Eastern Influences: 7 Asian-Themed Events Around NYC

By Troy Segal

Rudyard Kipling was wrong: East and West can meet — and they’re doing so daily, in events all over New York City. Explore some fascinating aspects of Asian culture, from Chinese cooking to Indian dance, with these talks, activities, and tours in the weeks ahead.

Ai Weiwei, 2012. Photo by Gao Yuan

Educator Dan Ping interviews representatives from various youth groups, discussing how young Asian Americans today advocate for political change and the influence of activists like artist Ai Weiwei, at the Brooklyn Museum on July 19.

The Rubin Museum of Art, dedicated to works from the lands around the Himalayas (Southeast Asia, Tibet, India, to name just a few) is throwing itself a 10th birthday bash; the July 20 Chelsea Block Party features crafts demonstrations, musical performances, tasty chow and free admission to the scrolls and statues on display inside.

How is Japan aiming to recapture its former glory as an economic superpower? Lawson Inc. chairman Takeshi Niinami, an economic advisor on the Industrial Competitiveness Council of Japan, discusses the country’s newly revised growth plan with the Executive Business Editor of The Wall Street Journal at a Japan Society breakfast on July 23.

Once, Asian actresses were limited to playing villainous dragon ladies and other stereotypes; today, a performer like Lucy Liu can star in a hit TV series (Elementary) and no one blinks twice — except, perhaps, in admiration of her talent. She and two other screen star femmes talk about their careers at The TimesCenter on July 24.

A trip to Chinatown for some authentic Asian eats is a NYC tradition. Learn all about the different sorts of establishments — “From Coffeehouses to Banquet Halls” — and they reflect the quarter’s metamorphosis from bachelors’ den to family-friendly neighborhood in this guided tour offered by the Museum of Chinese in America, July 26 & August 30.

Photo: Alice Gebura

The creators of a new Southern Indian dance piece, Song of the Jasmine — two choreographers and a jazz musician — describe their collaboration at the Asia Society on August 6, the night before the work’s NYC premiere.

Depicting deities in sculpture and art was the backbone of Hindu, Buddhist and other ancient South Asian religions. One of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s curators lectures on these mighty images cast in stone and bronze and their historic context, beginning September 16.