Today me and Dong Hong went to the book signing for the book Discover China at the Xidan bookstore. It is 3 hardback books comprised of photographs and captions documenting 500 days spent travelling in China by a man named Agang. Agang was a designer who got tired of day to day life, saved his money and went on a journey around China. Believe it or no Chinese publisher would print his photographic journal so he saved money to self publish. Kudos to the man and his team because this is one hell of a book. Not a professional photographer by trade, his photographs are as good as any ‘professional’. As far as I know, it is the only book of it’s kind.
After the Q&A we got to meet Agang and he and his team were very nice. We swopped business cards and he said it would be good to keep in touch. I previously asked the question if he had any desire to publish internationally. My friend brought it up again and he said he would welcome such help. I was pretty surprised and incredibly chuffed to have been ‘asked’ but I said definitely I would try. He thanked me and I thanked him. This is a task I must fullfil when I get back to London.
Flicking through his book, which bar being badly translated, is an incredible book. One feels they are travelling around China and one realizes that it is vast and incredibly diverse. It is illuminating and touching. It is a very humanizing book on rural China and holds a lot of love for the land and it’s people who live within it.
I had experience on my travels in the past 14 years where I was scared, illuminated, in awe, in tears, and in danger. Our experience of travelling reflect the exploratory desire in humanity, the challenges we face in adversity, the personal boundaries we cross and the profound learning experience we are indelibly left with.
Although my experience in Beijing is less ‘wild’, I nonetheless feel like an explorer within a contained intent.
A few pictures from the past 2 weeks.
the book
Me and Skewer stall holder st Sanlitun from Xinjiang
Me and Lucy after talking poilitics
Me with chilli prawns
Putting up lanterns for the National Holidays
Sanitized bowls
Dongzhimen subway station
Crazy Caroline
Agang at the book signing
Ada at the Damn after bungee jumping (the building on the left is where we jumped from)
-J
At 1.30pm today I met with Anna Sophie (Su Fei) of Sexy Beijing. She was a lot shorter than on TV but still full of extroverted Sunny California personality. We had a nice chat. She wanted us to work together on a Sexy Beijing episode though due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the national holidays and me leaving soon, we were unable to sort it out. Instead, she knew someone who was part of the Hip Hop show on Sexy Beijing who might be interested in shooting something during this week. He was a graduate of sociology who just obtained a Fulllbright Scholorship to research Hip Hop in Beijing. We agreed to meet that afternoon about 4pm after Su Fei had outlined a brief.
After half a year of watching this great show, there I was, having a cigarette with Su Fei, her making a meeting for me with a Fullbright Scholor student on Beijing Hip Hop and collaborate to make a video that would be posted on their site.
So I met with the student , Jamel, and he was very American at first. As our first exchanges of sentences came out he would reply, ‘word’. But over a time and over beer, we both relaxed and our conversation revolved around the evolution of Hip Hop, American politics and money. He is very intelligent and worldly minded. He can also speak Chinese. We got a long pretty well and decided to shoot something for two bands collaborating at the beginning of next week. First some interviews and then the gig. It’s exciting.
It is low key stuff but I love working on a grassroots level shooting basic stuff and the youth culture in Beijing is pretty interesting to me. Having seen only a little bit of the mainstream and only underground stuff on TV and the internet, it’s great to be able to meet and document some of it.
I dropped myself at Contigo to pick up my Mac and they gave me a whole crab to take back to the hotel to eat as I had only had some skewer food. A whole, take away crab- fresh from Shangdong Province (as their relatives brought down today).
I adore Sexy Beijing shows and it was strange meeting Su Fei finally and even more so that she was trying to set me up to shoot something and moreover she was disappointed we couldn’t find time to work together. I said I would be back next year.
Me and Jamel had some street food and had 7 660ml bottle of beer between us which cost 54rmb, about £4.50. Which is less than what I paid for one 330ml bottle at the Hyatt (60rmb). I met Su Fei this morning and now I am shooting a project for them and for a Fullbright student doing research on this highly fascinating growth of Hip Hop in Beijing.
Things happened fast today.
- J
A few days ago, on Thursday, I had a scheduled meeting with Anna Sophie Loewenberg of Sexy Beijing- an internet TV program that I have been watching from the beginning of this year. I got in contact with them about a month ago volunteering services or just to meet. As they were late in replying, I didn’t actually think I would get to meet them. But I got here and made contact and that was that. We might even shoot something together which would be so cool.
I can out of my hotel and my bicycle wasn’t there. I had locked it on the railing, which is more than most do. It was the shortest lived romance with a bike I ever had.
I went to eat at my regular brunch joint and then to Contigo to get my coffee. Then I got a text from Sophie apologizing as something had come up and we would need to reschedule.
It’s the National holidays for an entire week starting tomorrow so I had scheduled to visit some tourist spots this week, which never happened. Lots of domestic tourism in Beijing happens that week. Beijing will be busier than normal. So I thought I would go get a new bike- the cheapest one I could, and then cycle to the Forbidden City.
Went back to the same shop and got the blue bike I saw before for 200rmb (£15). After I left the shop, during my 2km cycle the chain came off several times. After fixing it several times, I realized it was loose. I walk most of the way back to the shop and asked them to fix it. By then it was a little late to go to the Forbidden City. Instead I called a new friend and we went to the Silk Market. Went for some dumplings and got myself some tee shirts and a funky helmet. I had fun bargaining with the girls at the stalls.
Another new friend I was to meet wasn’t to happen the next day. My friend at Contigo got me tickets to enter the Olympic area which was great. So I called my now becoming friend Tara and we went for a walk at around the Birds Nest. Seeing it on TV in the UK and the whole Olympic event was great. Seeing it finally in reality was pretty grand. It was half the size I thought it would be! But I was really happy to see it. In the evening I met with a new person. After some food we took a walk where I saw some people doing Tai Chi. I asked my friend if she could ask the elderly lady if I could follow her. After she introduced me to the teacher who I have my number to and he would call to let me know where I could go for lessons with him. My young new friend far from sharing my long standing interest thought Tai Chi was for the elderly and was boring. I was disappointed and amazed that she knew so little about it and was not in awe of what is in fact, a fascinating martial art form bordering mystical.
We proceeded to go clubbing despite she did not dance or drink alcohol. The small and very crowded place was heaving with bad music. Stopped off for noodles and got home at 3am.
Had an appointment for an interview for the doc the day after. Due to translation which my friend at Contigo did, the interview lasted about 3 hrs. It was pretty interesting. More about it perhaps on my other work blog about the doc.
In the evening I met another new friend, Caroline at Bookworm. Bookwork is a place every city should have. A bookstore with a bar, a restaurant- and you can smoke. Some good décor and even the building from the exterior looks good. It was in the Sanlitun area so we went for some street food and headed to a bar where we played pool. This new friend was pretty, shall we say, verbally crazy. She drew diagrams on napkins and talked to strangers standing next to us. A nice person and the most extroverted Chinese person I have ever met. We proceeded to a club upstairs and then to another outside the Workers Stadium called MIX. The club opposite was called VICS. A large club with three dance areas. Pretty damn plush and frequented by the young Beijingers dressed to the nines- well, the women anyway. Music wasn’t that great but the décor and size was pretty nice. Got home at 3am.
This morning I met with Ada. Super nice girl who I went bungeee jumping with. Then met with Tara to go to Tai Chi class- which- I would never have found- the place without her. I was doing Tai Chi, in Beijing, with the sun going down in front of me. I am going to learn when I get back to the UK. That was a dream realized.
So far, even though I haven’t seen much in terms of sights, I have met loads of people and done some things that I wanted to experience here- things I never thought I would get to do:
Bungee Jumping
Cycling
Eating fried Scorpions
Visiting the Olympic Stadium
Clubbing in a plush club
Meeting lots of people who live here- conversations
Tai Chi in the park
Getting some interviews for the documentary
Tomorrow I should be going down to Sexy Beijing’s office in Sanlitun. That’s another thing I didn’t think was that possible. A book signing on Tuesday. A set of three photographic books by a man who travelled around China for a year and a half photographing it. That’s a dream he realized.
There is more I want to write but it’s all still digesting within me. It’s been a fairly busy trip so far, a fulfilling and great learning experience.
I will post some photos in my next entry.
- J
Was the film that made me realize the artistry of film making was well under way way before i was conceived. The Cinematography, the script and story, but most of all, it was Paul Neuman'suber performance that gave The Hustler it's cool yet sensitive, vulnerable personality.
It was a unrealistic dream of mine to become successful enough to work with Paul Neuman.
When I play pool I chalk my cue like Neuman.
Paul Neuman died yesterday aged 83 from a long fight with Cancer. Go watch a Paul Neuman film, he shows nerves, stability, passion and sensitivity. He was a man amongst men.
- J
Arundhati Roy said, ‘Never Complicate what is simple or simplify what is complicated’. Tonight I met with a friend of a friend who is going to share some views in the documentary I am making. In our long conversation through the help of my friend who translated, I fully realized that my life task of understanding and learning about China, it’s history, culture and future discourse, would need to be done in full, in the host country. Not that I did not know this as I plan to work here but it brought a reality I am suddenly coming to terms with. Meeting new people everyday and cycling around the city is a start to very long road. It is a bold personal undertaking I have doubts I am as of yet ready to take. One step at a time. At the moment I am content in riding my new bicycle everywhere.
- J
From the other day... 5 seconds in time where my mind was literally void of thought. Looking at myself jumping off like that scares me more than the actual experience, when i felt very little.
- J
Been in Beijing for nearly a week now. Haven’t done much tourist sight seeing. I was and still might go to see the Birds Nest Stadium this afternoon but I am pretty tired after a non stop few days out. Have been meeting up with various people met over the internet and they all are pretty nice.
Yesterday I cycled to Wangfujing. The rain began while I cycled and steadily rose as I was reaching my destination. Met my new friend and we sat out over a drink and had a chat. The rain continued when we continued into the outdoor food maket where they sold skewers of various meat and scorpions. The Scorpions, which my new friend didn’t want to try were simply crispy and a little savoury and pretty expensive. It was a tourist area. I liked it though. We tried a few more things in the protection of umbrellas. The Beijing Oymmpic store was around the corner and we went to check it out. Without a doubt, it was full of souvenirs for all tastes. Even a £3000- single cast gold model of the birds nest which was pretty nice. I’d settle for a cap and tee shirt.
Later I met another new friend who I’d kept in touch with over the last few months. She’s Swedish born Chinese and is currently the the Art Director of a family owned furniture store. She also does some graphics and animation. Bars in Beijing are far between and only pockets of concentration exist. Due to the rain, she came were I already was and as the area I was in wasn’t one of those pockets, we settle into the bar within the Grand Hyatt. Service was pretty impeccable and the environment was pleasant. A bottle of beer was $60 rmb (£4.50). Which is about six times more than a regular restaurant. My new friend said, ‘$5 for the beer, $55 for the ambience’. Conversation mostly seem to revolve around our personal experience of diaspora and the lack of knowledge about the profound change China’s continuing rise will bring to the economic, social and cultural change to the world in years to come, outside of China.
My new friend said many people spoke of China being a main contributor to greenhouse gases but no one talks of China may also be the main contributor to the solution.
She took a cab and rode my bicycle home in the rain for 25mins, one hand on the bar, one hand with an umbrella she lent me. My shoes are still wet right now.
I met a man who works for one of the top energy companies in China the other day. When I asked will China be able to balance its energy and environmental requirements in years to come, he said, ‘without a doubt.. but it takes time’.
In a place where I can buy the same beer for $8rmb and $60rmb, anything is possible.
- J
Went Bungee jumping today. Also a very scary cable car ride up a very high mountain. And also a thing were you slide across the large reservoir on a rope, i forget the name. Also was inside a giant beach ball. It was not Disneyland.
Girl, it was some day....
- J
Back in my regular coffee shop sipping a Tsing Tao after a day of cycling. My friend lent me a bicycle so after getting up pretty late- I must still be exhausted from running around in Hong Kong I went for lunch where the round lady thought it was humorous I couldn’t speak much Mandarin. Then for my daily coffee here. I set off at 3in the afternoon. Within minutes I loved it. He roads are very wide varying between 2-4 (each direction) lanes plus separate bicycle lane. No on cycles like they are rushing to get anywhere and the cars are respectful of space while crossing junctions. Since bicycle was the main form of transport for a long time and the city has given all roads a lane for bicycles, it’s considered to be another form of transport and not an annoyance to motorized vehicles as, it seems to be in most cities. I rode pretty slow in comparison to how I rode in London and Vancouver, taking in the sights and daily life which is laid back and friendly.
I stopped to check my map and ended up ‘talking’ to 2 men playing a form of chess with stones and a chalk drawn board on a square of paving on the street.
I continued on going around Houhai and Qing hai lake at dusk and it was lovely. I loved cycling around Stanley Park and around Vancouver but this was if to compare, more interesting and lively. Tourist bars lined Houhai but further north, it became more local and around the bend, old men played chess and Ping Pong and even swam in the lake. It was SO nice.
I recently purchased a EOS 1n 35mm film camera (in HK) so it has been my main shooting format and only occasionally shooting the odd digital.
From next week I am going to do some serious tourist trekking as after that, it is a week of national holiday and many Chinese are coming into Beijing and so everything will be Choca.
I spent less than £5 today on food. Lunch was less than £1 and dinner was less than £1.50. I spent more on coffee.
People are friendly and helpful, there is a diversity in ancient and modern architecture- as well as the arts, local food is cheap and good, the city’s evolution is exciting- to add to it, cycling in the city is an absolute joy and the light is strangely warm and beautiful during the day. Sometimes love has the symptom of missing that thing even if it is already present. This is part of how i feel.
A little bit from my 4 hr ride...
Houhai Lake
Drum Tower
Just by Tian 'an 'men Square.
Photos from EOS 10D and iPhone.- J
‘Hau jiao bu jian!’ I said to my only friend in Beijing when I came into the coffee shop she owns. It means, ‘Long time no see’.
It’s been two years since I was in Beijing and it does feel like yesterday. I have been here 2 days and since I arrived, I was where I exactly wanted to be and nowhere else. But reality bites and I feel the elastic of border restrictions on the ready to catapult me back to London in a few weeks. But before that, I still have time here, in Taiwan and in Hong Kong. Speaking of projectiles, I might become one of sorts on Saturday..
I have been loosely keeping in contact with a few people I contacted through a seeking friends in Beijing classifieds from an online magazine called The Beijinger. I met one of them tonight and she reiterated her invitation to me (one I got a month ago while in the UK) to go Bungee jumping. With many things not quite Kosher in China (many a contemporary milk powder included), I am a little dusious about the safetly of the Bungee Safety regulations, if any. It’s dubious at the best of places let alone here. I said I’d go but I would think about the actual jumping. I presume my best of intentions to remain sedate and sensible will not last.
Will be meeting up with a few more ‘internet made’ ‘friends’ this weekend and the week after too. I would not do this in the UK but it seems quite normal discourse here and I want to know new people here and it seems one way to meet more people. Why not?
My Mandarin, despite nowhere near as where I would like it to be is not bad. I can understand basic things and have been able to communicate the most fundamental of things such as food and prices and answering how old I am and where I am from. Largely and obviously though, most people think I am a Mandarin speaking Chinese person. And everyone is very helpful and friendly once they know you can’t speak the dialect.
I’m not sure when I can make it here to work and live for at least a few months a year. It may be years. I am here to get to know it a bit better. But I am where I want to be now and, in the future. I no longer want to say to anyone here, ‘Hau jiao bu jian’ but, ‘Ming tian jian’.
- J
After shooting for 3 days straight I got up in the morning of my flight to go to the Chinese Embassy to apply for my same day service Visa. When I got to the counter the lady said with no sympathy that my photo wasn’t on photographic paper- due to the fact that the printer I printed it off wouldn’t accept the photo paper I gave it, I didn’t have a hardcopy of my reservation booking and I didn’t have a hardcopy of my Hotel reservation. Beads of sweat had formed from the vacuum I suddenly found myself in. I had less than 45mins to sort those out to rush my Visa and I couldn’t do it. I didn’t even have the hotel booking details let alone have the means to print them. My flight to Beijing was in 7 days and I was leaving to Hong Kong the same day. Quick thinking led me to call two friends in Hong Kong and ask if I could apply for the visa in Hong Kong and quick the service was. It seemed fine… Then called my friend in Beijing to see if she could fax email the details of my booking so I could print them when I got home.
So I printed my flight details, the hotel booking details and photo- this time on some sort of photo paper- all ready to go for when I got to Hong Kong. By this point, I still hadn’t sorted out my insurance for my camera kit, drawn up the drainage plans for the extension, burnt the DVD of a gig I shot or fully packed. I had about 3 hours. Including lunch, I managed to do it all plus a few other things.
Heathrow Terminal 3.
I arrived in reasonable time and while I checked in, I asked about if they knew anything about visa applications in Hong Kong. A nice old man at Cathay told me I should go to the China Travel agency in Sheung Wan to do it. Sheung Wan from where I was staying is about 45 mins away. He said he had been in a similar situation. Now I was one step closer to getting my visa…
The plane journey was the quickest I have experienced. Partly because they had moved my from my ‘unsafe’ seat to a front one with masses of leg room, but mostly because I met a nice young woman who just graduated from London Fashion School. Don’t tend to chat much on planes but this was one of those rare occasions. It was the first time I didn’t sit through an entire in flight movie. Not that we talked a lot, just that the movies were bad. Didn’t get much sleep at all.
Hong Kong International Airport.
I was through immigration in less than 1 minute from queue to exit. Thank god for Hong Kong ID cards. My luggage came soon after and from plane to arrival hall I was 40 mins. What hit me was the heat. The air got thick and if one wasn’t used to the humidity in Hong Kong summer, you’d think you were hyperventilating. It was 32 C out.
It had been 6 months since I was here and it seems like one never left. But the past 6months have been quite full and half the year has gone by.
I got to Tai Po and after dumping my stuff off in the spare room I went to have some food and then to buy a pair of light walking trainers. I finally found a pair I liked from the only shop I went to but they didn’t have my size. The shop owner said she would, ‘make them bigger’.
‘You can do that?’ I asked.
‘Sure’, She replied.
Sure enough, 5 mins later she came back with a pair of shoes that fit and if there was anything wrong with them I could come back. I paid £15 for that pair of shoes.
I proceeded to the bar next to Tai Po hotel to have a bottle of Tsing Dao. I was so tired and was falling asleep reading my Rough Guide to Beijing. I spoke to a friend who told be I did not need a Visa for Taiwan. Then spoke to another friend who said China Travel agency had a Tai Po office. Great. The barmen told me it was around the corner.
Sure enough it was. Except I thought it was up a set of stairs.
I barely slept that night. Having to awake at 6am, the aircon machine I turned off halfway through the night. After a shower I went to have some egg noodles and then got to the agency at 7am. The place had a store front that I had missed the night before and had a plaque displaying the opening times of 9AM. So I went home, around the corner, to search for software to unlock my iPhone.
Back at China Travel at 9 I got seen first as I was the only person applying for a single entry visa. Firstly, they had to check if they could do it by Saturday. As this weekend is, of course, Mid Autumn Festival. After some deliberation and a phone call, it was said it was possible by Saturday if I went to TST (Tsim Tsar Tsui) to collect it. The woman behind the counter said I needed a proper hotel receipt with my docs. After a few missed calls I finally got in touch with Dong Hong, my frined in Beijing. She was out and said she would try to sort it out. When I hung up, I thought, ‘why don’t we just call the hotel directly?’. So we did. But they said they don’t provide receipts. How strange. The agency said they would try to sort it out. I paid my $1100- (£85-90), which was enough to get me a 2 year multiple entry visa if I applied early in the UK.
I went to get some rice noodles and fish balls around the corner and then went back home. I returned a missed call from my Beijing friend and she said if she helped me pay a deposit and faxed them my passport, they would give me a receipt…
So I went back to the agency. They photocopied my passport then said they didn’t have a fax machine to do international calls… So… I went to the local stationary shop to fax it with my friend at the hotel in Beijing waiting for it.
Went back to the agency to await their fax. It didn’t come. My friend text me saying she just got a hardcopy and was on her way, back to her coffee shop to fax it. A few minutes later, it was there and I went back home to shower.
Sorting out my unlocking software, the agency calls and said they need my business card or the company I work for. ‘Freelancers’ isn’t on the visa application form- they wanted your company name.
Guess where I went next… So I gave them one of my business cards and went back home.
After not really sorting out my iPhone, I went to take a nap for 2 hours before heading out into town to meet a friend for dinner. I had more noodle for dinner. Some Ramen this time…
This morning we went to sign some papers for a few hours. I was supposed to deposit the cheque I received after in my dad’s account except I wiped my iPhone. So I am now restoring settings in hope that my notes pop up.
Tomorrow I go get my visa. Hopefully… but now, I'm going to take another nap...
- J
It’s been a rapid month. Work has been busy. But when I wasn’t shooting, I was decorating a loft conversion and moving in. It’s pretty much all there and looks good. Happy.
As I planned to go to Beijing in September this year, a coincidence that I need to sign some family papers in Hong Kong. And as I didn’t have enough money in Feb/Mar while in Hong Kong to go across the waters to visit my friend in Taiwan, I do this time. So on the 9th next week, I fly to Hong Kong. Then after a few days go to Beijing for 3 weeks. Then back to Hong Kong before flying to Taiwan for a week and back to Hong Kong for 2 weeks. I come back to London on thee 28th Oct. It’s been more than 10 years since I was away in another county/ies for longer than a month. I come back and in less than a week start operating on a feature- I originally was to shoot. That’s until 3- 29th Nov. On the 30th I go to Lodz to Cameraimage (Cinematography Festival) and to Warsaw and Krakow. Come back mid December. Have a short to start prepping then to shoot probably beginning of 2009.
And even though it’s only been half a year since I was in Hong Kong, I miss it already and am ready to not be in England. It will seem like yesterday as I have never been to Hong Kong twice in one year. But it’s Beijing that is likely to be the experience. Not sure what I will do for 3 whole weeks but I’m sure there will be lots to do. If not exploring the city or chatting with new people, I will be hanging out at the coffee shop, parks, bars or just shooting the doc. I never really saw much of the city last time. I never went to a bar, or that street where there’s a food market, I never went to Houhai or Beihai Park or, or, or… So much… I stayed 10 days before and it didn’t seem enough. And as I am looking to live there for months at a time in the future, 3 weeks getting to know it a little better is short. But it’s a good time.
Taiwan is somewhere I’ve wanted to go for a while. It’ll be great to see my friend who I’ve known for 10 years though better in the last 3.
I can do the trip on the budget I laid out. It’s workable.
It’s just that everyday has been a shoot or 10/12 hours of decorating or spring cleaning this entire month. Had some downtime going out but not a lot. Even up to now till I fly. So it all seems a bit sudden. The loft is just done and haven’t much time to really enjoy it! I even have to manage to get a visa for China on the day I am flying to Hong Kong as that was the earliest appointment.
The shoots this month have been varied. 2 low budget music videos for 2 Asian artists, an outdoor music gig for Natalia, a short film on the Red One camera and another section of the feature, Tidal Barrrier. Also the test shoot for Horace, the feature in November.
I leave you with a video clip from the short film. I am up on a Cherry Picker operating a pan and tilt shot as the two kids cycle onwards towards the dishes…
- J
the book
Me and Skewer stall holder st Sanlitun from Xinjiang
Me and Lucy after talking poilitics
Me with chilli prawns
Putting up lanterns for the National Holidays
Sanitized bowls
Dongzhimen subway station
Crazy Caroline
Agang at the book signing
Ada at the Damn after bungee jumping (the building on the left is where we jumped from)
