Edwin

Sunday September 16 - flying back to Eugene

2008-01-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

This morning we said goodbye to Beijing and to some of the group who were staying on in the country... we got to the airport, and got onto the plane smoothly and then waited... for eight hours (!) everybody was a good sport about it though -- Jesse, Cyrene, Drew and I played cards and shared the snacks that we had packed. It felt so good to land back in the US -- while waiting in the line to get checked in we ran into Merry from the Lord of the Rings (we also got a 100 dollar coupon from US Air which helped make up for the wait in Beijing)

Saturday September 15 -- Final Review

2008-01-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

This morning we went to the immense Panjiayuan flea market, and spent several hours bargaining to pick up things to take back to family. I picked up some great Red Army caps for my cousins Victor and Laura, as well as several scrolls and keychain ornaments that I think would be great for Christmas tree decorations. In the afternoon, we had our final project review in the courtyard of the hostel, and Ying surprised me with a deck of cards of China's historic emperors (she had given out cards to everyone the day before and I had been secretly envious of them -- they were a very attractive set of cards) We had our final dinner at Quanjude -- or tried to -- it was packed and we finally decided to go next door. Quanjude is world-famous for its Peking Duck - we ordered Beijing Duck at the second place and found out that they got their duck from Quanjude -- the same tasty famous bird without the wait and a lot cheaper! We then went to the Laoziteahouse, where we got to sample tea and see a great variety show that mixed comedy, Chinese acrobatics, and excerpts from the famous ancient Chinese story "Journey to the West".

Friday September 14 -- Tiantan and Houhai

2008-01-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

Today we went down to Tiantan - the Temple of Heaven - which is just south of the Forbidden City -- we all stayed together, making it there without any problems, but then it started to rain... Tiantan was really impressive, with beautiful, spacious gardens. In the afternoon Ying, David, Peggy and I went to Zhongnanhai, which is where President Hu Jintao and the other leaders of China have offices and homes in an immense complex surrounded by a simple, elegant, gray stone wall.

At night we went out to Houhai bar district, and went bar-hopping -- one of the bars even featured a bathroom with an aquarium in its floor. The bars were a little pricey but they were packed and a lot fun and in a really beautiful setting.

Thursday, September 13 - 北京

2008-01-28T14:41:00.000-08:00

Today we visited the Forbidden Palace, Jingshan Park and Tiananmen square. We got split up on our way to Jingshan Park with the taxi dropping off Katie, Cyrene, Joel and Jesse some-place far away from Jingshan Park, but we met up again with them in the Forbidden Palace. Jingshan Park was quiet and beutiful -- ancient cypress trees and the early morning mist added a spooky feel to the place where the last Ming Emperor committed suicide. Had lunch with Drew at a cheap home-style restaurant off of TIananmen where we were the only non-Chinese.

Wednesday September 12 - Simatai and Beijing

2008-01-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

Today we woke up to coffee, muesli and bananas (on top of the Great Wall) - we then hiked about 3 hours from Jinshanling where we were to Simatai were we rode a zip line down over a lake and down from the perch of the Great Wall. We then drove into Beijing through the crazy Beijing traffic and visited Beijing's new art district - 798 - which was a lot bigger than Moganshan and really cool -- lots of Westerners and Western cafes, and really expensive artwork on sale... We then dove back into the new Beijing's roaring river of luxury cars and SUVs, getting into the hotel after 8 -- we had a nice dinner though at a local Dumpling Shop. The Hostel is in a traditional Hutong, with a beautiful lush courtyard and several really cute kitties and its run by a set of spunky English-speaking 20 somethings...

Tuesday September 11 - Night on the Great Wall

2008-01-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

After getting off the train to Beijing, we went to China's premier Art's School: CAFA (the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts) for lunch with one of Ying's many former students, who is now a professor at the School. CAFA was beautiful -- gray stone, just built, with an extremely international student body which includes China's most promising artists -- they accept less than 1% of their applications from Chinese Students. We also got to see the design studio where many of the emblems for the Beijing Olympics were conceived, and saw some of the school's state of the art equipment. We then went to the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall -- a "wild" part of the wall where there were very few tourists, this portion of the wall hasn't been re-constructed since teh fall of the Qing Dynasty and it was a barren, imposing landscape. We had a dinner of dumplings and beer at the house of teh farmer whose family is arranging our overnight stay on the wall, then in pitch darkness we climbed up to the guard-tower wehere we spent the night in sleeping bags. Couldn't see many stars because the sky was overcast, but had a great time playing cards --- Time experimented with some night-time photography and we must have stayed up until 1 or 2 in the morning... an unforgettable experience

Exhibition Ceremony - Sept. 10

2008-01-28T14:15:00.001-08:00

The University President -- the Big Tiger

Monday September 10 -- Installation and Exhibition

2008-01-28T14:01:00.000-08:00

Today was even more crazy and hectic than yesterday -- the pitch of activity peaked today, with installation in the morning. It was great seeing everyone help out and work together to create what ended up being an amazing gallery production -- Alice and I worked to translate Jesse' and YIng's remarks into Chinese (the Chinese insisted Ying speak in English at the opening) -- Alice had a much tougher job (she had to translate the impromptu remarks of Professor Wang on the spot!) Pictures are better than words at describing the installation and exhibition ceremony, so I'll let them do the communicating. After the show we had to say goodbye to all of the Chinese students as we wouldn't be able to see them in the morning before our train-ride to Beijing. For dinner, we were at another amazing banquet hall this time with the President of the University who regaled us with his Karaoke and wanted to have a really party with the Americans -- he had a great time teasing (and being teased!) by Jesse and David (who were also tiger in the Chinese Zodiac -- he joked that Jesse was "a paper tiger". Looking back at the experience I hope I can stay in touch with a number of the Chinese students, especially Jiang Fen Fen and You Peng, I also feel a kind of special connection with Alice and Anne after translating together, which was a really rewarding and memorable experience.

Saturday September 8

2008-01-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Today was a hectic day --- everyone worked really hard to get their pieces done by tomorrow when they're going to be exhibited (in a sleek new gallery). We had dinner at a Tex-Mex place near the campus, then went back to work and didn't finish until 9 pm!
I love working with everyone, I'm a part of somewhat different though intersecting conversations at the same time and this perspective is exhilirating --- getting access to both Americans' impressions of the Chinese and Chinese impressions' of the Americans. One Chinese student was shy about having Matt as a partner but Jiang Fen Fen told her she should feel lucky to have such a good-looking guy as her partner (!) The general impression is that Matt is the craziest and coolest of the Americans.

Friday September 7: Partying in Jinan...

2008-01-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

Friday everyone worked with their partners on campus, racing to get their projects done in time for Sunday's installation and exhibition. Alice, Anne and I spent a lot of the day translating everyone's journal entries which the school wants to include in the book they plan on publishing about the trip. I really love working with Anne and Alice -- it is so great to try to figure out how one translates something from English into Chinese or vice versa, as often direct translations come out very strangely. It is so satisfying to discover how different (though sometimes similar) the two languages are... Friday night, I went with most of our crew to a Jinan night club that turned out to be a lot of fun, with some surprises (the bar had an in-house escort service, and talking with them could end up costing 100 yuan an hour!) It was really packed though and some of the Professors treated us to green-tea and whisky combo that was tasty and potent. Unfortunately, only one of the Chinese students, Harold, came out, but everyone bought him a round of drinks and it was fun hanging out with him and Alice and Anne.

Thursday September 6: SUAD New Campus

2008-01-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

We spent most of today at Shandong's new campus... everyone really got into working with their Chinese partners and preparing their projects for the Exhibition this weekend. I helped with some translating between groups, though Professor Ying and Wang wanted to discourage that somewhat so that the pairs of students could experiment with finding new non-verbal means of communication. A lot of people used translation programs on the computer though they weren't very good and seemed mostly to just add to the confusion... I played with Rachel and her partner Luan Cheng -- (I knew they had different ideas about where the project was going, but in a spirit of orneriness I didn't tell them -- Luan Cheng threatened to slaughter me if I didn't translate -- which of course made me even less likely to help with the language barrier :) I wanted to see what would happen in the end...

Wednesday Sept. 5: Shandong Countryside

2008-01-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

While a group of students stayed in Jinan, myself and about half of the American students and several of the Chinese students went to visit the town of Wei Fang, which is famous for its traditional folk arts. We got to see traditional print block making (and bought 1000 prints between us) as well as kite making. Jiang Fen Fen (who's Katie's partner) went on the trip and was a lot of fun to talk with -- she's considering applying to join the party next year and is very gregarious and friendly; You Peng who is class monitor (and Drew's partner) as well as Harold went on the trip -- they were a lot of fun to talk with, and myself, Tim and Matt had a good time hanging out in the back of the bus.... on the way back we stopped at a rest-stop and sampled Melon on a Stick... it was another fantastic dinner at a Western style buffet with more toasting in the evening...

September 4: Confucius Hometown and Mount Tai

2008-01-28T12:58:00.000-08:00

Today we went on trips to Confucius' hometown, Qufu and the famous Mount Tai -- China's most sacred mountain, one of its four most famous, and a mountain with a lot of political significance (After military victory, the emperors would come to Mount Tai to give thanks to Heaven). It was great because we went with a number of the Chinese students, as well as Alice and Anne, and at Confucius birthplace I did my best to try to translate what the tour-guide was saying. Qufu -- Confucius hometown -- is a smallish city, with three main Confucius related sites: Confucius Temple, Confucius' Home, and Confucius' Cemetary. These sites were really rich with symbolism, for example, all the buildings had one fewer step than buildings at the Forbidden Temple, there was also a 500 year old tree whose branches symbolized the state of China: the Eastern part, lush and healthy, with the North-west (Sinkiang) somewhat more barren.
Mount Tai was really amazing -- we took a cable car up the mountain, on top of which are dozens of ancient temples and hostels, as well as a Buddhist shrine where for 100 yuan you could ceremoniously place a lock on a pile of locks to symbolize the laying down of your burdens. It was getting to be dusk while we were on the mountain, which only added to the mystical feel of this holy site.

September 3 - First Day at New Campus

2008-01-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

Today we got to meet all of the Chinese students and see the University's sleek, modern new campus. The morning, SUAD professor Wang Chuandong and Ying Tan began the program with the obligatory introductory remarks -- Wang set out the theme of the week: Cultural Clash and Artistic Integration (wenhua pengzhuang; yishu ronghe). Each of the students introduced themselves, and I (tried) to translate the American students' introductions into Mandarin, with Ying very graciously helping out. In the afternoon we went back to the old campus and visited the University's museum of folk art. The school then took us out to a very nice Western Style Restaurant and Jacky taught me how to toast each other Korean style --- with my arms around Jacky's and his around mine, and then emptying the cup over our heads. Jacky really can hold his liquor! He toasted myself, David (Ying's husband), Drew, and the Chinese driver and another Chinese professor, both tables of students separately -- all of this more than once!

September 2 -- arriving in Jinan

2008-01-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

Woke up to the lulling sound of the train-tracks... The soft-sleeper cars we got were so comfortable it was hard to get up. After getting an amazing welcome from the SUAD in Jinan, complete with a 20 meter welcoming banner, filmed by a camera crew (!) we went on a whirl-wind tour of the city of Jinan, seeing its famous fountains, parks and lakes. It was a nice day, and Jacky, a professor at the SUAD, and the two English translators, Alice and Anne were very warm and friendly. After washing up at the new campus foreign students' dorms, we went to an incredible hotel, and had dinner in an enormous banquet hall with a 20 ton chandelier and table that seated about 50 people. We were toasted many times --- the vegetarians in the group aroused a lot of curiosity among the Chinese professors, they also wondered if Adam, Drew and Joel (who had earrings) were native Americans!

September 1 -- Shanghai to Jinan

2008-01-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

Today was another day when everyone worked on their projects; I helped Jesse with editing his video which is turning out great -- it's amazing how he can so easily (though tediously) add subtitles to his video. I walked around the French Concession with Tim for a bit, and walked around a beautifully landscaped lake in the re-developed Xintiandi area. After dinner at a great Vegetarian place and final review, we left for the Shanghai train station --- with a very ornery Taxi Driver who (maybe realizing we were running late?) decided to play with us, by asking to look at all our tickets, closing each window in the bus personally, and before departing, asking us if we were sure we knew where we were going! Luckily, we made it through the station on time.... Jesse keeps teasing me about the driver who called me "E-d-ween...."

Friday, August 31

2008-01-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

After another amazing breakfast at the hotel, visited some different places around Shanghai.... Jesse and I went and interviewed people about the problem of homelessness in China and we got a lot of attention! Friday night was a dinner I'll never forget... ordered King Snake and it turned out to be $60! (we even joked during dinner about it being poisonous, and the snake did get its revenge!) After dinner Drew, Joel, Jesse, Tim, Jennifer and I went out to Shanghai's bar district and learned a dice game from some friendly waitresses.

Thursday, August 30

2008-01-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

Today, we got up early and went to the water town of Zhou Zhuang, in Jiangsu province close to Shanghai, after wandering around the village and visiting museums of ancient Chinese stamps and sampling local tiandian, we then went to Shanghai's new art district, Moganshan, and got to see some of Shanghai's hip new artwork. Rachel and Cyrene and I got to relax in a cafe after visiting the galleries and talking with some of China's most famous international artists.

Wednesday, August 29

2007-09-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

This morning we went to the Shanghai Museum of Art. It was pouring rain, but in a way that made everything a lot more fun. The Shanghai Museum of Art in People's Square was really interesting. There was an especially nice collection of ancient coins from across Asia. The architectural layout of the museum was also very impressive. It had a marble foyer and a beutiful glass dome / skylight at the center of the museum. We then went on to see a contemporary exhibition that included a number of political posters celebrating the anniversaries of the founding of the communist party and the PLA.

Tuesday August 28 - 1st Full Day in Shanghai

2007-09-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

While our dinner last night, which included shrimp with their beady black eyes still attached may have "weirded" people out, I think everyone was really happy with the wonderful breakfast at the New Harbour Service Apartments which featured delicious coffee and a mix of Western and East Asian breakfast foods.

We headed out pretty early to visit an older section of Shanghai - Yeheyuan - where there were a lot of interesting antiques to buy and we had lunch at a really famous jiaoziguan. We then walked along the Bund and went up No. 3 to have watermelon juice at a swanky bar overlooking the Huangpu river. I think everyone was pretty tired because of jetlag but it was a fun introduction to the city of Shanghai.

Sunday-Monday August 26/27

2007-09-09T02:17:00.000-07:00

What a flight! Everyone got to the airport early Sunday morning Eugene time - then because of fog in San Francisco we were delayed more than an hour and for a while worried that we might miss our connection.

We met up with Kaitlyn and Drew in San Francisco and we're the last people on the plane -- it was a four movie flight - 12 hours of solid sun light. In Shanghai airport three people's luggage didn't turn up, but Ying was there with bottles of refreshing green tea for everyone. We drove through the city - it looks like Shanghai has almost doubled in size since last time I was here. More tomorrow!

Shikumen - Classic Shanghai Architecture

2007-08-19T08:21:00.001-07:00

In the early 20th century as many as 80% of Shanghaiese lived in Shikumen (石库门) ("stone gate") which mix Chinese and Western styles - and feature a small courtyard and high walls. They originally were developed in the 1860s to help the city cope with an influx of refugees from the Taiping rebellion.

Where we are going in China...

2007-08-19T07:51:00.000-07:00