Film Pick of the Week: Happy Times

I think I have said before that Zhang Yimou is my favorite Chinese director. His stories are full of beautiful realism, from the scripts to the cinematography. One of Zhang Yimou's lesser known films is one of my sentimental favorites. The 2000 film Happy Times. I adore this film because it is one of those films that captures present day China well. It seem that most Chinese films that we get in the U.S. deal with historical or mythical themes or are martial arts films. This film is none of the above. It is a film that is beautiful in it's bitersweetness, in its ability to make you laugh and pain you at the same time. Set in modern China, it certainly does help American audiences see the real China, with real people like us, with real desires like us, with real feelings like us, and with real fears like us. Happy Times is like a slow brewed cup of coffee. While it takes its time to get going, it is very worth it once the end product has been experienced. I highly recommend this film to all of you that will be experiencing China with us in July. Check out the trailer below...

Prill China Book Choice: Peter Hessler's Oracle Bones

As I say all of the time, in order to really understand a society and culture, it is necessary to look past politics and economics, and actually get to know the common people on the ground that are too often ignored and forgotten in history and in the media. Peter Hessler's 2006 book Oracle Bones does exactly that. Because I am currently reading this book, I am not able to give a full review of my own yet. However, I am enjoying it so much that I have to share it with you all now. This book really digs into 21st century society in China that Americans simply are not aware of. I will give a full review of this book upon completion of it, but until then, I give it my full recommendation for all of you traveling to China with us this summer. In the meantime, you can click here for the New York Times review of the book. I'll be back with the "Film Pick of the Week" next week. Also, just to remind everyone, our dinner is still on for Sunday, November 2 at 6:30 pm at Chin Chin on Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in Suwanee. I hope you all have a great week!

Day Two in Beijing Continues With a Visit to the Summer Palace

As if day one didn't have enough on the agenda, one of the highlights of our stay in Beijing, in addition to Tiananmen Square, will be a visit to the iconic Summer Palace. The huge regal encampment of the Summer Palace is one of the city's principle attractions. Once a playground for the imperial court eluding the insufferable summer swelter of the Forbidden City, today the palace grounds, its temples, gardens, pavilions, lakes and corridors teem with visitors. The site had long been a royal garden and was considerably enlarged and embellished by Qing Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century. Enlisting 100,000 labourers, he deepened and expanded Kunming Lake (Kūnmíng Hú) and reputedly surveyed imperial naval drills from a hilltop perch. Anglo-French troops badly damaged the buildings during the Second Opium War in 1860. Empress Dowager Cixi began a refit in 1888 with money flagged for a modern navy, indulging herself with the extravagant marble boat on the northern edge of the lake! The place is packed in the summer. Beijing residents take full advantage of Kunming Lake, which takes up three-quarters of the park. The graceful 17-arch bridge spans 150m to South Lake Island (Nánhú Dǎo) from the eastern shore of the lake. Cixi visited the island's Dragon King Temple (Lóngwáng Miào) to beseech the temple's statue for rain in times of drought. Of course, reading about the Summer Palace is one thing, but if you'd like to get a closer visual look now, along with some Chinese locals, take a few minutes to enjoy the video below!

Group Outing #1- Chin Chin, Suwanee

Hello all. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I'd like to take this opportunity once again to say how excited I am about traveling with this group in July. With group travel, there is always concern with some about not knowing anyone. In an effort to make sure nobody is a stranger by the time we take off, I would like to arrange small, simple outings for the group every 6 weeks or so. For the first group get-together, I think that dinner would be a good start. Since our tour is in China, Chinese food would be a logical choice. Chin Chin has been voted year after year to have the best Chinese food in Atlanta, and fortunately, we have a location right in Suwanee on the corner of Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road and Satellite Boulevard. Could we plan for dinner to be on Sunday, November 2nd at 6:30 pm [NOTE THE CHANGE]? How does that work for everyone? The address and menu information can be pulled up on this website. I look forward to seeing everyone there. If you do plan to come, could you please post on this blog that you are coming, and how many will be in your group so that I can reserve enough space. Thanks!

A Necessary Journey into the Forbidden City

After spending time in Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City (that is essentially attached to the square) is the next stop. The Forbidden City, so-called because it was off-limits to most of the world for 500 years, is the best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. The old world of concubines, emperors, eunuchs and conspicuous wealth still hovers over the lush gardens, courtyards, pavilions and great halls of the palace. Most of the buildings are post-18th century; there have been periodic losses due to an injudicious mix of lantern festivals and Gobi winds, invading Manchus and, in this century, pillaging and looting by both the Japanese forces and the Kuomintang. A permanent restoration squad takes about 10 years to renovate its 720,000 square metres, 800 buildings and 9000 rooms, by which time it's time to start all over again. The palatial former living quarters now function as museums. One thing that I personally think you may also find fascinating about the Forbidden City is the clear evidence of societal change in China. Even just outside of the Inner Court inside the Forbidden City itself is (no joke!) a Starbucks. My how things change. At any rate, this is truly one of the absolute highlights of the trip. As one traveler put it: "Walking into the Forbidden City through the Tiananmen Gate is simply one of the "I can't believe this is happening" moments of one life. The city itself is exactly that - a whole city within a city." Don't take my word for it though, see it for yourself on the official website of the Forbidden City by clicking here. You can actually take an online virtual tour on the site! Also, CCTV (China Central Television) has their 12 part documentary on the Forbidden City on the web for viewing (in English). You can link over to that by clicking here.

Film Pick of the Week: To Live

I will start off this discussion by saying without any apologies that this indeed one of my favorite Chinese language films of all time. Zhang Yimou's To Live is a complete work of art and beauty to this viewer. First of all, the acting is pitch perfect. Gong Li is one of the greatest actresses of our generation that few Americans know anything about (save possibly for her dynamic role in the otherwise flat and tepid Memoirs of a Geisha). Her character, Jiazhen, is beautifully portrayed, believable, and all-together heartbreaking. You Ge is also outstanding as Fugui, one of the best character studies that you'll see in Chinese film. As a character study, the film works fantastically well. Where To Live really shines though, in my opinion, is as a vivid historical piece of 20th century Chinese history that Americans are generally (and sadly) not exposed to. The first shining moment of the film where terms like masterpiece start popping into my head is during the Chinese Civil War. Zhang Yimou could have easily fallen into the trap of overproducing epic battle scenes, but instead he focuses in on the human aspect of war (something tragically missing from the majority of Hollywood blockbusters). We then go from Nationalist to Communist China after the war, and we get to see the vast changes that the country experiences through a single family. The emotions in the film are raw and brutally honest, especially as we see Fugui's children grow into adolescence and later adulthood, with all of life's setbacks and bad breaks, and all the while China's dramatic political serves as a important backdrop. The film's final scene is one of the painful reality as to where Mao had truly taken China by the Cultural Revolution. This film was banned for years in China and the final scene brings some sense as to why. I know of no other film that gives audiences such a candid look at the Cultural Revolution as this one does. Bernardo Bertolucci came close with The Last Emperor, but not even that grand acheivement is able to wring raw emotion from one's soul as does this film. When most adults and really all intellectuals have been ousted from their positions in society in a grand overhaul, what happens to society in general? Who will your doctors be? Should that be a real concern, especially in situations such as the delivery of a child? This is a film that explores those thoughts. It does this, remarkably, without ever being overtly judgemental and without shoving a message down the viewer's throat. That, and so much more, makes this film one of the unsung masterpieces of the 1990s. You can enjoy the trailer below.

Film Pick of the Week: Hero

Zhang Yimou is, in my opinion, China's greatest film director, living or dead. His films vary in tone, pacing, and story, but they are always powerful searches into the human condition. While most of his films are not involving the martial arts, probably his most famous (and most accessible) film to date is his 2002 film Hero starring Jet Li. The film is shot in the style of the 1950s Japanese film Rashomon, in which the story keeps changing depending on who is telling the story (a great lesson in POV my AP World students!). Aside from being an absorbing story and beautiful to look at, Hero takes place during the Era of Warring States and ends with the unification of China under (my boy!) Qin Shihuangdi. Although the history is not altogether accurate, nor does it attempt to be a historical drama, it's still enjoyable to see the connection to a big moment in our class, the birth of my son China. In any case, I will be highlighting many of Zhang Yimou's films over the next several weeks, but this is as good a film as any to start with. Below you can watch the trailer.

Starting Out At Tiananmen Square

I'm not sure if our journey in China should start any other way than to watch the sun rise over the legendary and famous Tiananmen Square. This square is the ultimate symbol of modern China! The world's largest public square, Tiananmen Square is a vast desert of paving stones at the heart of Běijīng. It may be a grandiose, Maoist tourist trap, but the view is breathtaking on a clear day and at nightfall. Kites flit through the sky, children stamp around and Chinese out-of-towners huddle together for the obligatory photo opportunity.

Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party, so it's all a bit Kim Il Sung-ish. During the Cultural Revolution the chairman reviewed parades of up to a million people here. In 1976 another million people jammed the square to pay their last respects to Mao. In 1989 army tanks and soldiers forced pro-democracy demonstrators out of the square.

Surrounding the square is a mishmash of monuments, past and present: the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the Museum of Chinese History and Museum of the Chinese Revolution, the Great Hall of the People, the Front Gate, the Chairman Mao Mausoleum, where you can purchase Mao memorabilia and catch a glimpse of the man himself (when his mortuary make-up isn't being refreshed), and the Monument to the People's Heroes. Truly, three decades after his passing, Mao Zedong continues to evoke radically different feelings among the Chinese. Was he the romantic poet-hero who helped the Chinese stand up? Or was he a monster whose wrenching policies caused the deaths of millions of people? Interestingly, the party's official position is that Mao was 70% correct and 30% incorrect. His critics, however, reverse this ratio. In any case, what better way to jump head first into China then to spend the morning at the house that Mao built, Tiananmen Square.

The State of the Group

Hello all! Some of you have been wondering who exactly will be traveling in the group to China in July 2009. As it stands right now, we have 19. It really looks like a solid group too! It's a nice mix of grade levels and personalities that should make this an incredibly dynamic group. As it stands right now, besides myself, Phil Prill, and Ms. Smith, this is the group:

1. Matthew Brown
2. Edith Carroll (parent)
3. Jackie Carroll
4. Kaylie Carroll
5. Cody Chesneau
6. Brett Childress
7. Alexa Corbit
8. Sean Denny
9. Ben Doty
10. Jake Hansard
11. Erika Levy
12. Catherine Lindke
13. Alec Livaditis
14. Tyler McCrary
15. Andrea Pettus
16. Kathleen Prengaman
17. Alex Williams
18. Robert Williams (parent)
19. Anthony Yi

Some of you may have already received a letter in the mail reminding you that this trip requires a visa. Let's wait another week or two to see if our group grows by a few more people, but let's start applying for the visas late this month or early next month. Our tour director has suggested that we all apply as a group at the same time. I'll be sending you some instructions regarding how we will do this in the next couple of weeks. It will be a rather smooth and organized process. Also, I would like to perhaps get us together as a group for dinner (Chinese right?) so that the participants can begin to get to know each other. I'll send more information out on this soon as well. I'm very excited, once again, about the group that we have so far, and hopefully will get a couple of more good additions in the coming days. Thanks everybody!