Kafka in Pieces

Kafka in Pieces
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Kafka in Pieces

Kafka in Pieces

THE UNFINISHED DRAFT OF THE CASTLE, Franz Kafka’s third and final novel, ends mid-sentence. But when the manuscript made its initial entree into the world, the text had been edited into completion. Max Brod, Kafka’s friend and literary executor, who prepared the original 1926 edition, later reflected that his “aim was to present in accessible form an unconventional, disturbing work which had not been quite finished: thus every effort was made to avoid anything that might have emphasized its fragmentary state.” To accomplish this obfuscation of the novel’s incomplete form, Brod redacted nearly a fifth of the text. He eventually thought better of the choice, and in the second edition restored most of what he’d cut—but by then, his success at attracting interest in Kafka’s work had led to its placement on the Nazis’ “List of Harmful and Undesirable Literature.” This prevented the more faithful edition from reaching a wide German audience until the fall of the Reich. Meanwhile, Kafka’s readership grew abroad thanks to the 1930 English translations by Willa and Edwin Muir, who based their rendering of The Castle on Brod’s original edition—presenting the novel not as a fragment, but as a completed whole.

The state in which Kafka left The Castle is representative of the condition of his entire oeuvre. During his life, he published a few stories in periodicals, released one collection of fiction, and prepared another that appeared only posthumously. But he left behind the vast majority of his work incomplete—infamously, with a note beseeching Brod to burn every word. Brod approached the other novels he declined to destroy much as he did The Castle, omitting unfinished chapters from The Trial and altering the ending of Kafka’s first novel, The Man Who Disappeared, which he renamed Amerika. As for the reams of stories and aphorisms, Brod bestowed titles on many pieces that lacked them and amended aborted conclusions.

Over the intervening decades, generations of scholars and translators have contested the comparatively polished Kafka that Brod constructed. The centrality of fragmentation to Kafka’s work was clear at least as early as 1949, when the theorist Maurice Blanchot observed in his book The Work of Fire (later translated by Charlotte Mandell) that “Kafka’s main stories are fragments, and the totality of the work is a fragment.” But in the Anglophone literary world, this revision has been most meaningfully advanced in the last twenty-odd years: for instance, in Mark Harman’s translation of The Castle (1998) and Breon Mitchell’s of The Trial (1999). Poet and translator Michael Hofmann has been another advocate of the rougher-edged Kafka, through his version of Kafka’s first novel, given the compromise title Amerika: The Man Who Disappeared (2004); a collection of Kafka’s stories, Investigations of a Dog: And Other Creatures (2017); and now The Lost Writings.

This new volume collects seventy-four short pieces—few longer than two pages, many unconcluded—curated by Reiner Stach, author of the definitive three-volume biography of Kafka. In his afterword, Stach argues that, though “the fragile, fragmentary quality” of Kafka’s work has been extremely influential, even “caus[ing] us to begin to take the literary fragment seriously,” the writer’s most fragmentary material has remained hidden from view: rarely translated, often out of print, barely read, and thus, even if not completely absent, still fundamentally “lost.” Stach’s claim that we owe our interest in the literary fragment as such to Kafka is a bit bombastically overstated, ignoring a long history from Sappho to Virgil to early literary-philosophical modernists like Kierkegaard; nearly a century before Kafka’s birth, the philosopher Friedrich Schlegel quipped, “Many of the works of the ancients have become fragments. Many modern works are fragments as soon as they are written.” But it’s certainly true that Kafka has been essential to the modernist and postmodernist appreciation of the fragment. Given the lamentable obscurity of so many of his most fragmentary texts, Stach’s and Hofmann’s task is a significant one: to bring an assortment of these pieces, which form what Stach calls the “gigantic base” of the “iceberg” of Kafka’s oeuvre, to the surface.

Though Stach does admit to certain Brodian concessions—he writes that the “selection seeks above all to be accessible,” presenting “highly approachable, ‘readable’ pieces”—The Lost Writings thrillingly foregoes any organizational infrastructure that might help us orient ourselves, from titles to sections to a table of contents. Besides the selections themselves and the afterword, there is only an index of first lines. This minimalist approach submerges readers immediately into Kafka’s world. The very first page fixes us in one of his classic traps: “I lay on the ground at the foot of a wall, writhing in agony, trying to burrow down into the damp earth.”

We might divide the pieces collected in The Lost Writings into gems and shards—the former seemingly conceptually complete, the latter obviously broken-off—each with their own particular kinds of obscurity. Within that scheme, this first text would be a gem; the few sentences that comprise the rest of the tale briefly sketch the scene, unfurling the plight contained in the opening. There’s the narrator as prey, a coach equipped with a driver and dogs already bored with the kill, and a hunter “greedily pinching [the narrator’s] calves.” Most startlingly, there is also a brutal expression of desire thwarted: “athirst, with open mouth, I breathed in clouds of dust.”

This opening parable of doomed impotence stutters into the next—another gem, in which the circumstances and mode are completely transformed, but the essential dynamics of predator and prey are unchanged. Here the narrator assumes the cruel, empowered position occupied by the hunter’s retinue in the first piece. He addresses the ensnared:

So, you want to leave me? Well, one decision is as good as another. Where will you go? Where is away-from-me? The moon? Not even that is far enough, and you’ll never get there. So why the fuss? Wouldn’t you rather sit down in a corner somewhere, quietly? Wouldn’t that be an improvement? A warm, dark corner? Aren’t you listening? You’re feeling for the door. Well, where is it? So far as I remember, this room doesn’t have one.

Absent exits recur throughout the collection, as do impassable doorways, the portal’s useless presence only heightening the atmosphere of entrapment. In a later fragment, a shard, a pack of beasts return home from stealing a drink of water from a pond, only to be chased by punishers wielding whips into “the ancestral gallery, where the door was slammed shut, and we were left alone.” In another, a gem, the narrator inexplicably paces “an averagely large hall softly lit by electric light.” “The room had doors,” he reports, “but if you opened them, you found yourself facing a dark wall of sheer rock barely a hand’s breadth from the threshold, and running straight up to either side, as far as one could see. There was no way out there.”

This same quietly suffocating phrase, “no way out”—a Kafkan fragment in itself—appears in another text, a dialogue between an unnamed interlocutor and a chimpanzee named Red Peter who has been seized from his jungle home by humans and eventually learns to behave like one. The ape is also the narrator of “A Report to an Academy,” one of the few stories Kafka finished and published in his lifetime. In the full story, Red Peter expresses his desire for a “way out” and devotes some time to glossing the meaning of the phrase: “I fear that perhaps you do not quite understand what I mean by ‘way out,’” he tells his audience in Willa and Edwin Muir’s translation. “I use the expression in its fullest and most popular sense. I deliberately do not use the word ‘freedom.’ I do not mean the spacious feeling of freedom on all sides”—leaving us to deduce what sort of comparatively inhibited liberty he seeks instead. In the version in The Lost Writings, a dejected Red Peter recounts the story of his capture, before which, he says, he “hadn’t known what that means: to have no way out.” He goes on to explain that he was contained not in “a four-sided cage with bars”; rather, “there were only three walls, and they were made fast to a chest, the chest constituted the fourth wall.” Everything hinges, it seems, on this fourth wall. In the Kafkan cosmology, three walls are presumed. The frightening tragedy is the way one’s own existence constitutes the final barrier.

The specter of this absent fourth wall haunts The Lost Writings. It returns explicitly in one other fragment, in which the narrator describes the space in which he’s held captive. “It was no prison cell, because the fourth wall was completely open,” he tells us in the first line. Here self-obstruction is expressed not in the character’s actual physical predicament, but in his interpretation of it: the fourth wall’s openness serves only to accentuate that he doesn’t even attempt to break free. In fact, the narrator says it’s for the best that his nudity prevents him from fashioning an escape rope out of garments; given the possible “catastrophic results,” it’s “better to have nothing and do nothing.”

Elsewhere, Kafka finds other ways to represent the structure of self-defeat. In one fragment, the narrator tells of being mysteriously unable to stay with a girl he loves. “It was as though she was surrounded by a ring of armed men who held out their lances in all directions,” he claims at first, but then revises this account: “I too was ringed by armed men, though they pointed their lances backward, in my direction. As I moved toward the girl, I was immediately caught in the lances of my own men and could make no further progress.” Another piece draws the self-abnegation deeper into the speaker, and exhilaratingly accelerates the velocity of its expression. “I can swim as well as the others,” the narrator says, “only I have a better memory than they do, so I have been unable to forget my formerly not being able to swim. Since I have been unable to forget it, being able to swim doesn’t help me, and I can’t swim after all.”

For the most part, the pieces making up The Lost Writings do not offer a new or more richly understood Kafka so much as a concentrated expression of the same dynamics, motifs, and obsessions that occupy his longer and more familiar works. Compressed and largely stripped of the intricacy that distinguishes the latter, these fragments help us appreciate how much of what makes a piece of writing Kafka’s lives at the level of the voice, the situation, the posture, the incident, the line. They also illuminate the fragmentary features of the less fragmented writings. It’s striking how, read one after another, the fractured forms assembled here come to feel not unlike, say, “The Metamorphosis” or The Trial, which, despite their comparative unity and narrative dynamism, follow the same structure as the assemblage that makes up The Lost Writings: each is an episodic progression of predicaments, a succession of foiled aspirations, terrible and sublime.

Appropriately enough, though it goes tactfully unacknowledged in the afterword, the collection is itself a thwarted project. The Lost Writings was originally billed as a collection of pieces all previously untranslated into English, a claim that was revised when other versions in out-of-print volumes came to light. Now the jacket copy modestly asserts that two of the seventy-four pieces have never appeared in English. The shift is likely disappointing for the publisher, and perhaps for readers drawn to novelty and grandeur—but then, Kafka devotees should understand the attraction of botched hopes and modest claims, the shadowy resplendence of an expectation left unfulfilled.

Ultimately, this almost invisible debacle underlines the aura of uncertainty that surrounds Kafka’s work, from the obscurity of its meaning to its erratic publication history. Decades ago, Blanchot glimpsed something of this state of affairs. He opens The Work of Fire by frenetically musing:

Perhaps Kafka wanted to destroy his works, since they seemed to him condemned to increase universal misunderstanding. When we see the disorder in which this work reaches us—what is made known to us, what is hidden, the fragmentary light thrown on this or that piece, the scattering of the texts themselves, unfinished to begin with and split up even more . . . when we see his silent work invaded by the chatter of commentaries, these unpublishable books made the subject of endless publications . . . we begin to ask ourselves if Kafka himself had foreseen such a disaster in such a triumph.

If The Lost Writings has contributed to this legacy of Kafkan confusion, it also serves a powerful clarifying function by defamiliarizing the Kafka we think we know. So much of the past century of Kafka scholarship has been consumed with debates about what to make of his desperate, wounded vision—yearning for an absent God, wrestling with the contradictions of modern Jewishness, cowering in fear of the father or a lover, despairing amid an inscrutable bureaucracy, foretelling the approach of totalitarianism—that it can be easy to take for granted the work’s austere strangeness, as if we’ve already understood the experience of awed impotence Kafka conjures. The journey through The Lost Writings unsettles this confidence not only by introducing us to new or less recognizable expressions of his project, but also by putting us into repeated, immediate contact with Kafka’s own self-doubt, which gleams in every bracketed ellipsis, here placed at the end of each piece that cuts off before the final sentence ends. These marks make visible the fourth wall that is implicit in each work Kafka left in some way unfinished, and even in those whose publication he permitted. It’s not only the characters, but Kafka himself who could find no way out. The Lost Writings helps us linger with him, in his impassable doorways.

(The Baffler)



Saudi Culture Minister Launches Arabic Language Month in China

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)
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Saudi Culture Minister Launches Arabic Language Month in China

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL) Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan launched the Arabic Language Month program in Beijing and Shanghai.

Organized by the academy between March 28 and April 26, the program consists of a series of scientific programs and activities organized in collaboration with several educational institutions to develop Arabic language teaching curricula, improve the performance of teachers, and make it more widely spread.

The program also includes visits and meetings with Chinese universities that offer academic programs in Arabic, and with associations and centers interested in teaching and spreading the Arabic language in China, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.

KSGAAL Secretary-General Dr. Abdullah bin Saleh Al-Washmi said the academy works actively to promote the Arabic language, including through this program that will raise the academy profile and strive to teach Arabic foreign speakers, and train teachers and improve their teaching competencies.

The academy, in cooperation with Beijing Language and Culture University, is scheduled to hold a scientific competition targeting Arabic language learners, for three categories: recitation, storytelling, and Arabic calligraphy.

The program lasts for four weeks, three in Beijing and one in Shanghai, and as part of it, a scientific symposium and two discussion panels will be held, scientific visits will be conducted, as will four training courses for teachers, aimed at developing language proficiency skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), all focusing on employing active strategies in teaching Arabic as a second language.

The Arabic Language Month in China program is part of the "Scientific Programs on Arabic Language Teaching" project supervised by the KSGAAL. Several editions of the program have been implemented in several countries, such as India, Brazil, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia. The academy continues to offer this program as part of its international work at linguistic and cultural levels.

Also on Thursday, the Saudi Ministry of Culture announced the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Award for Cultural Cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China at the King Abdulaziz Public Library branch in Beijing.

The award will foster creative cooperation and further the cultural dialogue between Saudi Arabia and China by introducing the achievements of the two countries to the academic, cultural, media, literary, and artistic communities.

It recognizes the contribution of Chinese and Saudi researchers, artists, linguists, and translators, and offers a grant to winners to support their work. It is bound to enhance collaboration and shared creative production as well.

Following the announcement, Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr and Peking University President Gong Qihuang met to emphasize the university’s pivotal role in furthering cultural collaboration between Saudi Arabia and China.

Prince Bader said: “The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Cultural Cooperation Award is a fundamental pillar for building cultural bridges and boosting ties between China and Saudi Arabia through the arts, literature, and academic research.”

“I am delighted to announce the commencement of the awards, which will celebrate the cultural heritage of our two countries and pave the way for ongoing partnership, encouraging a deeper appreciation and understanding,” he added.

The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Cultural Cooperation Award consists of four main categories: Cultural research and studies, including intellectual, literary, historical, artistic, and social research; artistic and creative works, including literature, visual and musical arts, short films, and technical or scientific creativity; Translations between the two languages, Including ISBN-identified works in the fields of culture, history, literature, and the arts; and the cultural personality of the year, given to one individual from each country who has made an outstanding contribution to culture through creativity, knowledge, and leadership.

Additional categories -- Young Researcher, Young Creator, and Young Translator -- are designed to encourage young Saudi and Chinese people to engage in cross-cultural communication.

Nominations are accepted from Saudi and Chinese individuals and government, private, and non-profit institutions. They can be submitted by completing the nomination form, which will be available on the award website.

The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Cultural Cooperation Award will culminate in an annual ceremony celebrating the two nations' shared cultural talent and the winners in each category.


US Changes How It Categorizes People by Race and Ethnicity in First Revision in 27 Years

An envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a US resident is seen, April 5, 2020, in Detroit. (AP)
An envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a US resident is seen, April 5, 2020, in Detroit. (AP)
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US Changes How It Categorizes People by Race and Ethnicity in First Revision in 27 Years

An envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a US resident is seen, April 5, 2020, in Detroit. (AP)
An envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a US resident is seen, April 5, 2020, in Detroit. (AP)

For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage.

The revisions to the minimum categories on race and ethnicity, announced Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget, are the latest effort to label and define the people of the United States. This evolving process often reflects changes in social attitudes and immigration, as well as a wish for people in an increasingly diverse society to see themselves in the numbers produced by the federal government.

"You can’t underestimate the emotional impact this has on people," said Meeta Anand, senior director for Census & Data Equity at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "It’s how we conceive ourselves as a society. ... You are seeing a desire for people to want to self-identify and be reflected in data so they can tell their own stories."

Under the revisions, questions about race and ethnicity that previously were asked separately on forms will be combined into a single question. That will give respondents the option to pick multiple categories at the same time, such as "Black," "American Indian" and "Hispanic." Research has shown that large numbers of Hispanic people aren't sure how to answer the race question when that question is asked separately because they understand race and ethnicity to be similar and they often pick "some other race" or do not answer the question.

A Middle Eastern and North African category will be added to the choices available for questions about race and ethnicity. People descended from places such as Lebanon, Iran, Egypt and Syria had been encouraged to identify as white, but now will have the option of identifying themselves in the new group. Results from the 2020 census, which asked respondents to elaborate on their backgrounds, suggest that 3.5 million residents identify as Middle Eastern and North African.

"It feels good to be seen," said Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando whose parents are from Iran. "Growing up, my family would check the ‘white’ box because we didn’t know what other box reflected our family. Having representation like that, it feels meaningful."

The changes also strike from federal forms the words "Negro" and "Far East," now widely regarded as pejorative, as well as the terms "majority" and "minority," because they fail to reflect the nation’s complex racial and ethnic diversity, some officials say. The revisions also encourage the collection of detailed race and ethnicity data beyond the minimum standards, such as "Haitian" or "Jamaican" for someone who checks "Black."

The changes to the standards were hammered out over two years by a group of federal statisticians and bureaucrats who prefer to stay above the political fray. But the revisions have long-term implications for legislative redistricting, civil rights laws, health statistics, and possibly even politics as the number of people categorized as white is reduced.

Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, recently alluded to arguments made by people who allege Democrats are promoting illegal immigration to weaken the power of white people. As president, Trump unsuccessfully tried to disqualify people who were in the United States illegally from being included in the 2020 census.

Momentum for changing the race and ethnicity categories grew during the Obama administration in the mid-2010s, but was halted after Trump became president in 2017. It was revived after Democratic President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

The changes will be reflected in data collection, forms, surveys and the once-a-decade census questionnaires put out by the federal government, as well as in state governments and the private sector because businesses, universities and other groups usually follow Washington's lead. Federal agencies have 18 months to submit a plan on how they will put the changes in place.

The first federal standards on race and ethnicity were produced in 1977 to provide consistent data across agencies and come up with figures that could help enforce civil rights laws. They were last updated in 1997 when five minimum race categories were delineated — American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander and white; respondents could pick more than one race. The minimum ethnic categories were grouped separately as not Hispanic or Hispanic or Latino.

The interagency group that worked on the latest revisions noted that categories are sociopolitical constructs, and race and ethnicity are not defined biologically or genetically.

Racial and ethnic categories used by the US government reflect their times.

In 1820, the category "Free Colored People" was added to the decennial census to reflect the increase in free Black people. In 1850, the term "Mulatto" was added to the census to capture people of mixed heritage. American Indians were not explicitly counted in the census until 1860. Following years of immigration from China, "Chinese" was included in the 1870 census. There was not a formal question about Hispanic origin until the 1980 census.

Not everyone is on board with the latest revisions.

Some Afro Latinos feel that combining the race and ethnicity question will reduce their numbers and representation in the data, though previous research by the US Census Bureau did not find significant differences among Afro Latino responses when the questions were asked separately or together.

Mozelle Ortiz, for instance, is of mixed Afro Puerto Rican descent. She feels the changes could eliminate that identity, even though people can choose more than one answer once the race and ethnicity questions are combined.

"My entire lineage, that of my Black Puerto Rican grandmother’s and all other non-white Spanish speaking peoples, will be erased," Ortiz wrote the interagency group.

Others are unhappy about how some groups of people such as Armenians or Arabs from Sudan and Somalia were not included in the examples used to define people of Middle Eastern or North African background.

Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said that while she was "incredibly happy" with the new category, that enthusiasm was tempered by the omissions.

"It is not reflective of the racial diversity of our community," Berry said. "And it’s wrong."


Ramadan Traditions in Northern Saudi Arabia Reflect a Time of Community, Sharing, and Faith

Saleh Al-Mutlaq, an 82-year-old resident of Hail, paints a vivid picture of Ramadan in his youth. (SPA)
Saleh Al-Mutlaq, an 82-year-old resident of Hail, paints a vivid picture of Ramadan in his youth. (SPA)
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Ramadan Traditions in Northern Saudi Arabia Reflect a Time of Community, Sharing, and Faith

Saleh Al-Mutlaq, an 82-year-old resident of Hail, paints a vivid picture of Ramadan in his youth. (SPA)
Saleh Al-Mutlaq, an 82-year-old resident of Hail, paints a vivid picture of Ramadan in his youth. (SPA)

Saleh Al-Mutlaq, an 82-year-old resident of Hail, paints a vivid picture of Ramadan in his youth. His memories highlight the importance of community, sharing, and faith that permeated the holy month, the Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday.
One tradition involved gathering near the neighborhood mosque every Friday night for a potluck meal. This custom, fostering a spirit of togetherness, ensured that everyone shared in the bounty of Ramadan.
The "dinner of the parents," held on the 27th night of Ramadan, exemplifies the emphasis placed on family bonds. This tradition, passed down from Al-Mutlaq's father, highlights the importance of strengthening connections within the community.
Checking on neighbors, especially those in need, was another custom. People readily offered food and financial assistance, reinforcing a sense of mutual support and compassion.
Before the advent of radio, the booming cannon from A'arif Fort announced the start of Ramadan with nine shots. This unique tradition added a special touch to the beginning and end of the holy month, with nine shots marking Eid al-Fitr as well.
Religious practices were central to the Ramadan experience. People gathered at mosques for Quran recitation, lectures, and night prayers.
Mornings were spent working on farms or at the markets, showcasing the dedication to faith alongside daily routines.
Al-Mutlaq's memories serve as a valuable reminder of the rich tapestry of traditions that once defined Ramadan in Hail. These cherished practices are a vital part of the country's heritage, to be passed onto future generations.


Saudi Arabia and China Strengthen Cultural Cooperation

The MoU outlines a comprehensive framework for cooperation, emphasizing the exchange of experiences, policies, and programs to bolster mutual understanding and appreciation. (SPA)
The MoU outlines a comprehensive framework for cooperation, emphasizing the exchange of experiences, policies, and programs to bolster mutual understanding and appreciation. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia and China Strengthen Cultural Cooperation

The MoU outlines a comprehensive framework for cooperation, emphasizing the exchange of experiences, policies, and programs to bolster mutual understanding and appreciation. (SPA)
The MoU outlines a comprehensive framework for cooperation, emphasizing the exchange of experiences, policies, and programs to bolster mutual understanding and appreciation. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud and China’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli signed a memorandum of understanding to boost cultural cooperation, strengthening the distinguished relations between the two countries.

Signed in Beijing, the agreement aims to deepen collaboration in various cultural sectors, including museums, cultural heritage, performing and visual arts, traditional crafts, and Chinese cultural entities, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Wednesday.

The MoU outlines a comprehensive framework for cooperation, emphasizing the exchange of experiences, policies, and programs to bolster mutual understanding and appreciation.

Both parties are committed to facilitating cultural exchanges, participating in joint festivals and events, and collaborating on artist residency programs to encourage creative exchange and preserve cultural diversity.

The new partnership signifies the shared commitment to preserving, celebrating, and fostering a deeper understanding of the respective cultures. Saudi Arabia and China will enrich the cultural landscape and strengthen cultural ties by working together in areas such as preserving heritage and furthering artistic innovation.

The MoU also emphasizes cooperation in the digital cultural industry, encouraging dialogue, experiential knowledge exchange, and collaboration between institutions and professionals from both countries.

Additionally, it underscores measures to prevent the illegal import, export, and trafficking of works of art, reflecting a mutual dedication to safeguarding cultural treasures.


Beijingers Play Fetch with Migratory Birds in Traditional Game 

Xie Yufeng, a 39-year-old cook, opens his hand for a bird to return after throwing it into the air to catch a bead shot up, as they practice a Beijing tradition that dates back to the Qing Dynasty, outside a stadium in Beijing, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP)
Xie Yufeng, a 39-year-old cook, opens his hand for a bird to return after throwing it into the air to catch a bead shot up, as they practice a Beijing tradition that dates back to the Qing Dynasty, outside a stadium in Beijing, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP)
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Beijingers Play Fetch with Migratory Birds in Traditional Game 

Xie Yufeng, a 39-year-old cook, opens his hand for a bird to return after throwing it into the air to catch a bead shot up, as they practice a Beijing tradition that dates back to the Qing Dynasty, outside a stadium in Beijing, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP)
Xie Yufeng, a 39-year-old cook, opens his hand for a bird to return after throwing it into the air to catch a bead shot up, as they practice a Beijing tradition that dates back to the Qing Dynasty, outside a stadium in Beijing, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP)

Passersby in Beijing during winter or early spring might happen upon groups of locals playing fetch with birds. The players blow plastic beads into the air through carbon tubes for the birds — often from the migratory wutong species — to catch and return, in exchange for a treat.

It’s a Beijing tradition dating back to the Qing Dynasty, which ruled between the 17th century and early 20th century. Today, only about 50 to 60 people in Beijing are believed to still practice it.

Xie Yufeng, a 39-year-old cook, is one of them. On Tuesday late afternoon, Xie gathered with a few friends near Workers’ Stadium, where locals often congregate in the evenings to dance in tandem, practice tai chi or play the Chinese yo-yo.

Xie and his friends brought along their winged playmates — most of them wutong birds, with their distinctive yellow beaks and which fly southward from China’s northeast to Beijing every fall to escape the bitter winter.

Domesticating the birds and training them for the bead-catching game may take four to five months, Xie said. Players teach the birds to fetch by first throwing seeds into the air, and later replacing them with plastic beads. Every time the birds retrieve the beads, they are rewarded with a snack. In the past, the beads were made of bone.

“In order to do this well, patience is the most important quality for a player,” Xie said.

The tradition is said to have taken root in the capital with the arrival of the Qing Dynasty, a Manchu group that took control of Beijing in the mid-1600s.

Manchu nobles, living around the Forbidden City, are believed to have popularized catching and training birds as a pastime.

Today, residents of Beijing’s traditional alleyways, called hutong in Chinese, often still raise birds in cages and may even take the whole birdcages out for walks.

The wutong bird owners usually release them in late spring and allow them to migrate back to the northeast — only to catch or purchase new ones the following fall.


Paris 2024 to Install Olympic Flame Near Louvre

Tourists stand by a sign alerting on France's highest security level at the Louvre museum, Monday, March 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Tourists stand by a sign alerting on France's highest security level at the Louvre museum, Monday, March 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
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Paris 2024 to Install Olympic Flame Near Louvre

Tourists stand by a sign alerting on France's highest security level at the Louvre museum, Monday, March 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Tourists stand by a sign alerting on France's highest security level at the Louvre museum, Monday, March 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

The Olympic flame will be installed in the Jardin des Tuileries, a stone's throw from the Louvre, after organisers abandoned the idea of the Eiffel Tower, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Last week, French sports daily L'Equipe reported that the Jardin des Tuileries, on the bank of the Seine between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde, was the heavy favorite to host the flame.
"The decision was made earlier this year," the source said.
Last year, organizers were hoping to install the flame at the Eiffel Tower.
Paris 2024 did not confirm the information when contacted by Reuters.


UAE’s FM: Culture Plays Important Role in Spreading Values of Coexistence

UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited the National Museum in Prague. WAM
UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited the National Museum in Prague. WAM
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UAE’s FM: Culture Plays Important Role in Spreading Values of Coexistence

UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited the National Museum in Prague. WAM
UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited the National Museum in Prague. WAM

UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan has visited the National Museum in Prague on the sidelines of his official visit to the Czech Republic.

Sheikh Abdullah lauded on Tuesday the National Museum as a vibrant testament to the richness and diversity of the country's artistic and cultural movement.

“Culture and arts hold a mirror to their respective people, reflecting their nation's development and progress across all fields, and playing an important role in spreading the values of coexistence, tolerance, and human fraternity, which are the basic pillars for achieving comprehensive and sustainable development in societies,” he said.

He also praised the growing relations between the UAE and the Czech Republic, pointing to the importance of strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the cultural and artistic fields.

Sheikh Abdullah was accompanied during the visit by Saeed Mubarak Al Hajeri, Assistant Minister for Trade and Economic Affairs, and was welcomed upon arrival by the National Museum's General Director, Dr. Michal Lukeš.

During the visit, the UAE’s top diplomat toured the museum's sections and halls and viewed its diverse exhibits.

Sheikh Abdullah received an insightful explanation from Dr. Michal, who elaborated on the museum's centuries-old history, its crucial role in documenting the country's diverse past, and its dedication to highlighting the vibrant tapestry of Czech culture and its distinctive arts.


British Museum Obtains Court Order against Ex-curator over Alleged Thefts

People view examples of the Parthenon sculptures, sometimes referred to in the UK as the Elgin Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London, Britain, November 29, 2023. (Reuters)
People view examples of the Parthenon sculptures, sometimes referred to in the UK as the Elgin Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London, Britain, November 29, 2023. (Reuters)
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British Museum Obtains Court Order against Ex-curator over Alleged Thefts

People view examples of the Parthenon sculptures, sometimes referred to in the UK as the Elgin Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London, Britain, November 29, 2023. (Reuters)
People view examples of the Parthenon sculptures, sometimes referred to in the UK as the Elgin Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London, Britain, November 29, 2023. (Reuters)

A London court on Tuesday ordered a former curator at the British Museum accused of stealing hundreds of artefacts to provide the museum with a list of all items he is suspected of taking and to return those still in his possession.

The museum, one of the most visited in the world, reported in August that hundreds of items had been stolen from its collection or were missing, highlighting internal organizational failings and leading to the exit of its director.

Peter Higgs, the museum's curator of Ancient Greek collections and the acting head of the Greece and Rome department, was sacked after the alleged thefts came to light.

He is currently under police investigation but has not been charged. The British Museum has brought a civil lawsuit against Higgs and it said he had filed a defense which showed he intended to dispute the claim.

Higgs was not represented at the hearing at London's High Court on Tuesday, but lawyers acting for him in relation to the criminal investigation were present. They declined to comment.

The British Museum, which holds treasures such as the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon marbles, has said the stolen items included gold rings, earrings and other pieces of jewellery dating back to ancient Greek and Roman periods.

The museum's lawyer Daniel Burgess said in court documents: "While the full extent of the thefts is unknown, it is presently believed that over 1,800 items were stolen or damaged and that many hundreds of them were sold or offered for sale by (Higgs)."

Burgess added that Higgs tried to "cover his tracks by, among other things, using false names, creating false documents and manipulating records held on the Museum's IT systems".

The British Museum has had 356 items returned so far, Burgess said.

Judge Heather Williams granted the museum an order requiring Higgs to return items he may still have and provide information about the whereabouts of missing items or their proceeds.


Makkah’s Old Neighborhoods Unite in Ramadan Spirit

A poignant depiction of solidarity and compassion in Makkah’s community during the blessed nights of Ramadan (Photo Credit: Ammar Al-Amir)
A poignant depiction of solidarity and compassion in Makkah’s community during the blessed nights of Ramadan (Photo Credit: Ammar Al-Amir)
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Makkah’s Old Neighborhoods Unite in Ramadan Spirit

A poignant depiction of solidarity and compassion in Makkah’s community during the blessed nights of Ramadan (Photo Credit: Ammar Al-Amir)
A poignant depiction of solidarity and compassion in Makkah’s community during the blessed nights of Ramadan (Photo Credit: Ammar Al-Amir)

In the ancient streets of Makkah, memories are cherished, gatherings thrive, and the air is filled with the scent of incense during Islam’s holy month of fasting, Ramadan.

As millions of Muslims flock to perform Umrah and spend time near the Grand Mosque, the people of Makkah experience a unique and enriching Ramadan atmosphere.

In the old neighborhoods of Makkah, memories abound for generations. They include traditional games that once brought solitary joy and Ramadan gatherings filled with warmth, generosity, and kindness.

Some of these traditions have endured for years, like locals opening their doors to the needy. From lively street decorations to the scent of incense wafting through the alleys, these customs have become part of daily life in Makkah’s community.

In some of Makkah’s old neighborhoods, cherished Ramadan traditions endure year after year.

Hadi Al-Omari, a thirty-year-old resident living near the Grand Mosque, recalls how these community gatherings have been a regular part of Ramadan, except for a brief hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic.

“After the pandemic, loved ones from all generations reunited to reminisce,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat, stressing that Ramadan was a special time observed in Makkah.

At the start of the month of Ramadan, Makkah’s streets and neighborhoods light up with colorful decorations. The lively atmosphere, especially during busy times, fills the streets, while areas close to the Grand Mosque resonate with the sound of prayers, bringing a sense of calm.

During Ramadan nights, Makkah transforms with stalls selling traditional foods, popular sweets, and drinks perfect for late-night gatherings.

One such favorite is “Soubiya,” a barley-based drink, offered in red and white varieties, with some made using dry bread crumbs.

For over 50 years, shops like “Uncle Saeed Khudari” have been serving these delights in Makkah.

Ahmad Hawiyan, who has experienced seventy Ramadan seasons in Makkah’s neighborhoods, talks about the social aspect of the holy month.

He observes changes in traditional life but emphasizes that Ramadan’s essence remains unchanged, uplifting souls with its splendor.

“Makkah is the center for Muslims, a place where hearts find solace,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Living near the holiest sites on Earth, Ramadan brings us unforgettable memories. Each generation learns love, compassion, and generosity during this blessed month,” he added.

Regarding guests staying in hotels within Makkah’s ancient neighborhoods, Hawiyan said: “Seeing them arrive during these blessed days, we feel they are neighbors and family.”

“We rejoice as they walk to mosques, knowing they're safe and secure in Saudi Arabia, the Muslim world’s focal point,” stressed Hawiyan.


Saudi Cultural Mission Hosts Indiana University Students for Intercultural Exchange

Saudi Cultural Mission Hosts Indiana University Students for Intercultural Exchange
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Saudi Cultural Mission Hosts Indiana University Students for Intercultural Exchange

Saudi Cultural Mission Hosts Indiana University Students for Intercultural Exchange

The Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) in the US welcomed on Monday a delegation of students from Indiana University Bloomington, as part of the Arabic Language Program to enhance communication and exchange of ideas between different cultures.
The delegation was welcomed by the Cultural Attaché at Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Washington Dr. Fawzi Bukhari.
The delegation toured the King Abdullah Cultural Hall and was briefed on the exhibits portraying Saudi culture, SPA reported.
It expressed admiration for the Saudi identity in all the elements on display, especially for the originality of Saudi fashion, food, architecture, the popular tools for making coffee, and for the projects carried out under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, with focus on “NEOM” and “The Line”.
Delegation members expressed appreciation for the Kingdom's cultural endeavors, and for its role in establishing dialogue and understanding between peoples.