Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, December 14 – This is the 5th and I think the last of the Chubby Women statue series around Songshan Lake. There are many more in the series in other places though. This is the series by the sculptor named Xu Hong Fei, from Guangzhou. You can see the other four on my blog here: http://www.myownchinesebrocade.com/picture-a-day-1?tag=Xu+Hong+Fei
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 28 – The neccessary elements of a Chinese garden are: water, architecture, plants, and rocks. Often walls and winding paths are also included. Different types of rocks serve different purposes, but one of the most treasured types of rocks are unique limestone formations. The most famous gardens have rocks from a place called Tai Lake (Taihu), which is near Suzhou, where there are many famous classical gardens. This picture shows a limestone rock formation near the Lotus Pavilion in Songshan Lake. It looks like the Taihu rocks I’ve seen in Suzhou, but I really don’t know, I’m no rock expert! I included Leah in the picture so you could see the size of the rock. Rock formations like these are actually considered to be “sculptures.” There are also many smaller rocks of different kinds around the park, and also, all of the much smaller ones that make up the footpaths I posted a picture of back in May. It seems rocks in Chinese gardens are basically equivalent to flower plantings in Western gardens. We also have a specific Rock Garden near us. Here is a 5 minute video about a replica of a Classical Chinese garden in New York City. It tells a lot about the meaning of rocks in Chinese gardens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttb2UtMUbIU
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, August 4 – Even if you haven’t been to China you may know about Chinese guardian lions or “shi,” also called stone lions “shi shi” (shrrr shrrr), “Imperial guardian lions,” and in English “foo (fu) dogs or foo (fu) lions.” What most people don’t realize unless they come to China is how common these lions really are! Most large banks and many other places like temples, hotels, businesses, etc. have them at their entrances, whether walk-in doors or drive-in gates. These lions are used because they symbolize power, have traditionally been used to provide protection, and are for decoration. Historically, they have been used for over 2000 years, and were only allowed to be used in official places and homes of high officials. The number of bumps on their heads, representing their hair, indicated rank. As you can see, there are different styles of lions, ranging from more realistic looking to the mythical look. They have their eyes wide open “watching” and their mouths are open as if roaring. Lions are always displayed in pairs and usually there is a male and a female. The male is on the left and has a ball under its paw, which represented the globe and the emperors rulership. The female, on the right, has a cub under her paw. Sometimes, guardian lions are made of other materials like bronze or marble, and in the lower left picture, you can see a modern day inflatable guardian lion! I always thought the common occurrence of lions in Chinese culture was interesting considering lions are not native to China. The use of stone lions supposedly arrived with the introduction of Buddhism.
I’d like to share another one of Xu Hongfei’s Chubby Women sculpture series that are along the shoreline of Songshan Lake. This one is called “Mother and Child”; There are quite a few in the series with mothers and babies or small children, but I think this one shows a much more tender side where the others are more “fun.” The description on the base says how a child needs his mother’s loving care in order to grow up healthy.
I found a great video on You Tube (13 minutes long) that shows footage from Xu Hongfei’s 2013-2015 Chubby Women International Sculpture Tour with exhibtions in Guangzhou, Florence and Sicily in Italy, Australia, London, Singapore, and Beijing, and also shows him working in his studio. It’s fun to see the people interacting with the sculptures. I think I’ll have to go sit by some of these sculptures on a busy weekend and see what people do :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8anOkimBc6M&nohtml5=False
The first sculpture picture I shared was on Feb 5th http://www.myownchinesebrocade.com/picture-a-day-1?tag=statues
The arts have been, and still are, very important throughout China’s history. Sculpture is included and can be found in many parks and gardens, as well as museums and more. The housing area where we live, as well as the public areas of Songshan Lake, have quite a few sculptures. Today’s pictures show two areas of the same style of sculptures: The larger group of children, seven in all, is between the largest playground and a small lake. I really like these because even when the weather isn’t so nice and the real children aren’t out playing, these children are :-) They kind of draw you in and make you wish you could go play with them. The boy and the dog are off to the side of the building we live in. I enjoyed “catching” the bird on the boy’s head, it probably even left some droppings, so the boy has good luck now ;-)
