Thursday, June 14, 2007

June 14

Class as usual. The first guy is a jolly fellow, laughs constantly and rambles stuff off to us in Chinese. We laugh along for the hell of it. The second teacher we can communicate with, but he’s got a bit of a shell.

There was a planned afternoon event, the Shanghai Museum. This is quoted from the guidebook: The building is designed to replicated a ding—an ancient Chinese bronze vessel. It is China’s premier museum with a spectacular collection and layout design within.



Museum galleries include: Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Chinese Painting, Ming and Qing Furniture, Calligraphy, Minority Nationalities, Ancient Chinese Jade, Coin Gallery, Seal Gallery, and Ancient Chinese Sculpture. There are also various exhibition halls, that currently housed some American modern art (most recognizably Schnabel, Warhol, and Pollack).

I will be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Chinese art, especially the ancient stuff. While there’s always something that’s semi-interesting, rooms of bronze coins, calligraphy scrolls, and bamboo/bonsai/flower paintings just don’t do it for me. There have definitely been some pieces before that I’ve been impressed with, but overall it’s an art culture that I’m not really into. It may be that modern associations with some Asian art make it border on tacky (like when you think of the garish décor of Chinese restaurants in the states). An hour and a half there was enough for me.

Despite all that, I did have a good time, and I did see some cool stuff, and I did take a lot of pictures. I also stopped in the tea house and had some tea that was actually very good, so I guess that was one of the highlights. I also really liked the American modern art, that’s way more my style, but as luck would have it those were the only rooms where photography was not allowed (but I got stealth).

Stairs (as taken from the escalator)


Before coins were round, they were apparently shaped like swords












Not actually displayed art, but a lighting element in the furniture gallery






The description of this was “A Peom by Cen Shen”


If only I could wear this to an LSU football game


Modern art (shh, no pictures)


We took a short cab ride over to the French Concession, as we’d decided on a restaurant there for dinner, 1001 Nights, serving Middle Eastern cuisine, and also boasting belly dancers. We walked around a bit first, as we were early for our 6:30 reservation, and stopped in a nearby bar for drinks.





The eventual meal at 1001 Nights was very good. Appetizers included hummus (plain, garlic & parsley, and pinenut), falafel, toubouleh, stuffed grape leaves, and something else I think. We were stuffed, but still ordered entrees (although barely anyone finished theirs). I don’t remember all the names, but it was mostly an assortment of kebabs, chicken and lamb and whatnot. We also ordered a hookah, and a few of us took an apple flavored puff. The belly dancers were also fairly entertaining, especially to the guys.





Stage


Bellydancers


My chicken kebab (delicious)




We leave for Hong Kong tomorrow, so I likely won’t update again until Sunday.

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