Dragon meets Kitty

Xin Nian Kuaile!! Happy lunar New Year! I have been excited about this because we are transitioning from year of the rabbit to year of the dragon! No offense to people born under the sign of the rabbit especially my girlfriend but I was getting a bit tired of the fluffy bunny imagery that was everywhere during Spring Festival last year. Giant cartoonish rabbits were the main attraction at temple fairs. Now when I think about China, I think powerful! I think proud! I think exotic.  Remember most of my knowledge about China before I arrived was from kung fu movies. Somehow fluffy bunnies didn’t really hit me as a symbol that fit my ideas of China. Now a dragon! That’s more like it!! When I arrived I got a bankcard, which had a little bunny on it. If I had arrived this year I would have one with a dragon! Missed it by one year!

To me the dragon has always been a symbol for China. It must have been the earliest image I saw probably in a Bruce Lee movie poster. In fact, Bruce was the little dragon and Jackie Chan’s Mandarin name Cheng long means become a dragon. For some reason I could relate more to the Chinese version of a dragon than to the ones you see in English mythology. Chinese dragons don’t breathe fire and they don’t have wings. They usually sport beards and are a symbol of strength and wisdom. In fact a recent controversy arose over the year of the dragon stamp. The stamp depicts the dragon and it is really a strong image. The dragon has it’s mouth open as in a roar. To me it is a very cool symbolic icon. To some Chinese though, it sends the wrong message. Many Chinese people think the image is too aggressive. They want a cute cartoonish dragon. There was a story in China Daily about the controversy. "When I saw the design of the dragon stamp in a newspaper, I was almost scared to death," said one blogger. "The dragon on the stamp looks too ferocious," "It is roaring and intimidating," said another netizen . These were quotes from posts on Weibo.com a Chinese social media site.

New stamp 

Houtong bunny

I was surprised this was an issue but then I started to realize that there are fluffy bunnies and cartoon characters everywhere. What is China’s compulsion to have cute characters running around on the street. I have seen it at the Olympic Stadium, The mascots for the Olympics were beibei , jingjing, huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. They were the Fuwa or good luck dolls. They were going to be called the friendlies but the name was changed because of fear that the “Friendlies” name would be misinterpreted. The dragon was in consideration for the Fuwa as was a drum. Both powerful symbols but they lost out in the end. The Fuwa for the olympics consisted of a fish, panda, olympic flame, Tibetan antelope and a swift. They were all of course cute depictions of the animals.

The Fuwa. 

Where does this obsession with cute things come from I wonder? Why does China love cute?? I think a lot has to do with the panda. The panda is loved here. It is a lot like China itself. Powerful but friendly looking. They seem to be very concerned with the idea of being friendly. I have run into many Chinese people who when they find out I am from the U. S. comment on the fact that our two countries are friends. I see it especially with older people. I think many Chinese citizens are also very aware about possible fears other countries may have about China’s power. They are a huge country with a lot of money and resources. The stamp controversy sort speaks to that. Many would rather send out a “look, I am a dragon but a friendly one” kind of message than one of “look at how strong I am” kind of message.

                                                Mini in a houtong                  © Michael Paul Franklin

                                                    Mick at the bird's nest       © Michael Paul Franklin  

  

So we have cute animals and cartoon characters running around all over Beijing. I have run into people wearing bunny heads in houtongs, I have seen all sorts of imagery showing cute characters for almost everything. They even opened a Hello Kitty restaurant in Beijing. Talk about an overdose of cute!!! Ok so before you revoke my man card. Please realize that my career as a photojournalist made me curious. I that curiosity had a lot to do with my decision to join some friends at the Hello Kitty restaurant. I figured what the heck, it will be weird at least and funny at best. So I girded my loins and said bring on the kitty. If China does love cute, this is the place to find it in heaps.

The HK Dream Restaurant is more of a nightmare if you ask me!! I don’t think I am in the demographic they were aiming at but I am not sure what that demographic is supposed to be. The food is trying to be high-end. The décor is definitely little kid, stuffed animals, pink and full of bows and balloons. The poor waiters have to wear these ridiculous outfits and as I sat trying to look as manly as possible, I just thought, at least I don’t have to dress like that. I looked at the chefs working in the kitchen, which was also covered with images of the famous kitty and they just had this depressed look. They were probably thinking about how they will ever get another job after having this on their resume. The food was not great, in fact it was just bad. They were trying hard, too hard maybe. It seems like they are trying to create a western menu with fancy looking food but reviews have been universally bad. It had only been open a short time with lines out the door and already the crowds have thinned. Seems like Chinese people love cute but not cute with bad food.

Above photos  © Michael Paul Franklin

So welcome year of the dragon. I look forward to awesome images of dragons looking majestic, mysterious and strong. 

Oh man!!!???

HO HO HO, COUGH COUGH COUGH

Note:

I haven’t blogged much lately. Why you ask. Maybe you don’t ask but it is because of a woman. An amazing woman I started hanging out with and eventually fell in love with her. So who writes blogs when they are happy and exploring an amazing place with someone they care about. I had no time for blogging when I was busy living! Now she has moved back to the US to start a new job with the hope that job will lead her back to Beijing so for now I have time on my hands. I could spend that time going to bars and trying to forget that I miss her but instead I will try to be somewhat productive and engaged with my life in Beijing.

The stockings were all hung from the chimney with care, 

In hopes in the future we can still breathe the air. 

With apologies to Henry Livingston. 

I was in the US during the holidays, the first time back since moving to Beijing almost a year ago. Of course seeing family and a few friends was wonderful and the usual feelings of homesickness were present. I missed the warm weather (California had a warms spell during the holidays with temps in the 70s during the day). I missed the ocean and of course my family. Coming back home during the holidays also put a spotlight on one thing I had not thought about for some time. Consumption!

Wow everybody buying last minute Christmas presents. I thought that mall crowds would be much easier to take after living in a big city like Beijing where there are crowds for everything. I was wrong! After living away for a time, seeing the mad dash for buying everything you can get your hands on was strange to me. I had never looked at it with fresh eyes before. I started to want to rebel against it. I saw it everywhere.

I visited my brother’s house for Christmas. He has a large beutiful house but since he has four boys it seems reasonable. His wife has a penchant for decorating. Christmas seems to bring that out in heaps. There were stockings everywhere, a huge grouping of Santas wearing gold robes that covered a huge area, a huge Christmas tree with every inch covered with ribbons, ornaments etc. There were so many decorations in this one house that if you took them all and put them in a department store you would think…Wow they really did it up for Christmas! It was a winter wonderland. As I looked around it hit me! Is this is the reason I am breathing all that smog!!! Most of this stuff is probably made in China’s factories! Making the world look Christmasy is killing my lungs and those of millions of Chinese people! Then I turned inward. I brought a huge suitcase full of presents for each member of my huge family. All this consumption is causing the pollution I see the smog from my balcony every morning yet it also makes it possible for me to be able to afford giving presents to my family. I had found myself facing a huge quandary.  I have a job because of China’s financial success. That success thrives on the production of good ranging from technology to cheap crap that people want. That success is causing a dangerously unhealthy environment. Talk about being caught in the middle! I AM the middleman! I am part of the problem!

As American as Apple products. 

Here I am in the US. Buying things that were made in China and shipped over to the US to take back to use in China. Electronics are more expensive in China. For example the top level Ipad2 is about 118.00 more in Beijing than in California. They are made in China but consumers there have to pay an import tax because it is an American company I guess. Note: I am not an economist or even close. I can barely balance my checkbook so this is guesswork on the why part. Much of what is made in China is made purely for export so even if it is made here you can’t always buy it here.

You can’t forget the Chinese population here either. Now that they are starting to earn more money, they want to buy useless stuff just like we do! They want the newest and best gadgets in fact I am amazed at how many of my co-workers have the latest iphones, ipads, macbook air laptops etc. I could swear I heard a nation wide sob when Steve Jobs passed away! As the Chinese wage grows they will be wanting more and more. China is the largest exporter in the world but they are also the second largest importer of goods. This is confusing to me because it seems like everything is made here. What is left to import? I will have to look into that later. According to a website for Global Source, a business media company, China exports everything from Apple product to Whole foods 365 Organic products. When ABC news spotlighted that fact the store had a simple explanation, food doesn’t have to be grown in the US to be labeled “organic”. I remember a big uproar a few years ago when it was made known that millions of dollars worth of American flags were imported from China, Taiwan and South Korea. Even the new M.L. King monument in DC was made in China.

Sensory overload!

A visit to the Japanese store Ito Yokado in Beijing is a good entre into the desire for consumables. This is a four-story department story with a supermarket on the basement level. You walk in and are overcome with deafening music, people yelling at you to buy this and that. If you walk up to look at anything, you are instantly set upon by a sales representative talking to you in Mandarin at a very fast pace. I assume they are trying to tell me how good the product I am looking at is. Usually I say thanks and walk away but sometimes I wish I could just look at something in peace. I wonder how this strategy works for them. Maybe having someone come up to you and start yelling at you about how good a product is works for people in China but for me it’s a big turn off. It is worse in the supermarket section. In some isles there are two women standing like sentinels at the opening and as you approach they strike holding out some soap or liquid something and yelling at you to buy buy buy!! I think the real reason Gung fu started in China was to survive a day at the supermarket! There are times when I just turn around and walk out. I remind myself that one has to prepare for a trip to this store. Meditation, stretching, listening to whale sounds are a good start then some shadow boxing to practice defensive moves to fend off the soap sellers. Warm up preparation has to be built into the shopping experience!

So should I be trying to promote less consumption which would be essentially be risking my future employment? Should I be selfish and hope for more consumption so I can make more money for a long life in a world that has air you can’t breathe? What to do? I want clean air, I want money, I want a future for my children and grandchildren. Is there a way to have it all? I guess I could watch my consumption, hope that the Chinese government will take the steps they have said they would to help the pollution problem and hope that people around the world will also see that moderation may be a good idea. What is that saying, everything in moderation? 

Christmas time in Shanghai