Hồ Chí Minh, Truman and the “Lost Opportunity” (Part I)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=476skwHLcnE&feature=youtu.be This video is the result of a month or so of a lot of work spent trying to learn how to use a DSLR camera, a Zoom h4n audio…
Circus Problems and the Colonizer-Colonized Convergence in Late Colonial Burma
I recently came across some images from the 1930s that were advertising “giraffe-necked women.” Apparently in the 1930s there were Padaung women from Burma who were put on display at…
Making Traditional Music Cool in Sarawak
Lamenting the loss of tradition is something that you hear all around the world, but there are some places that succeed in keeping the traditional world alive. The way they…
Tạ Chí Đại Trường and Historical Norms
In early 1976, a book by South Vietnamese historian Tạ Chí Đại Trường was the subject of a long critique in the journal, Historical Research (Nghiên cứu lịch sử). The…
Documenting the Destruction of Bronze Drums
There are a couple of bronze drums that have been found in the Red River delta that have Chinese characters on them.
One of them records a place name, Huihe zhou/Hồi Hà châu, and the weight of the drum (回河州鼓重兩千百八十二).
“Same Same But Different” Music in Thailand
I haven’t paid much attention to the Thai music scene for a while, but the other day I was looking around at recent music videos and came across the YouTube…
Theo Chân Trần Quang Đức/Following Trần Quang Đức #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxuKdP5u1-Y
History, Bored Students and Chinese Men Without Pants in Vietnam
Every summer when the college entrance exams are held, the Vietnamese media is filled with articles that lament the fact that students are not interested in history. Then every time…
Theo Chân Trần Quang Đức/Following Trần Quang Đức #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpij0vMiulI
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about…