Children Following the Music in Guangzhou

“Music Unhurried" (乐韵悠悠) by Qian Chang (前畅) and Huang Jianxun (黄建勋)
on a rainy day at Shamian Island in Guangzhou, China

Two Creative Year of the Rooster Promotions in Hong Kong

As in Jieyang, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, and Macau, I saw many artistic depictions of chickens in Hong Kong to welcome in the Year of the Rooster. I will share two of the more creative examples I saw there.

The first was one of several sculptures in a Lunar New Year promotion involving the local designer Eric So and MT masking tape at the iSquare shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.

I am going to take the liberty of naming it "Fowl Happiness".

The other chickens were in an advertisement for Apple I saw in Causeway Bay. It featured a piece of art made with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. As I noted before, it isn't clear in many cases whether the chicken depicted is specifically a rooster or a hen. In this case, I think there is one of each, though the rooster is more prominent.

No witty (or less than witty) name is coming to mind, but fortunately the artist Victo Ngai provided a namer of her own: Apple Lucky Rooster. Follow the link for some details about the creative process behind the piece and photos of some other locations where it appeared.

Three Lunar New Year Displays in Zhongshan

Since the previous post about an advertisement for plastic surgery touched on the topic of the Lunar New Year in Zhongshan, I will take this opportunity to share just a few of the holiday displays I stumbled upon there about a month ago.

The first one includes a large decorated government building.

A variety of government organizations are based there, including the Zhongshan City National People's Congress Standing Committee and the Zhongshan City Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy. Yes, they promote "democracy" in China. In fact, "democracy" is one of China's 12 "core socialist values". If this confuses you, I understand. I will say more on this topic later. For now, more holiday displays . . .

The next one was at Yixian Lake Park.

As far as I know, no meetings promoting democracy occur here, but the park does have a provocative cartoon museum.

Despite exhibiting fine holiday spirit, neither of the previous two displays include the all important zodiac animal for the new lunar year. The last example resolves this issue with an impressive rooster.

I considered it might be the mythical fenghuang, which is sometimes used instead of the rooster. But given several rooster-ish features I am going with it being a rooster. Whatever it is, the display stood in front of the South Gate at Zimaling Park. The park has neither any obvious democracy promoting activities nor a cartoon museum. But it does have a tower, a small part of which can be seen behind the display in the photo, offering a bird's-eye view of Zhongshan including both urban areas and tree-covered mountains.

Donald Trump Needs to Line Up for Noodles in Hong Kong

A few months ago in Shanghai I suspected there was something China wouldn't let me forget. And this past weekend, I was reminded of it yet again by a mural on the side of the Cart Noodle Expert (車仔麵專家) restaurant in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.

Here is a closer view of the section with yet another artistic interpretation of an iconic Donald Trump expression.

The sign next to Trump says "Please line up here". It looks like the man next to him is trying to help him.

If Trump does get in line, he might recognize somebody.

Local Colors: Macau's Year of the Rooster Parade Floats

As in previous years Macau held parades for the Lunar New Year.  According to the Macao Government Tourist Office this year's "Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Rooster" went:

. . . under the theme of “All Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix for the Dawn of Spring” this year. In the story, birds of all kinds gather in Macao to welcome the phoenix, which breaks through the golden eggshell and bestows wishes of happiness, good fortune, longevity and prosperity to residents and visitors in Macao at the dawn of Chinese New Year. Marching across streets and plazas imbued with local color, the float parade continues to shine as a major highlight of the event. Along the way, souvenirs will be given out to spectators. The Parade together with other festive activities will brighten up the city with joyful vibes during Chinese New Year.

Even if you missed the parade and free souvenirs like me, you can still currently experience some of its joyful vibes at Tap Seac Square where the parade floats are illuminated from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Below are six of the more rooster-ous floats. They include some of the more artistically intriguing examples of roosters, phoenixes or other birds I have seen during the holiday. I don't know if the floats have names, but I call the one in the last photo Mecharooster.

Sugar Painting in D.C. and Zhongshan

Thanks to a friend in the U.S., on Saturday I saw a video from NPR of traditional Chinese sugar painting at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The video, at least in part, is worth watching if you haven't seen sugar painting before. And even if you are familiar with the practice you may find it soothing to watch, for example after having read a lot of political news and commentary.

I told my friend I have seen people sugar painting set up on the sidewalk or at street markets. I debated over the right word for describing how often I see it, but it seemed fitting that the very next day at a popular pedestrian street in Zhongshan I saw a booth selling a variety of sugar painted figures.

Typically I see less formal setups for the sugar painting. When I stopped by the sugar painter was off doing whatever sugar painters do when they aren't sugar painting — so no video from me. All of the figures, presumably with the exception of a large fish on display, were 10 yuan each (about US $1.46). I have seen more elaborate figures made by sugar painters elsewhere, and perhaps this sugar painter would do something in that spirit on request. Whatever the case, this is just one of the many examples of sugar painting I have come across while going from one city to another in China.

A Dog Somewhere Under the Rainbow in Xiapu

Paper-Cut Portraits from an Earlier Time

The previous post "Tied to Trump in China" includes a photo of a paper-cut portrait of Donald Trump I recently saw for sale at Yuyuan Garderns in Shanghai. The post also mentions paper-cut portraits of Mao Zedong, Che Guevara, Michael Jackson, and Edward Snowden I saw at Yuyuan Gardens two years ago. Concerned about interfering with the flow of the post, I didn't include a photo I took of those portraits. For the sake of evidence and posterity, here it is:

Snowden's paper-cut portrait is based on a more flattering image than Trump's, but maybe that is just my opinion.

Cross Stitch on a Small Bridge in Xiapu

Today I crossed a small bridge in Xiapu where a few vendors sold a variety of items. One of them sold knitted slippers.

While I observed activity on the bridge, the woman selling the slippers asked me if I would photograph her holding something special. People don't often make such requests, but it happens from time to time.

I said I would happy to photograph her and soon she was unfurling* something.

With the help of another vendor, she displayed what she wanted photographed.

Admittedly, I didn't see this coming. Although I presumed she used a guide, as far as I could tell she hadn't used a preprinted pattern. She said the large cross stitch work was the result of more than one year of effort.



*Photo is her folding up the piece since I missed capturing the actual unfurling moment.

Snail-Like Flora and a Clothes-Collecting Panda in Shanghai

In yesterday's post about some giant shells I saw in Shanghai, I wrote "Unless I see a large snail sculpture tomorrow this probably concludes the recent series of creativity involving giant versions of things."

You can probably already see where this is going, so I will just share the relevant photo I took today.

As I approached a small green area next to Yanshupu Road in Hongkou, Shanghai, I wondered if I was looking at bushes deliberately cut into the shape of a giant snail. On closer inspection, I discovered the apparent neck and head were one plant and the shell another. They only appeared to be possibly connected from a particular viewing angle and were separated by other vegetation. I doubt my initial impression of a snail was intended.

So close though.

Since I am back on this topic . . .

Not far from the snail, in a community off of Huimin Road I saw what could be mistaken for a large, but not huge, sculpture of a panda.

The panda is one of many which can be found in Shanghai, and they have a purpose beyond any sort of artistic expression. The pandas serve as bins for donating used clothes — just push in the panda's face and drop them in. According to an article in Shanghai Daily about technology included in newer panda bins to facilitate the collection process, a small percentage of the clothes are donated while the rest are recycled into products such as jeans and vegetable protection nets. However, some of the clothes are stolen out of the bins and end up elsewhere.

I have no other sightings of large versions of things to report from today. And I am confident I will be moving onto another topic next, though it too will relate to earlier posts. I will say something about my immersive experience with wet cement, yet again, later.

More Giant Shells in China

After sharing photos of a giant ding and a a large shell-themed building in Dalian, I considered sharing a photo of shells. Unfortunately (or fortunately for shell-haters) I didn't have anything like that from Dalian. So, instead of shells, I shared a photo of a sculpture with large fish in Dalian.

I wasn't planning to continue the series further right now. But then, after lunch yesterday, I stumbled upon something miraculously perfect.

I am pretty sure the giant shells aren't real.

Based on the flora, some readers would likely also guess they aren't in Dalian. And indeed this scene is farther south. More specifically, the shells rest on the corner of a park at the intersection of Chongqing Road and Yan'an Road in Shanghai.

Unless I see a large snail sculpture tomorrow, this probably concludes the recent series of creativity involving giant versions of things.

A Dalian Fish Sculpture

Instead of a large ding or large shells, a twisting sculpture in front of the Mykal department store at the intersection of Xi'an Road and Huanghe Road in Shahekou, Dalian, incorporates large fish.

 Whether you want to credit smog, fog, or both, you could say the water was murky that day.

A Shelled Building in Dalian

While walking around Xinghai Square in Dalian, I wondered about the purpose of one especially unusual building nearby. When I approached I found the fitting answer.

It would be fitting to now share my impressions of the Dalian Shell Museum's collection, but when I was nearby I decided to spend my time on non-shell activities. Nonetheless, I was glad I took a closer look at some of the building's architectural features, designed by the Design Institute of Civil Engineering & Architecture at the Dalian University of Technology.

A Dalian Ding

Earlier this year I posted a photo of some children under a large ding in Taiyuan. More recently in Dalian, I saw another large ding — this one of the four-legged variety. Although it stands in the middle of a pedestrian street, during my brief time in the area I didn't catch any moments of people walking or sitting underneath.

Large ding on a pedestrian-only section of Tianjin Street in Dalian

The Many Faces Around the Mao Zedong Statue in Shenyang

The statue of Mao Zedong at in Zhongshan Square in Shenyang is remarkable for its size and how it fits in with a skyline that continues to be altered by new tall buildings. And on many days, smog adds adds to the effect. The figures surrounding Mao are what caught my attention the most though. The photos below begin at the front and go around in a counter-clockwise direction. There is a lot going on, and I won't try to suggest what most deserves attention or what to take from it all. But the dense scenes are worth a closer look.

Assorted China Tech Links: Innovation and Control Mix, a Reason to Break Through, and Uber China Sold

Some longtime readers will remember the days when there was a more explicit tech focus here, and I hope to soon return to some old themes. For now, I will keep it simple and share links to six pieces on China tech:

1. Emily Rauhala pushes back against the idea that heavy censorship by the government means tech innovation has been stifled in China:

“You go on Facebook and you can’t even buy anything, but on WeChat and Weibo you can buy anything you see,” said William Bao Bean, a Shanghai-based partner at SOS Ventures and the managing director of Chinaccelerator, a start-up accelerator.

“Facebook’s road map looks like a WeChat clone.”

2. Despite the innovation, not everything is rosy about the Chinese internet. Christina Larson captures some of how the good and the bad fit together:

These stark contrasts—an Internet that is simultaneously dynamic and lethargic, innovative and stultifying, liberating yet tightly controlled—are easier to understand when you realize they are not necessarily contradictions. Being forbidden to develop tools for stimulating free expression or transparency essentially forces Chinese entrepreneurs to concentrate their resources on services that facilitate commerce, convenience, and entertainment. And the more successful those kinds of businesses become, the more money they and their investors have at stake, possibly cementing the status quo.

3. Zheping Huang looks at a specific case where Chinese people who previously didn't see a need to access online information and services blocked in China finally felt compelled to use a VPN to break through the Great Firewall:

Recently, hundreds of Chinese investors, who may be out $6 billion in one of China’s biggest financial scams, have leaped over the Great Firewall in an organized, determined way. After being ignored by China’s regulators and lawmakers, these desperate investors are pouring into Twitter to spread news of their plight.

While their numbers are small, their actions are already inspiring other Chinese investors burned in a monumental number of recent scams, turning Twitter into a new venue for angry Chinese citizens to protest. And as they leap over the Great Firewall, some are coming to a new realization—the government has been cracking down on free speech and civil protests just like theirs for years.

4. For something fresh from today, there is big news about Uber and Didi Chuxing:

Didi Chuxing, the dominant ride-hailing service in China, said it will acquire Uber Technologies Inc.’s operations in the country, ending a battle that has cost the two companies billions as they competed for customers and drivers.

Didi will buy Uber’s brand, business and data in the country, the Chinese company said in a statement. Uber Technologies will receive 5.89 percent of the combined company with preferred equity interest equal to 17.7 percent of the economic benefits.

5. The sale of Uber China comes as no huge surprise to many. Heather Timmons highlights how the writing was on the wall:

Then things got even worse—Beijing started to openly back Didi, with an investment by China’s sovereign wealth fund into the new Chinese giant. China’s state banks rolled out billions of dollars in loans to Didi.

In August 2015, Uber reported it was being scrubbed from WeChat, a move, Quartz wrote, that was “almost certainly designed to protect and promote Didi Kuaidi” and make it hard for Uber to do business.

6. And Josh Horowitz takes a quick look at the impact of beyond China:

Didi’s $1 billion investment in Uber likely gives it only a minuscule stake in the ride-hailing giant. But it nevertheless means it has its hands in every single one of its potential major competitors.

This changes perceptions of the future of the ride-hailing industry.

Contemporary Art on Display Outside the Parkview Green in Beijing

The Parkview Green in Beijing has much contemporary art on display not only inside but outside as well. I will share one or three examples depending on how you count them by artist Gianni Dessi (Italy, born 1955). Dessi titled the set created in 2015 Three For You. Individually, they are titled Red Sculpture, Black Sculpture, and Yellow Sculpture. In addition to brief information about the artist and the pieces, a poem is provided. I will share it below in all caps since that it is how it is displayed.

THREE FOR YOU

THREE FOR YOU

THREE FROM ME TO SPEAK OF YOU

FOR THEM WHO SEE

MAKE CONNECTIONS AND DRAW

FOR THEM WHO LISTEN

FROM WITHIN AND WITHOUT

WHO BREATHE AND BLOW

REIGNITING THE WORLD

This raises the question: "Why not four?"

OK, the photos. In addition to capturing the art, they also capture a bit of life in Beijing.

Red Sculpture

Black Sculpture

Yellow Sculpture

As a bonus, I will also share a photo of one of the several small marching soldier sculptures displayed outside. I didn't find any identification, but they look like works of Chinese artist Qin Fengling, whose piece Report inside the Parkview Green has apparently caught the attention of at least a few readers.

Just something else to ponder . . .

A Beijing Sculpture Mystery Somewhat Solved

In the previous post with examples of contemporary art currently displayed at the Parkview Green shopping mall in Beijing, I was not able to identify the artist of one of the sculptures.

One reader had a thoughtful suggestion for the possible artist, but I couldn't find match. After a variety of online searches, including using different versions of the photo, proved fruitless, I took another look at what appeared to be a signature on the sculpture's base.

If the signature used a creative style of Chinese characters, I was clueless, but it appeared to use letters from the Latin alphabet. My first guess was "X-something Li". I had found some artists with similar names but, again, no matches.

This time, though, I stopped thinking of the first symbol as an "X" and eventually a familiar name jumped out at me. It didn't take long after that for me to find several matching examples of "The Michelin Slave" (1967) by Salvador Dali. I also see similar examples named "Michelin's Slave — Can Be Used as a Car". In reference to a smaller version of the sculpture, LiveAuctioneers wrote:

For Dali, the slave imprisoned by tires symbolized the slaves who construct the Cadillac automoblie [sic] in the plants of General Motors. This piece is also known as Venus de los neumaticos.

So it seems to be yet another intriguing choice for a piece of art displayed at a shopping mall.

I am not sure of the meaning of the letters below the signature and wonder whether they indicate the sculpture is a reproduction of some type. According to a fascinating in-depth article on Artnews, "The Dalí Sculpture Mess", the status of this sculpture might not be a simple issue. The lead paragraph:

A flood of posthumous sculpture by Salvador Dalí­ generates millions of dollars in annual revenue—but the artist’s connection with much of the work is unclear. The market is rife with unreliable information, disputed ownership claims, unauthorized editions, and legal conflict. At least two European police investigations are under way.

From one question to another . . .

Contemporary Art on Display Inside the Parkview Green in Beijing

Some readers may still be wondering about the intended meaning of the sculpture in the previous post, and some may be wondering about its location. I have ideas but no definitive answers for the the first question, but at least one reader correctly guessed the photo was taken at the Parkview Green shopping mall in Beijing. Even if you have no interest in or money for luxury shopping, the mall is worth a visit for its remarkable architecture and numerous pieces of contemporary art. The bathrooms have fancy toilet seats too.

Photos of nine of the works on display inside the mall during a recent visit appear below with some bits of symmetry in their ordering. I have only listed the artists' names because sometimes the works' names weren't clearly displayed, at least anywhere I looked. In one frustrating case, I have not even been able to identify the artist — any help welcome [update: mystery solved]. Although none of them were as surprising to me to find in a Beijing shopping mall as the piece in the previous post, I found them all provocative in their own ways.

Chen Wenling

Roberto Barni

Unknown Salvador Dali

Shen Jingdong

Huang Mingzhe

Huang Yulong

Ichwan Noor

Lee Seung-koo

Chen Wenling