Far West films + Kung Fu Panda

Hi everyone

It's Cindy.
Nimen de zhoumo zenme yang?
Did you have a nice weekend?
Weather looks great outside at the moment and hope this will last to weekend.

My weekend was great!I went to see some Far West films and really enjoyed them.
These films are something that makes me think after seeing them...
Jia Zhang-ke's film is very colourful and full of energy.
Well.. I mean full of energy in Chinese way.
I went to see 'Still Life' on Saturday and they had an introduction before the film.
This helped me a lot when I was watching the film.
With the back ground understanding before the film, I can see the points the director tried to put in.
I was actually very surprised at some news clips that Jia put in 'Unknown Pleasure'.
Some of the messages might be inappropriate from Chinese government's point of view.

Besides these films, I went to see 'Kung Fu Panda' as well!
That was great fun, and I highly recommend it!
It's a film for both adults and kids and if you like Kung Fu, you will find the fighting very interesting.
They do choose these animals on purpose if you have basic understanding of Kung Fu.
Tiger, Snake, Monkey, Mantis, and Crane presents some movements in Shao Lin Kung Fu.
This film is very Chinese thinking as well, including why Panda thought of making noodles for all his life!
The only thing strange for us, who understand Chinese, is in the film, 'Master Shifu' repeated many times...
As you might know, Shifu means master in Chinese already, so 'Master Shifu' means 'Master Master'...
This doesn't make sense...
But I would say, I enjoy the film a lot.
So if you prefer something easy, not as heavy as Far West films, Kung Fu Panda is something to go for a laugh!
For thoses who missed Far West films, you still have the chances to watch them.
Check Arnolfini website, you can find out the timetable for this week's films.

Enjoy them, and again, if you do not wish to receive my email, please let me know.
You are all welcome to share your opinions, experiences, and feelings with me.

Zhu Hao

Cindy

Far West Exhibition and films

Hi everyone

It's Cindy again.
Just want to let you know that I went to see Far West at Arnolfini and Far West Metro at Galleries shopping centre.
Er... I would say... I am a bit disappointing...
Maybe I expected too much and when I saw the 'fairly small' exhibition, I just couldn't have too much feeling to it...
That clips talking about the artist look for soul in Japan was quite interesting to watch lo...
That 'from the Bank of Hell' exhibition in Galleries is very interesting for me.
All the 'Joss goods' there are what we burn for people who pass away.
It's part of Daoism custom, most Chinese people believe that we have next life and when people died, they simply live in an other world different from alive people.
Dead people would need whatever they had got when they were alive, so we need to burn them some luxuries, such as credit card, laptop, air conditioner, PDA, nice cars, and even Louis Vuitton baggage!
(yes, that's what I saw in the exhibition! so funny!)
As you might know Chinese people are pretty superstitious , so when me and my friend went to see that 'from Bank of Hell', my friend wouldn't want to step in the place!
She said it's very bad luck to see these 'Joss goods', and she wondered that if the artist who made this exhibition knew how Chinese people think when they see his/her exhibition!

Even the exhibition didn't impress me, I am still looking forward seeing the films!
I will see Manufactured Landscapes on Thursday, which is today!
It will start at 6.30pm and you can buy ticket from reception.
If anyone wants to join me, please give me an email.
Or if you have my mobile, send me a text if you decide to go in the late afternoon.

Regards

Cindy

My timetable of Far West Films

Hi

It's Cindy again!

Just sorted out when I am going to see the films.
So far, I am planning to watch 'Still Life', 'Manufactured Landscapes', Jia Zhangke's double bill 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Platform' and maybe 'La Chinoise' and 'Blind Shaft'
And of course, the Far West exhibition!


So my timetable will be:

July 11 Fri - Manufactured Landscapes 6.30pm

July 12 Sat - Still Life 8.00pm

July 13 Sun - Unknown Pleasure 5.30pm
Platform 7.45pm

and I think I will go to see the exhibition when I am off this week sometime.
I don't really like to go to see exhibition on weekends as there will be lots of people around...
I might go on Wed afternoon as I am seeing my friends on Wed evening.

Anyone wants to join me seeing films or exhibitions?
Just drop me emails to let me know.

Cindy

Far West Film information

Hi everyone

It's Cindy again.

Just a reminder to tell you that Far West Film will start from next week.
Sorry that I didn't have time to reply back to you individually, and I am simply not organized enough recently.
Haven't make up my mind when to what which film but I will let you know my schedule soon.
Once I let you know which films I am going to watch, then you might be able to make up your mind if you can join me or not.

Some Chinese film information to share with you in this email.

Dir. Jia Zhangke's film 'Still Life' is actually different from that film I thought before.
I thought it was Dir. Zhang Yimou's 'To Live' but it does not matter.
I am still going to watch this film as it looks very interesting.
You can find out more information about Dir. Jia Zhangke's 'Unknown Pleasure' and 'Platform', Dir. Lou Ye's 'SuZhou River', and Dir. Li Yang's 'Blind Shaft' by clicking the links.
These films are all in Chinese Mandarin, and besides the culture understanding, you can also see how much Mandarin you can pick up from the films.
You will actually find out you can understand more than you thought!

If you can read characters, please click Zhongwen(中文) in Wikipedia for even more detailed introduction for the films list above.

Have a nice weekend.
I will email you soon to let you know my plans.

Regards

Cindy

Arnolfini-Far West exhibition

Hello everyone,

Did you all enjoy the sunshine we have got so far?
It's July, time for Wimbledon, British strawberry, and of course, lovely British summer!
I haven't done much in the past few weeks but enjoyed the weather.
However I do have some information to share with you all in this busy(or lazy?) summer season.

There is an exhibition called 'FAR WEST' at ARNOLFINI starts form Sat 28 Jun to Sun 31 Aug, free entrance.
Far West is an experimental project that will transform Arnolfini from an arts venue into a distinctive 'concept store', that explores the shifting of the economic centre of the world to the East.

Alongside Far West Metro exhibition will be held in The Mall Bristol, in Broadmeads in the city centre from Fri 27 Jun to Thu 24 Jul.
I haven't visited the exhibitions yet, but will go for sure to have a look.
You can find out more about the 'concept shop' and the artists who create those products on Far West website.

What makes me feel so excited and look forward to this project is the Far West Film!
There will be some Chinese films on in Arnolfini including the very famous film Still Life, award-winning documentary filmed in the Three Gorge Dam-Manufactured Landscapes, Jia Zhangke Double Bill-Unknown Pleasures and Platform, and HitchpWok Double Bill-Suzhou River and Blind Shaft.
More information and film timetables, please have a look on Arnolfini website under Far West Film catalog.

It's a very good opportunity to watch Chinese films, and also to see the changes modern China had been through.
The conflicts between modernization and traditional values are always something I am interested in.

I might bump into some of you over there.
If any of you want to go to watch the films with me, you are more than welcome.
Just drop me an email, and we will see when and where to meet up.

Hope you will enjoy the exhibition and the films.

Again, if you do not wish to receive my email, please let me know.
So I can take you off my email list.

All the best
Cindy

【i】Storyville: The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World-A Good Match

Lots of people asked me about Chinese wedding before, but I simply can't answer this question in a very simple way...
There are some difficulties for me to answer this question.
The first one and the most important one is people from different places do wedding in different ways!
You can blow up your budget for a very extravagant ceremony or you can invite some families, relatives and close friends for a feast only.
It really depends on what you want to do in this important day of your life.

Luckily BBC iPlayer just had a clip talking about Chinese wedding.
Storyville:The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World-A Good Match
This clip will stay online for another 2 days, and if you down load it, you can keep it for up to 30 days.
In this clip, you can find out Chinese way wedding including stealing bride, giving red envelopes, showing respect to ancestors, big wedding feast etc...
I personally found one thing very interesting.
When talking about marriage, the bride to be talked to the camera about his proposal.
He simply said, I am ready to marry you now...
Er... yes, I would say men are still superior to women in certain ways in China...
So talking about marriage, man will be the one who take action.
It's getting better in big cities like Shanghai or Beijin, but people are still very traditional in big things like wedding.

The wedding feast is very interesting.
People go for food, entertainments, and also face.
As some of you know face is very important for Chinese people.
See how much people put in red envelope for the couple, 700 GBP!
You must be rich and care about face a lot so you would give so much in red envelope lo!

I have a good news to share with you all.
My sister is getting marriage next year!
She will let me know what date the ceremony will be after Chinese New Year as she and my parents will need to check the lunar calendar first.
It does shows on lunar calendar what dates are good for wedding and what dates are good for moving, funeral and so on.
Her wedding won't be like what you see in the clip.
She and her fiance will have 2 wedding feasts.
One for the engagement, one for the wedding ceremony.
The engagement feast will only have close relatives and families only.
Other people like friends, colleagues, and some relatives you even don't remember will show up on the main wedding feast.

As I mentioned already, people from different places have different wedding customs.
My friend's wedding had 2 feasts as well.
But one for bride's family, relatives and friends, and one for groom's.

Nowadays, couple don't really want to go for traditional way as it's more complicated.
But parents or even grand parents would still prefer the tradition.
In Taiwan, we even have groom get on horse and use sedan chair to carry his bride back home!

On just before I finish this article, do you know in China, we take wedding photos before the wedding?
Yes, we have the photos done in professional studio, and have a very pretty album ready to show every gusts in the wedding day!
You can choose 4 to 5 different wedding dress and style for your wedding album.
And, we don't purchase our own wedding dress neither!
You can have everything done by the wedding agent.
Pick up a dress you prefer, book it for the wedding, and also book the make up and hair as well.
On the wedding day, bride will need to start doing make up, hair and everything since 4 o'clock in the morning!
Crazy, isn't it?
For being the most beautiful bride in the world, it is worthy!

We will talk about this topic more in the future as it is a Big subject!
Also, I might have the opportunity to show you the Taiwanese way wedding sometime next year!

Enjoy the programme.

Cindy

【f】Dragon Boat Festival-端午节粽子飘香

Hi everyone,

Weather is getting warmer, are you ready for hot summer?
Yes, summer is coming.
Chinese people believe that after Dragon Boat Festival, it is the real summer time!

Dragon Boat Festival, in Chinese Mandarin called Duan Wu Jie, falls on the fifth day of the fifth month in lunar calendar.
It falls on Sunday, 8^th June, this year.

Dragon Boat Festival is one of the most important festivals in China.
It has been celebrated sine 278 BC for the death of poet Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan was a patriot but was refused by his emperor.
He killed himself by jumping in to Miluo River after his country ended up falling into enemy’s hand on the fifth day of the fifth month.
Local people, who admired him, threw food wrapped by leaves into the river to feed fish so they wouldn’t eat Qu’s body. And local people also paddled boats to search his body and scared fish away.

That is the origins of Zongzi and Dragon Boat Racing.

Zongzi is the traditional food Chinese people eat in Dragon Boat Festival.
It is normally made of glutinous rice, and it can be either sweet or savoury.
The fillings in Zongzi vary a lot.
People from different places will have different recipes but Zongzi is always wrapped by leaves and in pyramid shape.
Generally speaking, people from north prefer sweet rice dumplings and people from south prefer savoury ones.

Dragon Boat Racing is also an important activity to do in Duan Wu Jie.

People believe that it is a good luck and also easier to stand eggs straight at noon in Dragon Boat Festival.

Some people put five-colour-threads on their wrists on this day and take them off on the first rainy day after the festival.
It is believe that five-colour-threads will keep evil spirits away.

People also put aicao, artemisia, in front of their door to keep evil spirits away, and carry small sachet of herbs, xiang bao, to keep insects away.

The special wine called Xiong Huang is drunk on the festival day to keep away insects and snakes as well.

It is said the Xiong Huang wine is not safe to drink these days so people wipe the wine on their faces instead of drinking it.

Want to know more about the festival?

There are some more links to find out more:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2004-06/21/content_1536677_2.htm

http://englishclub.99-00.yy2.edu.hk/li_fes_4.html

http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/dragonboat/dragon.html

http://shanghaiist.com/2006/05/30/happy_duan_wu_j.php

You are all welcome to share your individual experience of Dragon Boat Festival with me.
I was going to make some rice dumplings with friends but some accidents happened to my boyfriend and my friend's husband...
I am afraid that we have to delay our plans.
I will let you know if I make some and show you the photos of my home made dumplings.


Wish everyone a very nice Duan Wu Jie!


Cindy

【i】Storyville: The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World

Hi

It's Cindy again.
There are a new four-part series programme on BBC 4, called ' Storyville: The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World ' which is on Tuesday night, 22.00.
You can find the first part on BBC iPlayer, and watch the rest of them on TV in the following 3 weeks.
It's in Chinese Mandarin with English subtitle, so it will be good for listening practice.
Don't worry if you can't understand some phrases as they talk in a fast pace.
However, that's the pace we local people talk to each other.
It's a restaurant based in Hunan, so naturally people in the programme have Hunan accents.
Don't worry, Hunan accent is not bad at all.
Most of you might not tell the difference!

As some of you knew already, eating in China is a big matter.
It's socializing, not only having meals.
Chinese people say dining is the most important thing in the world.
Dining for Chinese people is like drinking for British.
It presents people's believing, customs,culture, history and everything else!
So you will see some strange things/dishes in this programme...
Don't be surprised!
Not every Chinese people eats everything you see in this programme!

Through this series, you will see Chinese way management/doing business.
How they manage people, how hard they work and how they appreciate their people network.

Again, you are all welcome to share your thought with me.
And if you do not want to receive newsletters from me, please let me know.

Best regards

Cindy

【i】Wild China-Tibet & Heart of the Dragon

Hi everyone

It's Cindy again.
How was everyone's bank holiday?
Weather wasn't that great but it's still good to have a break to do something you want to do.

I watched all the 'Wild China' programmes on BBC iPlayer on my holiday weekend.
They were great!
So far, they have 'Shangri-La', 'Tibet', and 'Heart of the Dragon' online.
'Shangri-La' will remain online for another 2 days
So if you want to watch it, remember to watch it online or download it to your computer.
You can keep the progremme up to 30 days and watch them off line anytime.
'Tibet' and 'Heart of Dragon' will remain online for 4 days more.
There places they introduce are very famous for Chinese people as well.
They don't only attract foreigners but also Chinese visitors.
Shangri-La is known as 'Paradise', Tibet is known as 'Roof of the world', and Gui Zhou where 'Heart of China' is filmed is famous of the stalactite caves.
Chinese people say 'Gui Lin shan shui jia tianxia', which means the mountains and water in Gui Lin are the best in China.
In the programmes, they are still focused on nature but also mentioned some culture and customs as human beings always have to adopt themselves to the nature surroundings.
If you are planning to go traveling in China, or you did it already, you will surely enjoy the series.
They are also good reference for your further traveling in China.

Here's the website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/?filter=category%3A200059&order=aztitle%3Aalphabetical&start=2&scope=iplayercategories

Enjoy!

Just before I go, I want to say thank you to some of your positive replies.
Your encouragement will keep me going.
Also thanks for all the useful links you email me.
I will find time to visit them and share them with you on my newsletter/blog.

All the best

Cindy

【i】 Wild China

Wild China is a 6 serious programme on BBC2 every Sunday night.
Shangri-La will be repeated next Saturday 24th May at 5:00pm on BBC2.
The next one will be Tibet showing next Sunday 25th May at 9:15pm on BBC 2.
More details please check
http://tvguide.aol.co.uk/tv-search?tvgSearchPhrase=wild+china&action=Go

Also, lots of you know the sever earthquake in China.
If you would like to help, there's something you can do.
https://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/donate/donate?donate_id=45

Thank you.