Modern Chinese Sculpture

The Chinese art scene is red hot. In the last decade there have been influential shows of Chinese contemporary art around the world. This art is being bought locally and supported by the government, most visibly in the form of public art commissioned by municipal governments.

I found that contemporary Chinese painting has to negotiate a tightrope. On the one hand it may fail by giving up an unique Chinese visual sensibility and merge into a western contemporary movement. On the other, the Chinese visual history may overwhelm any attempt to modernize. In walking through Shanghai’s M50 or Beijing’s 798 art districts we did not see a single ink drawing showing cars, buses, or cities. There was, however, a very clever calligraphic take on Mondrian.

I find that the cleverest and the most innovative work is being done by sculptors. Three random works which caught my eye are pictured above. These are not, by any means, the most influential works of Chinese sculpture. The first is an edgy representation of a (pink!) spider, the second a clever take on bonsai, the third a quirky quote of classical Greek sculpture. Perhaps the freedom to explore is related to the fact that Chinese sculpture carries less of a cultural load than painting or ceramics.

China and the lotus

The Chinese believe the lotus to be a symbol of purity: rising unmarked from the dark depths of ponds and rivers to flower in the sun. Interestingly, this is the exact symbolism that Indians use. Two neighbouring cultures with the same symbol, completely in the dark about the other!

The use of the lotus in Chinese landscape gardening seems to be much better developed. Perhaps because water is such an important element in Fengshui, palace architecture contains ponds, in which the lotus is cultivated in profusion. The photo above is from the Summer Palace in Beijing, where three kinds of lotus and pond moss are harmonized.

The patient turtle

As I walked around the 798 art district in Beijing, I paused at a piece which seemed to be a sculpture. A nice large porcelain bowl filled with water with two very realistic turtles in it. But then one of them turned its head and I realized that what I had taken to be merely realistic was actually real.

This was not sculpture but culture. I had spent enough time in China to get the nuances. A bowl of water placed at the entrance to the establishment is Fengshui, and the supernatural power of the turtle is meant to bring good fortune.

The Zoology of Dragons

Dragons figure very prominently in Chinese culture. They are clearly the champion amongst animals, and may even beat humans. Emperors liked to associate themselves with dragons to make it clear to lesser forms of humans that they are superior. Chinese dragons do not seem to have wings. They are said to be creatures of water, although they are also associated with fire, as in the image above (from the nine-dragon screen in the Forbidden City).

The Pisou is a different kind of a dragon. It eats money and gives out nothing. So if you believe in Fengshui then you would like to keep a couple of them in the house, but make sure that they face outwards. Then they will bring in money. Never make the mistake of having them facing inwards, because then they eat up your money. You can recognize them in temples because people stuff money into their mouths. The fine and well-fed specimen shown above comes from the Confucius Temple (Kong Miao) near Yong He Gang.

The Bixi must be a gentle creature. A hybrid of a turtle and a dragon, it performs a turtle’s job of holding up pillars. But since it is also a dragon, it only holds up pillars with imperial edicts. This uncomplaining individual holds up a pillar inside the Kong Miao temple celebrating an emperor’s bloody victory in a war.

Hybridisation reaches an ultimate with the Kylin, which has a dragon’s head, a lion’s tail, the hooves of an ox, antlers of a deer and fish-scales all over its body. This magical animal is a powerful protector with its ability to repel evil and punish wickedness. The lion is an important beast, of course. A pair of them protects many of the gates in the Forbidden City, but it is a lesser creature. Low enough in the hierarchy that they can be seen alongside entrances to the fancier shops and restaurants all over the city.

Although the tiger is an important beast, it is hardly seen in decorations. The phoenix is the symbol of the empress, and although nearly as powerful as the dragon, is seen much less often. The heron figures prominently in imperial settings, symbolising patience and long life. The turtle, almost as important as the dragon, holds up pillars and heavy things, but also symbolises long life. So much so that turtle soup is supposed to be very good for you even today.

Magical Mystery Musical Instrument

Near the north gate of the Summer Palace grounds, outside Beijing, I saw an all-women musical group playing this mystery instrument. It has a lovely mellow sound. The double lobed chamber gives on to three flute-like stems with openings which you can finger. I sat and listened for half an hour while The Family went climbing the Longevity Hill. Other audience came and went. Most listened in silence, some clapped at the end of a piece. I waited until The Family came back and joined me. We stayed a while, and then had to leave.

Does someone know the name of this instrument?

After a search I found that this instrument is called a Hulusi (葫芦丝).

Stereo photo of a rockery

Chinese gardens are full of wonderful rockeries, and the Summer Palace in Beijing is no exception. It’s difficult to convey the complexity and beauty of a rockery in a simple photo. Here is my attempt to present a stereoscopic view. Keep some distance from the screen, and try to focus some distance behind it. When you succeed, the left eye should see the photo on the left, and the right eye the one on the right. Some people tell me that putting a vertical piece of card between the two photos helps.

Gender roles

The Family and I haven’t had a long and leisurely month by ourselves in an unfamiliar country for a really long time. We have spent weeks walking in parks and watching people at leisure and talking to each other what we find universal among cultures, and what is special to some.

One of the universals we discovered is how little the behaviours of boys and girls differ from one culture to another. One day I saw a young man in a garden with his boy, maybe four years old. The boy was playacting at being a tough Kung-fu fighter, repeatedly lunging at his father with a scream and trying to push him down. Unsuccessfully, of course, since his weight class was totally different. And then we saw a mother and daughter in the park playing an intricate game of patty-cake.

The featured photo is a typical example of this gender difference. I was sitting in the park of the Summer Palace listening to an amateur group playing music when I noticed my fellow audience. The girl was trying to clap in time to the music. The boy? I don’t think he knew there was music, he was busy jumping up and down, play-acting an imaginary brawl!

Reminded me of the children in my extended family.

The familiar dumpling

Until yesterday I subscribed to the myth that Chinese food in India is nothing like the real Chinese food. But yesterday I walked into one of a chain of dumpling restaurants called Meituan. The menu was in Chinese, the English part was not a translation, but Pinyin: Chinese written out in the Roman script. This left us a little flummoxed. Our terror grew when the waiter explained with gestures that when we made our choices we should enter them into a printed form that was on the table. Eventually this turned out to be easier than it first seemed, because every dish was numbered, and the form had the corresponding number.

This problem being resolved, we turned to the more pleasant job of deciphering the Chinese from the photos. The first discovery was that wontons were on the menu but they were called hun tun in Mandarin (the word we are familiar with comes from Cantonese). Siu mai was also on the menu, but called shao mai. We decided to have one of each, and then add some dumplings which looked familiar, and one which didn’t. When they arrived, these tasted completely familiar: exactly what I have eaten in Chinese restaurants in India. We confidently spiced the wonton soup with the chili sauce and soya to make a complete Indian potage out of it. The unfamiliar looking dumpling was dark in colour and the skin had a very nice flavour. Perhaps it was made of millets.

There were many things which were new to us. Among them was something which had been recommended by a friend: er ba. These are glutinous rice balls rolled in bamboo leaves and then stuffed inside the hollow stem of bamboo to be steamed. We ordered a plate. They were unfamiliar but very good: the flavour of bamboo reminded me of the Kerala breakfast dish called puttu. But the rice has a different taste, and it had little crunchy pieces of something fairly aromatic which added to the experience.

The most surprising items were the other two whose photos are alongside. The Shou Gong Ci Ba was the one dish The Family was dubious about, “I hope it is not egg”. It was the first thing to arrive at the table. I looked at the deep brown sauce and the light tan dusting of garnish over it and said it reminded me of something sweet. It was. The dark sauce was molasses, with a wonderful dark and earthy taste, and the filling in the dumpling was sweet. It reminded me of a traditional Bengali sweet called pitha which my grandmother used to make.

From the fact that the balls came in so many colours, we figured that the Du Jia Zhan Fen Tang Yuan would be sweet. It was the last to arrive. The garnish was sweet: crushed biscuits and peanuts, and the filling was mildly sweet. A good end to a satisfying meal.

Interestingly, the eight dishes we had ordered cost very little. With the beer added on, we paid a touch over RMB 100 for the meal. The Family pronounces it a good meal and the best value we have got from an unrecommended restaurant.

Try to eat something new

Tired of eating the same things day in and day out? Try out this lovely white and purple cold cooked fish skin. Guaranteed to be crunchy without being gritty, and at the same time somewhat clammy. Not much taste, but a new sensation in the mouth. Never fear, you will survive.

Don’t worry (too much) about eating in China

While we were planning our trip to China, we were inundated with suggestions about how to eat in China. Most Indians have a horror of the kind of food they will find in China. Most of this turns out to be untrue. The Family had never been to China, and did not trust my suggestion that she will not dislike Chinese food: I’ve been labelled as a person who will enjoy the strangest kind of food. So a fair fraction of our baggage allowance was long-lasting Indian food.

But now, as we near the end of our trip, a large weight of food is left over, because we enjoyed the food and ate a lot. And, of course, we have put on a few kilos each. We will have to work hard to shed them when we get back to Mumbai. One of my colleagues from India, who is also here on work, is a strict vegetarian, and has never gone hungry in China. So The Family and I thought we would put together some advise for Indians eating in China.

Rule Zero: You will begin to miss Indian food if you travel in China (or any other country) for a while. So carry snacks, and decide how you are going to deal with the sudden urge to eat dal. Will you carry some heat-and-eat packets, or use the Indian embassy’s list of Indian restaurant?

Vegetarians: Do not go to fast food places, they are mainly meat based, and it is unlikely that someone will speak enough English to be able to help you. Restaurants inside malls are reasonably priced, there are lots of choices, and the picture menus (subtitles in English and Chinese) help you to decide whether or not something is vegetarian. You can eat calmly (or qualm-lessly) in these place. There are many vegetarian dishes: cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, bhindi, pumpkin, lotus, yams, mushrooms, tofu. Point and order. Plain boiled rice is called mifan, and can be ordered separately even if it is not on the menu. The Chinese make a thing like a stuffed paratha, but their translation into English is pancakes. We had a wonderful pumpkin filled paratha/pancake. If the paratha has a meat filling, then the menu will say it.

Cautious non-vegetarian: Again, avoid fast food places and go to malls. The picture menus with English and Chinese subtitles are useful. Mutton is called yang rou, chicken is called ji rou. Fish is good. Eggs can be strange. Pancakes can taste very Indian. Beef is called niu rou, pork is zhu rou, no is mei you (so, no beef becomes mei you niu rou). There are many Muslim restaurants which will give you things which are like kababs. Muslim restaurants serve mostly mutton. Just memorize the names of the meats.

Bakeries and cafes: There are many western style bakeries and cafe chains. They all have completely recognizable food: breads, cakes, sandwiches, waffles. If you cannot survive on green tea, then you can get coffees and teas at these cafes. Be warned two cups of coffee may cost you as much as your dinner.

Typically our dinners are three dishes: a vegetable dish, a meat, and a fish, along with two bowls of plain boiled rice. This costs us RMB 120 to 200. Purely vegetarian meals can be a little cheaper. In malls you can expect to be able to get knives and forks if you want. Hot water is free, every other drink comes at a cost.

Do not panic, as the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says.