Qingdao, Li Yuan

My hometown is in Qingdao, this summer, I spent some time visiting the old architecture in my hometown and found they are a good representation of the culture of the old city.

Just like "Hu tong" in Beijing, "Nong tang" in Shanghai, " Li Yuan" is a kind of typical residential building in old Qingdao.

There are various kinds of formats. When viewed from a high angle, the shapes are like Chinese characters such as " Kou(口)","Ri（日）","Tian（田）","Hui（回）","Mu（目）" or polygons. There are generally 2 or 3 floors, and 4 or 5 floors if its larger. The room which abutting street is lager in size, it can be used to run a shop; the rooms upstairs are individual rooms used for living.



Above are pictures from the web.

The core of Li Yuan culture, is its harmonious interpersonal relationship, its gentleness of the civilian population,its co-operative style. The order of Li Yuan, is an expression of the persuation of modern lifestyle, and the simpleness, functionality,pureness of the agricultural civilisation at the same time.The harmony and copperation in such a enclosure enviroment is the most obvious symbolism of the Li Yuan culture.

Based on research on historical and cultural studies of Qingdao, its almost all names of people for naming the tens of Li Yuan in Xin Zhen, Qingdao. Generally they are names of the sponsors, their names changed after the change of ownership. This proved the power and function of capital in the Li Yuan culture.

Since the era of reform and opening-up, Qingdao has boomed into a new period time of development. Many of the unique Li Yuan have been demolished as the road widening and the rise of buildings, and at the same time, the unique lifestyle has disappeared. Now it is becoming very important to protect Li Yuan and its culture, and its even more important to protect a unique and localized memory of the city.

The forbidden city

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government.

I visited the forbidden city for the second time during this summer holiday, on the 23rd of June, and took photographs with my canon 1000D camera, those are some of the selection I made to represent my memory of the forbidden city.



The name

The common English name, "the Forbidden City," is a translation of the Chinese name Zijin Cheng.Zi, or "Purple", refers to the North Star, which in ancient China was called the Ziwei Star, and in traditional Chinese astrology was the abode of the Celestial Emperor. Jin, or "Forbidden", referred to the fact that no-one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission. Cheng means a walled city.



Symbolism

The design of the Forbidden City, was meticulously planned to reflect philosophical and religious principles, and above all to symbolise the majesty of Imperial power.

* Yellow is the colour of the Emperor. Thus almost all roofs in the Forbidden City bear yellow glazed tiles.
* The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated with a line of statuettes lead by a man riding a phoenix and followed by an imperial dragon. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building — a minor building might have 3 or 5. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10, the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times.
* The layout of buildings follows ancient customs laid down in the Classic of Rites. Thus, ancestral temples are in front of the palace. Storage areas are placed in the front part of the palace complex, and residences in the back.





The walls

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9 metres (26 ft) high city wall[11] and a six-metre deep, 52 metres (170 ft) wide moat. The walls are 8.62 metres (28.3 ft) wide at the base, tapering to 6.66 metres (21.9 ft) at the top.[31] These walls served as both defensive walls and retaining walls for the palace. They were constructed with a rammed earth core, and surfaced with three layers of specially baked bricks on both sides, with the interstices filled with mortar.



Comments:

I spent one day exploring through the great architecture, however, this is far too limited time for one to get a understanding of such a great architecture. It's like a maze, full of wonders and imagination inside. From every single details, there's always a reveal of the deep Chinese culture, there's always meaning in it. I think, whatever the outlook maybe, it is very important for an architecture to have meaningful sybolism inside. The appearance and technique maybe really simple, but there should always be a space for people to think through.

Beijing 798 art zone

I visited Beijing 798 art zone on the 22nd of June.Those photos above were taken by myself during my visiting.

Precursor and genre:

The area occupied by Beijing 798 Art Zone was once the place for Beijing North China wireless joint equipment factory (namely, 718 Joint Factory), which was designed and built by the experts of former G.D.R in the 1950s. The designing task of the 718 Joint Factory was in the charge of a German architectural institution in Dessau, which lied in the same city with Bauhaus school , at that time and they two shared the same architectural spirits whose main characteristics are meeting the practical demands,that is the genre what later called Bauhaus.

Function:

In 798 Art Zone, there are nearly 400 organizitions including galleries, artists’ private studios,cultural companies like animated cartoon, television media, publishing, design and consultation. 798 Art Zone has become an exhibition center of Chinese culture and art, an influential cultural creative concentration area home and abroad.

This painting is of a caricature style.

The first line says: Thinking is dangerous, take care!
The second line says: One penny, biannual exhibition.

This sort of humor in language is quite popular in Beijing, young people like to play with words to generate a sense of humor and to arouse thinking back.

Critics:

In my point of view, the 798 art zone nowadays is getting too commercial, and its getting into tourism somehow. There are so many people visiting all the time, holding SLR cameras, shooting the artworks, making self portraits together with the outdoor sculptures, the shops are always crowded etc. It has lost its original appearance when the first artists came to settle here, with a persueing for art itself. However, in another perspective, there's not a big fault if art is connected with business, as it is called" art industry", they have to be commercial if it is industrialized.

Shanghai Tianzifang

This group of photos are works from lomography.com.


This was shot by myself.It captured the moment when a lady has just tried on a new Chi-pao from a Tianzifang clothes shop, and she was doing up her hair.


According to the official information, the Tianzifang is located in the Lane 210, Taikang Rd and covers an area of 20,000 square meters. It was originally some typical lane factories and now was planned to the Shanghai Industry Creative Center and attracts more than 100 artists and designers from all over the world work and live here.

There are many arts shops, coffee shops and gifts stores. Most of the buildings here are Shikumen style (Stone Gate, a traditional residential house blend of the elements found in Western architecture with traditional old Shanghai architecture and social behavior).

Shanghai 1933 building

I visited 1933 building in Shanghai on the 16th of June, which was my birthday, and took photographs with my Canon 1000D camera.

Set in Hongkou district in Shanghai, 1933 was designed originally by British architects, and built in 1933 by famous Chinese developers. The 1933 building had a variety of functions during its history, from abattoir to medicine factory.It is now undergoing extensive restoration – and through this, a major Shanghai landmark is being created. The central building marries classic architecture and Art Deco styling with beautiful geometric motifs. A complex system of sculpted concrete ramps, flyovers, flowering columns and spiral staircases form dramatic spaces for creative-driven tenants and events, leading to the grand centrepiece: a theatre-in-the-round with a polished glass stage and expansive rooftop terraces.

The unique complex, which is set to become operational in March 2008, will be a cosmopolitan collection of cutting-edge design and creative offices, creative retail, restaurants, bars and clubs, artist’s guilds, galleries, culture, arts and educational institutions across four heritage-listed buildings.