Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the Chinese New Year of year 4706 (Jan 26, 2009 - Feb 13 2010). According to ancient Chinese astrology, this is the year of JiChou 己丑 in 60-year cycles which is the least common multiplier of a 10-year and a 12-year cycle. The 10-year cycle is called Heavenly Stems 天干 derived from two attributes: Yin 陰 and Yang 陽 for the interaction of forces, and five planets/elements - Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn. This 2x5 combination produces the cycle of 10 and this year is Yin Earth 陰土. The 12-year cycle, on the other hand, is called Earthly Branches 地支 that correspond to the 12 sections of the orbit of Jupiter of 11.86 years; this year is the 2^nd section. Over time, zodiac signs of animals and stories became much more popular and widely used for the 12 Earthly Braches and this is the year of Ox 牛.

According to the Wikipedia entry, those who are born on year of Ox, like me, are supposed to have personality that can be characterized as “Responsible, dependable, honest, caring, honorable, intelligent, artistic, industrious, practical”. But don’t get carried away too far too quickly; they can also be “Petty, inflexible, possessive, dogmatic, gullible, stubborn, critical, intolerant, materialistic”!

One way to appreciate the relation of ox (or bull that we will use interchangeably in this blog) with human beings is to examine how it is treated in different societies and in recorded arts and literature of various cultures. First off, there is no question that ox plays significant roles in human economic activities. They can produce milk, plow the fields, pull the wagons, and is a resource for meat diet and leather goods. Consequently, at one end of the spectrum, we see in countries like India, they enjoy a mother-like status and have been venerated and protected by Hindus for thousands of years. At the other end of spectrum, they are viewed simply as an important resource for meat production and consumption in societies like U.S. where they are mostly managed in a large scale highly optimized production system from breeding by artificial insemination, through antibiotic-filled, corn-fed, cramped indoor pens and slaughter houses and eventually the distribution system to stores and markets all in 12-18 months.

Ox also has a special role in rituals and spectacles as its strength and tenacity has long been recognized and admired by humans. For example, there is a long history of bullfighting dated back to Romans. It remains the very symbol of Spanish culture with its fierce and unique Iberia fighting bulls although its popularity appears to be on the decline. American Indians are known to hunt and respect bison (that technically speaking belongs to a different genus from ox). The name of the famous Sioux chief who defeated Lt. Col. George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 is Sitting Bull.

Indeed, ox is such an integral part of many cultures that it can be found in literature and religion as well. With his fascination with the Spanish culture and bullfighting, Ernest Hemingway wrote his "Death in the Afternoon" and his first major novel "The Sun Also Rises'' with background set in bullfighting. While matador against bull may be a blunt tribute to the beauty of tragic death in struggles of human against natural forces, Buddhism takes bull to a much more abstract and philosophical level. The fascinating Zen Buddhism story of Ten Bulls is an excellent example in which bull was used in the metaphor of progression towards to enlightening. Of course, ox does often get tough assignments. The mighty guard of hell in many Buddhism stories has a bullhead with a job of punishing those evil people who ended up in hell after life!

For daily lives and use in English language, bull seems to have been associated with a questionable image. One finds expressions like “bullshit” and “bully” which amplifies the negatives rather than positives of bull. I still can’t figured out why we call people lying “to bull”. There might be something deep here; Chinese also call people bragging as 吹牛 that literally means “blowing a bull”. Fortunately, in the all important topic of modern finance and economy, bull redeemed itself and is used as symbol of prosperity. Most people are familiar with the 7,000 lb bronze sculpture Charging Bull by Arturo Di Modica, standing near Wall Street in New York City since 1989.

Talking about bull in arts, the oldest surviving Chinese brush painting on paper happens to be about it. The Five Bulls 五牛圖 above by Han Huang 韓滉 (723-787 AD) of Tang dynasty has long been an imperial collection and was stolen from the palace during the 1900 invasion of Beijing by Eight-Nation Alliance 八國聯軍 during the boxer rebellion and recovered by Chinese government through auction in 1951. My personal favorite however is a much more modern work of Homebound Bull at Sunset 夕照歸牛 by Qi Bai Shi 齊白石during WWII when he was 78 years old. The simplicity and creative arrangement and color of a lone bull walking at sunset near wavering willows with its back to the viewer conveys beautifully the sadness and uncertainty in the air but calm and firm determination.

A totally different spirit can be found in many Western paintings. The must-see Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has the famous 1562 painting The Rape of Europa of Italian painter Titian. It depicts the Greek Mythology that Zeus changed itself into a bull and kidnapped the princess Europa. Of course, many notable paintings involving bull came from Spanish artists given the significance of bullfighting there. What came to mind immediately include Joan Miro’s Mural Painting of a bullfight in 1951 (in exhibition recently in MoMA) and Picasso’s Guernica of Spanish civil war in 1937. It is up to you to interpret them.

President Obama was born on the year of Ox. We wish him succeed in turning the country and world around or in Chinese牛轉乾坤! Perhaps he should suggest replacing the popular Wall street’s landmark Charging Bull by Zu Ming’s朱銘 wood carving sculpture Team Work or In One Heart 同心協力. The latter depicts the bull and 4 famers working hard and pulling together the enormous load of the cart.

Before I go, below is probably the most popular Chinese New Year celebration song for your enjoyment. Happy Chinese New Year and talk to you soon!

Change Has Begun

History has been made yesterday when the 44^th President of United States Barack Hussein Obama was sworn into office. A bi-racial 47 years old son of a Kenyan father and a white American mother, who grew up in Hawaii that became a state only two years before he was born. A Columbia graduate and Harvard educated attorney who chose community service over a corporate legal career. An aspired and inspiring politician who was unknown on the national stage until when he delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. 4+ years later, when nearly 2 million people (that is about 1 of every 150 Americans) gathered in Washington D.C. in freezing cold for his inauguration with joy, excitement, and tears in their eyes, one can’t help but touched deeply by the emotion and the energy he has generated.

Everyone knows by now this journey started a little over two years ago and his message to American people has been simple and consistent that can be summed up in one single word - CHANGE. It captures the yawning and imagination of people who have long realized something is not right in this country but do not know where to go, whom to turn to and what to do.

His opponents and detractors ridiculed his youth, inexperience and audacity, betting fear will tramp over hope, division will split unity, and ideology will obscure judgment. Pundits and analysts of all shades, responding to daily happenings, amplified and simplified from every angle selectively, dropped on labels from left to right, provided their reads in predictable sound bites, and offered sometimes, advice in a vacuum.

As he won the election and began to build his team, some started to second guess and concerned that some of his cabinet nominations, guilty of their shinning track records and previous associations, do not reflect the change they expected.

This begs the question and everyone is asking what exactly is the CHANGE President Obama has been talking about? The answer is pretty straightforward, in my opinion, but interestingly the specifics are different for different individuals in different roles. That is why the CHANGE message connects easily with most people but at the same time seems so elusive.

As the president who leads the most powerful nation on earth, Barack Obama has articulated it well at the first moment of his presidency; he cannot make it more clear to the nation and the world than what he had spelled out in his 18 minutes inaugural speech. For the rest, each of us will find our own specific answers if we just recognize that change begins with a “can do” attitude that challenges status-quos and out-dated ideas. When each of us opts to take up more responsibility and make a difference, we will collectively travel a different path where endless possibilities and opportunities await us.

Never before in US history, there is so much optimism and expectation of a new president with so many crises and challenges from domestic to international and from economy to war. President Obama has stood up to lead the charge and outlined the new direction and principles in remaking America. It is time for everyone to respond and grab this unique opportunity and act responsibly, big or small. Only then, meaningful and fundamental changes will be realized.

Talk to you soon!

San Francisco Revisited

San Francisco is a very special place to me. It was the first city I visited in U.S. (and the world outside Taiwan); the city where I got married; the city where I joined the demonstration when U.S. normalized its relationship with China in Jan 1, 1979. There are so much memory, friendship, and family bonds in the area that we can never get tired of visiting.

San Francisco’s historical connection with Asians and in particular Chinese is well-known. Early Chinese immigration was primarily driven by the needs of labor workers during 1849 Gold Rush and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. After the Rush was over and railroad was completed however, likely triggered by the Panic of 1873, Chinese immigrants had endured numerous local, state and federal discriminatory laws and acts, specifically targeted at them, including 1862 California’s Anti-Coolie Tax, 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and 1892 Geary Act. It wasn’t until 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act was finally repealed and Chinese immigrants can begin and enjoy the same legal rights such as brining their family as other immigrants. I would not be surprised if the repeal had a lot to do with the declaration of war against Japan after Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the alliance with China during WWII.

The modern history of San Francisco however has more to do with being the epicenter of significant anti-cultural movements. The 1967 Summer of Love has certainly made San Francisco the world capitol and symbol of cultural rebellion. Whenever you visit San Francisco, you should certainly listen to, before you go, the extremely popular song of 1967 If You're Going to San Francisco, sung by Scott McKenzie and written by John Philips. For your convenience, below is the lyrics and a music video of it.

If you're going to San Francisco
Be Sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

All across the nation such a strange vibration
People in Motion
There's a whole generation with a new explanation
People in motion people in motion

For those who come to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

Outside the city, one place we often stopped by whenever we had a chance is Berkeley, right across the San Francisco Bay on the east. After all, this is the place where I spent my first 4 3/4 years in America, met my wife, and had our first baby.

One of our rituals when visiting Berkeley is to have a few hotdogs at a joint called Top Dog. In my opinion, it serves the best hot dogs of the world. With both the buns and juicy frankfurters grilled and then topped with kraut and mustard, you will enjoy a tasty snack or meal anytime 24x7. You actually do need it when you studied day and night at Berkeley!

We also visited my thesis adviser, Charles Desoer, who lives north of the campus. He is now 82 years old and has unfortunately been on wheelchair for the last 11 years since he suffered a stroke. I owed much of my career to him, being a foreign student who had very poor English and did not know how to do research. He taught and guided me both with his rigor, passion, and dedication with weekly meetings and reviews throughout my graduate school years.

I still remember some of little things he did that made him one of the greatest teachers, beyond giving lucid lectures. In my first year, I enrolled in his graduate class. During the first exam in the quarter, he announced his grading policy of the exams: If you answered the question completely and correctly, you get the full credit. If you leave the answer blank because you don’t know the answer or are not sure about the answer, you get no credit for that problem. But if you give a wrong answer or wrong reasoning of it, you get a full negative credit. Some in the class roared in disbeliefs and complained. I have to say however it did set me straight for the rest of my career. Another memory of mine is that those exam problems often were stated as “A Berkeley student asserts … A Stanford student claims … Who is right and why?” Of course, you can bet your life that Berkeley student is always right. The hard part though is to figure out the why to avoid being given the negative credits!

South side of the Berkeley campus is certainly a lot more colorful. Outside Sather Gate, Sproul Plaza has been the favorite and historical place for student demonstrations, protests and sometimes sit-ins. It is the most significant landmark of Free Speech Movement against the ban by University of student political activities on campus in 60’s. The movement stimulated the student activisms and marked the beginning of anti-Vietnam war movements. It also “helped” sending Ronald Regan into California Governor’s office in 1966 with one of Regan’s campaign theme being "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." By the time, I got to Berkeley in 1974, the national guards and tear gas was long gone although graffiti on the walls were still visible and there were still many eccentric folks and acts on the plaza daily.

South of Sproul Plaza is the end of the popular Telegraph Avenue where one finds shops, stores, restaurants and street vendors. Some of them may have connections to 60’s but one can’t really tell any more. Famous Cody’s bookstore was now gone that had fought against censorship and provided a safe harbor for student activists. I still remember my first encounter with panhandler in US took place just a block away on Telegraph Ave not long after I arrived at Berkeley. As I walked down the street late one evening, someone stopped me and asked “if I have spare change”. I instinctively said no but actually did not understand what he was asking since I could not comprehend that anyone would have “spare” change.

A block east lies the People’s Park, another significant landmark that symbolizes the conflict and struggle between the authority and some community people. It is still a sanctuary for homeless but no longer looks like a place you want to wonder around especially at dark. It has gradually lost its mythical power although it surely will continue to have its place in history as majority of Berkeley students still support keeping it as a park. This is the place where riot and clashes of thousands of people with law enforcement took place in May 1969 when conflicts escalated out of control between locals who wanted and built a park, and the university who owned and wanted to develop the land. Subsequent civil unrests and the two weeks occupation and curfew of city of Berkeley by National Guards sent by Governor Ronald Regan had certainly made it well-known across the country and world. Decades later, you can still find some who would not hesitate to travel distance to defend the park if there is any news about re-development.

Further east, at the end of the Bancroft Way is the International House or I-House where I stayed for the first year of my graduate school and met my wife who was also a graduate student. With its setup, I-House offers year-round convenience of a dorm with a cafeteria for foreign students and opportunities to meet room with students from U.S. and all over the world. It also organizes many events and trips during and off school sessions. I remember the first time when I ate in its cafeteria after moving in, I was excited to see “beer” was available at the self-service soft drink machine. Quickly I found out there is a big difference between root beer and beer! I also remember I was sick of the packed lunch sandwiches I took daily.

80 miles north of Berkeley is Sacramento, the capitol of California. There you will find the wonderful and unique California State Railroad Museum that displays history and collections of significant locomotives. We did not visit it this time but I can still remember its displays of Chinese Railroad workers who built the California to Utah section of the first intercontinental railroad, a task that was considered extremely difficult and risky especially with the rocky mountain portion. Instead my good friend of 47 years took us and shared with us the joy of bird watching. We saw some uniquely Californian Yellow-billed Magpie off the Sacramento river, and at the Cosumnes River Reserve countless birds of varying kinds including a Great Blue Heron, a few Blackneck Stilt and many Sandhill Cranes . The latter works like a clock, returning to the Reserve at dusk in groups with its majestic flights.

There are of course a long list of great tourist attractions in SF itself, including the Golden Gate bridge, Golden Gate Park, Cable car, and so on about which you will have no problem finding literatures and information. Before I go, here is the beautiful signature song of Tony Bennett - I left my heart in San Francisco - that is only fitting to be played now. You can listen to it by clicking the Play button below. Enjoy and talk to you soon!

Washington DC revisited

Last time when the family visited Washington DC was over a decade ago. While the history of America only aged a little since, there have been some new additions and several exhibits that we had not visited before, not to mention the excitement and constructions for the impending inauguration of President Barrack Obama. During the X’mas vacation, the family decided to pay another visit to DC and below is some of my observations.

National WWII Memorial: it was dedicated in Aug 2004 and sits right between the Reflection Pool and the Washington Monument on the East-West axis defined by the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial pf National Mall. It is ugly, unimaginative and pompous. Only thing it does is to take away the beautiful green open space and replaced it with concrete Roman ruin like columns, completed with wreaths. Fortunately, it is short enough and far enough from the Reflection Pool that if you stand on top of the staircase of Lincoln memorial, it would not ruin the reflection of Washington Monument.

Korean War Veterans Memorial: US Congress did not declare war of this 3 years 1950-1953 armed conflicts in Korea Peninsula although by all accounts, the state of war did exist. This memorial was dedicated in July 1995 in honor of those who fought the war including over 60,000 died and MIA (Missing in Action). The center piece consists of 19 larger than life-size stainless steel statues of soldiers silently on patrol in a rugged terrain (see the photo on the right).

What is often overlooked is that there were also estimated almost 2 million Koreans (North and South) and half a million Chinese who lost their lives in that war, not including associated family and social destruction. All in all, it was clearly a proxy war at the dawn of the Cold War right after WWII ended. Many human tragedies and casualties are resulted. For some reasons, I have not come across too many western films and arts that address or motivated by Korean War. There have been however some good works from east (culturally). The 2004 novel War Trash by the award winning Chinese American author Ha Jin 哈金 depicts the war through the eyes and thoughts of a captured Chinese army clerical officer. There is also a well-made Korean TV history drama Seoul 1945 by KBS in the 2006 season. It explores the history through the tragic lives and intertwined paths of several young people and their families who were caught up in the proxy war and politics that they could not possibly foresee or change.

There is a black granite wall with sandblasted figures on the southern border of the Korean War Veterans Memorial that echoes the serenate Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall built earlier on the north side of the National Mall. It was dedicated in Nov 1982 and I never got bored of listening to the stories of how the 21 years old Chinese American Yale architecture student Maya Ying Lin 林瓔 won the open blind competition, the ensuing controversy and how she defended her design in front of US congress; and most of all, how she conceived such an incredible work that broke away from the traditional war memorials and touched so many hears and souls. With it, she healed the wounds, delivered the calm and closure through this simple V-shape black reflecting granite in an otherwise overwhelming political theater and crowd. She had done it without a single gun or figure or uniform or medal or rank or name of military unit. Rather, a full circle of 58,253 names of dead soldiers and MIA engraved in chronological order (1959-1975) absorbs and connects with the visitors and mourners through the reflecting wall as if you had become a part of deceased’s world. Without a doubt this is the most beautiful architecture work among numerous monuments in DC and the world. It is the only war memorial I know of that attracted millions of people not because of the glory and grandness of the cold stones but the humility and the lives connected to it.

Of course, Vietnam War was another major proxy war of the Cold War. With more advanced weapons, it took 3-4 millions Vietnamese lives, not counting additional millions of Laos and Cambodians. A little different from the Korean War, it was authorized by US Congress but was never declared officially as a war either. Unlike Korean War however, it has drawn huge debates and confrontations, and produced profound impacts on social, political, and cultural fabric of US.

On south side of the National Mall behind trees and hills, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was dedicated in May 1997 with 4 outdoor rooms of sculptures tracing through his historical 3+ terms of presidency from Great Depression to Post WWII. One dramatic sculpture in the first room is George Segal’s Depression Bread Line (see photo on right). The second copy (1999) of this sculpture can be found in Grounds for Sculpture garden in New Jersey that I will talk about later in this blog.

Instead of revisiting the popular National Air and Space Museum on National Mall, we drove to its companion Steven Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport, west of DC. With its large hangars, the center houses a few impressive large aerospace vehicles in history, among others. They include a Concord, the only supersonic commercial passenger aircraft (that ceased to operate in 2003), a SR-71 Blackbird “spy” plane which is the fastest jet ever (at Mach 3+ or 2,200+ miles/hour) and ceased to operate in 1998, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle built for test flights in atmosphere only. Facing those beautiful shapes of flying objects and enormous engines and power, one can only be wowed by the decades of smarts and technologies that had gone into the designs and tests, starting from some concept and dreams. In contrast, quietly sitting at one end of a hangar, you will find the famous Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug 6, 1945 that hastened the end of WWII in Pacific. 60+ years later, with the continuing controversy and debate of the use of atomic bombs, the display only highlights the technical data and briefly states the plane was used to drop the first bomb - no discussions and no fanfares.

The last morning before we headed home, we walked a few blocks from our hotel near DuPont Circle to visit Phillips Collection, the first Modern Arts museum of America, opened in 1921. It has wonderful collections of impressionists’ work and contemporary arts in galleries and cozy family rooms of its founder Duncan Phillips. Of course, every visitor will not miss its most famous collection – Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party. Duncan Phillips, at age 27, acquired it for $125,000 in summer of 1923, the highest price ever paid for modern arts painting at the time. By the way his fortune mostly came from his grandfather’s Pittsburgh steel mills business.

180 miles north in New Jersey, American Sculptor Seward Johnson, the grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, founder of the Johnson & Johnson Corporation (at a market cap of almost $200 Billion dollars), had set up a beautiful sculpture garden in 1993 called Grounds for Sculpture, 40 minutes from our house. Seward Johnson is famous for his trompe l’oeil painted cast bronze sculptures, some of which are displayed at the garden. Among them, you will find his creation of Renoir’s very painting of Luncheon of the Boating Party. It is interesting to see the painting and the sculpture side by side below. The garden is close to the main highways connecting NYC, Philadelphia and Washington DC that makes it a perfect stop-over for arts enthusiasts.

We had a wonderful family vacation in Washington DC. We wish you Happy New Year. Talk to you soon!