Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Epicurean After the Storm

With Ai Weiwei
     Last week was a hectic one at work, as apart from covering the flooding (see the previous post) ABC Beijing was working overtime to produce a segment for Nightline on Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei. The piece aired last Friday in conjunction with the US premiere of "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry", an award-winning documentary about his art and activism. (It's a really fascinating and well-made documentary--I recommend you see it if you have a chance!) The team met him at his home and studio in Beijing, and I got the chance to be a fly on the wall during his interview. For someone the Chinese government considers such a threat, he's very level and calm, up-in-arms in the most unassuming of ways. We got to see his studio, the list of names of the students who died in the Sichuan earthquake he compiled, and his many cats, including the one that opens doors. Afterward, we all took pictures with him, and he gave us painted sunflower seeds (from his famous exhibition in London's Tate Modern). Before I got my photo taken with Ai Weiwei, he stopped and fixed my smudged lipstick--after that I was especially starstruck. ("One of China's most prominent political dissidents fixed my makeup! Ahhh!")
Inside Ai Weiwei's courtyard
Ai Weiwei and Gloria in front of the list of the names of
the students who died in the Sichuan earthquake
Inside Ai Weiwei's personal gallery
Making the magic
     After I wrapped up writing an article on Chinese students using forged materials to get into foreign colleges Friday night, I left the office and met up for dinner with my friend Aaron, who was in Beijing with his family after his brother's wedding in China. Aaron is from Austin, plays with me in the MIT orchestra, and was the one who introduced me to swing dancing. After having Japanese food, we were ambling down the street when, out of nowhere, we heard the strains of country music. Sure that we were mistaken, we crossed the street to a Chinese bar, following the sound of the music to its source--none other than an authentic bluegrass band, complete with banjo, harmonica, and a drawling singer. So blown away by the improbability of these circumstances, we decided to take full advantage of the situation and did what anyone else would--go up in front of the stage and dance to the blues under the spotlight. While I'm sure we astounded the bar's employees, clientele, and even the band, I like to think we livened the place up a bit (one couple came up and joined us!). When the song finished, we got a hearty round of applause and a "Thanks to the dancers!" from the band, and so we bid everyone farewell and booked it out of there. 

     In anticipation of the opening ceremony for the Olympics, Sha, Tianzi, and Peter (a Beijinger who also went to our high school) went to karaoke, and so Aaron and I joined them after leaving the band. As someone who has spent an extended period of time in Japan, the birthplace of karaoke, one would think that I have a natural inclination for the pastime. I'll just come out and say, though, that as I traveled toward the karaoke place, I couldn't help thinking, "Why would you ever want to hear songs sung worse than their original performances?" My reservations and disdain quickly dissipated after I found that what we all lacked in vocal ability we made up for with enthusiasm (and to be fair, Peter, who was in the high school madrigals and now sings in his college's choir, is actually a wonderful singer). We had fun cutting loose, and cheering on each other's attempts to capture the subtleties of Stevie Wonder, Selena Gomez, "Last Christmas", Bruno Mars, Frank Sinatra, Jay Zhou, and this gem:


     I unexpectedly received critical acclaim for my rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies"; other highlights included Aaron's freeform interpretation of an eighties song that randomly showed up in the mix, and Sha's duet with himself, in which he demonstrated incredible vocal range singing both male and female vocals of a Chinese pop song.

With Tianzi
     We must have had fun after all, as we left karaoke at three in the morning and went straight to bed headed over to the apartment to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. (Unfortunately, London time doesn't line up very well with normal waking hours in Beijing.) While I wouldn't go so far as to say I was disappointed by the show, there's no doubt that the Beijing '08 opening ceremony set the bar extremely high (arguably too high for many, many reasons). While I thought that London's show was definitely more "human" and had fun and impressive elements (the James Bond and Mr. Bean sketches, the swing-dancing nurses, the torch design) I felt it lacked unity and fluidity. It seemed that the many individual aspects and people on display were scattered and at times distracted from the larger intent behind their performance--in other words, there was so much "stuff" going on that I was just confused a lot of the time. That said, it definitely had British flavor, just as the show in 2008 was decidedly Chinese.


Me, Tianzi, Sha, Peter
"We survived the Olympic opening ceremony"
     Anyway, we made it to the Parade of Nations (6 am) when everyone decided to "take a forty minute nap" and then get up for the lighting of the torch. As you can imagine, that didn't pan out as expected, and we ended up watching the replay when we all woke up later that afternoon (which in retrospect, would have been the obvious thing to do in the first place). Aaron, who was scheduled to meet his family at 7:30 that morning to hike the Great Wall had disappeared by the time we woke up. (We all agreed that two hours of sleep and then a polluted trek to the Great Wall was a recipe for disaster, but rumor has it that he's still alive.) Unfazed, Sha, Tianzi, Peter, and I went out for amazing Indian food for "lunch" (4 pm), and then parted ways. 

     The next day I went out with Wurihan for lunch and souvenir shopping. She and I get along so well for a long list of reasons, but our mutual love of good food is a not insignificant one. We have resolved to embark on a "food tour" of Beijing's best eats for the rest of my time here, so on Sunday we stuffed ourselves silly at a delicious Taiwanese restaurant, and spent the rest of the day wondering if we would ever be hungry again.


Wurihan poised to dig in
Dessert - a mountain of red and green
sweet beans with tapioca and shaved ice.
Rest assured that we made it disappear.
We wandered around Nanluoguxiang, the area with many courtyard homes and small shops, and ended up both running into people we know. I was amazed that, in a city so huge as Beijing, she and I could each bump into local friends--it's a small world after all. That night, she and I met up with Tina, the previous ABC intern, who will be leaving Beijing this weekend. Hanging out with both of them and remembering that I myself only have a week and a half left makes me realize that going home, something I am eagerly awaiting, will still be bittersweet.

In The News:
Hackers Linked To China’s Army Seen From EU To D.C.
"Greyjing"? Air pollution fouls Beijing's name
Asahi Shimbun correspondent beaten by Chinese police

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