Ric Swenson on wed 5 sep 07
Time to report from China. It has been a couple months and a lot has happe=
ned.
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I cannot tell all....I have 40 pages of notes on my 2 months in Beijing. M=
aybe I can give you some interesting highlights.
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In the middle of June I left by train for the big city. Met a Spanish gent=
leman on the train who is also a ceramist/artist and we struck up a friends=
hip which turned out to be very interesting. His ceramic work is very good=
. His current work is porcelain images relating to chinese culture. He sol=
d his business in Madrid last year and retired to Beijing. He now does mov=
ies and tv commercials in Beijing for a living and is becoming very success=
ful. I was able to help him gain an "American" accent for his role in a sp=
y/war film recently shot in GuangDong Province. That was fun. Chinese film =
and commercials call for western looking people at times and he fits the bi=
ll to a Tee. Javier called me today for help with his next role: the US amb=
assador...meeting with Zhou En Lai.
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Beijing is a VERY big city. Not just the 10 million people, it's just a lon=
g way from one end to the other in all directions. The city bus going to a =
park like the Summer Palace Park might take over an hour.....from where I s=
tayed near the Forbidden City. Beijing has 7 circles of highway that encir=
cle the area. The most important historic sites are within the first circle=
....going out to circle 4 where Peking U. and TsingHua U. and the Summer Pa=
lace are. The subway system is clean and fast and easy to use. They are bu=
ilding on more lines now to accomodate for the 8/8/08 start of the Summer G=
ames of the Olympics. When you get to circle 6 and 7 you are in the low ren=
t 'burbs' and on your way to the Great Wall if you're headed North. The geo=
graphy is pretty flat until you get to the outskirts of the city. "Cow" st=
reet is 48 km long....straight for the most part....that's a LONG street.
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The museums, parks, libraries and galleries are on par with the best anywhe=
re. The area called '798' is a mecca for artists and I saw a Phillip Pearls=
tein show there among the other 100 galleries and exhibitions. It's an old =
military installation that the artists have taken over to show traditional =
and contemporary ceramics, sculpture, prints, paintings and the gamut of mo=
dern work. I stayed near Tiananmien Sq. for a month then moved to a place n=
ear Peking U. Different experiences. The hutong neighborhoods are being cro=
wded out by high rise apts. I spend DAYS wandering around the hutongs. They=
are the original craft centers for serving the former emperors...their nam=
es describe their former functions....Mule hutong, silk hutong, sesame huto=
ng, brickmaker hutong...there are about 800 hutongs in the city and all der=
ive their names from former functions performed for the crown. Now they are=
occupied in dense fashion by many people. Some are large and still have g=
ardens/courtyards, but most are now subdivided and house several families. =
The courtyards are disappearing rapidly in the wake of the last 50 years of=
development.
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Government is the main business, but shopping is popular. I saw all the to=
p brands of American and European fashion and foods... and the Peking DUCK =
! ah the food. Wonderful. Bei Hai park is a center for music and strolling=
along the shores of the lake there. Great place to hear jazz, pop and trad=
itional Chinese music...any night of the week. =20
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I was very impressed by the parks in Beijing. Some of the finest collection=
s of trees and flowers I have seen....I would compare them to Portland, Ore=
gon's rose festival, Puyallup, Washington's Tulip Festival and NYC Central =
Park....you get the idea. Lotus ponds abound...in bloom ... and lilies lik=
e Monet would have loved to paint. One day I walked the Summer Palace Park =
and didn't cover every trail in my eight hours of strolling. HUGE.
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Metropolitan atmosphere in Beijing. Many foreigners from around the world t=
here. Lots of European tourists and students touring around. Met some inter=
esting folks there. The place is very clean. I visited the site for the O=
lympics and saw the Bird's nest stadium and the swimming venue...the 'bubbl=
e'. They have lots of work to do yet, but I think the people and the city =
are very focused on preparation for the Games.
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The collections of ceramics at the Forbidden City and Palaces is extraordin=
ary. Hard to describe the opulence of architecture and art there.
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Flew back to JingDeZhen after spending a few days riding horseback across t=
he grasslands in Inner Mongolia. Ate the 'Mutton Barbeque' and experienced=
the grandeur of the mountains and vast grasslands there. The singing, danc=
ing and eating around the bonfire is a memory I will carry with me for a lo=
ng time. Saw all the sheep and cows I will need to see for a while. The peo=
ple there are very warm and friendly.
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Back in JingDeZhen now and have almost completed my first week back in the =
classroom at JingDeZhen Ceramic Institute. Nice to be home, in my dorm roo=
m here....creature comforts count....but I don't remember a time when I hav=
e time to really explore on a vacation since I spent the better part of a y=
ear touring and studying in Spain, France and Italy in 1969-70.
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Happy potting everyone.=20
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I am preparing to show at the October Ceramic Conference here in JDZ .....=
and also doing some teapot work for the "First Tea sets Culture Internation=
al Exchange in Wuyi shan" ( Fujian) November 21-28 here in China where I wa=
s invited to show.
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Ric
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