Random and Tacky Statues

Today Leah and I went to a “Theme Park” within our big city park. In English, it is called “Dream Garden.” For the most part, the flowers were very pretty, there was quite a bit newly planted and we saw workers planting more. The lavender fields were especially beautiful. There was a nice looking new waterpark area, a small amusement park area where we rode the carousel :-), and much more! Then…as in many Chinese theme parks, they had random statues scattered around the park, most of which were quite tacky! Starting with the picture at the top left, you see me with the Smurfs, or lán jīng líng (Blue fairy spirits). They were right next to Pleasant Goat and his crew, and Winnie the Pooh and friends were just down the road. Then there was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Prince, standing in front of what looked like a Russian Orthodox style building (???). The Statue of Liberty, not bad looking, but still rather random, about as tall as me, was along a road in front of another garden area, across from the Great Wall replica! The last picture is of a waterfall at the main entrance, quite nice, with waterwheels, red lanterns, and a flower area in front of it with….. penguins???? There was also a “Pigeon Square” which the map labelled as “Square Pigeons” …. We checked, but only found normal looking pigeons :-)

Chubby Women #2 Mother and Child Sculpture

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

Life in China: A Picture A Day, March 13, 2016

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 ;-)

 

Chubby Women Sculpture #1

Life in China: A Picture a Day 2016, Feb 5 - I have seen three sculptures around the lake that have caught my eye as something different for China. Usually, women are portrayed as very petite, so I was curious about these. I have been looking for information about them and was so excited that I finally found it! It turns out that they are a part of a well-known series, from 2010, by Xu Hong Fei 許鴻飛, president of the Guangzhou Sculpture Academy. He did the series because he wanted to challenge Western ideals of beauty. “His ‘Chubby Women’ are not limited by their size and enjoy active and fulfilling lives.” The statue series have made a couple world tours and have been loved! So, here is the first one I saw at Songshan Lake, titled “Under the Sun.” As I explore more of the lake, I expect to find more statues!

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