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Showing posts with label Sculptures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sculptures. Show all posts

Friday, October 25, 2019

Time to Get Back on Whatever Animal

Yet again, I have not been posting as much as I had wanted. I really do plan to get back on the horse this time though.

Or maybe I should try a lion instead . . .

Chinese sculpture of a person riding a lion
At Pengzu Park (彭祖园) in Xuzhou


More soon.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Not Able to Perceive All the Views at Xuzhou's Zhulin Temple

This past weekend after reaching the top of the hill where Xuzhou's Zhulin Temple* (竹林寺) sits, I immediately sought out the Avalokitesvara Pavilion (观音阁). It isn't hard to spot.

Avalokitesvara Pavilion at Zhulin Temple in Xuzhou


This is the same pavilion which appears in front of a setting sun in a photo I earlier shared. I hoped to go to the top floor of the pavilion and take a photo in the direction of where I had taken the earlier photo to provide both symmetry and contrast.

However, my plans were thwarted.

blocked stairway in pavilion


Without being able to reach the pavilion's upper levels, it wasn't possible to see over the trees and bamboo in the direction I wanted to photograph.

path through trees and bamboo


Oh well.

At least I was able to see the large statue of Avalokitesvara inside the pavilion.

Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) statue at the Zhulin Temple in Xuzhou


Normally I would have used the name Guanyin instead of Avalokitesvara in English, since that seems to be more commonly used when referring to this bodhisattva in China. But a few signs at the temple used the name Avalokitesvara for the pavilion's English name, so I will go with that. The Dunhuang Foundation helps explain the naming issue:
It is generally agreed among Chinese Buddhists and scholars of Buddhist studies that the figure Guanyin is the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. . . .

Avalokitesvara is the bodhisattva who represents compassion. . . .

Guanyin in Chinese means "Perceiver of all Sounds," which refers to the way in which Guanyin is able to hear all prayers and cries for help.

In India, bodhisattvas are genderless or are referred to as male. The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, or Guanyin, is often depicted as female in China.

One reason for this gender fluidity is due to the way the Bodhisattva has the ability to manifest on earth in many different forms.

I don't know why the pavilion's upper floors were closed. It reminded of several other pavilions and pagodas I have recently visited in China only to discover they were in similar states. Maybe Guanyin knows why.

Anyway, I don't have a photo to provide some symmetry with the earlier one, but at least I was able to capture the Avalokitesvara Pavilion with some pretty decent cloudage.






* Sometimes the literal translation "Bamboo Forest Temple" is used in English.

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Sculpting Blissful Harmony in Xuzhou

In addition to a sculpture of intertwined dragons that provided an opportunity for a multilingual pun, another sculpture at Xuzhou's Yunlong Park recently caught my eye:

Blissful Harmony (花好月圆) by Cai Zengbin (蔡增斌)
Blissful Harmony (花好月圆) by Cai Zengbin (蔡增斌), 2011


In this case, a nearby stone provide the sculpture's title and creator. The title is a Chinese idiom, and I went with a figurative translation reflecting that the woman is playing an erhu. Especially given the lighting conditions at the time, this is hard to see in the above photo. So here is another photo cropped and selectively brightened to help make it more visible:

sculpture of a woman playing an erhu


A more literal translation of the Chinese title would be "lovely flowers, round moon", and flowers and a moon shape are easy to spot. So although there isn't a multilingual pun, the title proves interesting in how it applies both figuratively and literally.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Yulin Too Has a Horse Flying for Tourism

Some readers may have noticed that a photo of Yulin's Youth Square in a recent post included a sculpture based on the iconic Flying Horse of Gansu bronze sculpture similar to the one at the Ganzhou Railway Station in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, I featured last year. Indeed, as in Ganzhou, the horse is a symbol for the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the base of the sculpture indicates the city was identified as a "Top Tourist City of China".

Unlike the sculpture in Ganzhou, the one in Yulin is surrounded by area frequented by pedestrians — or on some days skateboarders.


"Top Tourist City of China" Flying Horse of Gansu sculpture at Youth Square in Yulin, Guangxi


My impression is that in their central districts Ganzhou offers more for tourists than does Yulin. However, I suspect Yulin's award may be for the many sights in its other districts. In any case, Yulin has its horse sculpture.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

From Aristotle to Xie Juezai: Eight "Rule of Law Celebrity Sculptures" at Pantang Park in Wuzhou, China

Pantang Park (潘塘公园) offers a place to walk through a bit of greenery and somewhat get away from the urban areas which surround it in central Wuzhou. The park also offers a bit of a history through a series of busts titled "Rule of Law Celebrity Sculptures" ("法治名人雕像"). The busts are almost all arranged in the chronological order of the lives of the people they depict, ranging in time from Ancient Greece to Communist China. Below are photos of the eight busts and also links to the English Wikipedia page for each person, though the articles for the Chinese figures are less well referenced, if at all.

Notably, the first four busts are all of Westerners and the rest are all of Chinese. I am not very familiar with the history of rule of law in the Western world and China, but I am sure people more knowledgable about the topic would have deeper observations about this selection of people put on display at a relatively peaceful park in Wuzhou.

Bust of Aristotle (亚里士多德) in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Aristotle (亚里士多德; 384–322 BC), Greek philosopher


Bust of Ulpian (乌尔比安) in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Ulpian (乌尔比安; 170 – 223), Roman jurist


Bust of Montesquieu (孟德斯鸠) in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Montesquieu (孟德斯鸠; 1689-1755), French judge and political philosopher


Bust of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (黑格尔) in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (黑格尔; 1770-1831), German philosopher


Bust of Shen Jiaben (沈家本) in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Shen Jiaben (沈家本; 1840-1913), Chinese politician and jurist


Bust of Shen Junru (沈钧儒) in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Shen Junru (沈钧儒, 1875 - 1963), first president of the Supreme People's Court of China in the People's Republic of China


Bust of Dong Biwu (董必武)  in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Dong Biwu (董必武; 1886 - 1975), Chinese communist political leader


Bust of Xie Juezai (谢觉哉) in Wuzhou's Pantang Park (潘塘公园)
Xie Juezai (谢觉哉; 1884 - 1971), former President of the Supreme People's Court

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Some Scenes from the Dragon Boat Cultural Park in Zhongshan

The previous post has a photo of man walking a dog past a xiangqi sculpture at the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园) in Zhongshan. The park isn't identified on any online maps I checked, and I only knew what to call it thanks to a single stone at the park with its name. Below are a few other photos I took at the park around the area where it passes under under the Kanghua Bridge (康华大桥) on the south side of the Shiqi River (石岐河 — also known as the Qijiang River (岐江河)). According to an article in Chinese, the park opened last year and stretches quite a bit further than the area I unexpectedly came across.


Dragon boat sculpture at the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园)


xiangqi sculpture at the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园)


men painting a riverside covered walkway sculpture at the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园)


riverside sculptures at the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园)


stone with the name of the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园)

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

The Ganzhou Railway Station: A Flying Horse, a Sunset, and a Police-Evading Truck

Yesterday around 6 p.m. I stopped by the Ganzhou Railway Station to take a closer look at it and the surrounding area. Upon arriving I found a location safe for standing with a mostly clear view of the station and a large sculpture of a horse in front. The horse is based on the iconic Flying Horse of Gansu bronze sculpture and a symbol for the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), which recently merged with the Ministry of Culture to form the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The plaque on the base of the structure indicates the CNTA identified Ganzhou as a "Top Tourist City of China".

Just before lifting my camera, I heard a loud whistle behind me and turned around. A man driving a truck had turned into an area designated only for buses and a police officer was trying to stop him. The mistake seemed understandable, and I expected the driver would soon change course.

He didn't. Instead, after slowing down and showing clear awareness of the officer, he drove onwards. When the officer went running after the truck, it quickly accelerated. The man then drove into an area partially blocked by a gate.

A number of other police immediately became involved, but most of them didn't continue chasing the truck. They knew something the man possibly did not. There was no other way out. Unsurprisingly, the truck soon returned. Surprisingly to the driver, the police had completely blocked the road. The man chose not to go all Dukes of Hazard, and the police questioned after he had stopped.

This was not a great development for the man. Or me. With all the action now in the scene I had hoped to capture and plenty of police eyes about, I didn't know a) if me taking a photo would attract attention and b) whether the police would then question me. All I really wanted a photo of the statue and station and not create more of an event, so I waited.

The man initially tried to laugh the matter off. The police didn't laugh. They then appeared to ask for ID. Things proceeded rather peacefully after that, but there was no sign of when it would all end. So, I eventually gave up and quickly took two photos.

man driving truck stopped by police at the Ganzhou Railway Station
A China's Core Socialist Values display, the Flying Horse of Gansu, and the Ganzhou Railway station
(oh, and a truck stopped by police)


Fortunately, one turned out decently enough. Also nice, nobody approached me. As I walked away, I noticed they had allowed the man to depart. Especially for a person who had just explicitly ignored police orders and tried to evade them, the issue had been handled rather calmly and efficiently.

The rest of my time at the station passed by far more mundanely. Below are a few more photos I took of and from the station, some including the hard-to-miss horse. Train stations in China can be rather lively places, but at the time the station seemed relatively subdued. But at least the setting sun added some color.


bus parking lot and stop at the Ganzhou Railway Station


front of Ganzhou Railway Station and a McDonald's


view from Ganzhou Railway Station


view of China National Tourism Administration Flying Horse of Gansu sculpture at the Ganzhou Railway Station


China National Tourism Administration Flying Horse of Gansu sculpture at the Ganzhou Railway Station


front of the Ganzhou Railway Station (赣州火车站)