The Weatherhead East Asian Institute congratulates Dylan Tran (CC '26) and Kar Lok Pang (MARSEA) for their winning essay submissions to the 2023 issue of The Reed!
This year's essay prompt asked students to highlight an area of interest concerning East/Southeast/Inner Asia that has not received enough attention specifically due to linguistic barriers or other limitations on information access.
Tran's essay, "The Central Vietnamese Dialect: Gateway to Vietnam’s Vedic Past" considers the roots of the Central Vietnamese dialect spoken by his aunt, and its divergence from the Southern Vietnamese dialect spoken by the rest of his family.
Pang's essay, titled "Uncovering the Symbolic Significance of Animals in Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin for the Non-Chinese Viewer" analyzes the culture-specific symbolism and social commentary of Chinese director Jia Zhangke's 2013 film, A Touch of Sin, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival.
Both essays will be published in the 2023 issue of The Reed. WEAI is currently accepting text and visual submissions on the theme of "linguistic barriers/information accessibility as it relates to East/Southeast/Inner Asian topics" from students, alumni, and other members of the Columbia community. Up to two artists will be selected to be featured in the issue, for a First Place Prize of $200 and a Runner-Up Prize of $50. If you would like your work to be considered for The Reed, please email WEAI Senior Communications Coordinator Ariana King at [email protected] by Wednesday, May 3, 2023 for text, and Friday, May 5 for artwork.
