China's City of Ambition

I met Ferit at Fotofest and he showed me prints of his project, City of Ambition, photographs of Chongqing, China. Chongqing is the largest growing City in China, and when I visited in 2006, I felt that I could really stay there a long time and make a body of work there. Ferit and bonded over the impressions that the city had left me. Spend some time on Ferit's site, it's well worth it. I hope he gets a book deal soon.

Following the Chinese food trail

My friend Teresa recently sent me this NYTimes article about finding Beijing in Flushing. Flushing is an area in Queens, New York that has long been a second Chinatown in NYC. This article highlighted a bunch of places I had never heard of and some food I was not familiar with. With my friend Liu in town, we ventured forth with our appetites.

There is a download-able map from the NYTimes article. We tried the Dan Dan noodles at Golden Mall (no.9) and their version of the wontons in hot sauce. Both really good and spicy (food is from Sichuan and the peppers they use are of the numbing variety). I really wanted to try no. 13 but Shi Hong Mall was closed for renovation so we headed back to Golden Mall. We picked no. 11 from the list and proceeded to order dumplings (10 for $2) and a bowl of vegetable handmade noodles. The texture of the dumpling skin and the noodles were perfect. The dumplings were perfectly juicy as well. (This is coming from someone who avoids dumplings for fear of having a bad one.) The stall across from no. 11 sold Xi'an lamb sandwiches with cumin and red onions. ($2.50 for one.) I really liked this as well (not too much meat, which was perfect for me, and lots of cumin.) For dessert we hit up no. 1 on the list, a huge bowl of red bean ice for $3.75 big enough for four people. It wasn't anything special but did quench my thirst and put a sweet taste in my mouth.


This is Liu eating his third dinner. I did not partake in this meal.


Red bean over shaved ice.

Up the Yangtze

My friend David mentioned the documentary, Up the Yangtze, in passing a couple of weeks ago because he knew that I had a bit of a thing for the Yangtze River. By then, I had already missed the screenings in NYC. Since I knew I was going to be in Pittsburgh over Labor Day weekend, I made plans to see it there. Wow, am I glad I did.

It's an amazing film that follows the life of a 15 year old girl. Her family lives on the banks of the river in a shack, which will soon be flooded. Her parents, unable to provide for her schooling, sends her to work on one of the luxury cruise ships on the Yangtze. It's an amazing view into her life, the changes that occur through the course of the film and an insight into the lives of the people directly affected. I loved the opening scene where the ships are rising in the locks and passing through, a great metaphor for the movie. Go see it if it's playing near you.

(photo taken by me in 2006. Sinking Down, Gezouba, Yichang, China)

Worrisome news from China

China is now rushing to evacuate people from an area north of where the quake hit on May 12th. This image and accompanying article from the NYTimes is gut wrenching as the possibilities for flooding threatens the lives of 150,000 citizens.

(photo from the NYTimes)

What about the dams?

My mother called her sister in Wuhan last night to see if they were affected by the earthquake in Sichuan, China. My aunt and her family felt the quake and are fine. While thinking about them this morning, I started wondering if the Three Gorges Dam was ok. They live 4 hours down river from the largest dam in the world, in a metropolitan city that's along the Yangtze. This NYTimes article made me feel a bit better but I'm still uneasy about all of those affected by the quake.

(photo that I took in 2006 of the Three Gorges Dam)

Hakka heritage

In the travel section of the NYTimes, I found this article on The Earthen Homes of Yongding County, in Fujian, China. I had seen a miniature version of this type of structure at "Windows on the World" in Taiwan. The Hakkas (I am ethnically Hakka on my father's side) have built these interesting earthen structures and they are now being considered for UNESCO heritage site designation.

On another Hakka note, I was sorting through a box of my dad's stuff last night and found our family genealogy handbook. I brought it to my mom, who helped me sort out how I should decipher the charts. Hakkas tend to favour male decendents and no where is it more obvious than in the family charts where only male decendents are listed. For example, our family tree shows my grandfather and my grandmother's name, below them, only their four sons names are listed, none of my five aunts are included. On the page where my family is listed, my father does not have any children listed under him (I have one other sibling, a sister) and my uncles who have sons have their names listed, but not their daughters. My mom commented that this was a heavy bias, maybe I should consider getting rid of the book!

(Photo by Barbara Koh from the NYTimes.)

Bridging the Gulf

The BBC reports on the China-Taiwan meeting that recently took place in Southern China. If the gulf is indeed bridged, travel restrictions will be the first indicators of this, allowing Mainlanders more access to the Island. Personally, direct flights between China and Taiwan would simplify and shorten travel for me when I visit family in both places.

"The People's Republic Learns to Drive"

I just read Peter Hessler's Wheels of Fortune where he chronicles his driving history in China along with some observatory remarks as a foreigner from the Nov. 26, 2006 issue of the New Yorker. It is a wonderfully insightful article on Chinese road behavior.

Michael Wolf's Hong Kong

I came across Michael Wolf's work via the Asian Photography Blog. Having just landed from Hong Kong, his work really resonates with what has been on my mind in the last couple of weeks. My favorite series is 100x100- "photographs of residents in their flats in Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate: 100 rooms, each 100 square feet in size." Architecture of Density, Real Fake Pictures (taken in China) are also quite interesting.

(photos from Michael Wolf's 100x100 series)

Sometimes the internet just amazes me. My friend Liu just told me that he read about my work on a Chinese photo blog last night. He sent the link and indeed they wrote quite a bit about me and this photo taken in the Forbidden City in 2006.

Courtyard hotels in Beijing

For Beijing, I wanted to stay in a courtyard hotel, to have the charms of an intimate guest house in a big city. A quick google search led me to Sino Hotel which helped me book Zhongtang , a nice siheyuan (a compound with houses around a square courtyard). The service was excellent and included a nice breakfast. The room was clean, cozy, well decorated, and most importantly- warm! (It was the last week of the year afterall.) They helped book a Great Wall tour (Simatai section- less touristy and spectacularly steep), and I would definitely recommend this little charming place.

Peep

I caught a cold in China and it seems to have resurrected itself over the weekend. It's driving me nuts since I've managed not to get sick for years now. So I'm trying to get on the mend, sucking on cough drops. I have a bunch of other travel plans coming up in the next two months so I've been organizing for those trips. Sorry it's been quiet, it might stay that way for a bit with an occasional peep.

Dam trouble

The Three Gorges Dam in China is under criticism for the environmental problems attributed to the Dam. This NYTimes article describes it a bit but you can also check out National Geographic News which often reports on the fish that have suffered from the Dam and it's activities. I wonder about the monkeys that I saw there last year that have lost much of their territory to the rise in water levels.

I am planning another trip for Wuhan for the end of December. Perhaps I will rephotograph the reservoir and dam. It's so depressing.

(my photo of the locks at the Three Gorges Dam)

Craving Asia

It's been more than two years since I've been back to Taiwan, where I spent my childhood years. I got an email from my cousin this morning with photos of his one year old boy that I have yet to meet. The images made me feel the need to go back and share in their lives. Thinking about Taiwan made me think of all the places in Asia that I love and all the foods I miss. The above photo was the last bowl of beef noodles I had from my home town in Taiwan. It's always the first thing I eat when I get off the plane, after an 18 hour flight. It's home.

Here are some articles from the NYtimes that I've been hoarding about Asia, ready to inspire:
Shopping, dim sum, and a must see- the mid-levels escalator system in Hong Kong. Eating dumplings in Beijing. Street food in Bangkok.