Years of Poems and Spirits

Recently, something happened in business school that made my head spinning…

As the Chinese New Year draws near, students in B School planned to organize a China-themed Friday party. One student from Taiwan was quite insistent about displaying ROC’s flag. That motion caused quite a disturbance among students from Mainland. As part of that gang, I witnessed outbursts of pretty strong feelings.

I thought about preaching my brand of tolerance but thought the better of it. What made me wonder (not the in-disbelief kind, but the courious one) is, even people from Mainland having been living closely with those from Taiwan, this experience did not really change their attitude much, if at all. I mean we studied, worked, lunched, teamed, and partied together. If anything, I believe most of us feel the two sides are closer–however involuntary–than each with the non-Chinese crowd. Yet that is still not enough to cause some of them to rethink how ridiculous it is to go back to a relationship that we didn’t initiate nor appreciate. In other words, the hatred and distrust between the two side was started by our grandparents. They may have geniune reasons to do so, but we can never truly appreciate this geniuneness since we never lived through that period.

(A related point is that how Chinese government handles Taiwan’s status is rather short-sighted. I always wanted to write an essay that is titled “Defeating a State, Losing a Nation”)

It is just another example of impossibility of “truth”. If one is blind to her own experience but rather fall for something others planted in her mind and internalize it, what does that experience matter? Ironically, someone organized a panel and having a group of students who spent three month in China, in an exchange program tailored for foreigners, to discuss the future of the country. I thought she put way too much weight on that three-month.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Like John Walker Lindh, whose short stint with another culture suddenly made him a complete convert. But that is why there are mental institutions. For most of us, we are likely to carry our little world around us–wherever we go.

After we came back from Xin Jiang, we had very busy days: family visits, old friends, etc. So I never had the presence of mind nor the time to write down my daily experience. Here I am just writing down pieces of memory here and there. Not sure how readable they are but hopefully they will remind me of this trip in the future.

Eating Buddhism
9/18
Went to a vegetarian restaurant (with Teng Song). Exquisite setting, excellent presentation–reminded me of scenes from 韩熙载夜宴图. But a lot quieter.

Waiters dressed like Buddhist monks. Quiet voice and gentle demeanor. Menu full of Buddhist terms–as if dish names were randomly inserted into 大般若波罗蜜多经. When we walked out of the restaurant, 人人躬身合十，如送施主。据说开餐馆的老板是个五台山还俗的和尚，想来是不慎把“禅”经念成了“馋”经。

What is Buddhism any more? Are these “knowledge”? Metaphysical concept becomes stimulants for sensual pleasure. The force of commerce dictates interpretation.

Art Beijing 2007 and the Art of Commerce
9/19
My old pal Sun Ning is a newbie art dealer in Beijing. He took me to Art Beijing 2007. an industry expo.

Surprised by how many art works bear naked political statements: an artist uses egg shells to build a model of the iconic CCTV building. Chinese newspaper printed on a huge roll of toilet paper. Met a guy from Germany who was totally awed by another work: a pair of bloated breasts on top of a pile of RMB cash, 100 millions worth. And another: a bronze sculpture with very classic looking dragon on top of a characterless middle aged women as if raping her.

A very impressive piece of work: a bunch of toddler boys, dressed in full military uniforms as if in a meeting, all watching one boy whipping another boy who is kneeing on the floor with pants pulled down. The watching boys all appear disinterested and absent minded, with a hint of boyish innocence on their faces.

I was told the work is priced at $600K. I thought it was pretty high for an artist in mid 40s. But SN told me it is how the market works nowadays: an artist creates a unique style, manages to get in an oversea’s show, and being recognized by Western critics, his/hers works rocket up immediately. Then copycats will spurn up and fill in the lower tiers with less distinquishable works.

There are many many excellent works I’d love to have. But there are some that have too much 匠气.

Talking to Sun Ning really helped me to appreciate contemporary art. True appreciation has to come in incremental steps: who are the contemporaries, what are the works before and after the one in front of you, what segment (even age group) the artist is in, what others are saying, etc. Gone is the time when one can look at a piece of work and say, “I like it”.

颐园日暖桂兰香
9/20
Seeing blue sky for the 2nd day in Beijing. Visited 颐和园 with my parents.
Visited 文昌院 inside YHY. A pleasant surprise: it houses the best of antiques found in YHY. Because it charges extra, very few people were in there. We hired a guide to show us around. Having visited the Art expo the day before, I was not surprised at all at the selection by the guide: she picked the ones with the most stories, not those that appealed to our eyes.

After seeing so many tourist art works, it is easy to tell how great the collection is. I felt it wasn’t bad to be an emporer after all. Fell in love with a piece of 释迦摩尼, reminded me of those I saw in 敦煌. Didn’t buy after all.

Many bronze pieces from pre-Han dynasties. Great stuff.

Song is leaving for Beijing again. We thought it would be nice to spend a day in the city instead of being stuck on the east side.

Dinner at Waterfront Seafood Grill: Great sound view, spectacular sunset, pricy menu (the burning-through-your-wallet kind), excellent Lamb Rack.

Seafair Torchlight Parade: The lamest street fair I’ve ever witnessed. Where the New Orleanians turn funeral parade into a festival, the Seattlites turn a festival into a funeral parade. There was even a large contingent of Fa Lun Gong band: a wierd sight that left me … 哭笑不得 (or “not sure to frawn upon or to laugh at”).

The Simpsons Movie: for an long time fun, the movie is hardly any more entertaining. But it didn’t ruin the brand either. The really fun part was the experience of watching it: as different people picking on different jokes, it reminded me watching an episode with a group of guys in a bar. There is “solitary” movie and “social” movie. The Simpsons certainly belongs to the latter.