Life's Persistent Questions

Thursday, Nov 25. Part II

After lunch, we were trying to walk around the People's Park when we stumbled upon the new Shanghai Art Museum. I don't remember it been here--it used to be a library and a bookstore. But there it was, the Shanghai Biennale, that we had heard from friends of my gf. So we gave it a try. It was entertaining to say the least, and we ended up spending the whole afternoon in it. While much of it has to do with experimentation with new medium forms, it also included something quite traditional.

Paper cutting craft. It was a survey of some 170,000 people in Shaanxi about the native paper-cut craft. This resulted in some 15,000 personal files, with basic bio, a picture, a sample and some short statements. To me it's not really the paper-cuts that interests me, but rather it's glimpse into these people's lives. Often, the statement they give are merely stating that they started when they are in school and kept doing it out of boredom. But occasionally it shows something deeper, usually the shadow of a life full of hardship and family burden (for a vast majority of them were women). The organizers do bring up the point this show is symbolic of the distance and connection between two poles in today's China, the rich, modern China and the poor, backward China. Both Shanghai and Shaanxi could be considered the birthplace of Chinese communist party. The first CCP congress was held in Shanghai, and of course, CCP found its rebirth in Yanan after the long march. Yet the difference between these two locales are as drastic as light and day (you think Blue and Red states in the U.S. are different?) My gf wondered about the monetary impact of such survey wouldn't be better served in other programs, but I thought at least it made people who saw the exhibit think about people from Shaanxi.

The rest of the exhibit is mixed. I had to agree with my uncles (at a later dinner). Some of the art today is too-"difficult." One always worries about whether one "gets" what the artist is trying to express. And sometimes it seems that the artist is purposefully trying to make that difficult. Other times, the artist is simply doing what he or she wishes--I suppose to express one's individuality and creativity--without any regard for the audience. Call me old fashion, I would like a piece of art to be beautiful or breathtakingly powerful, without having to worry about decoding the artist's message. Hey if I want to be needlessly shocked and disturbed, I will watch everyday TV news.

We then went across the river to Jinmao, Grand Hyatt, for a few drinks in one of its bar/lounges. Maybe it was the weather or because it was still early, the bund looked dim. But it was nice to sit down for the first time in five hours.

The dinner was at a restaurant near my dad's place, nestle in the back of the whole-sale seafood market. We picked out a fish (to be steamed), shrimp (boiled), snail (stirfried in butter), bamboo clam (cooking in some sauce), trunk freshwater mussel (sashimi-ed and cooked in porridge) and something that I can't remember now. It was only four people, including my uncle-in-law. He has a funny personality. He's the kind of person that do the most of the work, but refuse to take any credit. Fight to pay the check, but criticize everything. Telling you how good something is and must try, but take the worst and try the least for himself. I have grown used to his dichotomy. But this seafood feast was hands-down the best in my life. I can't think of ordering seafood in a restaurant for a long time. The best part, the check was only $90! That includes the trunk freshwater mussel, which cost $20 per lb, at 2.5 lb, it was more than half the bill! Well, it was good.

Well, nightlife after dinner. I have to admit, I never liked Xintiandi. But people in Shanghai always talk about it, even my gf knows about it. Of course, Dave had always told me so, but I keep hoping that I would be surprised. Well, I'm not again. We went to XTD (it was raining), and walked around like most people. I can't see how this place is viable. We went into a couple of places. One place aptly called Jazz-Cigar-Wine. Well, the jazz was so-so, the wine (and everything else, including hot chocolate) overpriced, and cigar... We sat next to a "no smoking" sign, go figure. Besides the watered down black label and hot chocolate, we saw something amusing. A couple got a bottle of red--probably cost as much as our dinner--and a pitcher of ice. Then they proceed to dump cube after cube of ice into their glass, WITH THE WINE. This led me to believe either the wine was terrible, or these people were terribly misinformed. We then got the hell out of there. Then went to another bar that I had been to a couple of times previously. It took me awhile to figure out why it looked so much smaller now--half of what it used to be had become a cloth store. But the bar still looked empty. We were told by a waitress, she thinks they will close at 1 AM, maybe. All of us were relieved to find out that was in fact the case. Too bad it was raining, otherwise I would have dragged my gf to Park 97 or even Jinmao.

posted by hedgehog @ 1:16 PM