This came directly from the U.S. White House blog. First thought that came to mind is we should avoid the media and go directly to the source more to get a more rational understanding of our world. Here is a formal take from the White house on the “U.S.-China Commercial Relations” and economic issues.
“南海姑娘” (“Girl from South China Sea”)
赵聪 (Zhao Cong) on 琵琶 (pipa)
秦万民 (Qin Wanmin) on 吉他 (guitar)
徐子巍 and 姚贝娜 are incredible vocalists. I love their voices. Great looking duo too. Here, they sing “中国之最,” about various geographies making China special. How about that? China is able to cherish such things; why won’t the West reach within and find few things to celebrate? To me, this is a big cultural difference.
As 2010 is coming to a close, I thought about what some important messages we ought to remind ourselves of. Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” was a great feature film which brought the message of preserving our planet Earth around the world. While we can sense a momentum of need to change, we are indeed still far from taking the drastic measures necessary to slow down the type of changes and degradation we are causing. In 2009, Yann Arthus-Bertrand made another feature film, “HOME” (or in Chinese, “家园”) that was simultaneously released around the world. Like before, it warns us of the alarming rate at which we are damaging this planet. This time, no graphs or charts; just real images. It also shows us great many examples where we are doing the right things to buttress the trend. The film tells us how we have come to where we are in relation to our environment. It is done with cinematography showing us how incredibly beautiful our home really is; one that we must renew, cherish, and protect.
Below is a performance by the Gorlos Band (郭尔罗斯组合), entitled “Great Khan” (“大汗颂”), at a music competition carried on CCTV. There is a mixture of throat singing and the Mongolian morin khur. It’s a really neat composition to say the least. The thing that struck me while watching this video is the fact that China’s continued lifting of millions of people out of poverty means more people will be freed to pursue other activities like music and art. More Chinese becoming more affluent means there will be greater demand and thus market for things uniquely whatever China is a composite of. Mongolian, Tibetan, Han, or whatever the inspiration, we are certain to see the ongoing explosion of things to come that is of China.
This is a time-lapse of a 15-story Ark Hotel in 长沙 (Changsa) being built; 48 hours for the basic structure and another 90 hours for the walls and windows. It can withstand a Richter scale 9 earth quake. It was built using 6x less materials than a similar building. More details here.
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I am in Japan for another day and then heading back to the U.S.. Next Media Animation based in Taiwan has produced this video about the supposed currency battle between the U.S. and China. To me, the real truth is really a battle between the USD and the world’s currencies – not just China’s. Anyways, I thought the video was entertaining nevertheless. I don’t agree with the simple USD and RMB fixation as is in the Western media. For example, when the Japanese government intervened to weaken the Yen since the U.S. has weakened the USD so much against it, the Japanese government was severely lashed by the U.S..
In Japan, there is a decent amount of buzz over the leaked Diaoyutai or Senkaku video taken by the Japanese coast guard. Here is Japan Time’s report (“China ‘concerned’ over YouTube video; Tokyo probes Senkaku ship collision upload“) and China’s reaction (“Video cannot conceal Japan’s illegal actions“).
One of my surfing friends tipped me off to this recent surfing event in China. This is the first time I learned about the phenomenon of tidal bores. The Qiantang River appears to feature the biggest tidal bores in the world (up to a height of 9 meters or 30 feet!).
Seems pretty cool … at least from a distance…. Enjoy!
About a year ago, I wrote, ““Father’s Prairie, Mother’s River” – the feelings of one billion people on the move.” I estimated China in few decades will have moved about one billion people from the country side into cities. Yes, that’s one billion people! This is a stressful but necessary transformation as China continues to industrialize. Below is that same video I used in the original post to help illustrate one of the feelings of this transformation – that of longing for childhood home (for lyric and meaning follow link to my original post):
Few weeks ago I made a brief intro to armless pianist Liu Wei on “China’s Got Talent.” Liu Wei has now won. Lyndsey Parker has followed the competition, and here she continued her coverage, “Armless Pianist Liu Wei Wows & Wins On ‘China’s Got Talent’.”
And this past weekend, Liu won the entire competition with a tear-jerking and inspiring performance of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful”–complete with English-language singing–in front of a capacity audience at Shanghai Stadium.
Fareed Zakaria of CNN’s GPS recently interviewed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. It’s a great interview, and I am glad to learn that CNN agreed to not make commentary on what Premier Wen said. In exchange, CNN was given permission to ask whatever they wanted. Zakaria acknowledged “it was one of the most open and frank discussion he has ever seen with a Chinese leader.”
中秋節, Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival) is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in China, perhaps second only to the Spring Festival (or the Chinese New Year). For 2010, it falls on September 22nd. It coincides with a full moon on the 15th day of the 8th month on the Chinese calendar, so there is no fixed date according to Gregorian. That has been the way mid-autumn was figured since ancient times.
“Mid-Autumn” first appeared in “Rites of the Zhou”, a collection of ritual matters of the Western Zhou Dynasty some 3,000 years ago. During the Tang Dynasty (618AD – 907AD), this tradition took a strong foot hold. It celebrates harvests and family reunions. This same tradition exists throughout the rest of Asia today.
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“月滿西樓” is a poem written by 李清照 (Li QingZhao, 1084AD ─ 1155AD), regarded as one of the most prominent female poets from the Song Dynasty. The poem is about Li’s longing for her husband’s return from travels. Here is a song of the same name with lyrics entirely based on the poem, performed by singer 童丽 (Tong Li).
There is no particular point in this post. I recently came across a number of videos I thought entertaining. Below is a performance in the 2007 CCTV National Dance Competition; a bit of hip hop, break dance, and street dance. “Dreaming Back to the Wa Village” – “梦回佤乡.”
Younger Chinese are getting into it as well. Here is a 7 year old Chinese girl dancing to hip hop followed by a 5 year old Chinese boy performing break moves. (Somebody needs to tell the girl’s parents the lyrics are inappropriate for her age though. Okay, maybe somebody ought to translate the lyrics and that’d be the end of it – tongue in cheek.)
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Wow! This video is just inspiring. It is about Liu Wei, a contestant on “China’s Got Talent.” He is going to play “Marriage D’amour” without hands. He lost his arms at 10 from an accident. I like this take by Lyndsey Parker over at Yahoo Music blogs: “Armless Pianist Liu Wei Defies Odds On ‘China’s Got Talent’.” I will try to not complain about anything in my life in the next 10 days.
I don’t know how I missed this talk from 2008 – when China was demagogued by almost every Western media and press. But the views expressed here I think are on the whole surprisingly balanced and insightful. I hope readers from the West will take time to view this.
Click here to view video directly from Fora.tv.
Or view video on YouTube by clicking below:
Here are some questions the video addresses:
View the video and let us know what you think.
(If you are inside China, your may want the same version hosted on Tudou).
This is 张燕 (Zhang Yan) performing “夜来香,” a modern Chinese classic. I can’t quite put my finger on why I think this video is really good – perhaps the confidence projected by 张燕. In English, “夜来香” means “evening primrose,” a flower that opens in the evening. The Chinese characters literally mean “fragrance of the night.” By the backdrop, many of you will recognize this is early 1900′s music – of the same variety in Shanghai nightclubs that time. The microphone is a big give-away. “夜来香” was actually first performed in the 1940′s by Yoshiko Yamaguchi. (Click here for the original.)
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在那遥远的地方 (In That Distant Place) is a very popular folk song written in 1939. Over the years, this song has taken on many forms. Chinese, old or young, all know it. Below is a composition by 马九越 using the pipa, dizi, and erhu instruments.
Occasionally I get asked what are some Chinese values. This is an example, I think. My grandparents, my parents, and people of my generation all know this song well. If you look around China, there is this pattern of cross generational connection. Reaching back and smoothing out the generational gap within society is the value. “In that distant place” in Chinese “New Age” style:
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Human can accomplish incredible feats. Here is one of a pilot for JAL landing a Boeing 747 in 1998 in extreme crosswind conditions at the Hong Kong Kai Tak airport (source: AIRBOYD). The airport has been closed (obvious reason being the crosswind conditions). The technology to detect the crosswinds, the training that goes into making this kind of maneuvers with such a big plane, and of course, the plane itself are all feats.
It is a patriotic song, as the title should make it all apparent – “Dear Chinese People.” I liked this video for its imagery. The majority of the Chinese people are proud and very forward looking for the progress China has made in the last three decades. This video sums up that sentiment rather well. I know this type of videos may not sit well with many Westerners – because their media tells them every day everything is wrong with their society or everyone outside of their national borders are bad. Especially with the global economic crisis, Westerners seem unable to celebrate anymore. (Ok, unless if you are the Spaniards who have just won the World Cup, in which case the party is still going strong.) So, the video offers this contrast.
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