Off the Beaten Track - Boston and Excursions

We have visited Boston many times ever since kids’ college days. Most of top attractions like Museum of Fine Arts, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, Glass Flower Collections of Harvard Museum of Natural History, New England Aquarium, etc. have been seen more than once already. On this recent trip, we decided to see some new and off-the-beaten-track spots. Below are some of the highlights.

Near the wonderful Children Museum in downtown, The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) new and beautiful building sits on a Pier and is architected by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (who are also responsible for the recent and ongoing re-development of Lincoln Center in NYC) and opened its door in Dec 2006. We went for the Supply and Demand exhibit of street artist Shepard Fairey’s work. If you haven’t heard of Shepard Fairey till recently, you are not alone. But you may have seen subliminally his André the Giant Has a Posse stickers in many city streets across the country for a while without knowing who created and distributed them. His tremendously popular and viral Obama Hope poster (now with Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery) from early 2008 changed all that. What also kept him on the media (and thus free promotions) were fist, the legal dispute with Associated Press about the “right to use” of the original photo owned by AP for his creation of the famed poster, and second, Boston Police’s arrest when he was on his way to the opening night event of the very ICA exhibit. Yes, he was charged for illegally posting his artworks on streets.

To see more of him and his work, you can click Images of Shepard Fairey and his work found from a Google search. As you can see, the influence of Andy Warhol on his work is clearly visible. Overall, Shepard Fairey’s techniques and expressions are nice but limited. However he seems to be more a rebellious activist with some art talent than an artist in his own right at this point. It remains to be seen if he can rebel against his own arts and find richer ways to express his thoughts and sense.

Traveling north of Boston about 16 miles to Salem, Massachusetts off Route 128, you will find Peabody Essex Museum (P|E|M) in a nice new building, one of the oldest museums in New England. Of course, Salem itself was a popular seaport turned into a successful tourist town in modern days; thanks to its claimed biggest Halloween party in the world and the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692 by the Puritans where dozens of innocent people were wrongly accused of witchcraft and subsequently executed or died in jail. Currently a special exhibit MahJong of contemporary Chinese Art is being held where a significant number of collections in paintings, sculptures, photos, videos, etc. are in display. Many are provocative and reflect the search for freedom and independence of expressions since the end of Culture Revolution over three decades ago. Some of the portraits appear to have the influence of Andy Warhol as well and echo the questionings of authority like Shepard Fairey’s to some degree.

One unique exhibit of P|E|M is Yin Yu Tang, a 200 years old Chinese House from Huang Village 黃村 of Hui County 徽州, 250 miles southwest of Shanghai. This old house has two stories of 16 room with a courtyard in famous Hui-style Architecture (If you have seen An Lee’s movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 卧虎藏龍, you may recall the scenes of the lead characters flying over water with houses in tall white walls in the background. They were shot in this region). Few obvious observations: the rooms and halls have high ceilings and tall, carved hollow windows facing the courtyards. It suggests the climate of the area could be so hot and humid that excellent air circulation is paramount. Windows on outside walls are small with heavy wood panel. There is a passage door upstairs leading to the neighboring house. There are also solid wood doors that allow one seal the stairways to upstairs. It turns out Hui merchants 徽商 are well-known and prosperous traders throughout china. Men often are away from home for long period of time. All of these might suggest that this hilly region of China probably had some serious security concerns?

16 miles northwest of Boston, there is the DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park at Lincoln, Massachusetts. Art works and a number of sculptures by contemporary artists are on display in the gallery and scattered over this tranquil 35 acres woody area that was donated by Julian de Cordova, a local Boston business man over 50 years ago. One particular sculpture caught our eyes was Two Big Black Hearts by Jim Dine in 1985. We thought the embedded objects all over the hearts are both symbolic and creative. Don’t our hearts get scarred, deeply imprinted and overwhelmed with so much memory of our past? Isn’t it hard to even find some of them sometimes?

Driving 75 miles south from Boston, one will reach Newport, Rohde Island, where you can find traces left from the Gilded Age of American History, a far cry from those estates we saw earlier in Boston neighborhoods. By the way, the term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 novel entitled The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The novel was a satire of the greed and corruption of the post-civil war period (under the watches of the incompetent President Andrew Johnson and then the corrupted President Ulysses Grants who succeeded Abraham Lincoln from 1865 till 1877). As Thomas Gannon put it in his 1982 book Newport Mansions: the Gilded Age, "if the Gilded Age were to be summed up by a single house, that house would have to be The Breakers."

So, the first stop got to be The Breakers, a Vanderbilt house overlooking the Atlantic ocean to the east in Newport. To give you some idea, the mansion has 5 levels including basement and attic with a total 65,000 sq ft living area and has 70 rooms and 23 baths. The rooms are filled with mostly French furniture and decorations, designed and built in Paris and surround a huge Great Hall of 50x50x50ft in the center. If this is hard to picture in your head, just imagine after putting two average size 2 story colonial houses of Northeast on top of another two in this Great Hall, there are still spare space! With the one hour guided tour, one learns a lot interesting stories of the house and Vanderbilt family. For instance, Cornelius Vanderbilt, II who built this house as a summer cottage in 1893 (how modest!) and used it for less than 2 months a year. The first patriarch of Vanderbilt family was his grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt, a ruthless self-made business tycoon in transportation business, first ferry and steamship services and later in railroads. According to stories, he started his ferry business with a sailboat purchased using $100 borrowed from his mother (it seems many successful men started with loans from their mothers!). He undercut the price and engaged in fierce competition against a government granted monopoly. Even though his business was illegal, he prevailed and made it into a very profitable one that allowed him to expand rapdily and amass tremendous wealth.

To give you some idea how rich he was, Cornelius Vanderbilt is the 2^nd richest person ever in U.S. according to a 2007 New York Times article, measured by % of GDP (by the way, John D. Rockefeller is number 1 and Bill Gate is Number 5) . By the time of his death in 1877, his fortune was over 1% of the total U.S. GDP and is comparable to countries like Israel and Singapore in today’s scale. You can imagine the parity and concentration of the wealth during the Gilded Age. Of course, the backlash against the excess of that era had led to the reforms of progressive ideas and establishment of anti-trust laws. The anger and sentiment against the lack of oversight by government and the excess of greed by the financial institutions that led to the current severe recession may be a repeat of the history?

Another worthwhile activity when visiting Newport is to walk the 3.5 miles Cliff Walk on the Atlantic shore. Although the natural scenery is not nearly as impressive as the cliff walk of similar length at the Bondi Beach near Sydney, Australia, it does have the bonus of seeing some of these fabulous mansions including The Breakers.

Well, can’t close this blog without saying something about food. There are many excellent restaurants in Boston area. If you are looking for a memorable fusion food experience, there is the famous Blue Ginger in Wellesley, 16 miles southwest of Boston. It is owned and run the Celebrity Chef Ming Tsai 蔡明昊 (haven’t you heard of him or seen his popular TV shows?). He had a formal training in Frech culinary school and experiences with various kitchens of different cusines. His creative use of Asian material, sauces and flavors from his Chinese heritage and Asian experience offers a different level of appreciation for fusion food. Judging from his recent expansion of the restaurant, the crowd and how hard it has been to make a reservation for weekend dinners at Blue Ginger, he seem to be doing really well. Personally, I like his classic Sake-Miso Marinated Alaskan Butterfish and Vegetarian Soba Noodle Sushi the best. It is a perfect example of how a grilled fish can compete favorably against Cantonese style steamed whole fish in both moist and flavor.

Talk to you soon!

Lotus and Poetry

Few weeks ago, we talked about lotus and water-lily. It seems incomplete however without discussing some literature related to lotus which is such a popular native summer aquatic plants to China. Among numerous Chinese writers in its history, one stood out in terms of the use of flowers and in particular, lotus as a symbol and theme in many of her work. It is one of the most celebrated poets Li QingZhao李清照 (1084-1151 CE) of the Song dynasty. Here is one of her all time classic, along with my English translation:

一剪梅 （北宋 李清照）

紅藕香殘玉簟秋，
輕解羅裳，
獨上蘭舟。
雲中誰寄錦書來？
雁字回時，
月滿西樓。

花自飄零水自流。
一種相思，
兩處閒愁。
此情無計可消除，
才下眉頭，
卻上心頭。

Apart (Li QingZhao, Northern Song Dynasty)
- in “A twig of plum blossom” Ci Poetry Form

Leftover fragrance of lotus and chill of jade pad greet the autumn,
Gently out of my silky coat,
Alone step onto my light boat.
Longing for message of my love afar over the distant sky,
When geese return in rows,
Moonlight had filled west chamber.

Flower peddles drift apart as streams flow to their own destinies,
We miss each other so much,
As we are apart in worries.
Can’t stop thinking of you no matter what I try, my love,
When frown eases,
Heart ache seizes.

The poem is set on a day of early fall not long after Li QingZhao was married.With the falling and drifting of summer lotus, it expressed her longing for her husband who had to travel far away.Note Ci poetry of China has quite a few forms and this poem follows a particular one (named “ twig of plum blossom” form) that has two symmetric parts in 60 characters total and particular rhythm at places. Li QingZhao later was honored by her hometown fellows as Goddess of Lotus and there are many memorials for her in China. The picture here is a memorial on the shore of the DaMing Lake大明湖 in the city where she was born.

The well-known and outspoken contemporary Chinese poet and writer Yu GuangZhong 余光中paid a tribute to her with a poem a year ago when he visited the memorial. Some parts of that poem are hard to translate as he embed in few short verses Li’s poems and her difficult relocation during Jurchens女眞invasion and occupation that forced Song Emperor and government exile to the south. I will only try the last part that is most relevant on lotus where he cleverly uses the properties of lotus roots and seeds as metaphors.

藕神祠 - 哀悼中國女詩人李清照，余光中 2008
- 濟南人在大明湖畔為李清照立藕神祠

天妒佳偶，只橫刀一分
就把美滿截成了兩半
一半歸戰前，一半給亂後
亦如金兵劈大宋的江山
成南宋與北宋，即使岳飛
也無力用頭顱討還
無情的刀鋒啊過處
國破之痛更添上家亡
憑愛情，怎麼能拼得攏呢
才女淪落江湖成難民
愛妻一回首成了遺孀

鷓鴣天
聲聲慢
難堪最是遲暮的心情

最怕是春歸了秣陵樹
人老了偏在建康城
夢裡的滄桑，鏡中的眉眼
難掩半生曾經的明豔
曾經戰前兩小的親暱
綽約風姿，只能尋尋覓覓
向小令的字裡行間

蓮子雖心苦，藕節卻心甘
情人遺憾，用詩來補償
歷史不足，有廟可瞻仰
你是濟南的最愛，藕神
整面大明湖是你的妝鏡
映照甜蜜的哀愁，高貴的美
藕斷千年，有絲纖纖
嫋嫋不絕，仍一縷相牽
恰似黑瓦紅扉的藕神祠前
四足銅鑪的香燭迎風
仍牽動所有禱客的思念。

Lotus Goddess Shrine (Tribute to Li QingZhao by Yu GuangZhong, 2008)

- at the Lotus Goddess Shrine of DaMing Lake by citizens of ZhiNan

Lotus seeds are bitter, yet the roots are sweet.

Lovers’ regret can be made up with poetry

History’s loss can be with a praying shrine.

You are the love of city ZhiNan, Goddess Lotus

DaMing Lake is your vanity mirror,

Reflecting your sweet sadness and noble beauty.

Thousand years of separation like lotus root of silky fibers in sections,

Threads are still connected in never ending echoes.

Just like the candle flames of the bronze burner greeting the wind,

At the courtyard of the Goddess Lotus Shrine in black roof and red gate,

Stringing the memory and thoughts of the visiting prayers.

Before I go, below is a Guzheng 古箏 and vocal performance of a Chinese song composed by Su Yue 蘇越 with lyrics in Li’s poem above. Hope you would enjoy it. Talk to you soon!

ShanZhai 山寨: a Counterculture or an Ultimate Free-Market?

A good friend of mine sent me some articles and online discussions of ShanZhai 山寨, the latest and hottest word and phenomenon in China. The word is so viral that it has been the most searched on the net, has become a part of daily conversations of many, and is being used as a noun, adjective and verb, e.g., “Have you ShanZhai(ed) today?” The usage of it appears to be evolving and has been broadened to mean anything from a knock-off to a creative local brand name that challenge the dominant players of the market. It is the latter that drew so much attention as ShanZhai is becoming a powerful symbol of “Everything is Possible”, a promising parallel of the American success stories.

A little digression: ShanZhai, literally means a “mountain fortress” is not new, nor unique to China.The word is likely to be as old as there were organized bandits and outlaws who built lairs and fortresses in the mountains or hard-to-reach areas. Remember e.g., the legend of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest of the Nottingham? Those who are familiar with Chinese classics would immediately recall the famous 14^th century novel Outlaws of the Marsh 水滸傳. In this one of the most popular Chinese classics, 108 (105 men and 3 women) colorful characters, good and bad, came together and bonded in LiangShan Marsh梁山泊 (in today’s ShanDong 山東 province, south of Beijing) under various circumstances, escaping from the (corrupted) authority. Interestingly, as the stories were passed down, compiled and edited over generations, there are several popular versions of which the exact authorship is not certain. In today’s term, one could call this classic itself, a ShanZhai novel.

There is no question that the original context and connotations of the word ShanZhai has not been positive (especially if you take views of the authority) although there could be some redeeming aspects of it with e.g. Robin Hood’s like deeds. Fast forward to our modern day industrialized societies, responding to demands, ShanZhai factories have sprung up from time to time for decades in regions like Hong Kong whenever business opportunities arose. They were never sustaining forces nor a significant part of main stream economy however and they drew little government priority and attention.

As China opened its doors and began to trade and prosper, business opportunities and demands have risen exponentially first for manufacturing and exports with its vast resources. The next obvious and logical step was the sharply increasing domestic demands for consumer products and services as wealth accumulates. With more than 1 billion consumers, ShanZhai economy in China has been expanding for quite some time as the nation transitions to and experiments with the new free-market and evolving legislative and legal systems.

At one end of spectrum, some consumer products are simply illegal knock-offs.Then there are imitation and copycats that may have their own products and processes but saved on marketing and advertising by blatantly infringing on established names and/or logos (e.g. SQny, Tids, Ponosanic).If this is all what ShanZhai is about in today’s and tomorrow’s China, there is no need to waste our breadth to discuss it; history suggests these types of ShanZhai will fade away as productivity continues to increase, and suppliers and consumers continue to upgrade.

The inspiration and promise of new ShanZhai economy came from cell phone handset market. It was not an accident since cellular wireless systems and services have evolved rapidly.In a short 3 decades, starting from the first generation services with analog technology, we are witnessing now a reach of half of the world populations with several technologies, including the recent 3G wideband digital services while 4G all-IP broadband is brewing in the wing. Some simple statistics: number of cellular service subscriptions is about 3 billion worldwide and there are now about 1.2 billion of handsets sold annually worldwide. China market alone is growing at a rate of about 100 million units a year with about 600 million subscriptions, all under one government and culture. By some estimates, there were more than 150 million ShanZhai handsets (including local name brands and no-name brands) sold in China in 2008 not including those exported to places like India, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Such fast growing demands including developing and emerging markets, and existence of standardized interfaces between handsets and base stations have certainly made the classical “follower” business strategy and ShanZhai possible.

The second crucial factor: low cost suppliers and know-how are keys to a prosperous and growing ShanZhai business. Indeed, ShanZhai cell phone handset vendors have been focused on mid and low end 2G and 2.5G phones with rich applications and features. As China manufactures about half of the handsets sold worldwide (about 80% for exports), the low cost manufacturing know-how and infrastructures including supply chain are well-established.

The breakthrough came when MediaTek (MTK) 聯發科技, a fabless IC design company in Taiwan, developed its own cell phone handset chips and single chip solutions few years ago, completed with software platforms and technical supports. MTK is now a global company with more than $2B annual revenues and its chips are inside over 90% of the Chinese brand handsets, including large names (like Lenovo and K-Touch) and ShanZhai ones as well. It is a disruptive force that challenges more than the time-to-market interval and market shares of established cell phone vendors. MTK is now the 3^rd largest handset chipset vendor of the world after Nokia and Samsung who have the vertically integrated business model.

Last but not the least is the deregulation and change of China’s regulatory policy. The flood gate was opened when in Oct 2007 the State Council abolished the approval procedures for manufacturing projects of mobile information facilities and terminals. It is now legal in China and possible for you and I to raise a million U.S. dollar of capital, hire engineers, set up production lines and recruit assembly workers to put out volumes of cell phone handsets through private distribution channels in no time, literally. Quality assurance and post-sale services are another story as the targeted mid to low end customers often settle for amazing bargain price and instant gratification while taking a chance on quality and service – the ultimate throwaway consumerism.

This recent development in consumer electronics such as the cellular handsets and other subcultures do invite many serious questions. As China becomes more and more free with its unleashed energy, entrepreneurship, and creativity, concrete and significant policy issues need to be addressed.For example, what is the appropriate balance and how much government intervention and regulation should there be? What is the proper balance between intellectual property protection/rewards vs. advancement of public interest? Larry Lessig, a Stanford Law Professor and free culture movement leader has made many insightful observations of U.S. development.In his keynote at the Open Source Convention 2002, Prof Lessig noted the self-serving and pendulum nature of the process: 1)Creativity and innovation always builds on the past, 2)The past always tries to control the innovation builds on it, 3)Free societies enable the future by limiting the past. Concerned with U.S. being less and less a free society, he urged refrain (by the authority/power). China has a unique opportunity to make wise choices before the system becomes sticky.

In sum, ShanZhai economy is a very interesting approximation of an instance of Free Market Economy, if it can be sustained and serves a meaningful role in the system. To do so, leaders of China have to think hard the vision for its social, political, and economic structures of the future. Shall the future be more like a capitalist mixed economy practiced in countries such as U.S.? Or shall it be something new and uniquely Chinese? How can one harness and elevate the creativity of ShanZhai?

Before one gets carried away too far with the idea of ShanZhai, one should note that there is a built-in trap of such a notion. The essence and differentiating characteristics of ShanZhai is anti-establishment and anti-authority (that is why some find it confusing when trying to identify it with particular legal framework or moral standard). If there is no dominant player and authority, there is no ShanZhai! Unhealthy ShanZhai(s) with no imagination of their own will be filter out by the market. Some of the stronger, ethical, creative, and visionary ShanZhai(s) will become shinning castles on the hill; thus the establishment and targets of future ShanZhai. Just keep in mind that that Chinese had an old saying : 成者為王, 敗者為寇. That is, if you are successful, you will be a king; and if you fail, you will be an outlaw.

Talk to you soon!