San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade

• But the idea that imprisonment and suffering were supposedly good for the prisoner didn’t emerge in the 19th century.
• Almost a decade ago, as a graduate student researching slavery in early Mesopotamia, I came across numerous texts dealing with imprisonment.
• I became fascinated with imprisonment in these cultures: Most of them detained suspects only briefly, but in literary and ritual texts, imprisonment was seen as a transformative, purifying experience.

The ‘house of life’

• Around 1,800 B.C., students training as scribes at Nippur, an ancient Sumerian city, frequently copied from a selection of 10 literary works.
• Using cuneiform, these aspiring scribes would copy texts that included the exploits of the legendary hero Gilgamesh as he fought the beast Huwawa, the fearsome guardian of the forest.
• They wrote about a great Mesopotamian king named Šulgi, who claimed to be a god.
• And as the master scribe dictated these various texts, the students also heard about a prison goddess named Nungal.

Fact vs. fiction

• Were texts like the “Hymn to Nungal” matters of sincere religion or just fairy tales that no one took seriously?
• Since it is a literary text, it is not a reliable source about the justice system, either.
• However, scholars Klaas Veenhof and Dominique Charpin have found evidence of Nungal playing a role in the judicial process.

Yesterday and today

• Perhaps it is that experience that caused a text like the “Hymn to Nungal” to be written, exploring how such an experience could be used to reform the prisoner through lament.
• How prison systems think about reform is very different today than how the “Hymn to Nungal” envisions it.

• HONG KONG, May 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kuaishou Technology (HK:1024) (the "Company" or "Kuaishou"), a leading content community and social platform, today announced its unaudited consolidated first quarterly results for the three months ended March 31, 2023.
• Gross profit margin in the first quarter of 2023 was 46.4%, improving from 41.7% for the same period of 2022.
• Mr. Cheng Yixiao, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kuaishou said, "We delivered strong results in the first quarter of 2023 with positive adjusted net profit at the group level for the first time since our listing.
• By the end of the first quarter of 2023, pairs of mutual followers on the Kuaishou App reached a cumulative 29.6 billion, representing a 57.6% growth year-over-year.

• This classic movie song turned on an extra measure of charm from the interpretation of the two great artists.
• The Chinese film market is showing a sign of prosperity.
• In the recommendation of the films of the year, the cast & crew of The Great War appeared on stage.
• From April 22 to 29, various activities will be shining with vigor, contributing to the building of an international, professional, and audience-oriented film festival, hence bringing more new formats and new possibilities for world cinema.

• The Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism has once again retained PTG Consulting as its English-language marketing partner for North America and Europe.
• This marks the ninth year that PTG Consulting has worked on Suzhou's behalf in North America and the third year in Europe.
• NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- On November 19, 2022, the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism announced that it has once again retained PTG Consulting as its English-language marketing partner for North America and Europe.
• This marks the ninth year that PTG Consulting has worked on Suzhou's behalf in North America and the third year in Europe.