The Resurgence of China’s Criminal Underworld: Assessment and Explanation

Based upon a database compiled by the author, this presentation provides an overview of the development of China’s criminal underworld during the past two decades and a quantitative assessment of its current state. Through examining the organized criminal groups, this presentation assesses the hardcore of China’s criminal underworld mafia-style criminal syndicates and its greater base, … Read more

Asian-Americans in the Current Media

In the last decade, there have been so many changes in terms of Asians and Asian-Americans working in network television and the commercial cinema; this is a move that has been both unprecedented and inevitable, as it signals the ways in which television production has been atomized, with the advent of cable and the multiplicity … Read more

Simultaneous Interpretation: Past and Present

United Nations Senior Interpreter Jeffrey Tao will help shed some light on the mysteries surrounding the somewhat esoteric field of simultaneous interpretation. He will provide some historical perspective on the birth of the profession in the aftermath of the Second World War; describe the kinds of individuals the field has attracted over the years and … Read more

Costume Drama and the Transformation of Chinese Primetime TV

A wave of costume drama serials began to dominate dramatic programming in Chinese primetime television in the mid 1990s. Such drama serials featured historical figures and events of glorious bygone dynasties. The trend climaxed in the late 1990s and the early 2000s with the saturation of palace drama set in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), what … Read more

Conversation on American Relief in South Asia

At the suggestion of Executive Vice Chancellor Selma Botman, AAARI was invited to participate in the CUNY’s response to the tsunami disaster that struck South Asia. As different experts from CUNY are beginning the brainstorming process to generate a relevant and comprehensive plan to help rebuild the region, AAARI is taking the initiative to reach … Read more