Österlen, Skåne, Sweden ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
I'm longing for SUMMER!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Chinese numerological superstition: Nine Kinesiska lyckotal: Nio
Orchard Villas, Chengdu Feb 14, 2009 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Siffran nio är oerhört viktig i kinesiskt tänkande. Det är det högsta ensiffriga talet (i 10-systemet och det kraftigaste yangtalet. Traditionellt var nio kejsarens tal. Det var bara kejsaren som kunde bära kläder med nio drakar på och ta från tallrikar målade med nio drakar. I Förbjudna staden i Beijing, Himmelens tempel, Sommarpalatset osv. finns ett genomgående siffertänkande. I Förbjudna staden finns nio stora knoppar vågrätt och lodrätt på de enorma röda portarna. I en av gårdarna finns en andeskärm med nio svävande drakar (jiulongbi). Det är ingen slump att det sägs finnas 9 999 rum i hela palatset eftersom det är bara himlen som kan ha 10 000 rum (egentligen finns drygt 8 800 i hela palatsanläggningen).
Nio, jiu (九), är likljudande med "långvarig", jiu (久), och förknippas därmed med långt liv. Både den 09.09.1999 och den 19.09.1999 var speciellt lyckobringande dagar i Kina där många valde att förlova eller gifta sig då chansen ökades att deras kärlek skulle stå sig i all evighet. Jiu kan också betyda "bara, enbart", jiu. Således kan sifferkombinationen 5917 (wu jiu yao qi) på tex en bil nummerskylt tolkas = "jag vill bara ha pengar", wo jiu yao qian. Den nionde dagen i den traditionella kalenderns nionde månad är "Dubbelnian", Chongyangjie, allmänt firad som Pensionärernas dag. I ett av Kinas gamla bokverk, Herr Lüs kommentarer till Vår- och Höstannalerna (Lüshi Chunqiu), som sammanställdes för ca 2 200 år sedan, beskrevs världen så här: Himlen har nio fält, jorden har nio regioner, landet har nio berg, bergen har nio pass, i havet finns nio öar. Nummer nio självt är något mysko: alla multiplar med nio resulterar i att siffrorna när de läggs ihop blir nio: t.ex. 9 x 3 = 27 = 2 + 7 = 9. (Undantaget är 0 x 9 = 0). En nummerskylt med fem nior är mycket eftertraktat i Kina och kostar således mycket pengar under bordet eller en speciell kontakt på Myndigheten för fordonsregistrering!
English: The number nine is one of the most important numbers in Chinese numerological superstition. It's the highest single digit number, rich in yang, and was traditionally reserved for use by the emperor. Only he could wear clothing embroidered with nine dragons and eat from plates decorated with these nine heavenly creatures. The Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace are full of "nine combinations", nine massive door studs both vertical and horizontal on the huge palace doors, spirits wall decorated with nine dragons (jiulongbi) and supposedly 9,999 rooms, as only heaven could have 10,000. (There are actually only about 8,800 rooms in the palace).
Another reason why nine, jiu (九), is so important is because it's a homophone with jiu (久), a word meaning "a long time" in Chinese and thus is associated with long life. Dates that consist of many nines are auspicious for anyone getting married or engaged, the thought being that the relationship will get extra help to last forever or at least as long as possible. 090999 and 190999 were popular days when people flocked to the wedding license offices or proposed marriage.
Car license plates with lucky numbers are especially sought after in China and either cost a lot of money, good luck at a license auction in the cities that have them, a fat bribe or a special connection in the Department of Motor Vehicles. The above combination of five nines should be interpreted as anything that the owner wants or desires will be theirs "forever".
Chengdu Panda Hash Harrier Red Dress Charity Run
The things foreigners (and quite a few local Chinese friends) get up to. Chengdu's very own Panda Hash Harriers had a Charity Hash Run on Sunday Feb 15. Everyone was dressed in red, men in red drag of course - to benefit Sichuan Quake Relief. I wasn't there but got a look at it on Facebook today and found more pictures on their website. The local Chengdoodlians that lived along the Hash route seem to have enjoyed the spectacle enormously!
For anyone who doesn't know what the international Hash Harrier "thing" is visit their website or look up Hash House Harrier on Wikipedia. As they explain it, they're a "Drinking Club with a Running Problem". On any Hash Run there's usually lot's of beer and shenanigans involved but all with good fun (and here a good cause) in mind. The Hash in Hash Harrier refers to food by the way...
You guys looked great! (Johnny D and Barry J - you look sexier as women than men :-)
(Photos courtesy of CPHH website and Peter Samuels)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Western Sichuan 1: The road to Danba
All photos©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
This is a continuation of my series of postings on Western Sichuan (see Feb 4, 2009)
During the summer of 2007 (late July) we made a week long trip to Tagong via Danba, visiting the incredibly beautiful Qiang and Tibetan villages in the area before heading up over onto the Tibetan Plateau to Tagong via Hongshi (Red Stones). Large quantities of rain had recently fallen on the area leading up to Danba and both roads and bridges had washed away or been damaged by falling rocks. We rented a van in Chengdu and headed NW via Dujiangyan and Wolong and onward through the tight, deeply shaded, slightly ominous, misty valleys that make up the border area between the Chinese world and the Tibetan in western Sichuan.
This is panda, golden monkey, red panda and in the not so distant past tiger country. Lush bamboo forests and dense evergreens. The road skirts roaring rivers and small roadside habitations, hardly large enough to be called villages, many of them existing solely to maintain the road or serve food to passersby. At this time of year corn was drying from the eaves and large, meaty fuschia-coloured dahlias and brilliant nasturtiums were in profusion, giving me a hint of the maybe merry nature of the people who spent their lives here. I often marvel at the resilience of those who can exist all their days in dark, wet valleys, waiting for a ray of sunlight to pierce the gloom and lighten their hearts (or dry the wash hanging everywhere). If this were Scandinavian my mind would turn to tales of loneliness, depression and suicide, and maybe that same sad story is true here too.
The road over the Balangshan was horrendously bumpy, full of potholes and slithery, gooey mud. We made it over the pass (4523 m) at sunset just in time to catch the last rays of daylight illuminate the Four Sisters Mountain (Siguniangshan, 6250 m) before it was sucked into the night. Beneath us we could see the valley of Rilongguan. After about 14 hours of almost straight driving we pulled into the town of Danba: five adults (including the driver) and two children tumbled out with sore joints and headaches. We had hoped to make it all the way to Jiaju but the driver was exhausted, it was pitch black outside and simply too dangerous to continue. A clean, little guesthouse near the big bridge swallowed us up for the night, all of us falling asleep to the sounds of the roaring river below. The next day we awoke to glorious sunshine and entered the magical world of Danba, a microcosm of sun, flowers, stone houses, high skies and singing villages.
Figge, digital cameras and cover shots
©Ingrid Booz Morejohn and Gleerups Publishing, Sweden
Sometimes I feel like that radio guy on the Swedish TV program HippHipp! that gives the daily crossword clue: my mind starts in one place and winds up 5,000 miles away. I am conscious of this and do try and keep my conversations and writing slightly on track, in the end circling around to where I began and hopefully tying up all the loose ends in the process. That's why I am showing you three book covers that I photographed for a fantastic series of fact books for children, Figges kunskapsklubb, for Gleerups Publishing. What got me thinking, of course, is the picture of candy that I posted below on Today's Picture 090215. Although that exact image was used inside the book, its sister is on the cover above. I'd asked two mischievous little girls - Anna and Frida Rönn - to be the "hand models" (and face models for a shot inside the book). They more than willingly accepted when I said they'd be allowed to eat heaps of gummy candies in the process. I bought a huge pile of candy to create the effect of "plenty" and let them have it. That was one of the best shoots I've had and they were over the moon giggly all the time. Afterwards we ate up all the "props".
I worked on Figge as a picture researcher and filled in as photographer whenever I couldn't find a stock image to fit the book text. Often my two children had to act as models: playing with Legos, making a puzzle, eating a lemon, posting a letter, scraping their knees, reading a newspaper and so on. It was a real joy to work with the series editor Ulrica Lejbro, a fantastic person and very capable editor, now with a child of her own. I was always amazed that she could understand how kids think without having any herself. (I hadn't a clue to the workings of a child's brain until I had two myself, now I remember that my mind worked just as deviously.) Ulrica and I had lot's of fun and made around 20 books in this series (withthe help of several authors of course!) You can still buy them today via web bookstores and used book sites etc.
Footnote: All of the cover images were taken with small compact digital cameras, nothing fancy at all. The one of Emy posting a letter is a cheap little Konica. These were my first digital cameras, only about 3-4 million megapixel each. When I took my first image I was amazed how "easy" it was, I could take the picture and send it high res to the client in just a few minutes, amazing! Nowadays I have other more complex and advanced digital cameras, but just want you to know that it isn't the typewriter that writes the book, or the camera that takes the picture, it's you. And if you understand the limitations of a camera you can still create good shots with them. Even a pinhole camera can produce a wondrous image in the right hands...
China Daily: Player's face paralyzed after mahjong marathon
Street mahjong, Beijing Houhai area ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Listen up fellow Chengdoodlians! The perils of playing too much mahjong are ever present and perilous!
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-13 09:21
A 50-year-old mahjong fan suffered facial paralysis after he played the game all night in Shenzhen special economic zone.
The man, surnamed Yang, rushed to Shenzhen hospital of traditional Chinese medicines for help after his face started to swell and he had convulsions.
He said the symptoms began when he walked out of the house and into the wind following an entire night playing mahjong in the Bao'an district.
Tao Jiaping, a senior doctor from the hospital, said Yang will need acupuncture treatment for at least three weeks.
(Southern Metropolis Daily)
Happy Valentine's Day blog readers!
Sega godisar är gott! ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
This is an appropriate day to thank everyone (You the Reader) who visits and reads this blog. I have to admit, it's a kick to log-in and see if anyone has checked in and read something, getting a comment is a real high! (Please comment more ;-) From my blog feed I can see when friends I know check-in, recognizing their geographic location but of course not knowing 100% if it's them or someone in the same city. I've had people visit from all over the globe: Australia, Mexico, Venezuela, Thailand, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Philippines etc and several islands in the Caribbean (looking mostly for postings about my boatbuilder/artist brother Chris). If Duluth, Georgia doesn't check in every day I begin to worry that either I've lost their interest (who are you?) or they're away or sick or something. I personally know most of my "Followers", good friends from way back. One though is someone I've never met, hello Qin!
35% of the visitors come from Sweden (of course), 35% from the US, and a good portion from China. Besides those who visit regularly and read basically everything I post, favorite topics are Chinese festivals, anything Tibetan, my brother-in-law Miche Booz (!) and anything to do with photography. The more I post, of course, the wider the topic choice will be. As you can see my minds wanders considerably. Blogging is both very rewarding and exhausting, it takes a lot of time but I enjoy it immensely. We'll see if I can keep up the pace though, 127 postings in just about as many days. Thank-you all so much for looking in, feel free to take a candy! Välkommen åter.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Kocka and Loki, cats and relationships
Kocka and Loki 090213 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Click on image to enlarge!
What is more appropriate than posting a cat picture on Friday the 13th? For more than two weeks now we've been responsible for two cats while our friends are away on vacation. The cats have stayed at their own home and we have gone there everyday to feed them. Today was the first day when the cats actually showed themselves more than a streak of fur flashing by to hide under the sofa. Or to stick their nose out when it was meal time. We've tried everything to lure them out to play but they've had none of it. Actually I could only find one of the cats. Couldn't figure out where the other one was and looked everywhere until Burton found it perched in the windowsill hiding behind a curtain.
I've got a dear friend who's been having trouble lately, faulting herself for the failure of a long relationship even though it was the partner who had wandered off with someone else. She keeps asking herself what she could have done to make it not happen, what she did do that caused it etc etc. She owns both cats and dogs so I told her to stop blaming herself, that we women are like dogs, always desperate to be liked and win approval, wagging our tails with our tongue hanging out, hoping that someone will pay us a crumb of attention and make us feel loved and included. Men are like cats, couldn't care less what people think of them and do any damn thing they please. Now how's that for a blatant generalization? Made my friend laugh and feel a little better though. As for Kocka and Loki their Mum and Dad are coming home tomorrow so I don't have to keep sucking up to them any longer, dog that I am.
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