I have a cultural salon in New York

In the summer of 2013, I held the first cultural salon in my living room. More than a dozen netizens who did not know each other came to see my Weibo, and they talked about the understanding of "time" from the perspectives of different cultures, religions, science, technology, etc. in the cool summer night. In the second and third weeks, friends brought friends, they brought their friends, and soon my living room could not fit, so I went to Manhattan to rent a venue; and later, registered a non-profit organization, raised funds, recruited directors and Volunteer team, to date, 140 issues of various topics, more than a hundred speakers with unique backgrounds and perspectives, thousands of curious minds and open hearts.

I graduated from Yuanpei College of Peking University with an undergraduate degree, an interdisciplinary education pilot that advocates general education, where I am used to chatting with classmates of various majors after the lights are turned off every day. After coming to New York to work, I did not want to be limited to my major, but eager to broaden my horizons and learn for life, so I opened this interdisciplinary exchange platform. I believe that understanding opposing viewpoints, being full of childlike curiosity, switching perspectives on the world, and entering new territories quickly are the qualities that define a rich life and are the magic weapon for a rapidly changing society.

"Naked and Nude, what's the difference?"

"Einstein discovered, or invented the theory of relativity?"

"How many nuclear bombs are needed to destroy human civilization?"

"Do you agree that 'distance running is the new religion of the middle class'?"

"Who Saved Haute Couture from the Nazis?"

"What kind of future do people in different historical periods imagine?"

"Where did all the shit in New York go before sewerage became commonplace?"

"Why is it really good?"

If you subscribe to the salon's emails, you'll often receive an email with a question like this, along with an invitation to answer it. Our guests are not only scientists who lead the world in artificial intelligence, the best documentary director of the Golden Horse Award, and a professor of politics at Harvard University, but also photographers who have gone deep into African slums, international journalists who have gone deep into war zones, and pastry chefs in Michelin restaurants. We have explained "curiosity is the new sexy" from more than 100 angles, covering a wide range of topics, you can get a glimpse of it on the official website (nyshalong.com).

We roam the long river of human civilization, debate civic responsibilities under current events, spy on the cosmic picture unfolding in theoretical physics, and reminisce about the golden age of classical art. We explore contemporaneity through contemporary art, contemporary music, contemporary architecture; we taste classical music, pop music, rock music. We learn about the historical world of Downton Abbey; we learn about the Silk Road through unearthed artifacts. We traveled to Iran, Spain, Singapore; we explored MoMA in New York, the High Line, the sewer system. We count classic cases in American constitutional history; we analyze the sectarian lineage of Christianity. We appreciate Northern Quyi, Kunqu Opera, Cross Talk, Peking Opera, and we chat about Japanese animation, 3D animation and classic films. We discuss classic topics such as China's economy, national origins, cultural differences, and geopolitics. We also talk about bitcoin, big data, academic fraud, US elections, #MeToo and other current hot topics.

We are not just porters of knowledge. If a topic opens up new territory for you, we want to build the ladder for you to enter it, not lay out the treasure in front of you. As an interdisciplinary platform for participants from different fields and backgrounds, neither obscure terminology shuts out the layman nor superficial generalization due to the audience's lack of background knowledge. We firmly believe that good minds have their own channel of resonance. A good speaker can lift weights lightly, bring the layman to that height through straightforward presentation and ingenious guidance, and make details a natural complement to the outline, rather than a technical dilemma in advanced.

Only in this way can we live up to the diverse city of New York.