Ric Swenson on sat 12 apr 08
Time for the news from JingDeZhen.
The City of Porcelain is humming with springtime activity.
The 15-20 foot tall, 2 foot diameter, 4 foot section-thrown ceramic lamp-posts are being cleaned one by one along the streets all over town. There are a number of different decoration painted on these tall cylinders of porcelain. Mostly
Blue and White traditional JDZ floral and dragon and/phoenix figures, but some are more contemporary and include yellow and
orange and green floral colorations. All hand painted and magnificent.....JingDeZhen is probably the only city in the world with
such lamp-posts.
Spring has arrived and the blosoms are smiling from the bushes and flowering trees here on campus.
On the biggest brick kiln stack... that I can see is about 75 meters from my south facing windows and is the perch for a lovely bird.
How one bird can make so many beautiful sounds is beyond me. Whipporwill maybe? I'm not any kinda expert in songbirds,
but it sure is nice to awaken to that guys ' love calls or whatever he/she is talking and singing about.
Last Friday was TOMB SWEEPING DAY in China. AKA 'Memorial Day' I suppose to we westerners. Folk travel back home and honor ancestors. They burn paper money facsimilies, light incense and sweet smelling balsam wood sticks, place flowers and
decorations on the graves of those who came before. I took the holiday opportunity to go with 3 other teachers to Wu Yuan.
Wu Yuan is about two hours by rented car to the old village. Some of the buildings are Song Dynasty structures... built about a
thousand years ago. The old village and inhabitants are amazing. Wood carving of the highest skill. The drive was
interupted about 10 times to stop at the roadside and take photos of the landscaped swathed in yellow rape seed fields.
Mostly yellow tall plants with bright yellow small blosoms. Many other flowering fields too, but the yellow was predominant.
In the lanes there were lots of folks hawking tea and special snacks. A green vegetable dough dumpling with sweet sesame
inside was really tasty. Round...about the size of a silver dollar. Yum.
One of the major crops of the area is tea. The best tea is harvested in the spring and most valued for its taste.
Many m iles of fields in the area. We stopped and took pictures of the tea blosoms and tiny budding leaves. One could find
all sorts of tea, teawares and accessories in the small shops. Chinese tea services is vastly different from other Asian
ceremonies, but still a social occasion....a time to relax and share conversation and sip from tiny porcelain cups. Mushrooms
of all ilks were abundant in the markets along with many varieties of beans and spices. A fragrant banquet of foods and drink. .
Today is Saturday so I will invite guests and do some cooking. It is becoming a kind of tradition and usually guests bring
a dish they have lovingly prepared. Potluck ala China? The 4 high school kids I tutor here on the weekends invited me to have
a traditional Korean meal. Their Mother is an excellent chef. She and her family have been here for 5 years while she
completes her Doctoral studies in Ceramic Design. She works under the tutelage of Ning Gang, Professor here at JCI. The Korean
dishes were excellent, served on wares that she made as well as work by Kim Jun, Korean Visiting Professor at Wu Yi Shan
University. We feasted on Cabbage Kim Chi, cucumbers and vegetables fresh from the nearby market, spicy sliced pork, Noodle soup
with mushrooms and leeks. Great fare all. My good friend, Master Chef Dieter Doppelfeld, ( Director of Continuing Ed. on the Napa,
CA. campus of The Culinary Institute of America, Hudson, NY.) would have loved the meal. Next time Dieter!
Apartment buildings are sprouting up all over JDZ. Replacing older buildings in a kind of urban renewal. Apartments in JDZ and
in China are usually purchased, not rented. Cost for 150 sq meter apt, three bedrooms, two baths...yada yada.... cost about 300,000
to 400,000 RMB. At the exchange rate today. ($1 USD = 6.992 RMB) that's about $40 grand. A similar place in Beijing or ShangHai
would cost triple that...or more. The economy is booming...but fuel costs and availability fluctuate. Some times long lines
at the pumps. Real estate prices are climbing all the time here in China . Beijing is seeing a real surge in rental prices for the Oylympics.....just 120 days away.
I am teaching Oral English to the management of the CAH helicopter Joint Venture just a little west of town. Fridays for three hours
11 managers work on their speaking skills. I meet with the Italian managers tomorrow to help them with their English. It is a joint
venture making helcopters of all sorts...Italy/China/Britain and Estonia, as I understand it. Brand new facility, very high tech.
The General Manager is a bright young Italian from Turin. Interesting to be tutoring so many young people from all over the map.
Keeps me young to some extent, I guess.
I always look forward to the opening of CLAYART postings every morning. I read with interest of all the goings on. ( Even my Chinese
computer has a delete key !) Nice to keep in touch with the latest threads and fine Clayart potters around the world.
Now....Off to the vegetable market and meat market to do some shopping now. Amazing to see the huge variety of fruits, vegetables, breads and meats available here. ; Deer, Donkey, ox, pheasant, dove, ducks, pork, beef, fish, eels, to name a few. The open-air market couldn't ' pass - muster ' in USDA standards, but it is delightful, maybe sometimes startling .... and always an adventure.
Time to get back into the clay studio, now that weather is warmer.
Regards,
Ric "...then fiery expedition be my wing, ..." -Wm. Shakespeare, RICHARD III, Act IV Scene III Richard H. ("Ric") Swenson, Teacher, Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City.JiangXi Province, P.R. of China. Postal code 333001. Mobile/cellular phone : 86 13767818872 < RicSwenson0823@hotmail.com> http://www.jci.jx.cn/http://www.ricswenson.com
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE
| |
|
