London / Konigswinter

刚刚这两个星期到过欧洲两个地方
一个是开研究会议,另外一个去是看朋友
脑袋/身心都refresh了...

Artist Gonkar Gyatso

This is one of the Tibetan Artists I met from this Tibetan Study conference I recently attended.
His name is Gonkar Gyatso.
I particular like his new series.
Below show two of them that he has shown in his presentation.
His new series will be shown later this year in this gallery. Watch out for people who will be in London.

Galllery web site:
www.sweetteahouse.co.uk


Panda Politics





















partial view















Tibetan Idols

Grassland school progress

星期一晚上收到西珠的电话,说已经收到我们在香港筹到的经费了.
他说很感谢我在香港的朋友,
我说只要他能好好运用这毕(少少的)经费,
让学校建设工程顺利进行,那就是最好了.
[其实要完成整个工程还欠一些经费呢]
西珠说他第二天便会赶回老家,几天后要赶回寺里开学.

十一月的时候正打算去夏河看小活佛坐床仪式,到时候看看能否顺道去一躺草原.
看看这个学校的情况...

On Monday night, I received a phone call from Sherap, and said he's already received the money transfer I gathered from here. He said he was feeling so thankful and I reminded him that as long as he spends the (small amount) funding wisely , and enables the construction to go smoothly, that will be all he needs to do.
[actually funding is still running short to complete the whole constrcution of the school!]
Sherap said he will travel home the next day for the construction inspection as he would need to rush back to the monastery for the new classes which starts very soon.

In the coming November, there is a plan of visiting Labrang to see the enthroning ceremony of this new Rinpoche. If there is enough time, let's see whether a trip to the grassland school is possible...

letters continue

My letter to Sherap:

我会叫我的朋友把钱转给你那天之前和之后给你打电话的.
十一月的事情现在还不能决定.到时候再看看吧..
我的时间也可能会有点赶..

你也用功学习啊
不要被寺罚啊!

:)
美琪

[translation]

I will ask my friend to call you before he transfer the money to you.
Still not sure about the November visit plan, will update you when the time comes.
as my time is a bit tight.

well, you should also work hard!
Don't get punished by the monastery!

Maggie
------------------------------------------
Sherap's reply:

好的,谢谢您美其姐,我会努力学习的您放心吧,我收后我要回家看看学校,爸说窗和门都做好了
我要过去看看.下个7月分在寺里开始学些东西.

保重;
西珠

[translation]

Sure, thanks Maggie, don't you worry, I will work hard. After I receive the money, I will need to go home to see the school. Dad said the window and the doors are all made. I need to go back and have a look. Next month (7th month under lunar calendar) there are some new learning in the monastery.

Take care
Sherap

Letters

"原来是牛羊..."
" Oh Is the Yak and mutton"



-----------------------------------------------------
My letter to Sherap:

西珠

记得把你工商银行的卡号在电邮发给我..
我那位在深圳工作的朋友要到下个星期才有时间帮我到深圳的工商银行把钱发给你.
希望这么的一些钱能帮到你们盖学校吧...

还有,围墙有必要吗? 是不是保安的因素?

美琪

Sherap

remmember to let me know your bank account no.
My friend who works in shenzhen can help me to transfer the money to you next week.
I hope the money can help your school construction...

Also, is the fencing wall necessary? is it for security purpose?

Maggie
------------------------------------------
Sherap's reply:

您好!

美其姐!我的卡号是(中国工商银行夏河县支行,9XXXXXXXXXX 这样就可以了谢谢您
牛羊也会进来的,因为有了院墙一方面卫生二方面安全,暫时没办法这能等段时间才可以做起来.
今年十一月分的时候您能去就太好了,不过那时候气候太冷您也知道的,每年最好的气候是四月二十直
八月这时间是最好的.

保重;

西珠

How are you!

Maggie, here is my bank account no. (China gongshang bank... just like this.. thanks)
Yak and mutton would come in. So with the fencing wall, one reason is for hygiene, another is for safety, now cannot do much, so just need to wait for it to be built later then.
It will be great if you can come this November, but it's gonna be cold by then as you have already known. The best weather is usually from April to August.
August is the best.

Take care;

Sherap

Monk friend "Sherap"

Old post about Sherap, a monk friend from Labrang:
http://meikei.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_meikei_archive.html

在草原上兴建小学

我在拉卜楞寺认识的喇嘛朋友西珠正在他的草原老家兴建一所小学,好让村里的小孩不会失去上学的机会.

这是七月夏天草原的境况,村民正在把工地弄平,石头和砖都搬过来了. 草原的景色跟我上一次二月份去的时候真的是很大的分别. 那时候天地都是雪白一片.现在草地上布满小黄花.

他们还是很缺建筑材料的经费.如果您有兴趣给他们一点的帮助,请别忘了告诉我!多少也感谢万分啊!

The above photos show the latest progress of the school building project organized by my Labrang monk friend "Sherap" at his grassland hometown in July. The villagers have been working on leveling the site, as well as collecting stones from the near by area. Materials such as bricks have been transported to the site; however they are running out of financial help in buying all the necessary building material. If you may want to support his project, please contact Sherap or let me know. :-)

[Village views during winter/ 冬天的境况: http://meikei.blogspot.com/2006/04/blog-post_29.html ]

Below shows e-mail from Sherap 西珠 on 13.08.06:

您好! 美其姐!

真不好意思昨晚没回邮件,因为昨晚没电. 我刚刚看到了文件写的很好谢谢您.

在家乡那边弄地平的这些都是我自己找亲戚和朋友帮我的,第一次回家的时候他们都说弄地和木料还有石是头这些说帮我,到时就变了都没了.

现在这能靠亲戚和朋友们,而且砖也涨价了到那儿每个砖4角2分没想到这么贵现在有点难处,可是我不会放弃的一定要该起来让这些小孩得到点文化这就是我这辈子最大愿望.

保重; 西珠

Translation of the e-mail:

Hi, Maggie sis

Please excuse me for not replying your mail last night as the electricity was out. I have just seen the document you wrote about the school, thank you so much.

At the hometown works such as leveling of the site were all done by my relatives and friends. When I went home the first time, some villagers promised to help on the foundation works as well as gathering the timber, but everything have changed when I went back this time.

Now, I can only rely on relatives and friends, also the price of bricks has increased to 42cents each. I never thought it would be that expensive. Now there are some difficulties, but I won’t give up. I must get this school built so that the children here can be cultivated as this is my biggest life long wish.

Take care; Sherap

Location of Gunkanjima

Hashima Island (端島; meaning "Border Island"), commonly called Gunkanjima (軍艦島; meaning "Battleship Island") is one among 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture 長崎県, about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki 長崎市, itself.

"Gukanjima - View of an Abandoned Island"

軍艦島 Gukanjima __in Japan


远看像軍艦!!!!

其实"她"本身是一个大珊瑚瞧. 1810年因发现石油而成为一个开发的人工小岛. 直到1974年开发完毕,所有居民撤离...

就这样一直荒废.被遗忘了...

整个小岛的建设还在,甚至很多日常生活的物件, 像是时钟停顿了三十年..最近才有人去拍照..

看看照片很精彩..

















































2000















1970s



Off the westernmost coast of Japan, is an island called "Gunkanjima" that is hardly known even to the Japanese. Long ago, the island was nothing more than a small reef. Then in 1810, the chance discovery of coal drastically changed the fate of this reef. As reclamation began, people came to live here, and through coal mining the reef started to expand continuously. Befor long, the reef had grown into an artificial island of one kilometer (three quarters of a mile) in perimeter, with a population of 5300. Looming above the ocean, it appeared a concrete labyrinth of many-storied apartment houses and mining structures built closely together. Seen from the ocean, the silhouette of the island closely resembled a battleship - so, the island came to be called Gunkanjima, or Battleship island.

I was twenty-two when I first visited the island I had dreamed about ever since childhood. Much like a fortress built upon the sea, surrounded by high walls,the island possessed an air of a small kingdom, where its denizens boasted "There is nothing we don't have here." They were right. They did have everything within their miniature kingdom - except a cemetery. But, the irony of it was proven by the passag e of time. Already, the island had been doomed to turn into an enormous graveyard.

Eventually, the mines faced an end, and in 1974 the world's once most densely populated island become totally deserted. The island, after all its inhabitants departed leaving behind their belongings, became an empty shell of a city where all its peopl disappeared overnight, as if by some mysterious act of God...

excerpt from web site: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/gunsu/g-text-e.html

more photos from web site: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/saiga/yuji/gallary/menu-e.html

after typhoon

2 times X grassland village

same shots- 2 times

2006_Feb

2006_July

This is a grassland village that I visited in february in southern Gansu near my research site. It's the home town of my monk friend from Labrang monastery. The villagers are building a new (first) primary school at the grassland now. He just sent me some photos taken last month (July). And here comes an almost identical shots. What a big difference. I wished I could go ther now and pitch a tent for summer picnic.

clear water

"Clear water bay-bay 01" 's water is really much clearer than Shek O's water..
a nice beach if you are looking for a real swim in clear water
:-)

Shek O's Sophie

認識了Sophie很久了.

[打電話是這樣叫她: Sop-Pphiee 把尾音拉長 或叫她 Soph]

我們一起在墨兒本讀大學.是已經認識了十幾年了好友.由當初Year 1那時戰戰兢兢對自己,還有自己的英語能力沒什麼自信,到後來我們一起在巴黎和Amsterdam當背包客, 還有和她與其他同學去了幾趟那個讓我學懂騎單車是什麼一回事十天單車團 (Great Victorian bike ride),當然還有很多很多其他的..

S的個性很強,也不是一般的Aussie,可能是因為她有兒時在法國長大的經歷,還有她的一半東歐(Cezh)的血統吧.

我們不是常常見面聊天的.但每過一陣子,我們便會聊天,也會是比較深入交心的談話.
S幾天前來了香港住了幾天, 下一站是芬蘭的Alvar Alto conference.

上一次S來香港的時候正好是四年前,也正是世界盃時期.那時的我和我身邊的人和事跟現在的已經有些不同了.

期望下一次再見到她時,我兩再一次互相說說笑笑大家萬變的狀況…

image speaks for itself

Listening "double vie" on a summer full moon night

Have only watched "The Double Life of Veronika" 兩生花 on vedio 10 years ago. It's gonna be quite an experience watching it in theatre (from the 1st row) tomorrow night. As it has always been on my list of favourite, both the film and the music.

Film festival web site
http://bc.cinema.com.hk/adhoc/krzysztof_kieslowski/movie_double.html

Film festival trailer
http://bc.cinema.com.hk/adhoc/krzysztof_kieslowski/festival.html

The music is very good too.
The soundtrack of Kieslowski's film "The Double Life of Veronika"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000G5VW/104-2736949-3228763?v=glance&n=5174

----------------------------------------------------

The Double Life of Veronique
La Double Vie de Veronique

1991-France/Poland-Romantic Drama/Psychological DramaN.Y. Times Review by Caryn James

PLOT DESCRIPTION

The Double Life of Véronique is the story of two young women who are -- in some mysterious and irresolvable way -- the same woman leading two different yet interconnected lives. Those familiar with Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's later "Three Colors" trilogy of Blue, White, and Red will recognize his fascination with accidental happenings and chance encounters, as well as Irène Jacob (from Red) whose performance as both Veronika and Veronique won the 1991 Cannes Film Festival award for best actress. Veronika and Véronique are born on the same day in 1966, one in Poland, the other in France. They grow up separately, unaware of each other's existence, but with the vague and rarely expressed feeling that they are "not alone." The story begins in Poland, where Veronika (like Véronique) is a talented vocalist and music student who wins a prestigious singing competition and is given the chance to perform with a local symphony. On the night of the concert, while singing a duet onstage, Veronika loses consciousness and dies. Véronique is emotionally wounded by the loss of her double and decides to end her singing career. The film charts the effect of Veronika's death on Véronique and on her dispassionate and unsatisfying relationships with men, especially her father. She is led to puppeteer and children's book author Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), whose puppet shows and stories are dramatic variants on her own mysterious problem. While looking through photographs of Véronique's trip to Poland, Fabbri discovers a picture of Veronika walking through a student demonstration in Kracow. He shows the picture to Véronique, who intuits the significance of Veronika's perfect likeness to herself. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide

出三峽

這兩天在讀朋友W給我介紹的[出三峽記].她把書借給我的時候估計沒有錯.我真的很喜歡這本書,而且把書一早還給她,原因是看到有一本擱在學校書店的書架上, 沒多想便把書買下來了.

作者晉永權現工作於<<中國青年報>>,於這五年內,走訪因為興建三峽水壩工程而被政府搬遷的居民.書內不只是圖片,而且有一個一個移民背後的故事.幸好作者也沒有過于煽情.而是從基層[grass root]反映出一個ground situation的狀態. 讓讀者去認識一些代表了十六萬三峽移民戶的生活歷史. 其中牽動著:社會,宗族,家庭,集體記憶…

因為還沒讀完.過幾天讓腦袋好好清理.再多寫點…


[出三峽記]
作者晉永權
北京三聯書店出版 2006年










Have been reading this Chinese book called出三峽記 chu sanxai ji [Noted on Emigration from the Three Gorges] the last two days. It was recommended by my friend W. Her guess was right when she lent it to me that I would love it so much. At the end I returned the book to her the next day as I found one selling at the university book store. I’ve got to have my own copy.

The author currently works at the中國青年報Chinese Youth News. In the past five years, he had visited towns and villages at the three gorges where they will be flooded because of the super dam project. He has met different people throughout his visits. In the book, there are not just photos but also one after one story of these emigrants. Fortunate enough, the author wasn’t a sensationalist. He shows an honest voice to describe these emigrants from a grass root level. The numbers of stories being told here enable the readers to get closer to these one hundred and sixty thousands emigrants, about their living history. And then it’s all about society, family lineage, home, and collective memory.

Still got half of the book to be finished shall drop a few more words later.

Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 9

The core idea is the relationship between self-imposed resistance and creativity, a theme it symbolically tracks through the construction and transformation of a vast sculpture of liquid Vaseline, called “The Field”, which is molded, poured, bisected and reformed on the deck of the ship over the course of the film.

Trailer of the documentary film on the making of "Drawing Restraint 9"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wN3TohDaoCQ

Bjork's music for the film:
http://unit.bjork.com/specials/dr9/

reviews include trailer of the film "Drawing Restraint 9":
http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=8782

more info on Barney's Drawing Restraint series:
http://www.drawingrestraint.net/

The Bandquet 夜宴

[夜宴]

凶煞之夜，厉帝大摆贺宴。婉后献上了毒酒，青女献上了歌舞。他的谋臣，觊觎着王位，静观其变。这座旷世的宫廷里，权力与欲望的争夺已然拉开序幕。

showing this September! should be a great film!




























http://www3.cinema.com.hk/revamp/html/list_detail.php?lang=c&movie_id=2508
http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/thebanquet/index.shtml

Labrang monastery 拉卜楞寺 from above

Just found this from google earth today, the search engine doesn't regonise any place name in China except beijing, so, not even Lanzhou.
Playing detective, it took us awhile to find Lanzhou first through Qinghai Lake (the big lake appear on the China map), then we traced the river and another "water hole" the Liu Jia Xia (lake) all the way down south.
At the end we arrived this valley and from a first glance, I knew that's it. It's the Labrang I have come to known for the last 3 years.
Bravo!! To my collegue W, who have helped me on this operation!

me and you and eveyone we know

me and you and eveyone we know 你，我，他她他

What a poetic film about contemporary little people in the contemporary world!
No drama, no hero...they are real people far from perfecto...
Is a film that I enjoy every moments. Is a kind of warmth feeling that make you feel very happy afterwards.
Do watch it on big screen if there is chance.

http://www.meandyoumovie.com/
http://www3.cinema.com.hk/revamp/html/list_detail.php?lang=c&movie_id=2466