, it stopped its economy to help China deal with the pandemic. This is a noble act,” said resident Chen Jiali, 24, who works at an internet shopping company.

    China on Saturday announced another 107 cases, bringing its total since the start of the pandemic to 88,911. Of those, the northern province of Heilongjiang accounted for the largest number at 56. Beijing and the eastern financial hub of Shanghai both reported three new cases amid mass testing and lockdowns of hospitals and housing units linked to recent outbreaks.

    Authorities are wary of the potential for a new surge surrounding next month’s Lunar New Year holiday and are telling people not to travel and to avoid gatherings as much as possible. Schools are being let out a week early and many have already shifted to online classes. Mask wearing remains virtually universal indoors and on public transport. Mobile phone apps are used to trace people’s movements and prove they are both virus-free and have not been to areas where suspected cases have been found.

    Since the end of the lockdown, Wuhan has largely been spared further outbreaks, something residents such as chemistry teacher Yao Dongyu attribute to heightened awareness resulting from the traumatic experience of last year.

    “At that time, people were very nervous, but the government gave us huge support. It was a very powerful guarantee, so we got through this together,” said Yao, 24. “Since Wuhan people went through the pandemic, they’ve done better in personal precautions than people in other regions.”

    China has doggedly defended its actions in the early days of the outbreak, saying it helped buy time for the rest of the world while pushing fringe theories that the virus was brought to the city from outside China, possibly from a laboratory in the U.S.

    After months of negotiations, China finally gave permission last week for the World Health Organization to send a team of international experts to begin investigating the virus’ origins. They are currently undergoing two weeks of quarantine.

    A panel of experts commissioned by the WHO criticized China and other countries this week for not moving to stem the initial outbreak earlier, prompting Beijing to concede it could have done better.

    Meanwhile, in Hong Kong in southern China, thousands of residents were locked down Saturday in an unprecedented move to contain a worsening outbreak in the city.

    Hong Kong has been grappling to contain a fresh wave of the coronavirus since November. More than 4,300 cases have been recorded in the last two months, making up nearly 40% of the city’s total.

    Authorities said in a statement that an area comprising 16 buildings in the working-class Yau Tsim Mong district will be locked down until all residents have been tested.
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    The Healer

    RAWdance’s multisensory ‘The Healer’ is remade for the pandemic era
    Rachel Howard January 26, 2021Updated: January 26, 2021, 7:38 pm


    RAWdance co-director Katerina Wong (center).
    Photo: Elena Zhukova
    When RAWdance Co-Artistic Director Katerina Wong’s dance “The Healer” was first set to premiere almost one year ago, it was to be an immersive sensory experience. Choreographed to honor Wong’s aunt, a registered nurse who also practiced traditional Chinese medicine, “The Healer” was designed to have the audience walk into ODC Theater alongside the dancers, welcoming all with incense blown by paper fans, and inviting viewers to take deep qigong breaths in their shared space.

    But a week before opening night, COVID-19 shut down San Francisco. Six months later, when RAWdance regrouped to see what the company might present online in 2021, “The Healer” — which had been one of three world premieres scheduled on that scuttled 2020 program — stood out as the dance to resurrect in this new moment.

    Now “The Healer” is set to premiere via live stream on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30, with very different logistics but with the same — though newly intensified — intent.

    Patrons who ordered the Sensory Offerings package for “The Healer” will not just sit down in front of their screens, but will first open up teabags and ginger candies and paper fans sent ahead of time in the mail. Women chosen as mentors by Wong will start the online evening by showing their own rituals like removing their shoes and lighting candles. The performance will begin with breathing exercises, even if the participants cannot share the same air, and the 30-minute prerecorded dance will be followed by a live Q&A session with a healing practitioner, with different healing modalities featured at each showing.

    “It’s about finding a way to live in this moment and stay in these difficult emotions,” Wong said, speaking from her home in the Mission just after the insurrectionist mob attacked the nation’s Capitol, as she prepared for a day of rehearsing her dancers over Zoom. “It’s about letting these emotions flow through each of us so we can learn their lessons.”


    Katerina Wong (left) and Stacey Yuen in “The Healer.”
    Photo: Hillary Goidell
    She hastens to explain that “The Healer” has been developed “from a beginner mind-set.” Wong, whose father emigrated from south China to Montreal and then Brooklyn, was raised Jewish by her mother and did not learn about traditional Chinese medicine much as a child. Her beloved aunt Szuson Wong was so busy traveling the world to lecture about Chinese healing practices that Katerina rarely got to see her until her aunt’s last years, when her aunt was diagnosed with a rapidly spreading cancer. Szuson Wong elected to forgo many Western treatments and chose a holistic treatment center in Reno, where her niece visited frequently and saw how her “stern and specific” aunt navigated the tensions between approaches to health, making sure her herbal remedies were compatible with prescriptions.

    It was only after her aunt died two years ago that Wong began seriously researching the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, discovering, she says, “these concepts exist in all of us whether we’re aware of it or not.”

    The work she’s created for four female dancers physically explores these concepts. For instance, Wong and her dancers worked with Chinese medicine’s system of pressure points and meridians to shift their partnering from habitual Western modes of contact at the waist and the hands, instead mindfully registering sensations at the wrists and ankles, or behind the knees or neck.

    The project presented a welcome field of new exploration for the prolific Bay Area composer Daniel Berkman, who has practiced tai chi since high school. His commissioned score draws on the six healing breath sounds of qigong to ask, he said, “How can we make breath into a percussive score?”

    An incorrigible experimenter with world instruments who often plays on a 21-stringed West African cousin of the lute called the kora, Berkman also delighted in discovering a Chinese version of a Japanese mouth organ called the sho to use in “The Healer.”

    “It makes a bigger and grander sound that’s intense,” he said.

    He also reveled in the challenge of incorporating audio from a 2012 lecture Szuson Wong gave at a conference titled “Wisdom From the Origins.” “The sound quality of the recording was iffy,” he said, “but the way she got everyone in the room so engaged was inspiring.” So rather than disguise the sound quality, he worked with it raw as part of the breath texture of the piece.


    Stacey Yuen (left), Juliann Witt, Katerina Wong and Michaela Cruze at a pre-COVID work-in-progress showing for “The Healer.”
    Photo: Hillary Goidell
    The audience may have to experience all this in their individual homes, but after nine months apart and a careful quarantine, the four dancers came together to rehearse and film at ODC Theater. RAWdance member Stacey Yuen, who began creating the very earliest version of “The Healer” with Wong in such different circumstances almost two years ago, was relishing the physical contact.

    Wong “creates such a space of openness and dialogue and community,” Yuen said. “Delving back in has been a healing process after all this time and turmoil.”

    “The Healer”: RAWdance. Available to stream 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29; 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30. $15-$100. www.odc.dance/TheHealer

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    Our newest web article

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  12. #282
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    no singing

    Tokyo Olympic Games 2020
    Olympic organisers to ban singing in silent Tokyo Games
    Competitors must take Covid test 72 hours before departure
    Told not to use public transport on arrival in Tokyo

    The first version of a playbook of Covid virus safety rules organisers say will ensure the Tokyo Olympic Games can be held from July. Photograph: Du Xiaoyi/AFP/Getty Images
    Justin McCurry in Tokyo
    Wed 3 Feb 2021 07.46 EST

    The organisers of the 2020 Olympics are planning a silent Games in Tokyo, with bans on singing and chanting among a list of restrictions officials say will protect athletes, staff and the public from coronavirus.

    The IOC’s first “Covid playbook”, published on Wednesday, is aimed at sports federations and technical officials, but similar measures designed to prevent the Games from becoming a superspreader event are expected to apply to athletes – and possibly spectators – when the Olympics open on 23 July.

    The playbook says visitors should “support athletes by clapping and not singing or chanting”, while athletes will be subject to testing a minimum of once every four days while they are in Tokyo. All visitors will be required to present proof of a recent negative test upon arrival in Japan, but vaccination will not be a condition of participating in the Games, which were postponed for a year last March as the pandemic began its spread across the globe.

    Athletes and officials will not be permitted to use public transport without permission, must also wear face masks when appropriate, and practice social distancing. Exceptions will be made for when athletes are eating, sleeping or outside.

    Despite speculation the postponed Games could be called off as a result of the pandemic, the IOC’s executive director, Christophe Dubi, said he was confident the guidelines would ensure the safety of everyone involved. “The health and safety of everyone at the Olympic and Paralympic Games are our top priority,” he said. “We each have our part to play. That’s why these playbooks have been created – with the rules that will make each and every one of us a sound, safe and active contributor to the Games.”

    Dubi added that Tokyo 2020 “will be remembered as a historic moment for humanity, the Olympic movement and all those contributing to their success”.

    Craig Spence, of the International Paralympic Committee, said the world knew much more about the virus – and how to contain it – than it did when the Games were postponed. “The thousands of international sports events that have taken place safely over the last year have given us valuable learning experiences,” he said.

    “Combining this new knowledge with existing knowhow has enabled us to develop these playbooks, which will be updated with greater detail ahead of the Games.”

    Detailed guidelines for broadcasters, athletes and the media will be released in the coming days.

    While a decision on whether to allow fans to attend is not expected for a few months, anyone watching the events will be told to refrain from singing or shouting and to show their support by applauding instead.


    A man stands in front of a countdown clock for the Tokyo Games on Wednesday. Photograph: Koji Sasahara/AP
    Athletes and officials will be banned from visiting bars, restaurants and tourist spots in Tokyo and will only be permitted to travel on official transport between the venues and their accommodations. The playbook warns them they could be ejected from the Games for serious or repeated violations of the rules.

    “We draw to your attention that risks and impacts may not be fully eliminated and that you agree to attend … at your own risk,” the playbook says. “We trust that these measures are proportionate to mitigate the above-mentioned risks and impacts and we fully count on your support to comply with them. Non-respect of the rules … may expose you to consequences that may have an impact on your participation … [and] your access to Games venues.

    “Repeated or serious failures to comply with these rules may result in the withdrawal of your accreditation and right to participate.”

    Japan has been hit less severely by the pandemic than many other comparable countries, with fewer than 6,000 deaths recorded. But a recent surge in cases last month forced the government to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and other hard-hit regions that is due to last until early March and to close its borders to non-resident foreigners.

    There is growing concern that an influx of 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as large number of sponsors, officials and other Games-related staff will spread the virus. Opinion polls show that a large majority of Japanese people do not want the Olympics to go ahead.

    The playbook was released as medical officials in Tokyo warned that doctors and nurses treating Covid-19 patients would not have the time to volunteer at the Olympics. Satoru Arai, the director of the Tokyo Medical Association, said staff were under too much pressure to even consider signing up for Olympic duty.

    “No matter how I look at it, it’s impossible,” he told Reuters. “I’m hearing doctors who initially signed up to volunteer say there’s no way they can take time off to help when their hospitals are completely overwhelmed.”

    Games organisers and the Tokyo metropolitan government have asked the association to secure more than 3,500 medical staff for the event.

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  13. #283
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    Saving Chinatowns

    Lunar New Year celebrations this year aim to help struggling Chinatowns
    In New York City, grassroots groups are using the holiday to support businesses that lost 50 percent to 70 percent of revenue since the pandemic began.

    Finnie Fung, the owner of Green Fish Seafood Market in Oakland, Calif., is featured in the recipe zine "Have You Eaten Yet?"Good Good Eatz
    Feb. 5, 2021, 9:37 AM PST
    By Victoria Namkung

    Lunar New Year celebrations usually mean colorful lion dance parades, thumping drumbeats, popping firecrackers and massive feasts with family and friends. While the holiday will certainly look different in the Covid-19 era, wishes for health, wealth and good fortune are louder than ever in America's struggling Chinatowns.

    The Year of the Ox begins Feb. 12, and organizations, grassroots groups and volunteers throughout the country are using the Lunar New Year to raise money for Chinatown businesses hit especially hard since the onset of the pandemic. Creative initiatives and virtual events are using art, storytelling, culture and community to highlight the people behind the businesses that make Chinatowns beloved places for countless Asian Americans.

    New York City's Welcome to Chinatown, founded by friends and Manhattan Chinatown residents Victoria Lee and Jennifer Tam, partnered with the Abrons Arts Center and Wing on Wo's W.O.W. Project to commemorate Lunar New Year with "From Chinatown, With Love," a photo calendar shot by Mischelle Moy, featuring products from 18 Manhattan Chinatown businesses, such as Lucky King Bakery and Bangkok Center Grocery.

    "We want people to see the Chinatown we see as locals," Tam said. "Chinatown is so much more than a place for tourism or gathering."


    IMAGE: The calendar 'From Chinatown, With Love'
    The calendar "From Chinatown, With Love" features photos of 18 Manhattan Chinatown businesses.Mischelle Moy
    The classic Chinese-style calendar, which will be given to customers who spend $20 at participating businesses, is accompanied by a neighborhood Lunar New Year gift guide filled with local insider tips.

    Tam said her nonprofit has raised more than $650,000 for Manhattan's Chinatown since it was founded 10 months ago.

    Welcome to Chinatown is also selling a Lunar New Year Collection of merchandise benefiting six Manhattan Chinatown businesses and a nonprofit.

    It's estimated that businesses in the area have lost 50 percent to 70 percent of their revenue since the pandemic — and the subsequent xenophobia — began in January 2020.

    Alice Liu is a second-generation proprietor of Grand Tea & Imports, which got a grant from Welcome to Chinatown's Longevity Fund in September.

    "It was really exciting and offered a lot of hope, because being a Chinatown small business, we've been closed out of a lot of mainstream funding," said Liu, whose family business is featured in the calendar and the merchandise collection. "Having [a relief program] made for us, by us and administered in a way that small businesses in Chinatown are used to creates a lot more trust."

    Another New York-based group, Send Chinatown Love, has created an illustrated map of Asian American-owned restaurants and gift shops for its Lunar New Year Crawl through Chinatowns in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

    Other organizations have also taken design-forward approaches to supporting local businesses.

    Save Our Chinatowns and Good Good Eatz teamed up to produce "Have You Eaten Yet?" a recipe zine and red envelope bundle to benefit Yuen Hop Noodle Co., Cam Anh Deli and Green Fish Seafood Market in Chinatown in Oakland, California.


    IMAGE: 'Have You Eaten Yet?'
    "Have You Eaten Yet?" — a recipe zine created by Save Our Chinatowns and Good Good Eatz — benefits businesses in Oakland's Chinatown.Courtesy of Save Our Chinatowns
    Daphne Wu of Oakland, a Save Our Chinatowns volunteer who conceptualized, wrote and edited the zine, said, "A recipe zine is a way to inspire folks to go out and support these businesses and also get to know the owners a bit more personally and intimately."

    The printed copies sold out within two hours of the zine's launch Jan. 25, but digital copies are available with an online donation.

    Wu said people feel deep connections to Oakland Chinatown because "there are so few places in the world where us third-culture kids can feel at home and a sense of belonging."

    But even with the support of grassroots initiatives like Save Our Chinatowns, which raised $40,000 last year, Chinatowns in San Francisco and Oakland must fight to stay open because of Covid-19-related closings and racially motivated fears.

    Business owners like Anh Nguyen of Cam Anh Deli, who arrived in Oakland in the early 1990s as a refugee from Vietnam, are dedicated to moving forward.

    "A lot of people stepped up — it's just incredible," said Nguyen, who contributed a recipe for lemongrass tofu to the zine, which was illustrated by six artists, including Save Our Chinatowns founder Jocelyn Tsaih. "I want to tell people Chinatown is a safe place to be and we will go on and continue to serve the neighborhood and community as long as we can."

    Traditional fundraising events are also underway for Lunar New Year.

    The 43rd-anniversary L.A. Chinatown Firecracker 5/10K, Kiddie Run, Bike Ride & Paw'er Dog Walk on Feb. 27 is being held virtually this year, giving participants the flexibility to complete their events at the time and date of their choosing.

    It is one of the largest and longest-running Lunar New Year charity runs in the nation, and 100 percent of net proceeds are reinvested locally.

    Similarly, the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center is holding a free Lunar New Year Virtual 5K/1 Mile Run/Walk, "We Love Boston Chinatown," Feb. 12-15.

    The organization encourages entrants to run or walk in Chinatown and patronize its spots in the process. Prizes will include gift certificates from Boston Chinatown restaurants to encourage spending in the community.

    Social service agencies are also using digital spaces to encourage donations — and visits — to Chinatown.

    The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, or PCDC, plans a virtual Chinese New Year celebration Feb. 26 to benefit programs for Chinatown.

    PCDC's Ai Love Chinatown campaign, which was launched in August to support small businesses affected by Covid-19, has produced a video series that spotlights Asian American-owned businesses.

    "We wanted to bring that personality to people's attention to show there's real people standing behind these businesses, and they're hurting, but they're still taking the time to take care of their customers and workers," PCDC Project Manager Lamei Zhang said.

    Tam of Welcome to Chinatown said the immense nostalgia and love people have for the historic neighborhood is why people are eager to volunteer and donate money to help.

    "We always say we hope when we have kids of our own, that they get to know the Chinatown that we grew up experiencing," Tam said. "People can't fathom the idea of Chinatown disappearing."
    I went through SF Chinatown early in the pandemic last year, before the lockdowns, and I've never seen it so barren...like a ghost town.

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  14. #284
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    This one is kinda funny.

    CHINA'S FUMING OVER CANADIAN DIPLOMAT ORDERING PRINTED 'WU-HAN' T-SHIRTS WITH WU-TANG CLAN LOGO
    The Canadian Embassy has apologised for the 'Wu-han' T-shirts with the Wu-Tang logo

    DAVE TURNER 2 FEBRUARY 2021


    China is fuming over a Canadian diplomat reportedly ordering T-shirts with the word 'Wu-Han' printed in what looks like the Wu-Tang Clan logo.

    Those familiar with Wu-Tang will know the hip hop group's logo resembles a bat, the animal that is rumoured to have started the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

    Images of the order - which Canada has apologised for circulated on Chinese social media site Weibo. The order was apparently made last year, says the Canadian embassy.

    Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: “We are very shocked by this and have lodged representations with Canada, asking for a thorough investigation and a clear explanation."

    The Canadian embassy told Reuters: “The T-shirt logo designed by a member of the Embassy shows a stylized W, and is not intended to represent a bat. It was created for the team of Embassy staff working on repatriation of Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020. We regret the misunderstanding."

    Although Wu-Tang Clan have nothing to do with the T-shirts, the group's ethos stems from Shaolin, a style of Chinese kung fu. Their name and debut album 'Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)' takes inspiration from 1983 Hong Kong martial arts film Shaolin and Wu Tang.

    Read this next: Netflix to make a film about Martin Shkreli buying Wu-Tang Clan's one-off album

    Wu-Tang's RZA was nominated for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music For a Documentary Series or Special category at the Emmys last year, for his work on Hulu show Wu-Tang: An American Saga.

    Despite COVID-19 originating in Wuhan - and the city making up a high amount of deaths in China - life is more or less back to normal there. Back in August, a packed pool party with thousands in attendance was thrown.

    Watch our interview from 2019 with Wu-Tang Clan below.


    Dave Turner is Mixmag's Commercial Content Editor, follow him on Twitter
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  15. #285
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    So saddened to here this.


    Lumpinee Stadium To Close Permanently
    News / By George Gordon
    News recently broke that the famed Muay Thai stadium, Lumpinee, will likely not be re-opening. This is thought to be a part of military reform plans. The stadium came under scrutiny back in March 2020 for proceeding with an event, despite a government lockdown being implemented just a few days prior. The stadium is likely to be converted into a sports centre instead.

    Lumpinee, along with Raja****ern stadium are two of the most historic and prestigious Muay Thai arenas in Bangkok. The stadium moved in 2014 to a new site, to accommodate more spectators. Stadium title holders are considered to be some of the most elite fighters in the sport and it is a huge goal of many fighters to achieve such status. Previous Lumpinee stadium champions include Saenchai, Anuwat and the only foreigner to win the title twice, Damian Alamos.

    The sport of Muay Thai has struggled immensely during the Coronavirus pandemic. With fighters not earning to support their families, gyms all over the world closing and now potentially a pivotal stadium closing, it is paramount now more than ever that fans come together and support fighters, gyms and promotions where possible to keep the sport growing.

    ONE Championship have done exceptionally well to keep events flowing regularly, and events will slowly but surely return across the rest of the world, but with a lack of finances to accommodate for fighters’ isolation and minimal revenue due to no fan attendance this will have long-lasting impacts. Support your gyms, keep training where you can, and tune in for your favourite fighters when they return


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