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Kung Fu Panda Ascends the Mountain: Ekphrasis
Kung Fu Panda is of course steeped in Chinese culture. One day I wondered what the Chinese thought about the film. It turned out that (despite assertions of cultural appropriation by a small minority) for most there was both appreciation and wonder. The movie became at the time, the most successful animated movie ever in China. Wu Jiang, the President of the China Peking Opera Company said: “The film’s protagonist is China’s national treasure and all the elements are Chinese, but why didn’t we make such a film?” Certamente Kung Fu Panda è ricco di cultura cinese. Un giorno mi sono domandato cosa i cinesi pensassero del film. Risulta che…
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Which came first: pasta or noodles?
Plot spoiler. Its noodles. Lovers of Italy, doff your cap to China! … Well, at least that’s how I was going to start this article. That was before I started reading Jen Lin-Liu’s delightful book: On the Noodle Road. She’s not so sure the story is that simple. Like Marco Polo, she travels the Silk Road, but in reverse. She is on a 21st century quest to trace the journey of noodle from East to West. No one more determined could be imagined. And, her quest is personal. Travelling through cultures that straddled East and West, I figured, might reconcile what I’d felt were opposing forces in my life; maybe I’d find others…
