Culture Artstag:www.mrshang.com,2009-04-05:/culture_arts//32009-04-15T09:08:14ZMovable Type 4.25Sheng Sheng Mantag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.482009-04-15T09:06:46Z2009-04-15T09:08:14ZShangNing Tune to Sheng Sheng Man, an ancient Chinese music song
Looking for something again and again, desolate after desolate, sad by sad, miserable and miserable， I was so unhappy and worried.
It was most hard to recuperate myself during the weather of suddenly got warm and again turned to cold.
A few cups of weak wine, how could help me withstand the terrible wind of night ?
Seeing the wild geese flew across the sky, it had touched off me most heartrending, for this scene was just like acquaintance, the time of past.
The dropped yellow flowers were heaped on the entire land of courtyard, thin and pallid to the most, nobody was willing to pick it at present.
Leaning against the window, it was hard to me, alone waiting from daytime to dark.
Let alone a drizzle stroke lightly on the parasol trees， but to evening, it turned to rain with drop by drop.
This scene how could be described by "sorrow'', only this one word. ]]>
Shanghai Becomes China's "Oldest" Citytag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.342009-04-09T06:32:38Z2009-04-09T06:33:04ZSenior citizens account for more than 20 percent of the population of Shanghai, an economic powerhouse in eastern China, a city official said Thursday.Gao Julan, deputy head of the municipal civil affairs bureau, said that as of the end of...ShangNing Gao Julan, deputy head of the municipal civil affairs bureau, said that as of the end of 2008, there were more than 3 million registered citizens aged above 60 in Shanghai, or 21.6 percent of the population.
The proportion was 4.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Shanghai now has the largest share of the aged in the population among Chinese cities, or twice the national average, according to Gao.
Of the 3 million, 17.8 percent were in their 80s and 90s. The proportion was 6.4 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Of the 534,400 people aged above 80, about 20 percent needed daily care services, according to Gao. ]]>
Artscape hit by global financial chilltag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.332009-04-09T06:31:42Z2009-04-09T06:32:08ZBEIJING, April 7 -- An old Chinese saying goes something like this: Not even the most exquisite piece of art is worth more than a bowl of rice in times of crisis.Of course, the financial crisis sweeping through a good...ShangNing Of course, the financial crisis sweeping through a good part of the world hasn't brought famine and pestilence in its wake, but it has sure brought a chill to the once buoyant Chinese contemporary art market.
Even on a sunny spring day, you can feel the chill walking down the empty lanes of Beijing's 798 district, a sprawling factory complex that has been converted into an enclave of art galleries, painters' workshops and exhibition halls. There, the abundance of eye-catching signs in many different colors and sizes that advertise spaces for lease practically diverts from the display of art behind shop windows.
The exhibition halls are closed, their bulletin boards, empty. The only noise comes from the howling of an occasional gusty draught, common during the Beijing Spring, that moves a few old flyers of past events lazily through the air, reminding passersby of better times not too long ago.
Before the global credit squeeze hit Chinese shores in late 2008, Beijing 798 was a bustling market of modern Chinese art, especially paintings, where art dealers, collectors and punters from around the country congregated to buy and sell paintings by well-known masters and budding new talent.
The biggest buyers were Chinese enterprises that tried to outdo each other in sponsoring arts and culture during boom times.
The bursting of the asset bubble last year and the sharp decline in export growth has torpedoed the Chinese art market. Demand dried up as corporations, big and small, cut costs. Some cash-strapped manufacturing companies in the industrial regions even started quietly disposing off at least a part of their collections to raise money.
The plight of Beijing 798 tells only part of the story. In the art markets at M50 in Shanghai and Shamian in Guangzhou, there has been a wave of gallery closures as sales tumbled. Dealers said they did not expect to see a lift-up in the art market anytime soon.
"Our business usually lags the economy by six to 12 months," an art dealer in Shanghai said. For him and other dealers around the nation, "Spring will come no sooner than the third quarter of this year", he said.
In Beijing 798, more than 60 of the nearly 200 galleries there went bust by the end of last year. Those remaining in business were heavily discounting their stock to lure buyers, something none of them has ever done before.
In the 50-sq-m Fanshiondo Gallery in the district, an oil painting of lotus flowers by Lian Zhixiong, 38, is on sale for 5,800 yuan, down from its original 7,800 yuan. What is more, the frame comes free. Despite the discounts, galleries have a problem selling their wares.
"We used to sell an average of 10 works of art for around 10,000 yuan everyday," said Fanshiondo's operator Tian Xingwei. "Now, we are lucky if we sell one or two a day," he lamented, although his gallery was doing slightly better than others in the art district.
To minimize capital commitment and risks, many galleries have changed their practice of paying artists upfront to a consignment arrangement, although the commission income is usually less than what they can make by reselling items they acquire.
Some galleries have tried to supplement their income by branching into the home and office decoration business. "The decoration segment is better than pure art now," said Tian. "Although it is not our main line of business, we can at least stay in business," he said.
Cui Liqing, exhibition supervisor of Jiulifang (Nine Cube) Art Museum, is facing equally hard times. The gallery moved into 798 early last year and experienced a short period of brisk business before falling into a trough.
Jiulifang focuses on contemporary art promotion, targeting high-end collectors. "We are the first batch (of businesses) that are feeling the effects of the global financial tsunami," Cui said. "It is understandable, paintings are something people buy when they have plenty of spare cash, and the first to be let go when the money is tight," Cui said.
The gallery has sunk into the red now. Its survival now depends entirely on the largesse of the owner, who still has other businesses that are making money.
Jiulifang has changed its style and is exhibiting some traditional photos at its 80-plus-sq-m showroom currently. "We are doing some kind of art education work to the public in a bid to cultivate potential customers," said Cui.
To Cui, and her boss, operating a gallery is some kind of a social mission. "We must persevere," she said. "People will recognize our value in time," she said.
Indeed, they do. Independent art critics Zhu Qi indicated that the art business develops in parallel with social and economic growth. Given that metric, China's art sector is rather promising.
Art auction transaction volume, the art market barometer, witnessed a boom in China since the new century, with year-on-year growth of between 20 and 30 percent, according to global art information website artprice.com.
The nation's art auction transaction volume amounted to 23.64 billion yuan in 2007, up 41 percent from the previous year. During the first half of 2008, the figure reached 11.58 billion yuan, making China the world's third largest art auction marketplace after the UK and the US, with a market share of 8 percent.
Mila Bollansee came to China two years ago and settled down to run Beyond Art Space in 798. Now, the Belgian is busy preparing for the 'Beyond the Globalization' contemporary art exhibition to be launched on April 12.
The gallery manager admitted that the situation was "tough", as collectors were not buying as much as before, but said Beyond Art Space would continue to do high quality shows.
"We didn't reduce our marketing budget and are planning to participate at the best art fairs in the future," Bollansee told China Daily.
"I think China will recover because it has a very powerful economy. Other countries may suffer more," said Bollansee, adding that it was a good opportunity to buy high-quality works now because it came at a reasonable price.
The 2009 China International Gallery Exposition, to be held from April 16 to 19 in Beijing, has lured 84 galleries, compared to the 80 last year. Seventy-five percent of the 84 are overseas players.
According to Wang Yihan, art supervisor of the gallery exposition, the participants are seeking potential Chinese artists and collectors.
In spite of a sluggish market, a group of investors have bet on the contemporary art market here. They have launched galleries in Beijing and Shanghai. Water and Wood Modern Art Space was opened last summer in 798. Ji Dawei, supervisor of the gallery, said that the gallery does not expect to benefit in the short term, pointing out that a loss over three to five years was acceptable.
Han Yuqi, president of Urban Culture Research Center, which is affiliated to the Shanghai Institute of Technology, said given the relatively low cost of infrastructure, facilities and the collection range it might be a smart idea to start a gallery now.
"Cultivating artists and collectors take time. Galleries are not quick ways to make money," Han pointed out.
Both Cui of Jiulifang and Bollansee of Beyond Art Space said that the market downturn would result in consolidation of the contemporary art segment, which had been overheated during the past few years.
Art critic Zhu said he believed those galleries and artists who earned money through media hype would be eliminated, as people have become rational and cool-headed during the economic slowdown.
"It's time to separate the wheat from the chaff, and I am referring both to contemporary artists as well as gallery operators," Zhu said.
Most gallery operators are hit by the wait-and-watch attitude of collectors, who worry about the potential of the art scene in the near future.
"Some people purchase art as a hobby, and some consider it as an investment. But art itself is eternal," said Bollansee. ]]>
World's Most Dangerous and Controversial Zootag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.322009-04-09T06:30:46Z2009-04-09T06:31:13ZLocated 70 miles from Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, the Lujan Zoo has received strong criticism. It has been called wild, irresponsible and even dangerous. Officials there simply call it--'The World's first interactive Zoo'.The controversial zoo allows tourists to...ShangNing The controversial zoo allows tourists to have extremely close encounters with some of the most dangerous predators on the planet.
Zoo visitors can ride lions, cuddle bears, stroke tigers and feed cheetahs. Cages are accessible to anyone who pays $50 and signs a waiver relinquishing the zoo of responsibility if they are attacked.
Children are permitted to enter the cages and stroke a range of animals with the potential to kill or maim.
Animal protection charities have condemned the zoo and issued strong statements urging tourists not to visit it. ]]>
Laocheng Area in Luoyangtag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.312009-04-09T06:29:31Z2009-04-09T06:30:24ZThe best way to learn about the old days of a historically famous city is to pay its oldest district a visit. In Beijing, the hutong area may be the right place and in Luoyang we found just the place....ShangNing Laocheng is located in the northeast of Luoyang, covering an area of 56.7 square kilometers.
The entrance to the Laocheng area is a magnificent semi-circular shaped building called Lijing gate, literally meaning 'the gate to beautiful scenery'. Previously the west gate of the inner city of Luoyang, the gate was built in Sui Dynasty (581-618) when Luoyang was the capital of the country.
Inside the gate are still prosperous ancient business streets, with small shops standing terraced along both sides.
On the outer wall of each shop there is a silk flag with the name of each business, including restaurants, dress shops, groceries and hardware stores.
Among the businesses are several time-honored restaurants offering distinctive Luoyang cuisine, such as guan ji and yao yao. Different from the tourist-oriented Zhen Bu Tong restaurant, the two old ones serve local residents and tourists alike.
The water banquet is a local dining custom in Luoyang. Unlike most culinary customs in China, the 24 dishes served in a water banquet are brought one after another, like flowing water. Around a third of the dishes are soup or semi-soup.
Also on the streets are shops selling peony paintings, Tang Dynasty three-color glazed pottery (tang san cai) and plum blossom jade (mei hua yu), three of the special products of Luoyang.
Nowadays Laocheng is no longer the city center, but a must-see destination for every visitor to Luoyang. ]]>
In End of the Peach Foresttag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.292009-04-09T06:07:17Z2009-04-09T06:07:49ZIn End of the Peach ForestTao Yuanming (the Eastern Jin Dynasty)In the middle of Taiyuan,the Jin Dynasty there was a Wuling man, who caught fish for living. One day he went on by a boat, sailing along a stream for...ShangNing
Tao Yuanming (the Eastern Jin Dynasty)
In the middle of Taiyuan,the Jin Dynasty there was a Wuling man, who caught fish for living. One day he went on by a boat, sailing along a stream for a long time and neglecting how much distance he had traveled. Suddenly, in front of his eyes a peach forest was extended hundreds of paces on both sides of the river and without any other trees scattered. In the forest, the fragrant grass was fresh and beautiful and a lot of fallen flowers were spread on the ground. The fishing man was very strange, and then he went on again, intending to make a thorough investigation of this forest. The forest was ended at the stream source. He caught sight of a mountain，which had a little entrance, seemed to have some light in it .And then, the fishing man left his boat and went into the entrance.
In the beginning the entrance was extremely narrow, just able to pass through a person, and continually walking tens of paces, suddenly became bright and open. The ground and soil behind the mountain was flat and vast, and the houses and sheds all set out in a neat order. In the place, having the fertile lands, clear pools, white mulberries and nice bamboo and so forth, and also having the crisscross footpaths between the fields, the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs were within hearing of each other. People planted with rice, cotton and vegetable and worked hard to and fro in the fields and their clothes were as same as the outsiders. The old men with their hair，which had been yellow transmitted from grey and children with hair's tufts in front of their head all looked very pleasant, contented and self-enjoyed. When in sight of the fishing man, they all got frightened and asked where he was come from. The fishing man replied to these questions according to the fact. And then the villagers invited him to home, butchering cock and heating up wine for him as food. Other people heard that there was an outside man in the village, they all came to visit and inquire him about the events happened outside. The village people told him, for avoiding the chaos caused by the war of the Qin Dynasty, their ancestors along with their families and county colleagues came to this sealed place, and did not go out again. Therefore the people in the village were separated from the external people up to now. Asking what the Dynasty was nowadays, since it is in the case of being not aware of the Han Dynasty, of course they also could not know the Dynasties such as Wei and Jin later. The fishing man told them what he had heard one by one. Hearing those, the villagers all sighed and felt pity very much. The others repeatedly invited him to their house and offered him with wine and other cooked food. After several days, when the fishing man took leave the village, the people in the village said to him: "There is no need to tell the situation here to the external people.''
Having gone out from the village, the fishing man got his boat. Along the incoming road, where he marked some symbols to every important location. Turning back into the Wuling County, he called on the prefecture chief and spoke out all that he saw and heard. The prefecture chief dispatched men going along with him to search the symbols which he had marked; unexpectedly they had lost the way and couldn't find the place that the fishing man found.
Liu Ziji in Nanyang was a respectable scholar. Hearing this information, he went to search the end of peach forest with pleasure by himself, but no result was obtained. Before long，he died of illness. Later there was nobody to make inquire into this event. ]]>
The Day of Qingmingtag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.282009-04-09T06:05:48Z2009-04-09T06:06:42ZThe Day of QingmingDu Mu (803-852)Translated by Wang DaoyuA rainy day around the Day of Qingming,A roamer, heart-broken, is wearily walking.He asks for a tavern, to a buffalo boy,Who points to a village afar, where plums are blooming.The Day of...ShangNing
Du Mu (803-852) Translated by Wang Daoyu
A rainy day around the Day of Qingming, A roamer, heart-broken, is wearily walking. He asks for a tavern, to a buffalo boy, Who points to a village afar, where plums are blooming.
The Day of Qingming: Literally "The Pure Brightness Day", which falls on April 5th every year and is the traditional day for the Chinese people to pay homage to their ancestors' tombs. ]]>
Sundan enters Beijingtag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.272009-04-06T17:55:05Z2009-04-06T17:56:00ZShenzhen-based Sundan has added spice to the ongoing home appliance war between Gome and Suning, by entering the Beijing market with a new store in Sanlitun and has plan to open another outlet soon.Set up in 1992, Sundan was once...ShangNing Set up in 1992, Sundan was once the largest home appliances retailer in Shenzhen with branches in Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Dongguan.
The firm, however, lost ground when Gome and Suning entered the fray and decided to exit the Guangzhou market. At that time it had 16 stores on the mainland, of which 10 were in Shenzhen. Last year, it decided to spread wings to Beijing and Suzhou.
"The company's expansion is a risky one as Beijing has a high density of home appliances stores," said Liu Buchen, a veteran electronics retail consultant. Demand for home appliances is slowing in first and second-tier cities, he said.
Suning has nearly 51 stores in Beijing while its bigger rival Gome had 62 branches as of August 2008.
Luo Qingqi of Pully Brand Technology Consulting Company also feels that Sundan's expansion is a risky one when compared to Gome or Suning.
Compared with Gome's risk pattern which is shouldered by producers and retailers, Sundan adopts a buyout operation model, which means Sundan buys out one model and sells it via its own guides to gain more pricing power, similar to that of Best Buy, the top US consumer electronics retail chain.
"The competition between Sundan and Gome or Suning is like the one between the grass and trees," said Luo. "Sundan will face more pressure and may even succumb in the process," he said.
Ding Hongwen, Sundan's general manager for the Beijing market, however, feels that he has enough ammunition in 'differential marketing' to counter the bigger rivals.
"We target high-end consumers with middle- and high-end products and our approach is different from other chain stores as our products are not expensive at all," said Ding.
He said the Sanlitun store is performing as per the company's expectations. Sundan will soon open a second store in western Beijing with an area of 2,000 to 3,000 sq m.
Beijing is not the only area of hot competition between Sundan and Gome or Suning. In Shenzhen, Gome and Suning have 27 and 25 branches respectively, compared with Sundan's 11 stores. Sundan's market share is less than 50 percent of Suning's, said a report from China Business News. ]]>
Travel firms keep 7-day programtag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.262009-04-06T17:54:02Z2009-04-06T17:54:43ZTravel agencies in Guangdong will not cancel weeklong tour services during the May Day holiday, even though the central government may strike down the province's plan to revive the Golden Week, sales managers said on Friday.The State Council, or China's...ShangNing The State Council, or China's Cabinet, urged local governments to stick to the three-day May Day holiday scheme in a notice issued on Thursday - a day after Guangdong's provincial government announced its plan to extend the holiday by adding two days of paid annual leave and a weekend.
But Guangdong's tourism officials refused to comment on the government's notice, saying the final decision has not yet been made.
"We will not cancel products tailored for would-be travelers who have planned trips lasting seven or more days during the May Day period," China Travel Service (Guangdong) sales manager Shen Xiaoli said on Friday. "People here view traveling as part of life, so they will still take trips no matter how long the holiday lasts."
The agency had not received any customer cancellations since Thursday, Shen said.
"People who have booked services, especially for outbound traveling during the May Day holiday, have asked their employers for leave," Shen added.
Liu Yuping, a sales manager of GZL International Travel Service, a leading agency focused on outbound tours, also said the government's decision had little impact on its planned business.
Liu said the agency would provide refunds to customers forced to cancel because of the government's three-day requirement. "But so far, we have not been notified of the three-day requirement." ]]>
Qingming, a time to celebrate lifetag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.252009-04-06T17:51:40Z2009-04-06T17:52:49ZIf you think cemeteries are ghastly places, full of stories of sorrow and pain, think again. At least the burial grounds in Shanghai are not just about grief.Sure, you'll find people sobbing, burning incense, and offering food and wine to...ShangNing Sure, you'll find people sobbing, burning incense, and offering food and wine to the dead. But look a little further, and you'll also spot happy people, of all ages and sizes, flying kites, playing on swings or just sitting around and enjoying the afternoon sun.
The two drastically contrasting scenes, which have stirred a fair amount of debate here, have been quietly accepted as a norm in many Shanghai cemeteries, at least during the annual Qingming (clear brightness) Festival, also known as the Tomb Sweeping Day.
At the Binhai Cemetery, right along the East China Sea in suburban Shanghai, many tombstones are designed artistically to reflect people's changing perception of death.
A sea burial ceremony held there last week was attended by some 1,000 family members and friends of the deceased. A squad of women, dressed in traditional colorful rural costumes, danced and beat gongs to mark this increasingly popular burial service.
At this vast and well-landscaped oceanfront cemetery, surrounded by lush greenery, more than 900,000 people's ashes are buried.
In fact, the Qingming Festival, which falls on Saturday, is traditionally a time not just to mourn the dead, but also to celebrate the onset of spring.
The 15th day from the spring equinox, Qingming is a time when plants are sprouting and flowers blooming. It is the season to plant, from trees to rice, a time when a large number of people step out of their houses to feel nature at its best.
That's precisely why the Shanghai Tourism Bus Center has launched 156 sightseeing routes for Qingming this year. Airfares have also gone up since it was made a national public holiday last year. This year, an estimated 8 million people in Shanghai are set to visit various cemeteries during the festival.
On way to the Binhai cemetery, giant billboards are welcoming people to visit the peach blossom in Nanhui and rapeseed flower festival in Fengxian, which have turned the city's suburbs into a real-life painting.
I hadn't lost someone very close to me until three years back, when my mentor, Bill Woo, a great journalist and professor, died in California.
In his last email to me, he said he was planning to come to Shanghai to finish a book about his father, also a prominent Chinese journalist back in the 1930s and 40s.
Two months later, my own father passed away. He was a person who had experienced China's turbulent decades since the 1920s. He taught me to be a just man, who gives much and takes back little.
Each time I think of Bill or my father, I feel a deep sense of remorse. Losing someone so dear and inspiring is not something you can get over easily.
I feel the love inside me for my father every time I think of him or gaze at his photograph, or visit his ashes at Binhai.
Bill still inspires me whenever I sit down to write. His lectures in class, the pages of his book - Letters to the Editor, published after his death - are etched in my memory forever.
It's easier said than done, but important nonetheless, that instead of crying over the loss of those who we love, who inspire us, we celebrate the life they have lived and the fact that they touched our lives in some way or the other.
That's what Qingming truly means. ]]>
Seven Snacks Are Popular in Beijingtag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.72009-04-04T23:54:23Z2009-04-04T23:55:04Z1. Quick-Fried Tripe: It is an Islamic snack of tripe of sheep or cattle. When served, it is first cut into stripes or slices. Then, it is boiled in water. After it is cooked and dipped into sesame sauce it...ShangNing
1. Quick-Fried Tripe: It is an Islamic snack of tripe of sheep or cattle. When served, it is first cut into stripes or slices. Then, it is boiled in water. After it is cooked and dipped into sesame sauce it gets ready for eating.
2. Boiled Sheep's Head: This is another Islamic snack people eat while drinking some wine. It undergoes the following procedures. First, boil sheep's head in water without putting in any seasoning and then cut it into paper-thin slices, at last scatter over it with a kind of special salt.
3. Pancakes with Meat-Fillings: It's a kind of court snack, eating as a breakfast dessert by Empress Dowager Ci Xi. When you eat it you need to hollow a pancake and fill it with some minced meat. The pancake is a little burnt outside while the inside is still tender. It tastes salty, delicious and a bit sweet.
4. Sticky Rice with Sweet Fillings: This was once a court snack in Yuan Dynasty. Sticky rice is first steamed, pounded into pulp, shaped into a ball and then filled with sesame and white sugar, pea-flour, jujube paste or some other fillings. Then it is spread over with rice flour. It looks frostlike, tastes smooth and flexible and its fillings are loose and sweet.
5. Rolling Donkey: Funny name, isn't it? It is a kind of cake made of bean-flour and is a famous Islamic snack in Beijing. It is made from steamed glutinous millet or sticky rice, scattered with fried bean-flour and filled with red pea.
6. Fried Liver: Fried liver is actually done with such raw material as pig's intestines and some liver with soy sauce, mashed garlic, starch, aniseed etc as seasonings. The intestine is boiled with seasonings and later the liver is added. When cooked, the juice is sparkling and clear while the intestine is tender and the liver is tasty. It is in fact not fried but boiled.
7. Filled Sausage: Filled Sausage is a dish made with intestine filled with starch, minced meat and some spices. It is first steamed and then cut into cubes and fried. When it is done, it looks inviting with salty water and garlic juice.]]>
County urged to target Chinese tourismtag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.62009-04-04T23:34:13Z2009-04-04T23:34:52ZA SUFFOLK-based entrepreneur is spearheading a bid to make the county a focal point for Chinese tourists.Dominic Richards, a property developer, businessman and a founder the English Teddy Bear Company which was eventually sold to toy giant Hamleys, believes there...ShangNing Dominic Richards, a property developer, businessman and a founder the English Teddy Bear Company which was eventually sold to toy giant Hamleys, believes there is huge potential for developing Chinese tourism in Suffolk.
He is due to meet with Suffolk tourism chiefs next week to discuss his ideas for tapping into what he believes could be a highly lucrative market for the county.
Mr Richards, who owns and lives at wedding venue Yaxley Hall, near Eye, and has launched an English language corporate training business in China called Yaxley Education, pointed out that despite the worldwide recession, China is still anticipating growth of 6.5% in 2009, and has become far more outward-looking in recent years. The number of Chinese to go abroad is projected to rise from 17million in 2002 to 100million by 2020, he said.
He has produced a proposal to make Suffolk the first China-friendly county in the UK against a backdrop of increasing trade and business links with the country.
"Chinese visitors are quite different to visitors from many other places. Foreign language skills are often limited and they frequently have no fixed opinions about where they should visit," he pointed out.
"The UK is competing effectively on a blank canvas with other countries. Within the UK, other than London, there also is remarkably little fixed idea on which place or place are "must sees"."
Against this background of an enormous potential market and few preconceptions, it would be "easy" for a region or county to mark itself out as being "China-friendly", he argued.
Encouraging businesses to translate at least part of their websites into Chinese, providing menus or other literature in Chinese or marketing directly within China are among the measures he is calling for.
"This proposal is for the county of Suffolk as a whole to encourage and facilitate the above type of measures by businesses here. Very few Chinese will be aware of Suffolk's existence. An organised campaign on a micro and macro level could rapidly change this.
"Because of the sheer rarity of having taken this step, Suffolk could achieve great amounts of publicity and positive PR within China with relatively simple measures."
Mr Richards, who spent three years as a trustee of the Prince of Wales' Prince's Foundation and went to represent the prince in the Dashilan redevelopment project in Beijing, aimed at sympathetically regenerating a historic quarter of the Chinese capital, is calling for an initiative involving countywide bodies, such as Suffolk County Council, the Suffolk Development Agency and Choose Suffolk.
His vision is for a Chinese language website promoting Suffolk as a whole within China, a campaign announcing the initiative including press releases and television interviews to be released within China, and a campaign involving Suffolk businesses to promote China friendliness on a micro-level, and twinning exercises between towns, schools and potentially at council level. He would also like to see visits of key figures from Suffolk to China and of Chinese tour operators to Suffolk.
"China is desperately keen to reach out to what it perceives as a frequently hostile outside world. The goodwill that could be created with such an initiative is potentially enormous and the benefits to this county that it could bring about substantial," he said.
Mr Richards has invited a group including chief executive of Choose Suffolk Celia Hodson to a meeting to discuss his ideas on Monday, April 6.
"I have already had a meeting with Charles Michell, the chairman of Suffolk County Council, and he is very keen on the idea and is speaking to the county council to get their support," he said.
Mr Richards, who has made many trips to the country, and is in daily contact with his business there via the internet, has already made personal links with Madame Fu, the Chinese ambassador to London and other highly-placed individuals in China, and says he is keen to use these contacts to develop the First China Friendly County initiative. ]]>
Heavy going history of old Beijingtag:www.mrshang.com,2009:/culture_arts//3.52009-04-04T23:24:52Z2009-04-04T23:32:12Z 'You heard laughter and lively talk and occasionally, tears and arguments.' Make no mistake about it, Michael Meyer knows a lot about China. He's fluent in Mandarin, he keeps his finger on the pulse of his small Beijing neighborhood...ShangNing
'You heard laughter and lively talk and occasionally, tears and arguments.' Make no mistake about it, Michael Meyer knows a lot about China.
He's fluent in Mandarin, he keeps his finger on the pulse of his small Beijing neighborhood and he's well versed in the country's past, from its ancient annals to current events. Nearly every page in his first book, "The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed," is packed with facts and historical context.
But Meyer's real credibility comes from the fact that he's walked the walk that his book seeks to preserve: the closely knit, communal lifestyle of the hutong, or the timeworn narrow alleys that "lattice the heart of Beijing," as he writes. Renting part of a crumbling traditional courtyard home, or siheyuan, for a mere $3 or so a month, Meyer knows his subject intimately. And so he is able to write a detailed firsthand account of living in a central Beijing hutong in the years of massive construction leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games.
Within the first five pages, the author bounces from the opening scene of his landlord, referred to as "the Widow," barging into his room in a sensory barrage of sight and smell, to a rather dense overview of hutong and his neighborhood, Dazhalan.
It's immediate overload for the reader, switching between lines like, "Eat, Little Plumblossom!" and "Settled over eight centuries ago, Dazhalan - Big Fence - is the city's most venerable community. The name dates back to the fifteenth century, when wicker gates on either end of the area's hutong..." blah blah blah.
Meyer's text is a sharp contrast to the comparatively light and breezy "Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China," reviewed earlier by this paper, which manages to incorporate a bit of history into a narrative that's at least capable of holding a reader's attention. Author Jen Lin-Liu is able to discuss the Cultural Revolution in some depth via her cooking instructor's retold life story.
Meyer's story, on the other hand, has too many players - his landlord, his co-teacher at the local elementary school, his shopkeep neighbor and so on - for readers to invest interest in any one character's past. In fact, it's hard to even invest in the author himself, as his personal narrative is continually interrupted by some treatise on urban development. When Meyer pulls theories from such minds as 19th-century Parisian civil engineer Baron Georges-Eugene Haussman and New York's Robert Moses, his own voice disappears into a muddled chorus.
To his credit, Meyer does use his depictions of friends and neighbors to show a different side of China, especially when the media these days seeks to portray the country's collective population as one big development-hungry pollutant eager to clinch the No. 1 position among the world's economies. Rather, the residents of Meyer's Red Bayberry and Bamboo Slanted Street fear the elusive "Hand" that marks hutong to be razed.
In his defense of the hutong way of life, Meyer writes: "Outsiders often called hutong neighborhoods slums, but the neighborhood did not cause pathologies or problematic behavior. Our neighborhood was not a pit of despair; you heard laughter and lively talk and occasionally, tears and arguments, just like anywhere else. ... I never saw drug sellers or passed-out drunks, as in the town's upscale-bar areas."
The author is not the most elegant writer, nor humorous in the least. For what he lacks, though, he makes up for in humanity. Save for gruff government officials, his portraits of Beijingers are affectionate and nuanced. But is The Last Days of Old Beijing a pleasant read?
I'll say this: Based on its strong factual content, the book would make a tremendously enthralling textbook. But am I happy to put this one down? Yes.
The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed
Author: Michael Meyer
Genre: Current events
Publisher: Walker & Company
By Hannah Bae Contributing Writer [hannahbae@gmail.com]]]>
'You heard laughter and lively talk and occasionally, tears and arguments.' Make no mistake about it, Michael Meyer knows a lot about China.