mrg
@mrg.name
Just some guy with a camera.
Also, I've got a {Chinese, classical Chinese, Italian, Japanese} dictionary and I'm not afraid to use it.
Also, I've got a {Chinese, classical Chinese, Italian, Japanese} dictionary and I'm not afraid to use it.
OPHANIM אוֹפַנִּים (Optical Photon and Antimatter Imager) is a 3800 megapixel camera used in the AEgIS αἰγίς high-energy physics project at CERN. In this blog post The Owlet of Minerva tries to pick apart the scientific, biblical Hebrew, medieval European and Buddhist iconography of the instrument.
November 10, 2025 at 7:16 PM
OPHANIM אוֹפַנִּים (Optical Photon and Antimatter Imager) is a 3800 megapixel camera used in the AEgIS αἰγίς high-energy physics project at CERN. In this blog post The Owlet of Minerva tries to pick apart the scientific, biblical Hebrew, medieval European and Buddhist iconography of the instrument.
Reposted by mrg
Very proud to have contributed a few chapters to this book on the past, present, and future of neon in HK. The process showed me how it’s so much more than just sappy sentimentality to mourn HK’s lost lights — and that despite everything… neon’s not dead.
Consider backing our Kickstarter campaign ⬇️
Consider backing our Kickstarter campaign ⬇️
A Book: Neon Is Not Dead: The Future of a Hong Kong Icon
It's about the rise, fall, and rebirth of Hong Kong’s living light
www.kickstarter.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Very proud to have contributed a few chapters to this book on the past, present, and future of neon in HK. The process showed me how it’s so much more than just sappy sentimentality to mourn HK’s lost lights — and that despite everything… neon’s not dead.
Consider backing our Kickstarter campaign ⬇️
Consider backing our Kickstarter campaign ⬇️
Reposted by mrg
Whenever anyone gives me a ‘head’s up’ my natural inclination is to keep my head down.
November 4, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Whenever anyone gives me a ‘head’s up’ my natural inclination is to keep my head down.
Reposted by mrg
Super useful tool -- "Chronology of Early China: A Radiocarbon Databank for Chinese Archaeology” out here: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Chronology of early China: A radiocarbon databank for Chinese archaeology - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - Chronology of early China: A radiocarbon databank for Chinese archaeology
doi.org
November 3, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Super useful tool -- "Chronology of Early China: A Radiocarbon Databank for Chinese Archaeology” out here: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by mrg
Our new manuscript estimating shares of late Qing degree holders who had kin other than direct patrilineal ancestors who held degrees, and within kin network correlations in degree attainment, based on a new dataset constructed from 同年齿录 and related records. 1/2 osf.io/preprints/so...
OSF
osf.io
November 3, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Our new manuscript estimating shares of late Qing degree holders who had kin other than direct patrilineal ancestors who held degrees, and within kin network correlations in degree attainment, based on a new dataset constructed from 同年齿录 and related records. 1/2 osf.io/preprints/so...
Reposted by mrg
This is my non-Roman Empire
November 1, 2025 at 1:29 PM
This is my non-Roman Empire
Reposted by mrg
Monarchy spiralling downward with sense of inevitability. President Stephen Fry looking increasingly plausible.
October 31, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Monarchy spiralling downward with sense of inevitability. President Stephen Fry looking increasingly plausible.
Reposted by mrg
Contact prints from photos by Frederick J. Foley 傅良圃. These photos were taken in Taiwan; we're guessing in the 1960s. The Ricci Institute has around 85,000 of Foley's photographic negatives that await digitization. They were given to us in 1985.
October 31, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Contact prints from photos by Frederick J. Foley 傅良圃. These photos were taken in Taiwan; we're guessing in the 1960s. The Ricci Institute has around 85,000 of Foley's photographic negatives that await digitization. They were given to us in 1985.
Reposted by mrg
Why does so much of the literature on early agricultural states write as if these sequences of developments are already established and widely agreed upon narratives? Even a Graeber writes as if "as everyone knows." I just need one good "well these bozos over here think X bc Y" lit review.
October 31, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Why does so much of the literature on early agricultural states write as if these sequences of developments are already established and widely agreed upon narratives? Even a Graeber writes as if "as everyone knows." I just need one good "well these bozos over here think X bc Y" lit review.
Reposted by mrg
I added a section to our Frog in a Well Primary Source guide to Korean History with some links to open access copies of volumes with Japanese statistics from colonial Korea - froginawell.net/frog/sources...
October 31, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I added a section to our Frog in a Well Primary Source guide to Korean History with some links to open access copies of volumes with Japanese statistics from colonial Korea - froginawell.net/frog/sources...
Reposted by mrg
@chinabooksreview.com just published my review of Yu Hua's 余华 *City of Fiction*《文城》(2021, tr. 2025).
"Along with other contemporary Chinese works with such graphic violence, Yu’s novel does political work by purging the traumas of China’s bloody 20th century."
chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/30/f...
"Along with other contemporary Chinese works with such graphic violence, Yu’s novel does political work by purging the traumas of China’s bloody 20th century."
chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/30/f...
Yu Hua: Fictional Cities | China Books Review
The bestselling Chinese novelist foregrounds individual suffering in the chaos of modern Chinese history. In his latest novel in translation, gratuitous violence shows the limits of fiction.
chinabooksreview.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
@chinabooksreview.com just published my review of Yu Hua's 余华 *City of Fiction*《文城》(2021, tr. 2025).
"Along with other contemporary Chinese works with such graphic violence, Yu’s novel does political work by purging the traumas of China’s bloody 20th century."
chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/30/f...
"Along with other contemporary Chinese works with such graphic violence, Yu’s novel does political work by purging the traumas of China’s bloody 20th century."
chinabooksreview.com/2025/10/30/f...
Reposted by mrg
FYI: Print copies of my book Jia Zhangke on Jia Zhangke is now on sale for 50% at the Duke University Press website if you use the code: FALL25
October 28, 2025 at 4:47 PM
FYI: Print copies of my book Jia Zhangke on Jia Zhangke is now on sale for 50% at the Duke University Press website if you use the code: FALL25
Reposted by mrg
My favorite use of 嗨：
自嗨 or 自high (“self-high”) 😅
This term started out as an internet slang around 2010 and is now widely used colloquially with a range of meanings—to get excited or hyper by oneself; to amuse or have fun by oneself; being self-indulgent or narcissistic
川普自嗨 Trump “self-high”
自嗨 or 自high (“self-high”) 😅
This term started out as an internet slang around 2010 and is now widely used colloquially with a range of meanings—to get excited or hyper by oneself; to amuse or have fun by oneself; being self-indulgent or narcissistic
川普自嗨 Trump “self-high”
October 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM
My favorite use of 嗨：
自嗨 or 自high (“self-high”) 😅
This term started out as an internet slang around 2010 and is now widely used colloquially with a range of meanings—to get excited or hyper by oneself; to amuse or have fun by oneself; being self-indulgent or narcissistic
川普自嗨 Trump “self-high”
自嗨 or 自high (“self-high”) 😅
This term started out as an internet slang around 2010 and is now widely used colloquially with a range of meanings—to get excited or hyper by oneself; to amuse or have fun by oneself; being self-indulgent or narcissistic
川普自嗨 Trump “self-high”
Reposted by mrg
This may be my new favorite sign. (Seen today while walking around Hechuan.)
October 23, 2025 at 11:58 AM
This may be my new favorite sign. (Seen today while walking around Hechuan.)
A wonderful personal meditation on East Asian literature and how politics seeps into life.
I completely forgot that when I had trouble falling asleep last night I got out of bed and finished a book.
2025 Book #50
The Kobe Hotel: Memoirs by Saitō Sanki a Japanese author most famous for his haiku.
Translated by Masaya Saito
Stories of civilian life from a hotel in WW2 Japan.
2025 Book #50
The Kobe Hotel: Memoirs by Saitō Sanki a Japanese author most famous for his haiku.
Translated by Masaya Saito
Stories of civilian life from a hotel in WW2 Japan.
October 18, 2025 at 7:18 AM
A wonderful personal meditation on East Asian literature and how politics seeps into life.
Reposted by mrg
My theory is imposter Simba. The official story is that Simba miraculously escaped the stampede, went into voluntary exile and returned years later to claim the throne from his usurper uncle. How convenient for the new Lion regime! The truth is that Simba died in the stampede with Mufasa
October 16, 2025 at 9:35 PM
My theory is imposter Simba. The official story is that Simba miraculously escaped the stampede, went into voluntary exile and returned years later to claim the throne from his usurper uncle. How convenient for the new Lion regime! The truth is that Simba died in the stampede with Mufasa
Reposted by mrg
Crunched some interesting data from a 1938 Buddhist book catalogue, 佛學圖書目錄. Of approximately 3467 books listed, nearly 3/4 were woodblock printed works. This old technology remained in widespread use through the modern era. crta.info/wiki/%E4%BD%...
October 14, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Crunched some interesting data from a 1938 Buddhist book catalogue, 佛學圖書目錄. Of approximately 3467 books listed, nearly 3/4 were woodblock printed works. This old technology remained in widespread use through the modern era. crta.info/wiki/%E4%BD%...
Reposted by mrg
interesting discovery... so the "ham" in "Nottingham" or "Birmingham" is not the same "ham" in "Durham". the first group is from Old English "ham" which is homestead. Durham is from Old English "dun" (hill) + Old Norse "holmr" (river island). a river island like Stockholm.
October 13, 2025 at 6:36 AM
interesting discovery... so the "ham" in "Nottingham" or "Birmingham" is not the same "ham" in "Durham". the first group is from Old English "ham" which is homestead. Durham is from Old English "dun" (hill) + Old Norse "holmr" (river island). a river island like Stockholm.
Reposted by mrg
Fifth Digital Appeal to Free Gui Minhai.
Take part in the digital manifestation on October 17 which marks 10 years since Swedish publisher Gui Minhai was kidnapped and imprisoned in China.
Join in standing up for him: internationalpublishers.org/fifth-digita...
Take part in the digital manifestation on October 17 which marks 10 years since Swedish publisher Gui Minhai was kidnapped and imprisoned in China.
Join in standing up for him: internationalpublishers.org/fifth-digita...
Fifth Digital Appeal to Free Gui Minhai – International Publishers Association
This year marks ten years since the Swedish publisher Gui Minhai was imprisoned in China. Join us in standing up for him — and for imprisoned publishers around the world — by taking part in the Swedis...
internationalpublishers.org
October 12, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Fifth Digital Appeal to Free Gui Minhai.
Take part in the digital manifestation on October 17 which marks 10 years since Swedish publisher Gui Minhai was kidnapped and imprisoned in China.
Join in standing up for him: internationalpublishers.org/fifth-digita...
Take part in the digital manifestation on October 17 which marks 10 years since Swedish publisher Gui Minhai was kidnapped and imprisoned in China.
Join in standing up for him: internationalpublishers.org/fifth-digita...
Reposted by mrg
“When an era sheds a speck of dust it might not seem like much, but when it falls upon
the shoulders of an individual it feels like a mountain.” — Fang Fang
This is Banned Books Week, an annual event that celebrates the work of writers whose voices have been suppressed. 1
the shoulders of an individual it feels like a mountain.” — Fang Fang
This is Banned Books Week, an annual event that celebrates the work of writers whose voices have been suppressed. 1
October 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
“When an era sheds a speck of dust it might not seem like much, but when it falls upon
the shoulders of an individual it feels like a mountain.” — Fang Fang
This is Banned Books Week, an annual event that celebrates the work of writers whose voices have been suppressed. 1
the shoulders of an individual it feels like a mountain.” — Fang Fang
This is Banned Books Week, an annual event that celebrates the work of writers whose voices have been suppressed. 1
Reposted by mrg
If your Thursday needs a boost, can I recommend the delightful Jin Shengtan's 金聖嘆 "Thirty-three Nice Things", translated by @bokane.org?
www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
— if that’s not nice, what is?
www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
— if that’s not nice, what is?
What's Good? A Collection of Small Nice Things
Everything is awful, the dynasty is collapsing, and the vibes are fucked. Other people have been here before. Here's a few of Jin Shengtan's favorite things to distract you.
www.burninghou.se
October 9, 2025 at 12:18 PM
If your Thursday needs a boost, can I recommend the delightful Jin Shengtan's 金聖嘆 "Thirty-three Nice Things", translated by @bokane.org?
www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
— if that’s not nice, what is?
www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
— if that’s not nice, what is?
Reposted by mrg
If you're new to the Warring States manuscripts, I published a piece with my colleague Li Yumeng which introduces the *Kongzi said and *Zhongni said manuscripts. And it's open access!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
October 9, 2025 at 2:44 PM
If you're new to the Warring States manuscripts, I published a piece with my colleague Li Yumeng which introduces the *Kongzi said and *Zhongni said manuscripts. And it's open access!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by mrg
The Urboardgame, if you will
The Royal Game of Ur is the world’s oldest playable boardgame!
Played by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia about 4,500 years ago!
It is a two-player race game, the rules of which have been deciphered from a cuneiform tablet.
Game from the Royal Cemetery of Ur. 📷 British Museum
#Archaeology
Played by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia about 4,500 years ago!
It is a two-player race game, the rules of which have been deciphered from a cuneiform tablet.
Game from the Royal Cemetery of Ur. 📷 British Museum
#Archaeology
October 9, 2025 at 11:04 AM
The Urboardgame, if you will
Reposted by mrg
For the Mid-Autumn Festival, I translated the 17th century failson, epicure, and memoirist Zhang Dai's account of the annual Mid-Autumn singing competition on Tiger Hill in Suzhou. www.burninghou.se/p/mid-autumn...
Mid-Autumn, Tiger Hill, Late Ming
"Everyone was perfectly silent, even the mosquitoes."
www.burninghou.se
October 6, 2025 at 5:43 AM
For the Mid-Autumn Festival, I translated the 17th century failson, epicure, and memoirist Zhang Dai's account of the annual Mid-Autumn singing competition on Tiger Hill in Suzhou. www.burninghou.se/p/mid-autumn...
Reposted by mrg
Hong Kong (late 1950's) by Fan Ho.
October 5, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Hong Kong (late 1950's) by Fan Ho.