SUN YAT-SEN and the FRENCH CONCESSION AGAIN

I know, I keep going back there time after time.  Something draws me to the French Concession; I like to walk through there, and now, maybe I can without fear or concern for being lost. 

I remember the name of Sun Yat-Sen from my own college days, when I took a survey of Far East History one summer.   All I could remember for the longest time was how the instructor paced back and forth across the little mini-stage as he lectured for 90 minutes without notes.   I don't remember the lectures, but the fact that he could walk and talk, not talk and walk, was fascinating.   But Sun Yat-Sen always stood out as someone significant in China's recent history,  overthrowing the Qing Dynasty emperor and struggling against the  warlords, creating an organization that gathered political strength based on sound democratic principles makes him an important character, so it was that I determined, two months ago, that I would get to his place of residence before I left Shanghai. 

 The first house serves as a museum.   It has these artifacts in it. 

 The next house is apparently the former living quarter.  On entering, I put on plastic covers for the shoes.   The house holds the sharp smell of mold.   And there is no picture taking allowed.  Guides stand at every floor to be sure no one breaks any rules. 

                

Done for the day, these worker head for the gate.

See the half circle?

This apparently is a third house; it's undergoing repairs as you can see.   

After the stirring visit I had at Soon Ching-ling's house, I was expecting something of the same here, but I was disappointed.  Where I felt as if something of her spirit was captured in her memorial house, this seemed more a repository of a few artifacts, without the sense of who Dr. Sun Yat-sen was.  Of course history tells us, but the atmosphere I had hoped to find was missing.

On my way to Sun Yat-sen's former residence, I walked past what is becoming my favorite park.  The metro stop was to the east.  I opted to walk down Fuxing Middle Rd, west a couple blocks, then through the Fuxiing Park and then out a southwest gate to Sinon,  the next street.
I posted photos of the rose garden the first time I walked through the park.  This time, I stayed on the southern edge and ended up walking  past the rose garden again.
FUXING PARK

 This is a lovely pond.   Below, people are doing what they always do in the park: playing  cards.

 

This part of the park feels as if it might be part of any of the grand gardens I've visited in Hangzhou or Suzhou or even Yuyuan garden.     And then a short distance away, we get flowers!

 

Do you recognize "Brush Knee"?   Here's the oldest practitioner I've seen.   And people just walked by while he practiced.

And here are the roses, still blooming!

THE MOON BOAT RIDE, THE EXPO SITE, AND PUDONG AND THE RAINY SEASON

June 22.   I'm back at the Expo grounds, where I visited the China Art Expo last month.   When Expo opened, apparently one of the big hits was the Saudi Pavilion's Moon Boat.  People stood in line for hours.  Ding Yaping tells me her sister stood the whole day to spend 10 minutes in the Pavilion. Ding Yaping has never seen the pavilion, so she has volunteered to guide me through the metro maze.  We arrive with no expectations but what we get is something like Koyaanisquatsi, in full color to music richer than that of Philip Glass. If  you haven't seen this film, you may have seen Samsara, a more recent film clearly influenced by Koyaanisquatsi.   The show here is related to the films but is a full body experience, with a screen that wants to be 360 degrees, but makes almost 180 degrees. both horizontally and vertically so at all times you feel surrounded by sound and visual images or darkness.

After entering the Pavilion we walk around the outer wall of the pavilion in a slow ascent to the performance floor at the top level.  Here, in the dark we move forward.  There is a moving walkway that takes one through at a measured pace.  We step off and stand through the performance maybe four times.  I take some video, but the sections I take are too dark, and the images move too fast, ranging from midnight darkness to under the seas to the deserts and oil rigs of the desert nations and up into the stars.  It's a rich collage.  Moving on the walkway feels like being on the bridge of a moon ship (not a star ship). It's dark, the only light comes from the film itself, and sometimes it feels as if the ship is bobbing on a wave.

Trying to upload a second video, but it seems as if blogger does not want any more videos. Click the READ MORE button if it is showing.

SHANGHAI ZOO

My guidebook says that the Shanghai Zoo is as good as zoo as you will find in China.   Compared to the zoos in Seattle and San Diego (the two I know), the Shanghai Zoo is a half century behind. . . well, decades at least.  Woodland Park has been periodically remodeled or updated over the past thirty to forty years with many best exhibit awards.   In contrast, many of the Shanghai Zoo exhibits remind me of the displays I recall from the 60s and 70s in Seattle.  Still there are some captivating displays.   For example, the bird display of swans and pelicans in an open water section of the zoo provides a great setting for viewing the birds.   The rhinoceros display allowed a clear view of the animal as it moved through its area. And the grounds are beautiful    I spent three hours at the zoo, did a lot of walking, and tired my feet out.

Cost to enter the zoo was around 30 to 40 Y with a special price for kids and those  between 60 and 70.  I tried to pay, but they "waived" me through.  Too old to pay.  What a concept!

Layout of the Zoo

 

When I told Ding Yaping I was planning to go to the zoo, she said, "Go there in the morning.  If you go there in the afternoon the animals will all be asleep.  They are Chinese animals."   I got there before noon, and the mammals were passed out.  Pandas, tigers, lions--most of the big animals were out of sight, or barely visible in their reclining positions.   I found the only mammals awake to stand, much less visible while reclining, were the cattle, deer and antelope, zebras, the "vegetarians."

When I first got to the zoo I took the electric tram around the park to get the layout, and saw the swans.  I wanted to get back here, but it took almost 2 hours to find my way back since I trekked through the middle of the zoo instead of following the outer road. 

Pelicans

I see some online reviews have called for closing the zoo because of the state of some exhibits, primarily the sea lion exhibit, which I didn't see. 

This fella has a pretty big schnoz..   Can a Toucan get to close?   Yes, a Toucan can!







This big fella came up and started biting the fencing and making a big ruckus with his beak.   He was literally this close.  By the time I got the video going he had calmed down a bit.

Hippo harassing hippo.

Emu

On my way out of the zoo, I passed by a patio with a series of large clear cylinders that served as vertical outdoor fish tanks holding various gold fish

Three hours of steady walking and a metro ride back to the hotel!

 

LONGHUA TEMPLE AND PAGODA, AND THE MARTYRS MEMORIAL

June 17. LONGHUA temple is the oldest and largest of the Buddhist monasteries in Shanghai.  I decide to visit this afternoon.  I've been thinking about it since visiting the temples in Jing'an.   But the visit to Longhua is only the beginning of the day's adventure because it opens the doorway to Longhua Park and the remarkable Martyrs Memorial that is housed there.

But first the temple.  The taxi driver drops me off and points in the general direction of east, I think.  So I begin walking until I come a yellow wall.   I've already seen the Pagoda.  It stands tall and alone, so it's visible from the main road.

It's a drizzly day, so everything seems enveloped in a haze.

 In front of the Pagoda is a little pool.
 

The entrance into the temple area.

 These young men are preparing to burn large incense sticks.  The grounds are quiet today.  There are few people.   There is a group of monks chanting and beating a drum somewhere in a side temple.


 

 There are several temples down the center of the area with side buildings, some of which have smaller temples.   The buildings down the center hold large Buddhas and a series of other guardian Buddhas.  One Temple houses what might be called a thousand Buddhas, smaller gold statues that fill the room.








 



 I avoid shooting inside the temple but in a couple cases, the images are clearly visible from outside.

 As I leave Longhua temple, I become curious about the park which sits next to it, so I decide to walk a little ways into and then return to the entrance to catch a cab, but I am drawn to the sculptures that immediately capture my attention. 

THE PARK:  

This huge piece of bedrock stands to welcome visitors to Longhua Park.  Below is the backside of the rock; it looks as if it is made for climbing.   As I walk through the park, sculpture after sculpture appears, I believe all telling the story of Communist patriots who died for the country.   I see a map of the park and something that says cemetery, but I am unprepared for the memorial I about to see.   As you can tell, the sculptural style is grandiose and patriotic.

Down the center walkway of the park, I come across this site.   The central structure turns out to be several building stacked behind one another.

 The first building is a memorial hall.  It features the photographs of hundreds of Chinese martyrs.  Between 1928 and 1937 some 800 Communists were imprisoned and executed by the Kuomintang.  The park is the site of the prison and execution site.  I discover this after I get back to the hotel and thumb through the guidebook.   (poor planning on my part.)  The guidebook goes on to say that during WWII the site was a Japanese internment camp and airfield as depicted by the Spielberg film Empire of the Sun, from the novel by JG Ballard, who drew on his boyhood memories in writing this piece of fiction.

A wall on inside the memorial building.

 Here is a window over a staircase going downstairs.

Unfortunately, this description and history is blurry.  Below is the second "page."

 Here is the first of many walls that are filled with photos of the martyrs. I can sense the patriotic feeling this exhibit is intended to evoke from those who wander through.  But there are not many in here on this drizzly, gray day.  A couple of men, a woman, and maybe another two or three  in addition to me.

 I take several passes through the park.   Earlier I started down the right side of the map, from the bottom, then before reaching the black sculpture, I retraced my steps and walked down the center portion until I reached the memorial .  Having viewed the memorial I walked here to look at the map.   I  opt not to go down to view the sculpture honoring the martyrs who died on April the 12th, and instead I drift south to view the black children's sculptures on both sides of the park and subsequently walk north along the left pathway.  In doing so I miss the underground tunnel that leads to the prison.

 

These look like grave sites.   Some workers are maintaining the area.

Here's the big triangle.  The building seems to be closed, but I walk around the back and far sides to come out to a fountain and more sculptures.                                                         

To the right is a closeup of part of this sculpture.

 Here in the closing moments of my tour through the park, amid all of the Communist patriotic themes, I hear a saxophone permeating the roar of the water spraying from the fountain.   It's sonorous tones spread over the area maybe 100 yards away.   Its source is a mystery.   There are no loudspeakers and it's definitely an American song,  and breaks whatever patriotic Chinese mood there may have been.  The title of the song escapes me for a moment, but I can hum the theme. 

I search for the source of the music and find this little entry, where a young Chinese man is playing. He's sitting deep in the shadows, hidden from view. The title rushes over me like the spray from the fountain:   "On Blueberry Hill."

If this video works, don't blame the videographer.  If the image is unreadable, remember it's here for the sound, for the young man is virtually hidden in the shadow. The background static is the sound of water from the fountain.  (see above)

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This is the last sculpture before I leave the park and search for a taxi that can take me from whence I came