Torch Relay Tempest
Large demonstrations, 35 arrested and someone trying to put the Olympic flame out with a fire extinguisher. Next stop, Paris. Clashes along Olympic torch route
April 07, 2008
April 01, 2008
And So It Starts...
Since my blog is apparently blocked in China (something about being on the same server as another site that has anti-CCP content), I'm not worried about reporting negative news about the mainland. The Olympics are starting to gain more and more protests; I predict this will be the first of many . I'm sure the stop in SF will be rather nasty, too.
Indian Athlete to Boycott Olympic Torch
March 20, 2008
2008 Olympics as Debacle
On Salon this morning, an analysis by Andrew Leonard, of how the debacle of the 2008 Olympics has begun.
I've had a feeling that the 2008 Olympics won't turn out well, and it's eerie that it's starting to look like that might be valid. For more convincing analysis, see the article: "The Beijing Olympics debacle has begun"
February 06, 2008
Hainan Airlines starting service to Seattle
Today, after months of chatter, Hainan Airlines announced service to Seattle from Beijing starting in June. This will be Hainan Airlines' first route into North America, and I can't help but asking myself - why Seattle? I don't think the quality of their product is very good, and honestly, I'd rather fly through Tokyo or Seoul on my way to Beijing than a direct flight. But I'm weird.
Hainan to offer nonstop flights to Beijing
September 01, 2007
the devil at the temple of heaven
How come I never got any comments on this photo on flickr? I think it's brilliant and funny. Ah, the mysteries of the internets.
August 20, 2007
Beijing again, Vancouver again
After an uneventful return to Beijing (although I did have to see Hero 英雄 on a plane again), I rested for a day, didn't do anything and got ready to head back to Seattle via Vancouver.
Monday night, I was leaving dinner and got in a taxi where the driver didn't know how to operate a stick-shift. He appeared to be covering a shift for someone who knew how to drive a taxi properly. As we headed toward the 3rd Ring Road going 30km/h in 3rd gear, I realized that this would not do... and got in another one.
The next morning, I was taking a taxi (again - my life in Asia seems to be short periods of living interrupted by long rides in taxis, but I love it), and we got stuck in traffic 2 Km from the airport entrance. After about ten minutes of driving on the shoulder, I saw a five-car pileup in the left lane; three taxis and two passenger cars had collided.
Upon arriving at the airport, I saw a Turkmenistan Airlines jet readying for departure. Sadly, I couldn't get a photo of it.
Checking in at PEK is bizarre. Going into the Int'l Departures area, you first fill out a customs form, pass customs officers, then go to the ticketing hall to check in. If you're flying a major carrier, you have to search through many rows of check-in desks to figure out where your flight (and class of service) is checking in. After checking in, you then head through Immigation control, then security and presto, you're in the terminal.
My flight left on time and was pretty uneventful.
PEK airport logo
Beer left in the airport
Waiting in the airport...
PEK has a lot of cargo traffic across Asia
Air China tails
Yanjing Beer
Duck for dinner? Only on Air China!
Air China did show the worst movie I'd seen in a while - The Astronaut Farmer, a ridiculous, badly done story about a former astronaut who builds his own spacecraft in rural Texas. Say what?!
July 28, 2007
Breaking into Movies
Rielly and I wandered into the Beijing Film Studio one afternoon. It's right next to the Beijing Film Academy. We snuck (well, walked) into the film studio through the back gate, bought some DVDs and ice cream at the store (we had to bargain for it), then we walked into another convenience store and went right out the back, directly onto a film set. Rielly had scoped all of this out before, so he knew where he was going. I was a few steps behind him as he wandered around, and there was an old lady in the convenience store. She yelled, "They don't understand! They don't understand!" when we walked in, and out of her store, going through the forbidden, but unlocked, door.
Then, we were on the film set, which was being readied for the filming of the new Chen Kaige film, starring Zhang Ziyi. It's a new film that is as yet untitled, about the life of an early 20th century opera star. The sets look pretty interesting. More photos are here.
Breaking into Movies
Rielly and I wandered into the Beijing Film Studio one afternoon. It's right next to the Beijing Film Academy. We snuck (well, walked) into the film studio through the back gate, bought some DVDs and ice cream at the store (we had to bargain for it), then we walked into another convenience store and went right out the back, directly onto a film set. Rielly had scoped all of this out before, so he knew where he was going. I was a few steps behind him as he wandered around, and there was an old lady in the convenience store. She yelled, "They don't understand! They don't understand!" when we walked in, and out of her store, going through the forbidden, but unlocked, door.
Then, we were on the film set, which was being readied for the filming of the new Chen Kaige film, starring Zhang Ziyi. It's a new film that is as yet untitled, about the life of an early 20th century opera star. The sets look pretty interesting. More photos are here.
July 27, 2007
圓明園 - Yuanmingyuan
The old Summer Palace at Yuanmingyuan is haunting and beautiful. It's certainly one of the most interesting things that I have seen in a long time. The palace was originally built in a mostly Chinese style during the early Qing dynasty around 1750. The palace was continually expanded until 1860, when it was sacked by British and French troops (along with quite a few locals, apparently), and burned to the ground.
Since traditional Chinese palaces were built of wood, those parts are long gone. What remains, however, is the European-style ruins, which are quite bizarre - a mixture of rococo Italian and French styles of classical architecture with some distinct Chinese influences.
Set amongst large ponds filled with water lilies, the entire space is relaxing and beautiful and quite haunting when viewed a certain way.
I took the opportunity to visit it twice, once on a weekend afternoon when it was hot and crowded and again on a weekday morning when it was much more quiet. If you're in Beijing, skip 頤和園 - Yiheyuan - The "New" Summer Palace and instead, head to the old one. It's more real and far more fascinating.
More photos are in this set: Yuanmingyuan.
July 20, 2007
Attack of the Cardboard Buns, Pt. 2
As you probably know, there was a big story out of Beijing last week that buns were made out of 60% cardboard at a certain bun shop in the massive Chaoyang district. Turns out, that it was all fabricated.
I wonder if this additional information will hit the same worldwide media the original story did. I doubt it.
July 15, 2007
Today I'm a Man
We went to the great wall at 司馬台 on Saturday. Simatai is pretty interesting, but the wall is quite a big climb. Fortunately, you'll get your own guide, whether you want one or not. Mine had a unique hatred of Germans, I'm not not sure.
My class was hell-bent on hustling up several mountaintops. After a few towers, I realized that they were increasingly similar, yet harder to reach. Plus, we didn't eat breakfast. What the heck? So, my guide Mrs. Du, and I headed back and we chatted about her family while I tripped on the loose bricks on the way down.
Back at the base, I pulled out my brilliant book, ordered a Yanjing beer, some tea and then chatted with some French people about politics. After I wished them a happy Bastille day, they bought me some beer. After an hour and a half, my class came back, worn out and hungry. I was quite happy with myself (the beer helped my ego) and glad I ate when I did.
On the sleepy bus ride back, I saw perhaps the best blue truck ever! Unlike Taiwan, where blue trucks have four wheels, in the mainland, they often have three wheels - one in front, two in back (the mullet of blue trucks)... I saw one such three-wheeled bizarreness carrying a full load of donkeys in the back! I couldn't stop talking about it. Too bad, I didn't have my camera out... grar!
More photos of the great wall... on flickr, film is being developed presently...
BFA - Friday with WXS
Noted director Wang Xiaoshuai (王小帥*) taught our class Friday afternoon. I spent the morning sleeping in, puttering around and goofing off. I also did laundry!
Wang's lecture was pretty interesting. He told some fascinating stories about his early filmmaking days. Originally, he had been studying painting, but later became interested in filmmaking. After going to the Beijing Film Academy, he took a job in Fujian that he apparently really hated. Like many of the filmmakers here, he made some independent films, working outside the system. Interestingly, he considered himself part of the "luckiest" generation of Chinese filmmakers - he was afforded creative freedom and was able to produce films before the market for Chinese films was decimated in the past ten years. Yet again, we have the familiar refrain of a bad film market destroying opportunities to create films in China.
An actor from his new film, Shanghai Dreams, was along to listen to Wang speak. It was kind of interesting. I found Wang one of the better speakers we have had so far.
After class, I drug my classmates to the best. place. ever. 家樂福! Carrefour! Then, I rested, before going out for dinner in 國貿.
* Literally, King Little Handsome. He wins my award for best Chinese name of the year.
BFA - Thursday Li Yang
Director Li Yang led our class on Tuesday. He spoke at length about He was the director of Blind Shaft, which he claims is the first completely independent film made in the PRC. Because he worked outside the system, his film was banned, and he was banned from working within the Chinese film system for 3 years.
For his next film, he worked within the system, and it is about to be relased. Some interesting things that he said included:
- Chinese directors have rights to final cuts of their films
- As a director, you must have immense problem-solving skills
- To make a good film, you must follow the "5Ws" of Journalism - "What do you want to say? How do you want to say it," etc.
- "Lacking freedom, artists lack imagination"
- Government-sanctioned films in the mainland often just want to show the positive side of the life in the mainland, not the real life here.
What is becoming readily apparent, through hearing all of these filmmakers speak, is that there is a lacking market for Chinese films, and that a major struggle for their future will be to find an economic model for making film work. Few talk about opportunities in television, advertising, etc. Perhaps next week, we will discuss that more.
After Li Yang spoke, we went on a hutong tour, then had dinner. The hutong tour is well documented in this photoset. I don't think I can add anything to the masses of literature written on hutong life, other than to say that they're interesting, but likely poorly-suited for modern life in an urban environment.
BFA - Wednesday
Wednesday was a nice day off - I went to Jingshan Park, which is just north of the Forbidden City. It was an interesting day... and there are lots of photos on flickr.
July 12, 2007
Love in the Beijing Subway
As you probably know, I am not a big fan of the Beijing Subway. An unusual man has taken an unusual tack to find the woman of his dreams, including making a video about the incident. Details on Shanghaiist.
July 08, 2007
Yanjing Beer
I like Yanjing Beer. It's not bad. I like this shot, too. This is taken about 50M off of Tian'anmen Square where the old foreign legations once were built.
July 04, 2007
Summer Palace
July 03, 2007
renminbi
July 02, 2007
the lake
During the hot afternoon, Rielly, Chris Kim and I went on a walk through the lake area. There are lots of winding hutong streets, some bars, and it turns into a bit of a tourist trap. It's interesting and certainly worthwhile. Just make sure you don't have to go the bathroom... they're all scary public toilets.
laying down
Tiananmen Square is pretty hot and busy. This person got a bench and had a nice nap in the hot, hot heat.
July 01, 2007
Weirdest tv show
I found this madness on TV the other day...
June 29, 2007
Odd behavior
This guy had his shirt up above his nipples in the heat. It reminded me of the video for "Goodies" where Ciara wears that infamous sweater that stops just halfway down her boobs. It's a common look among men here in the humidity and heat. However, it makes me giggle.
poopy baby
Train ticket queues in China are something that are to be prepared and planned for. They're unbelievably long, disorganized and smoky. The one at Beijing station smelled like a bar in the US, minus the smell of alcohol (so it was sweat, smoke and bad breath)....
Friendly
Beijing Station
While on our way to Tianjin, we waited in this hall. Rielly was approached by a woman begging for money. He gave her a piece of hermetically sealed yak meat to eat. She took it eagerly and as we wandered away, he pointed out to me that she probably couldn't open it as she only had thumbs, but no fingers. How do you react to that? It's sad, and a bit funny.
Beijing Dogs
Beijing seems to have some nice dogs and they seem to be purebred. I haven't seen many loose, stray dogs, but I did see a feral cat digging into trash to eat bones while I was walking back from the grocery store.