Chris Elford
@siegeweather.bsky.social
I work on medieval Chinese literature, calligraphy, book history, and material culture. PhD in Chinese, UC Berkeley. Professor. Translator. Teacher of Mandarin and Classical Chinese. Go/围棋/바둑 try-hard.
You can spawn as police or boss (see below) or both (management).
June 20, 2025 at 2:29 PM
You can spawn as police or boss (see below) or both (management).
I nearly passed out…
April 19, 2025 at 11:27 PM
I nearly passed out…
Also caught the reopening of the Shanghai Antique Books Store 上海古籍书店. Really impressive relaunch. It is essentially a new bookstore and they now have *everything*. Cool to be squeezing past people in the aisles of a bookstore that is floor to ceiling texts on premodern China.
April 19, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Also caught the reopening of the Shanghai Antique Books Store 上海古籍书店. Really impressive relaunch. It is essentially a new bookstore and they now have *everything*. Cool to be squeezing past people in the aisles of a bookstore that is floor to ceiling texts on premodern China.
Since I asked, I’ll go. This Japanese language CC character/word dictionary is one of my favorite works to browse for the sheer quantity of information packed into each entry. Great on 虚字, clear, uncrowded historical maps and charts. 1800 pages, but easy to hold in one hand and extremely durable.
April 7, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Since I asked, I’ll go. This Japanese language CC character/word dictionary is one of my favorite works to browse for the sheer quantity of information packed into each entry. Great on 虚字, clear, uncrowded historical maps and charts. 1800 pages, but easy to hold in one hand and extremely durable.
If you’re winding up at AAS and still have room in your luggage, Prologue Bookshop on High Street just down from the convention center has a great selection, including lots of translated fiction. #AAS
March 16, 2025 at 5:01 PM
If you’re winding up at AAS and still have room in your luggage, Prologue Bookshop on High Street just down from the convention center has a great selection, including lots of translated fiction. #AAS
Based on this sentence alone, I’ve decided this article is about Junji Ito’s “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” and I won’t be convinced otherwise.
January 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Based on this sentence alone, I’ve decided this article is about Junji Ito’s “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” and I won’t be convinced otherwise.
I think no person alive more fully embodied what it means to live the life of the mind for me than David Lynch. Thank you for teaching me how to catch the big fish. RIP
January 16, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I think no person alive more fully embodied what it means to live the life of the mind for me than David Lynch. Thank you for teaching me how to catch the big fish. RIP
Heart grew three sizes browsing Book People’s @bookpeople.bsky.social (new? newish?) “World Literature in Translation” section yesterday. What other indie bookstore’s have a section dedicated to literature in translation? Let’s make a list.
November 27, 2024 at 4:38 PM
Heart grew three sizes browsing Book People’s @bookpeople.bsky.social (new? newish?) “World Literature in Translation” section yesterday. What other indie bookstore’s have a section dedicated to literature in translation? Let’s make a list.
One of the funniest tweets of all time imo
November 21, 2024 at 7:58 PM
One of the funniest tweets of all time imo
A charming little book. The author spent several years retracing the Tang poet Du Fu’s 杜甫 (712-770) travels across contemporary China, taking 120,000 photos in the process. The text is his diary of visits to sites eerily unchanged and many more lost or changed forever.
November 19, 2024 at 4:25 PM
A charming little book. The author spent several years retracing the Tang poet Du Fu’s 杜甫 (712-770) travels across contemporary China, taking 120,000 photos in the process. The text is his diary of visits to sites eerily unchanged and many more lost or changed forever.
Valued friends and colleagues burst into my office and slam my laptop shut as I try to make this dril tweet the epigraph for a thing I’m writing on the Classical Chinese commentarial tradition.
August 23, 2024 at 12:20 AM
Valued friends and colleagues burst into my office and slam my laptop shut as I try to make this dril tweet the epigraph for a thing I’m writing on the Classical Chinese commentarial tradition.
6x Gold medalist in Stair Ascent. Hardwood specialist. Iconic bushy tail. World record for footfalls per stair. “Traction and control are overrated. All you need is pure, unadulterated fear of strangers.”
August 5, 2024 at 12:30 PM
6x Gold medalist in Stair Ascent. Hardwood specialist. Iconic bushy tail. World record for footfalls per stair. “Traction and control are overrated. All you need is pure, unadulterated fear of strangers.”
Oracle bone script calligraphy is fun because you can be writing out a cool-sounding phrase and then you get to draw a cute little silkworm and then it’s back to writing.
July 23, 2024 at 2:02 AM
Oracle bone script calligraphy is fun because you can be writing out a cool-sounding phrase and then you get to draw a cute little silkworm and then it’s back to writing.
As long as this is the Biden camp’s response to SCOTUS going completely rogue, the “Joe is too old” stuff will stay at the top. The campaign has the power to make headlines and shape the narrative with bold actions and positions on major issues. They won’t do it.
July 3, 2024 at 1:45 PM
As long as this is the Biden camp’s response to SCOTUS going completely rogue, the “Joe is too old” stuff will stay at the top. The campaign has the power to make headlines and shape the narrative with bold actions and positions on major issues. They won’t do it.
Picked up this classic for $1 at the local used book barn. 1975 paperback edition, but you already knew that just by looking at the cover design 😍 #booksky
June 27, 2024 at 1:20 PM
Picked up this classic for $1 at the local used book barn. 1975 paperback edition, but you already knew that just by looking at the cover design 😍 #booksky
As a meme. (And before anyone pounces, my actual position is that we should always be teaching both canonical authors/works and marginalized authors/works while being careful never to assist the forces of annihilation, which are intent on sweeping *all of it* into oblivion.)
June 24, 2024 at 4:02 PM
As a meme. (And before anyone pounces, my actual position is that we should always be teaching both canonical authors/works and marginalized authors/works while being careful never to assist the forces of annihilation, which are intent on sweeping *all of it* into oblivion.)
Quote is from “Beauty and Her Sisters in the Nineteenth Century and After” in this volume. I have it via ILL. It costs $95 and I swear to god is printed on office inkjet printer paper with bargain bin ink. Several pages are glued together at the top. Oxford University Press folks!!
June 23, 2024 at 8:49 PM
Quote is from “Beauty and Her Sisters in the Nineteenth Century and After” in this volume. I have it via ILL. It costs $95 and I swear to god is printed on office inkjet printer paper with bargain bin ink. Several pages are glued together at the top. Oxford University Press folks!!
Essay by Jonah Siegel makes an interesting point: if you hold that critiquing the canon is a mode of resistance to the powers that be, you must grapple with the fact that *our* elites no longer go to art museums, see plays, attend film festivals, or read books. Moreover, they hate the people who do.
June 23, 2024 at 8:25 PM
Essay by Jonah Siegel makes an interesting point: if you hold that critiquing the canon is a mode of resistance to the powers that be, you must grapple with the fact that *our* elites no longer go to art museums, see plays, attend film festivals, or read books. Moreover, they hate the people who do.
“Sauté onion and garlic in gasoline until fragrant.”
May 24, 2024 at 2:49 PM
“Sauté onion and garlic in gasoline until fragrant.”
post a PERFECT album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice In chains
May 22, 2024 at 12:02 PM
post a PERFECT album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice In chains
