Got to the Forbidden City today – truly amazing to see, as amazing as Angkor in Cambodia; in the same vein, sumptuous design and colour and layout, so lovely to walk around and just be in such an ancient and highly refined cultural space. Lots of tourists but is so enormous you can find quiet spots quite easily – and would need several trips really. Huge grandiose spaces plus intimate/domestic small spots for wells and such like, all built with the same amazing attention to detail. The place is covered in glazed tiling.
Also Tian’anmen Square – which is really just an expanse of concrete pavement with Mao’s mausoleum planted slap bang in the alignment of the Forbidden City’s gates, a bad feng shui spot apparently. Didnt go in, it is shut till 20th Sept, so could go with Cameron and Jake if we want to see a waxy embalmed Mao! Apparently his request was cremation. The Vietnamese embalmers of Ho Chi Minh gave tips on Mao’s preservation apparently. No reference to the 1989 massacre of course, the 20 year anniversary of which will come hot on the heels of the Olympics.
Just read about Ai Wei Wei’s – the Chinese artist responsible for the design of the Birds Nest aka the Olympic Stadium – disgust with the already intense Olympic propaganda and that he will boycott the opening next year. See link below
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2144692,00.html
On Thursday the 9th did a huge explore on foot and found my way to the centre, discovering streets, hutongs, buses and the underground en route. Bright sunny day, hot and humid as usual, but had not counted on such a bright sun and got sunburnt [it has been low cloud and smog until now]. Apparently the Government has taken one million cars off the road to reduce pollution as a practice run for the Olympics next year. Must be working…Did various recordings en route of the crickets and cicadas, the songs are loud and pervasive, just the right time of year. Found my way into the Workers Stadium on Gongrentiyuchang Beilu – see the pic. Ended up in JingShan Park which is the mount north of The Forbidden City where 3 pagodas containing 3 buddhas [only one remaining] poured beneficence over the inhabitants of the city [presumably] in days of yore. Lots of singing insect action, fantastic, and also as in most parks here, music and singing taking place as well. Many of my recordings here have people singing and playing, which is why I find field recording is so interesting – the element of chance that you have no control over. I have heard at least 3 types of cicada so far, and more types of crickets. Another artist Denise Keele-Bedford said that the tailors up towards the China Art Gallery had singing crickets in cages to entice custom – in the traditional way – but unfortunately no more. I am hoping to get to the Natural History Museum and ask an entomologist to listen to and identify them for me at some point. Will have to ask Kelly to help. She is a student of Indian Literature who is the translator for us Red Gate artists.
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The gallery is located in one of the 8 watchtowers that used to exist along the outer city wall of Beijing. It is the only one left, and is quite amazing to see. Built during the Ming period [1500s – pretty recent by Chinese standards]. Last night went out to Bei Gao which is a whole area of studios of local and visiting artists out to the north west of the city towards the airport – an absolute rabbit warren and easy to get lost. Even the taxi drivers had trouble both ways. Met quite a few artists again and we were looking at Madeline Churchill’s drawings that tie up her time here. She returns to the UK tonight. Afterwards we ate at Ta Dong a local ecological restaurant that grows all its own fruit and vegetables in a mini-ecosystem that is the restaurant – you actually eat amongst the growing trees and bushes. Amazing.
During the hot evenings I have been going back to the Tuanjiehu Park where many people spend their time. There was a performance of dancing/movement to traditional Chinese drumming. The instruments were a drum, two cymbals and a Chinese sounding metal cymbal – don’t know its name. Men played the instruments and women danced with two red fans each. The dance snaked around a smallish paved area at the South entrance to the park for about 20 minutes at a time. It seemed to be a community activity and everyone was enjoying participating or watching. Also people were painting Chinese characters on the pavement with 2′ long brushes water – calligraphy perhaps. Still have not found out what this is in relation to.
Finally made it to Beijing, 9 hours to Hong Kong, and 3 hours to Beijing. Managed to write some thoughts for Uwe Koch’s Berlin project Takatako while in transit [see www.takatako.de].
Brian Wallace the director of Red Gate Gallery picked me up from the airport with Zhen who does the driving for the gallery [difficult to negotiate if you are not a local]. Right hand drive. Beijing is a boom town – the airport was re-built only 5 years ago to allow for all the extra traffic, but it has already outgrown itself. There is Olympics fever here and the day it starts is an auspicious day as it must be for the Chinese – 08.08.08. The main stadium, aka the birds nest, is on the north sida of the city. An artist with Red Gate Zhou Jun has done some interesting photographic work about it. This afternoon is an opening at the gallery of Zheng Xuewu’s work and here I will meet everyone. Afterwards a meal for about 40 of us – no problem for restaurants here. Apparently there are about 5 or 6 new residents at this time, so it will be interesting to meet everyone.
Have already found the cicadas singing [it is hot and humid] – outside the flat and also in ‘Exquisite Park’ [Tuan Jie Hu Park] nearby. Outside the park about 30 orange dragonflies were flying around – couldn’t work out why. Along the street where my flat is located a fruit and veg market operates between 6am and 10am everyday – so handy, and great to be in the middle of things. Have to get up to speed with some basic Chinese again – Ni Hao [hello] Xie xie [thank you] zai jiang [good bye] etc etc Havn’t seen many foreigners about this part of the city.
