Chinezen werken hard. Chinezen schreeuwen niet. Chinezen veroorzaken geen overlast. Chinezen vallen niet op. Dit soort (voor)oordelen hoor je vaker als het gaat om integratie in de Nederlandse samenleving. Er zit wel een kern van waarheid in. Er is echter een Chinees die het ‘niet opvallen’ wel heel erg letterlijk neemt. Zijn naam is Liu Bolin, hij is 36 jaar en komt van origine uit Bejing.

Niet opvallen is een kunst
Deze Chinese artiest heeft er een kunst van gemaakt om niet op te vallen. Het ene moment zie je hem, het andere moment is hij verdwenen. Liu is met recht een onzichtbare man te noemen. Met de kwast en de spuitbus gaat deze ‘camouflagechinees’ aan de slag om op zijn lichaam (of dat van een ander ‘slachtoffer’) een perfecte camouflage toe te passen. Op die manier gaat de persoon helemaal op in de achtergrond.

Waar is-ie nou? (c) Liu Bolin.

Niet mee tellen in China
Liu – die om politieke en artistieke redenen – voornamelijk actief is buiten China – wil hiermee uitdrukking geven aan zijn gevoel niet helemaal mee te tellen in zijn geboorteland. Ook wil hij zich met zijn kunst inzetten voor de rechten van de kunstenaars. Als zijn kunstzinnige activiteiten toch niet worden gewaardeerd door zijn mede-Chinezen kan hij er maar beter voor zorgen dat hij en zijn werk niet opvallen. Nou, dat is hem zeker gelukt!

Goed kijken en dan zie je de artiest. (c) Liu Bolin.

Liu is een echte camouflagekunstenaar. (c) Liu Bolin.

Blanco doek
Zijn werkwijze is als volgt: hij stelt zichzelf op voor een bepaalde achtergrond. Hij beschouwt zichzelf als een blanco doek dat alleen nog moet worden beschilderd. Een assistent helpt hem dan om zijn lichaam zo te beschilderen dat het helemaal kan opgaan in de achtergrond. Liu doet er soms meer dan tien uur over om dit helemaal voor elkaar te krijgen. Voorbijgangers hebben geen idee van de aanwezigheid van Liu. Gelukkig voor die voorbijgangers roept de kunstenaar geen ‘boe!’ Anders zouden hartaanvallen aan de orde van de dag zijn!

Als kunstenaar ga je ook op in telefoongesprekken. (c) Liu Bolin.

Wie is echt? De agent of de onzichtbare man? (c) Liu Bolin.

Beyonce was set to perform for the very first time in Egypt, however religious sects of the country are denying her of performing because they [Muslims and Christians] claim that Beyonce is a “sinner and of satanic possession (hmmm.. that Satanic stuff sure has been poppin up a lot).

Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic movement and staunch opposition of the Mubarak government said the government is trying to divert peoples’ attention from real business of politics by bringing a singer who always appears naked in her video clips to play in Egypt.

Member of Parliament, Hamdi Hassan from the Muslim Brotherhood said: “The government is trying to make people indulge in sin and licentiousness to cover up the other crimes it is committing against them.”

The R&B diva’s stage performances make the eyes tweak. Her provocative dance moves and half-naked outfits could easily stir up reaction from ardent religious and modest people, observers have said. Beyonce who once claimed she is religious and goes to church was quickly slammed by an online Christian group, Jesus-is-saviour.com, “Beyonce is NO Christian. She is satanic, serving the Devil,” it stated.

Poverty is still endemic in Egypt and the ticket fee that has climbed up to US$400 is unreasonable high [ Damn Bee 400 US dollars?? In Egypt?? But for why??]. Conservative Christians and Muslims in the land of the Pharaoh have questioned what benefit the show brings to the country apart from “immorality”.

This is not the first time the Bootylicious star’s performance will cause controversy. She was forced to cancel a 2007 concert in Malaysia over the country’s dress code as government regulations demand that female performers cover themselves from shoulders to knees [So after the first time of denial why didn't Ms. Tina Knowles design her an outfit more appropriate?]. Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne have however previously performed successfully in Malaysia, abiding by the regulations without much protest.

[Excerpt borrowed from enAfrik.com]

I really have nothing to say, I left my commentary throughout the article! Wait! I do have something to say… Beyonce why you lettin these countries just okie doke you? You’ve worked too hard for this! You betta throw on some clothes and perform girl! Okay I’m done…now back to your regularly scheduled program!

De Chinese artiest Liu Bolin maakt nu overal ter wereld furore met zijn ‘Urban Camouflage’ serie. Het zijn foto’s van gebodypainte mensen die opgaan in hun omgeving. Niet bepaald oncontroversieel voor een inwoner van Beijing. Het lijkt er ook sterk op dat het reclamebureau Air Brussels zich gebaseerd heeft op deze artiest voor hun ‘flags’ campagne. Maar dat doet niet af aan de kwaliteit van de campagne zelf natuurlijk!

Op de CCB site, kan je de rest van hun portfolio ook bekijken.

World Record cardstacker Bryan Berg has recreated the Bejing Olympic Village using 140,000 playing cards.

The year in China was coming to an end (during 1999-2000 I taught English in Beijing) and for the May Day holiday Lisa, Andrea, Bett and I decided to travel to Guangzhou (in southern China) with an option to visit Macao or Hong Kong. However, this being a national holiday, train tickets were sold out. And anyway, by train the trip would take 24 hours, so we splurged and flew via airplane to Guangzhou.

Being in southern China was a completely different experience from living in the north. After nine months of being in China, we had acquired passable Mandarin (at least between the four of us combining our knowledge of Mandarin vocab and verbs). However, in Guangzhou they spoke Cantonese. We didn’t know a word of Cantonese.

After arriving in town and figuring out what we wanted to do, we dumped our stuff at a youth hostel. There was only a three-bed room available, so Lisa offered to stay in a dorm type of room.

As we enter her room, we see two old Chinese guys lying on beds, watching television. There is an empty bed in the middle. It would be Lisa’s bed. Heck no. Lisa took two steps into the room, saw the situation and immediately headed back down to the front desk. Apparently, it was a co-ed dorm and there was nothing we could do about it.

Lisa joined us in our room for the remaining time.

We had no planned itinerary. We were spontaneous adventurers. After walking around the hot, humid city, we decided we wanted to take a boat ride to view the coastline. We passed a dock, where people were getting on and off various boats, and decided to just buy a ticket to a random destination. We assumed there would be an eventual return to this dock.

Never assume anything in China.

Initially the boat ride was really lovely, we took pictures of one another, enjoyed the cool breeze. After about an hour, we realized the boat was still heading straight and not venturing to the right or left. It looked like rain and we needed to return back to our hostel.

Bett, the friendly one, had been chatting with this older gentleman. I would equate him to being a mafia type guy, except Chinese. He wore these big gold rings and had a hairy chest. He was speaking to Bett in Mandarin, telling her he was a member of the communist party. Bett asked him how we could return to Guangzhou and he told us to get off at the next particular stop and we could catch a ferry from there.

Uncertainly, we followed this stranger off of the boat, on to this island filled with apartment buildings. He invited us into his apartment for dinner. I began to feel alarmed. We were virtually stranded on an island, unable to communicate with anyone, it was beginning to thunder and this weird Communist guy wanted us to go back to his apartment?

I was straight up with him, in broken Mandarin explaining (with an attitude), Bu jer dao. (rough translation: I don’t know you, I’m not going into your house. We’re girls. You’re a stranger.)

He became forceful and angry, but eventually walked off without us. We went back to the dock, hoping a boat would come along and rescue us. It began raining, thundering and lightening, and all we could do was laugh at this ridiculous situation.

After many prayers, a boat did come along, but informed us that if the storm had gotten any worse, they wouldn’t have continued the route, but this was the last boat anyway. Gosh. If we had gone to this guy’s apartment, we would have missed the last boat and possibly forced to spend the night on the island. Maybe the stranger wouldn’t have done us any harm, but I think it’s okay to be rude to men when you are four single American girls in a foreign country and don’t speak the language. Right?

I’m not finished!

Exhausted after the boat ride from hell, we decide to escape from the city, to take an overnight bus the next day to Yangshao, a city known for its beauty and good shopping. It’s really hard to describe this twelve hour bus ride. Maybe hell-ish is a good word to us. First of all, the bus was packed out, with three by two foot “beds” above and below, with about sixty Chinese people. No air conditioning.

We made it through the bus ride and arrived in Yangshao at 6:30A.M. The city was asleep. There were no vacancies at any hotels or hostels. We were roaming around the city, wondering what in the world we were going to do.

This woman approaches us, introducing herself, in really good English, as Amy, a tour guide. We were exhausted and vulnerable and didn’t care about being swindled. Amy had a book of comments from her previous clients, and as I flipped through it, I noticed two familiar names! Our friends Ryan and Warren had met her when they had been in Yangshao a few months previously. What a small world! This was good enough for me, so she took charge and within minutes found us a hotel room. She also offered to take us on a bike ride tour of the city.

The next day was one of the most perfect days I spent in China. We rode our bikes through the countryside, with breathtaking views of the mountains, rice fields, and for me, it was the first glimpse of rural China. We went caving; climbed Moon Hill, and Amy invited us to her own home for lunch. A glorious day and words can’t adequately describe how awesome it was, so I won’t even attempt.

Yangshao was the perfect city in China to go on vacation. That evening we shopped in the lovely night markets and even watched a DVD while eating (almost) American food for the first time in months. It was all so refreshing.

Unfortunately, later in the evening, around 1am I began to be violently sick, as quietly as I could, I made my way to the bathroom and proceeded to vomit for almost two hours. I remember trying to <vomit discreetly as I did not want to wake my friends. Of course, I did, and I’m sure they’ll never forget waking up to the sound of freaking vomit hitting the toilet (and floor). Good times.

For our last day in Yangshao, I could barely move. Andrea scoured the city and found ice (!!) and Sprite for me. Lisa took responsibility for buying our tickets back to Beijing (we had to teach the following day), but the people she was dealing with was shady and our return was delayed. We stayed an extra day and finally made our way back to Beijing on May 10, 2000.

May 10, 2000 was the one-year anniversary of the American bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia. The American embassy had advised all ex pat’s to not travel on this day. There was a high alert for terrorism.

(Rather dramatically) terrified we’d die in Communist China; we turned to Andrea, the Canadian, for help. We happily wore all of her Canada/Roots shirts and carried her backpack that had the Canadian flag on it (all Canadians have a Canadian flag sewn on their backpack. It’s the rule). Canada saved our lives.

The twenty-four hour train ride back to Beijing was surprisingly wonderful. We shared our compartment with other Westerners, which was a blessing. Not to be rude, but after months of constantly being stared at, asked for pictures, our hair being touched, and constant conversation, it was nice to be in close quarters with people who didn’t treat us like rock stars or aliens.

After an action packed four days, it was nice to have down time. I read a Danielle Steel novel, ate noodles, wrote in my journal, slept. We arrived in Beijing refreshed and happy.

Sans the food poisoning, it was the best vacation ever.

Photo: Bett, me, Andrea, and Lisa in Yangshao, China. We were bicycling through the gorgeous countryside and our local guide snapped this photo.

Es ist Montag abend und ich bin ziemlich müde denn ich bin erst heute morgen um 6:15 Uhr in Suzhou angekommen und war den ganzen Tag arbeiten. Doch von vorne:

Letzten Donnerstag bin ich mit vier weiteren Praktikanten zu einem Wochenend-Trip nach Beijing, also circa 1030 km nach Norden aufgebrochen. Da die Flüge relativ teuer sind und man bei dem Nachtzug mehr Zeit spart, entschieden wir uns für diese Alternative. Der Nachtzug Z86 fährt um 19:55 in Suzhou ab und kommt am nächsten Morgen um 6:48 in Beijing an. Ein Softsleeper, also ein relativ bequemes Bett mit 4 Betten pro Abteil kostet 452 RMB, also circa 45 Euro. Für 90 Euro nach Beijing und zurück kann man eigentlich nicht meckern. Schlafen konnte ich allerdings auf der Hinfahrt trotz ein paar Absacker-Bierchen kaum, auf der Rückfahrt gelang mir das seltsamerweise besser.

In Beijing angekommen führte unser erster Weg in die Jugendherberge am Qian Men, die ziemlich zentral gelegen ist. Nach einem guten Frühstück ging es los, den Tian’anmen,  den Platz des himmlischen Friedens und die verbotene Stadt zu besichtigen. Dieser geschichtsträchtige Platz (die deutschen wikipedia-Seiten sind übrigens problemlos lesbar aus China) ist der größte Platz der Welt und auf ihm befindet sich das Mao Mausoleum. Davor war dann auch die wohl längste Warteschlange der Welt, sie ging mindestens einmal rund um das nicht ganz kleine Gebäude.

Bevor wir die verbotene Stadt betreten konnten überraschte uns ein Platzregen, der den Vorplatz kurzerhand in einen See und meine Schuhe in vollgelaufene Boote verwandelte. Zum Glück blieben die Temperaturen einigermaßen warm, so dass alles auch schnell wieder trocken wurde. Einen Vorteil hatte der Regen wahrscheinlich: die verbotene Stadt war nicht so voll, wie zu erwarten gewesen wäre. Insgesamt ist der Kaiserpalast ein ziemlich beeindruckender Komplex, auch wenn sich die einzelnen Gebäude sehr gleichen.

Nachdem wir eine echte Peking Ente gegessen hatten, ging es mit der U-Bahn Richtung Olympiastadion. Die gesamte Anlange ist architektonisch interessant, doch die Sicht reichte trotz vorherigem Regen kaum 3 Blocks weiter; hier Sport zu treiben stelle ich mir ziemlich anstrengend vor.

Am nächsten Tag hieß es schon sehr früh aufstehen, da wir eine Reise der Jugendherberge zur Chinesischen Mauer gebucht hatten. Die Mauer kann man an 3 verschiedenen Stellen besichtigen. Badaling ist die, die am nächsten an Beijing liegt aber wohl auch unglaublich überlaufen ist. Etwas weniger los ist in Mutianyu doch wir besuchten Simatai und Jinshanling. Das Schöne hier ist, dass wirklich kaum jemand dort unterwegs ist, abgesehen von den vielen fliegenden Händlern. Außerdem kann man in Simatai starten und dann circa 10 km, für die man allerdings auch ungefähr 4 Stunden braucht, nach Jinshanling laufen.

Die 5000 km lange Mauer ist wohl das beeindruckenste, was ich in China bislang gesehen habe. Sie wurde in nur 10 Jahren von 800.000 Arbeitern als Wall aus Lehm, Geröll und Steinen aufgebaut und erst später mit Steinplatten ummantelt. Wenn man auf ihr läuft, bzw. die unzähligen hohen und schmalen Treppenstufen auf und nieder steigt, bekommt man ein Gefühl wie viel Arbeit wohl für den Bau nötig war.

Bevor wir uns dann mittags im Restaurant stärken konnten, überquerten wir auf einer Hängebrücke einen Stausee. Gleich daneben kann man für 30 RMB mit einer Tarzan-Bahn, also einem Stahlkabel an das man mit einem Klettergurt gekettet wird, quer über den Stausee zum Restaurant gelangen. Eine Chance, die ich mir natürlich nicht entgehen lassen wollte und für die ich letztlich auch noch einen tapferen Mitstreiter fand. Spaßig war es auf jeden Fall, auch wenn man nicht zu viel über chinesische Ingenieurskünste nachdenken darf. Am Abend habe ich dann bemerkt, dass auch in China Sommer ist und man von zu viel Sonne Sonnenbrand bekommt, was in den Städten dank Smog kein Problem ist.

Abends haben wir dann noch den Night Market besucht, gleich neben der großen Einkaufsstraße kann man hier allerlei Fleisch, Früchte und anderes Getier am Spieß gebraten essen. Neben Schlage, Schlangenhaut, Seidenraupen, Seepferdchen und Aalen gab es auch Skorpione. Einen solchen Spieß konnte ich mir nicht entgehen lassen und ganz ehrlich, in Öl gebraten und mit Salz überstreut schmecken Skorpione wirklich lecker. Leben tue ich auch noch, hatte also Glück und habe keinen giftigen erwischt.

Am Abend haben wir ein deutsches Restaurant namens “Schindlers Tankstelle” besucht, in dem ich seit langem mal wieder einen ganz passablen Rostbraten mit Spätzle gegessen und ein Weißbier getrunken habe. Die deutsche Küche hat ganz klar ihre Vorzüge! Anschließend ging es weiter in das beijinger Nachtleben. Gleich beim worker’s stadium befinden sich die beiden Discos VICS und MIX und wir entschieden uns spontan, die zweite zu besuchen. Vielleicht lag es auch am Namen…

Am nächsten Tag besuchten wir noch den Sommerpalast. Dieser befindet sich ein wenig außerhalb und direkt an einem See. Auch dort wurde wir wieder von einem starken Regen überrascht, doch diesmal blieben wir ganz gemütlich unter einem Dach stehen. Anschließend ging es zum Gepäck holen in die Jugendherberge und um 19:35 mit dem Nachtzug Z85 wieder zurück nach Suzhou. Alles in allem ein anstrengendes, aber auch sehr schönes Wochenende.

During the match between Tianjin and Bejing, tempers flared after the ref showed a Tianjin player a red card for stomping on an opponent. The ejected player and his teammates did not take kindly to the decision, even though it was the correct one.

Source:
http://www.totalprosports.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/chinese-soccer-ref-runs-for-his-life-as-angry-players-chase-him-down/

On The Ocean – K’Jon

Lyrics:

Man,
The moment I been waiting on
And my soul is over flowing
With anxieties and expectations
I’m full of desires
I just want it so bad
You know
And it just seem so real
It’s right there
I just want reach out and touch it
Before it all disappears

[Verse:]
Sometimes
It feels like
Everything
Is passin’ me by
Every now and then
It feels like (feels like)
My ship has gone and sailed away
But I
I gonna be strong (gotta be strong)
Gotta hold on
It won’t be too long

[Chorus:]
Now the tide is coming near
I see the waves flowing
Out there on the ocean
I know my ship is coming in
Just pass the horizon
And right where the sky ends
Cause out there on the ocean
Know my ship is coming in
But don’t leave me hanging
I’ve been waiting to long
But this moment
My ship has finally come

[Verse:]
I would travel to the seven seas
(I would even go)
I would even go wherever the wind blows me
(I’ll do anything)
I’ll do anything to find my destiny
It’s like fightin’ with gravity
And it’s bringin’ me down
If this world was really round then tell me how
It’s just a moment for you to come around

[Chorus:]
Now the tide is coming near
I see the waves flowing
Out there on the ocean
I know my ship is coming in (coming in baby)
Just pass the horizon
And right where the sky ends
Cause out there on the ocean
Know my ship is coming in
But don’t leave me hanging
I’ve been waiting to long
But this moment
My ship has finally come

[Bridge:]
Finally you come (around)
Around, around
I said finally baby

Finally you come (around)
Around, around

Finally you come around, come around baby

Finally you
Finally you come

Said finally you come around (around)

Now the tide is coming near (now the tide is coming in)
I see the waves flowing
Out there on the ocean
I know my ship is coming in (and I know my ship is coming in baby)
Just pass the horizon
(And where) And right where the sky ends
Cause out there on the ocean
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, is coming in
Been waiting to long
But this moment
My ship has finally come

Finally you come (around)
Around, around [till fade]

Alright… and now for the long awaited conclusion of: Tom’s trip to Beijing

Part 4 of 4 – View pictures from this day

Getting up was very difficult Sunday morning… the intensity of the trip combined with the sleep deprivation did not work well for getting up early. We had quite an agenda for planned, as we were hoping to hit all of the left over major attractions in Beijing and make our flight back to SJTU.

The first stop of the day was the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven was a large park with various old style Chinese building around. The biggest attraction in the park was actually the people. Every section of the massive park was filled with older Chinese people doing some sort of activity. It was wild to see both the quantity of people, and the range in the activities being performed. There was dancing, sword practice, card games, Frisbee, and many other activities that I don’t even know the name of. Everyone was so active, lively, and happy. I really was thinking to myself that I hope I will be that happy when I am older. I even thought for a second about the feasibility of coming back and retiring in a community similar. At the minimum I think it would be worth a trip to China just to get ideas of what one might do to stay active.

.

I just really liked this picture I took

There are more great pictures from the Temple of Heaven on the web album.

The next stop of the day was Beihai park, an imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City. I don’t know why, but I really wasn’t expecting too much from this stop. It was so close to our hotel that I figured it would just be an average park, but alas… as so many of my assumptions on things have been here was completely wrong. The park was actually very nice. It was more open then some of the other attractions, but there was still plenty of marvelous architecture and works of art. There was also a quite impressive street artist who was able to “paint” portraits of people in a matter of seconds with nothing but water. Tony kept telling us that we had to see the 9 dragon wall. I was expecting something quite massive and ended up getting my hopes up a little high… especially since my heel was still giving me trouble and it was on the complete other side of the park from where we started. The wall was still impressive just not at all what I was thinking it would be.

The Bai Ta (White Dagoba) is a 40 m high stupa placed on the highest point on Qiónghuá Island.

After Beihai Park, we rushed over to Olympic Park after stopping at our hotel to pick up our luggage. (Yes we looked stupid haling our large suitcases around) I knew my dad would be disappointed if I didn’t at least visit the olympic site while I was in Beijing. The two main attractions were of course the bird’s nest, and the water cube. The water cube looked very cool from the outside. There is also a nice fountain display on the outside of the building. The bubbles are a very unique attribute of the building, and I think that in order to truely appreciate the building I would have had to come at night when all of the light displays are on. The building itself is already showing some signs of wear, and I wonder how long it will be able to stay in its current form. Inside the water cube was alright, but there was not much to see. The stadium in the pool is large for a swimming pool, but it was still just a normal pool. The practice pool which was gigantic was actually more impressive to me.

The bird’s nest on the other hand was amazing  both on the outside and the inside. The stadium is just so amazing to look at and when you walk into it you can almost feel the Olympic spirit. The indoor of the stadium was a vibrant red for the most part, and they had some amazing videos of the olympics on repeat on some large monitors.

After the Olympic Park, we walked to a train that took us all the way to the airport and made our way back to campus, completly exhausted, but with an experience of a lifetime.

Holmes Ives – Love and Light

Musical Odyssey

To view more beautiful video ’s please visit …

http://www.youtube.com/user/KassandraCreations

dont for get comment and rate that would be quite nice to hear from  you all .. thanks .. all the best

We saw Yang Maoyuan’s work for the first time last year in Berlin at the Alexander Ochs Galleries, which is located both in Berlin and Bejing. They represent Yang Maoyuan’s work. Yang was born in Dalian, Liaoning Province in China in 1966 and has a very large and divers body of work that ranges from paintings to large sculptures. Above are Marble and Bronze busts that Yang worked on between 2006 – 2007. 

These caught my eye directly when we saw them last year in Berlin. The way the faces are partially erased, the eyes look like they’re closed, but all this manipulated by the artist. The Bronze busts have such impact where the faces are shiny bronze versus the black matte of the rest of the bust. The removed parts have made place for helmet looking shapes. The shiny bronze areas become somewhat detached from the face itself. However with the marble busts this doesn’t happen, Yang has manipulated the face and manipulates how we see and what we see of the expression on the person’s face. 

Below is the sculpture named:“The Mongolian Horse” from 2008. The sculpture is made out of inflated horse skin. It’s an amazing piece. If you ever have the chance to see Yang’s sculptures or Drawings, I would highly recommend it. I am not a fan of his paintings.

Next to the Nike Dunk Hi SB “Wet Floor”, Nike SB presents another quickstrike model for this June – the Dunk Low SB “Beijing”. The sneaker comes in a purple/acqua colorway, which features a subtle all-over pattern. The outer sole and the lining come in light grey and the laces in bright red. Expect a release soon at Nike SB retailers, including Univ.


Source Highsnobiety

http://www.youtube.com/user/KassandraCreations