Lijiang, Yunnan 2005 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Completely exhausted for the moment, a little behind with blogging, but will start posting about Lijiang and Yunnan tomorrow!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
# 42 Today's picture 090312
And now for something completely different: Summit of Nemrut Dagi, Eastern Turkey 1990 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
# 41 Today's pictures 090311
Hand of Emperor Constantine, Capitoline Museum, Rome, Italy ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Chickens, cows, grass and Chinese gardens
2008 Orchard Villas (Jinxiu Huayuan), Chengdu, Sichuan ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
This sign is posted just inside the surrounding wall that protects the western section of Orchard Villas, quite a nice housing complex in one of the more affluent parts of Chengdu. The "green belt" that is mentioned here is that scrabby patch of grass-like spinky stuff in the background. This botanical matter is a kind of ground covering most commonly found in Chinese classical gardens when an appropriate and attractive edging is needed or a space around more important things like trees or rockeries requires filling in. It can also be found potted on its own and I'm sure many a foreign visitor has questioned the purpose of these potted green spikes, wondering when those darn things are going to start shooting up flowers. Why else would you plant grass in a pot?
It is actually a lily (lilyturf) called Liriope and was named after Liriope, the mother of Narcissus (another plant name) by the river-god Cephissus. Its Chinese name is maidong, "winter wheat", as the leaves are evergreen. Western style "grass" was rarely a feature of a classical garden, although it can be seen today in the renovated scholar gardens of eastern China's Jiangnan area and the Imperial gardens of Beijing. Classical garden architects of former days thought that this kind of flat ground covering was boring and uninteresting - as one Chinese visitor snippily commented upon seeing a big, green, unending British lawn: "Grass is cow fodder , it contains nothing to feed the intellect of an educated man".
Back to the sign: I can understand the warning against walking dogs (and letting them defecate) in a public area but the poultry mentioned above is another matter all together. Why would there be a need for such a warning in an area as rich as Orchard Villas? And why would the rich people living there necessarily let their chickens peck around (or horrors breed!) in the common "green belt"? If they indeed kept farm animals in the middle of a city and in one of the richest parts of town wouldn't you think that they would let said poultry run around looking for food and fun in their own garden? That would still classify as "free range" wouldn't it?
The crazy thing is that even people that live at posh addresses in China do keep chickens and roosters. Especially before Chinese New Year when many a foreigner remarks how they would like to ring the neck of the rooster that started crowing at four in the morning near their bedroom window. I hadn't given this phenomenon a thought until the earthquake last year when we camped out at China Gardens (beside Orchard Villas) and witnessed the moneyed crowd sleeping in their garages (or in their Ferraris or BMWs) with the rooster tied up next to them. Over here where I live in the not so rich part of town my neighbors keep their finger-lickin-good friends on the balcony.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
New Chengdu music sensation: Ze Puppies
Z'Puppies at Panda Bar, Chengdu Sat. March 7, 2009 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Saturday night saw the arrival of a new music sensation here in Chengdu: Z'Puppies. Charles Dupont (guitar), Romain Rabany (drums) and Burton Booz (vocals) rocked the socks off the crowd as the warm-up band at Panda Bar (Xiongmao Jiuba) on Kehua Beilu. Singing covers of "TNT" and "Seven Nation Army" they completely blew the crowd away and were called back for an encore. So TNT was served up again and the crowd couldn't get enough. These guys have got to learn more songs if they're going to continue their success in Chengdu. But, hey! they're only 11 and 12 years old so school has to come first, right?! Stay posted for more news of Z'Puppies...
More Nixon and China and Mao and Ping Pong Diplomacy
Promotional flier for the Nixon in China opera
From Wikipedia:
Nixon in China (1987) is an opera with music by the American composer John Adams and a libretto by Alice Goodman, about the visit of United States President Richard M. Nixon to China in 1972, where he met with China's Chairman Mao Zedong and other Chinese officials.
The work was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Houston Grand Opera and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It premiered at the Houston Grand Opera, October 22, 1987 in a production by Peter Sellars with choreography by Mark Morris.
The opera focuses on the personalities and personal histories of the six key players, Nixon and his wife Pat, Jiang Qing (spelled "Chiang Ch'ing" in the libretto) and Chairman Mao ("Mao Zedong"), and the two close advisors to the two parties, Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai ("Chou En-lai"). It is composed of three acts. The first details the anticipation and arrival of the Nixon cortege and the first meeting and evening in China. The second act shifts focus to Pat Nixon, as she makes tours of rural China, including an encounter at a pig farm. The second scene includes a performance of a Communist propaganda play, in which first Pat Nixon, then her husband and then Jiang Qing, intercede in the performance. The last act chronicles the last night in China, in which the characters dance a foxtrot, their thoughts wandering to their own pasts.
Cover of Nixon and Mao by Margaret MacMillan, Random House
From Wikipedia:
Ping Pong Diplomacy (Chinese: 乒乓外交) refers to the exchange of ping pong players of the United States and People's Republic of China (PRC) in the 1970s. The event marked a thaw in U.S.–China relations that paved the way to a visit to Beijing by President Richard Nixon.
Read the entire fascinating article here.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tricky Dick and Pat on the Li River
Richard Nixon pointing out a crag for Pat, Li River ©Photographer?
Every time I visit Yangshuo in Guangxi Province I seek out this photograph in the lobby of the Paradise Resort Hotel. Former President Nixon is pointing out some interesting detail of the Li River topography to his wife Pat. There are several photographs of famous VIPs visiting Yangshuo displayed. Ho Chi Minh grinning ear to ear as he is wading through some water in a cave, his pants rolled up to his knees. Zhou En Lai sitting in a pavilion that is still located down by the Li River today. Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn sporting conical straw peasant hats and looking appropriately dorky and sweaty on their bicycles. Clinton and Hillary (she looking bored, "what AM I doing here?").
Nixon - the man who supposedly said this about the Great Wall: "This is a GREAT wall, and only a great people with a great past could have such a great wall " - had this to say about the local scenery in northern Guangxi:
Another tourist, writer Han Yu, acting here perhaps as a kind of Tang-dynasty travel journalist, visited the area over a thousand years before Nixon and put it more eloquently:
"The river forms a green gauze belt, the mountains are like blue jade hairpins."
"The river forms a green gauze belt, the mountains are like blue jade hairpins."
Nixon's visit to the now world famous Crescent Moon Hill outside of Yangshuo precipitated construction of the steps that lead up to the natural arch that gives the hill its name. I can't really see Nixon (or Pat for that matter) trudging up to the top but maybe he was more physically active than his reputation suggests. Nixon first visited China in February 1972 but this picture couldn't have been taken then as he only toured Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou during that historic visit. I'm guessing that the image was taken on his second visit, this time as ex-President, in February of 1976, by invitation of Mao Zedong, the same year that the Chairman would die. Nixon would later visit China several more times as a private citizen and former president. No matter what I personally think of Nixon and what he did as leader of the USA and as a politician, I will be forever grateful that he (and Mao) opened up China.
But come on Pat, did you really have to wear the fur coat in the 1970s?
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