Author Archives: d4vid

Crossroads

Eventually, everyone comes to a crossroads.  Do you go down to the Yellow Dragon Cave?  Or up the Heavenly Stairs?  Turn to the Golden Drum Cave or turn to the Tiger Cave? Or use the restroom.

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Cosmogony

If Chinese cosmogony is anything like Narnian cosmogony — and, honestly, why wouldn’t it be? — I assume that when Aslan (or a culturally-specific transposition) sang this land into being, a chunk of lens or something sank into the young … Continue reading

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Imagineered

One of the things that wore me down most about living in Shanghai was my inability to escape into nature.  I loved being able to hike up into the forested hills around the West Lake. A stone path vying with Nature.  This … Continue reading

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Causeway

Broken Bridge is part of one of the two narrow causeways which cross the West Lake.  They are packed with pedestrians, cyclists, and electric carts.

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Broken

Hangzhou’s famous “Broken Bridge” is so named because snow in the middle melts first, darkening the stone and making it look like there’s a gap.  

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Woke

I’d rather have a woke town.  Right?  Right?  Tip your waitresses.

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Westlake

On my way back from Chongqing, I spent a few days in a place I’ve been trying to get to for some time now:  Hangzhou. Just an hour’s train ride away from Shanghai, Hangzhou has been a place of beauty … Continue reading

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Cyberpunk II

Of all the Asian cities I’ve travelled to, I was surprised to find that Chongqing, of all places, felt the most cyberpunk.  (This skyscraper with the nightmarish animated chick & egg to “celebrate” the Year of the Rooster certainly contributed.)  I … Continue reading

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Seals 

The Chongqing Guotai Grand Theatre building has a cool design using a lattice of beams whose ends look like Chinese seals.

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Wraparound

This huge video screen wrapped around the edge of the building.  Some ads used the angled edge as a design element — like a sidebar — whereas other ads like this one just treated it as an entire screen.

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Sincere

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Hawker

This woman was walking around the street, selling scrawny chickens dangling from a stick.  Ah, China.

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Museum

Right across People’s Square from the Hall of the People is the Three Gorges Museum.  I was pretty Gorged out, so I hurried through the Gorges and Dam exhibits. Yet more unfortunate taxidermy made it look like the animals had seen … Continue reading

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Auditorium

Towering over People’s Square is a huge auditorium called the Great Hall of the People. The architecture was inspired by Beijing’s Temple of Heaven.It’s so photogenic, I had trouble finding a bad angle.

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Cacophony

Early morning in People’s Square — between the Great Hall of the People and the Three Gorges Museum —  you can see half a dozen different groups of people practicing dance routines or flag routines or Tai Chi or whatever, … Continue reading

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