So I am back from my vacation in China. I hope some of the topics I scheduled to be revisited while I was away were of some interest and use. I was pleased to have gotten a couple comments on those old entries as a result. My thanks to Drew McManus for policing the comments to make sure they approved in a timely manner.
My trip took me to various places, but mainly Beijing, Yellow Mountain and Shanghai and the World Expo. Because I was touring with a group, I didn’t have the opportunity to check out as many theatres and arts centers as I did during my trip to Ireland. As a result, I ended up in front of the Beijing Children’s Art Theater without a camera because I didn’t expect to come upon it.
I did have quite a few artistic encounters though. There was this guy painting scenery with his hands on the Great Wall near Beijing.
He claimed to be one of the best finger painters. Given there were no other painters around to gainsay him, I will have to take him at his word. I have to admit, I do regret not buying a piece when I had the chance. It was early in the tour and I was promised better, but we didn’t really come across something as good of the same size and price.
We visited Longmen Grottos in which many images of the Buddha were carved over the course of 400 years. It provides some interesting insight into how the philosophy about depicting the Buddha evolved over time as well as the politics involved. Some of the works provided a nod to the patrons who supported the endeavors. Most bore the scars of those who opposed the work and Buddhism with faces and appendages hacked away.
We traveled to Yellow Mountain, historically the de rigueur destination of any artist who wishes to be taken seriously in China. With such breath taking vistas available, it there isn’t much mystery as to why. James Cameron apparently used the mountain range as his model for the world of Pandora in Avatar. The pine trees that grow there are reputed to be the ingredient that produces highly prized ink sticks for calligraphy and ink and wash paintings.
Nearby was Hongcun which was one of the villages Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed. There were many art students there as well. (Who scolded me for not bartering my purchases in the village down enough.) Art students are allowed multiple admissions over the course of a week for free to work on their pieces.
Finally, we ended up in Shanghai during which time we attended the World Expo. This was really where I started evaluating things with the eye of someone who organized a lot of events. Security was clearly a consideration surrounding the World Expo. As we approached Shanghai by bus, we were pulled aside at a toll plaza and sent to a building to have our passports inspected. Bags were scanned every time you entered the subway system. You had to go through a metal detector to enter the Expo grounds and got scanned by a wand wielding security agent. And they didn’t hover over your body like in US airports. The wand was rubbed right against you. They also didn’t allow water in the Expo, but I imagine that was more about selling it than anything else.
Hospitality wise, the city seemed invested on many levels. In every subway station there was someone in Expo garb standing next to the machines that vended the fare cards ready to help you use the machine and figure out what route to take to your destination. All the taxis we took had stickers with a number to call if you couldn’t speak enough Mandarin to tell the driver where you wanted to go.
I am told they also asked people living near the Expo site not to hang their laundry out their windows. (The picture below is from near the hotel which was a few miles away.)
I think they also cracked down pretty heavily on the street vendors too. Two years ago when I walked the Bund, we were approached and followed by people trying to sell us all sorts of things. This time there was none to be seen. In fact, in the park/walkway along the river, a couple of the shop buildings that were there last time are entirely gone. (And I was really looking forward to another gelato!)
The Expo itself was immense. It seemed like you could walk forever and barely get anywhere. Even though there were hundreds of thousands of people there the night we went, it didn’t seem crowded—until you got on line for a pavilion. In the 5 hours we were there, I only got into 4 pavilions – Nepal, India, US, UK. Others in my group went to the less popular pavilions and got through 11. One guy visited North Korea and snagged a little pamphlet by Kim Jong Il critiquing folk dance.
The US pavilion was pretty dull. The entry is one big corporate advertisement. I know they had to fund it privately rather than with public funds, but all the logos feel very heavy handed. The movies they show are pretty lackluster compared to the expectations I had.
The UK pavilion was the real winner for me. The Seed Cathedral was amazing and it rightfully had a long line for entry. (Though there was announcement they were shutting down the Germany queue when the 4 hour wait exceeded the Expo closing time. Were they giving out beer samples?) The pavilion, which is describe, I think accurately as a sculpture, is comprised of 60,000 plastic rods with seeds embedded in each. Apparently many of them will still be viable for planting after the Expo concludes.
I will let my photos do the rest of the talking.
Oh and this YouTube video too. The light was pretty low and my camera just aint that good.
Fabulous pics Joe!