REFLECTIONS IN A CHINESE EYE

REFLECTIONS IN A CHINESE EYE

Early 1950's pictures of young CHINESE SOLDIERS who may have participated in the Korean War.

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Young men and women in uniform serving their country ( China) during the 1950's who may have participated in the Korean War.

Early 1950's pictures of young CHINESE SOLDIERS who may have participated in the Korean War.

The Secrets of Happiness - Life In A Garbage Dump

http://youtu.be/-b67TXGv7Ww

 

"I've grown up as a scavenger and I will die scavenger" says Manuel, a worker on the dump for over 17 years. With high levels of injury and infection, and virtually no financial rewards, why do over 4,000 Filipinos choose to stay? For Victoria, family bonds and well as the need to help and inspire future children on the site keep them here: "Even if it's hard, we're happy. We're happy because we're all together." 

WDB.              

Here, I am at a loss to why the filmmaker and writers attempt to put a positive spin on some of the poorest and most susceptible people to ill health on earth.  To me, this little film is repugnant.  I was first made aware of SMOKEY MOUNTAIN, I believe, around the nineteen sixties.  If I'm correct, this putrid and inhuman condition has existed for decades snd will continue to thrive as long as ignorant writers and filmmakers employ their exalted positions to earn a buck by portraying the poor, ignorant, ill fed, ill clothed; those living in despicable and inescapable circumstances - as HAPPY!  To hell with the lot of them.

Smokey Mountain - Manila, Philippines is one of the worlds most dangero

us landfills to the health of those who eke out a meager existance here on a daily basis. Yet, despite the imminent health hazards, hundreds of poor search for small treasures each day with total disregard to the dangers posed to their lives. For, each find, a jewel, is an addition to the household store.

 

 

 

The government, of course, looks the other way. The Philippines, where government officials are offended if not given money under the table, for here it is a tradition; graft, greed, corruption, come with all elected politicians; sadly, there are third generation leeches in office, on the dole,  to this day. Rigged elections assure that second and third generation family members of notorious crooked  former government officials get their share of the spoils.

 

The

Philippines, a third world nation, attempting to procure a better life for its citizenry has to

 fight for its very existence due to corruption at all levels of government: federal, provincial, and local.

Who has time to clean up a garbage dump?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map of China circa 1850

This map was within the pages of an unbound Enclyclopedia of 1850.

 

Lu Xun - May 4th Movement

Lu Xun (simplified Chinese: 鲁迅; traditional Chinese: 魯迅; pinyin: Lǔ Xùn) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles), was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (simplified Chinese: 周树人; traditional Chinese: 周樹人; pinyin: Zhōu Shùrén; Wade–Giles: Chou Shu-jen) (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua (白話) (the vernacular) as well as classical Chinese. Lu Xun was a short story writer, editor, translator, critic, essayist and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the Chinese League of the Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.

Lu Xun's works exerted a very substantial influence after the May Fourth Movement to such a point that he was highly acclaimed by the Communist regime after 1949. Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's works. Though sympathetic to the ideals of the Left, Lu Xun never actually joined the Chinese Communist Party. Like many leaders of the May Fourth Movement, he was primarily a liberal.

Lu Xun's works became known to English readers through numerous translations, beginning in 1960 with Selected Stories of Lu Hsun translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. More recently, in 2009, Penguin Classics published a complete anthology of his fiction titled The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun which the scholar Jeffrey Wasserstrom^[2] said "could be considered the most significant Penguin Classic ever published."^[3Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Photograph of Lu Xun

Translation Needed

This is the cover page for the Lu Xun photographs, I am illiterate in Chinese and need help in the translation of this page.

Lu Xun

This is a compilation of phtoographs of Lu Xun - I purchased in a mall about 2007.

The back cover has a printed in the year 1974 on it.

The Packet Cards Came In

Cultural Revolution Post Cards (continued)

Cultural Revolution Post Cards (continued)

Cultural Revolution Post Cards?

I don't know the origin of these cards  Might be or might not be post office issue.  Still a mystery to me.  If you know something-please contact me

 

Chinese as Photographed on Ogden Cigarette Cards 1902

1902 Ogden Cigarette cards

Chinese Matchbook Covers

Du Fu - Paintings

A postcard set purchased about 2006.  I don't know when it was printed.

Du Fu

Du Fu, a very famous poet, lived in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Just as its name implies, the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu was his home more than a thousand years ago.

Du Fu was born in Gongyi City, Henan Province in 712. In 746, he took the official examination in Chang'an (now known as Xian) and continued to live there for more than ten years after the failure. But, in order to get away from the An-Shi Rebellion breaking out in 758, Du Fu fled to Chengdu in 759. With the help of friends, the thatched cottage was built in 760 beside the Flower Bathing Brook on the western outskirts of Chengdu. During his four years there, Du Fu composed more than 240 poems that are considered to be precious national treasures.

After Du Fu's departure from Chengdu, the cottage was abandoned for a long time and became dilapidated. Hundreds of years later in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) a new temple was built on the original site of the thatched cottage to commemorate this outstanding person in Chinese literature. From then on, it was renovated and enlarged repeatedly. There were two very important reconstructions in 1500 and 1811 respectively, both of which set the scale and structure of the present thatched cottage. Today, it is a shrine to Chinese literature and a commemorative museum in the form of a traditional garden.

Xu Beihong and his Horses

If you love horses or just enjoy great art, then Xu Beihong foots the bill.  Again, I came across this postcard set at a small shop in 2006.  Could not pass them by, don't know when they were published.

Xu Beihong (simplified Chinese: 徐悲鸿; traditional Chinese: 徐悲鴻; pinyin: Xú Bēihóng) was born in Yixing, China. He was primarily known for his shuimohua (Chinese ink paintings) of horses and birds and one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a new modern China at the beginning of the 20th century. He was also regarded as one of the first to create monumental oil paintings with epic Chinese themes - a show of his high proficiency in an essential Western art technique.^[1]

Xu began studying classic Chinese works and calligraphy with his father Xu Dazhang when he was six, and Chinese painting when he was nine. In 1915, he moved to Shanghai, where he made a living off commercial and private work. He traveled to Tokyo in 1917 to study arts. When he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University's Arts school at the invitation of Cai Yuanpei. Beginning in 1919, Xu studied overseas in Paris at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where he studied oil painting and drawing. His travels around Western Europe allowed him to observe and imitate Western art techniques. He came back to China in 1927 and, from 1927 to 1929, gained a number of posts at institutions in China, including teaching at National Central University (now Nanjing University) in the former capital city Nanjing.

In 1933, Xu organized an exhibition of modern Chinese painting that traveled to France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and the Soviet Union. During World War II, Xu traveled to Southeast Asia, holding exhibitions in Singapore and India. All the proceeds from these exhibitions went to Chinese people who were suffering as a result of the war.

More at WIKIPEDIA

Mei LanFang

Méi was born in Taizhou, Jiangsu in 1894 into a family of Peking opera and Kunqu performers. He made his stage debut at the Guanghe Theatre in 1904 when he was 10 years old.^[1] In his 50-year stage career, he maintained strong continuity while always working on new techniques. His most famous roles were those of female characters; skillful portrayal of women won him international acclaim, and his smooth, perfectly timed, poised style has come to be known in opera circles as the “Méi School.” He also played an important part in continuing the performance tradition of Kūnqǔ, noted particularly for his interpretations of Dù Lìniáng (杜丽娘; in The Peony Pavilion) and Bái Sùzhēn (白素贞; in Leifeng Pagoda) and Beauty Yu (in Farewell My Concubine). Mei's famous portrayal of Beauty Yu was so historically moving that Wenting Song say he is one of the greatest vocal artists in modern China.^[2]

Méi was the first artist to spread Beijing Opera to foreign countries, participating in cultural exchanges with Japan, the United States, and other regions. He toured the world, forming friendships with the western contemporaries of his day, including Charlie Chaplin. In 1930 he toured North America, visiting Hollywood, where he welcomed by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.^[3] In 1935, Mei toured Europe, playing to appreciative audiences in Berlin and Moscow. Seeing Mei perform especially impressed the German playwright Bertold Brecht and influenced his concept of the alienation effect.^[4]

In July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurred. The Imperial Japanese Army soon occupied Beijing. The commander of the Japanese Army ordered Mei to perform for them and appointed Mei to a high rank official position. But Mei refused to sing throughout the duration of the war and endured an impoverished lifestyle until the war ended in 1945.

Bust of Méi Lánfāng in Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum in Beijing

After 1949 he served as director of China Beijing Opera Theater, director of the Chinese Opera Research Institute, and vice-chairman of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Besides his autobiography, Forty Years of Life on the Stage, several of his articles and essays have been published in The Collected Works of Mei Lanfang. Recordings of his best-known performances have been published in A Selection of Beijing Operas Performed by Mei Lanfang. In 2000, the story of his life was filmed in a documentary entitled The Worlds of Mei Lanfang. Acclaimed director Chen Kaige directed Forever Enthralled, a film biography of Mei's life, released in December 2008

Wikipedia

Chinese Postcards of Mei LanFang

I found these cards in a bazaar in 2008.

It is  impossible for me to to tell you how beautiful these photos are.  Simply, my vocabulary is not sufficient enough to to describe the stunning beauty of the reproductions shown here.  Cards were produced in 1994.  I paid approximately 20 yuan for them.

Enjoy.

Foreigners assist police in south China

NANNING - Michael Axel, a baker from Israel, moonlights as a police assistant in scenic Yangshuo county to help local police solve disputes involving foreigners.

"Yangshuo is a quiet and beautiful county where I live with my Chinese wife. I feel I should do my part in making it a better place for foreign visitors," Axel said.

Axel and another 15 foreigners are members of the Yangshuo Policing International Volunteers Group, which was set up in February 2011 in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.  

Yangshuo, located in northeast Guangxi, is known for its breathtaking scenery and diverse cultural appeal, as it is home to 10 different ethnic minorities. The area's numerous ethnic festivals often bring an influx of visitors, many of whom are from other countries.

However, with language barriers and a lack of knowledge regarding Chinese rules and regulations, some foreigners encounter difficulties when visiting the county, some of which result in disputes.

In November 2010, a young man from Australia rode a motorcycle through the streets of Yangshuo without a Chinese driver's license. When traffic police stopped him, both sides ended up in a stalemate for half an hour until the police solicited the help of a British man to help explain local traffic regulations to the Australian.

Incidents like this led county police to form the volunteer group to help them handle incidents involving foreign visitors.

Read More China Daily

China excites public opinion, slanders Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – To realize its ambition of controlling the entire East Sea, Chinese newspapers have published articles to excite public opinion, slander countries in the region, especially Vietnam.

China – a hungry dragon in the East Sea

China's greedy U-shaped line in the East Sea.

Dr. Tran Cong Truc, former head of the Government Border Committee, analyzed China’s plot to monopolize the East Sea in his newly-published book entitled “Vietnam’s Imprints in the East Sea.” Below is an extract from the book.

To implement its marine strategy and its ambition to totally control the East Sea, China has applied many domestic and foreign measures, on negotiation table and on the field, to confirm its sovereignty in the East Sea.

China officially raised its U-shaped line claim in May 2009, by attaching a map with this line to a diplomatic note to the United Nations in protesting Vietnam’s report and the joint report of Vietnam and Malaysia on the boundary of the continental shelf. Accordingly, China claimed sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelagos and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf of the two archipelagos.

China used the regulations on island nation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS) to outline the baseline for Paracel Islands. It stated to draw the baseline for the Spratly Islands, to claim EEZs and continental shelves for the two archipelagoes.

However, China’s claim is contrary to the UNCLOS; so in general, other countries did not agree with the claim

Read More Vietnam Net

China's Corrupt Food Chain

An April report by China’s national broadcaster CCTV detailed the manufacturing process followed by 16 companies that sell preserved fruit. It made the meat-packing methods described by Upton Sinclair in “The Jungle” a century ago seem pale by comparison.

Enlarge This Image

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Qilai Shen/European Pressphoto Agency

Shoppers look at packs of fresh milk at a supermarket in Shanghai in April 2011

For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.

Rotten peaches pickled in outdoor pools surrounded by garbage are spiked with sodium metabisulfite to keep the fruit looking fresh and with bleaching agents and additives harmful to the human liver and kidneys. The peaches are packed in uncleaned bags that previously held animal feed and then shipped off to big-brands stores.

read more The New York Times

China’s slowdown: the impact on Africa

A lot of ink has been spilled of late discussing the global impact of China’s slowing economic growth. But there has been little discussion however about how African economies will be affected.

Now, ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has stepped into the gap with a report published this week. It says, in short,  that the China slow down may be bad for metal exporters, but opportunities should present themselves for African manufacturers.

The export of metals, agricultural commodities and petro-chemicals has been the backbone of most of sub-Saharan Africa’s more successful economies over the past decade, and China has been a key customer.

The IMF estimates that it was responsible for almost all of the world’s consumption increases for copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc between 1995 and 2011. In 2010, it consumed 40 per cent of the world’s base metals. On the back of Chinese demand – which rebounded spectacularly following the 2008 crash – African commodity exporter nations have enjoyed strong growth even as developed markets have remained in a slump.

Read more FINANCAL TIMES

In China, Anti-Smoking Efforts Hindered by Big Tobacco

Posted Friday, August 17th, 2012 at 5:45 am

A new study says China has the largest number of tobacco users in the world. And analysts say efforts to curb the habit are being hindered by the country's state-owned tobacco enterprises.

The British-based medical journal Lancet said Friday in a report on global smoking rates that around 300 million people, about 28 percent of the population, use tobacco products in China, despite new restrictions on public smoking.

The study's lead author, Dr. Gary Giovino, says China's government-owned cigarette companies, an important source of revenue, are even encouraging the deadly habit with advertisements in elementary schools.

 “The China National Tobacco Company has supported elementary schools in China, dozens and dozens of them. And they use their support to promote propaganda about tobacco use, and they are basically telling students that genius comes from hard work and tobacco helps them to be successful. That to me is mind boggling, that a government would tell its children to use tobacco to be successful when tobacco will addict them and shorten their lives.

Read more VOA