Nadav Kander’s photographic gallery Yangtze – The Long River catalogues the everyday living environment the Chinese live along the Yangtze River. Kander claims:
“China is a nation that appears to be severing its roots by destroying its past. Demolition and construction were everywhere on such a scale that I was unsure if what I was seeing was being built or destroyed, destroyed or built ... And yet, paradoxically, the Chinese have traditionally had a deep identification with their native soil and an attachment to place.”
I believe that there is a deeper message that Kander is trying to get at despite his current claim. After looking at a few of his photograph, I began to notice a recurring theme among some of his art. All the people seemed
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to be oblivious to their state of environment. For people who live outside of this area, it is shocking to see how much pollution is in the area, but the Chinese inhabitants along the Yangtze are completely unfazed by their very own polluted environment. This leads me to believe that it is very likely that Kander is trying to bring to the light the suppressive life the Chinese government imposes on his own people and that the current view of China is not quite what it seems. One photograph I believe shows this hidden message the best is Kander’s Sunday Afternoon. The image does not seem to have much depth or detail in a diversity of colors. Much of the image is encompassed by a surrounding smog atmosphere, giving a very strong feel towards this understanding that “China is destroying its past.” What I want to bring to attention first is the people in the image. Many of them are sitting happily around the tables along the river bank, some are fishing in the river, but what shocks me the most is the fact that these people are living their lives normally without any concern for their surroundings. This is probably the case because they have not seen what an unpolluted environment looks like. I believe Kander is trying to say that very much like how the environment is suppressing the peoples view of their environment, the government is suppressing the people’s view of the world. To add onto this, the smog shrouds the surrounding environment in absolute mystery.
Sure one can see the hillside and maybe a few buildings here and there, but nothing can really be made out due to the amount of smog in the area. This resembles the concealed nature of the inside of China. Kander further shows this comparison with many other motifs within his photo Sunday Afternoon. Moving back into focus on the people in the foreground, the people eating at the river bank would seem just like any other family picnic in many countries, but the looming bridge over the people along the river bank is what makes it different from what other family picnics would look like. I believe that Kander is trying to show that the Chinese government is controlling and “looming” over the nation’s people. Not only that, there is even more symbolism in the bridge itself. By closely looking at the bridge, the foundations of the bridge are poorly maintained and further structure of the bridge is dirty and rotten. This is most likely more symbolism as to what the Chinese government closely resembles towards other nations. The Chinese people see the bridge as a strong sturdy bridge, but an outside viewer will view this bridge as being improperly maintained. In addition to this, it almost seems as if the paint that is chipping off the bottom of the pillars look like scratch marks as if people clawed at them in attempt to climb up and escape the hell that they are in, yet the people have either accepted their fate or have simply forgotten what freedom actually is in reality. In addition to this, Kander has shown that there is no way to get up onto the bridge from down below. This most likely symbolizes the fact that the common folk are stuck at ground zero with not escape from their class structure while the government will continuously maintain control over its people with no concern of losing their
positions. But this image is not the only piece of artwork Kander has that shows themes similar to this. It is quite likely that Kander is trying to make some underlying claim about some view he has about the current state of China. Perhaps Kander is trying to point out the fact that even though the corrupt Communist China is still running the current People’s Republic of China. Either way, Kander’s Sunday Afternoon clearly depicts the suppressed nature of China’s people and how nothing is being done for them, despite the face to their lack of freedom.
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
The author talks about her living space in Shanghai, China, she shared a house with neighbors. “Though we had lived in this old three-story house in Shanghai for more than a year, I couldn’t map out the neighbors and where they resided” (Schmitt). She did not know where all her neighbors lived. Her living space was spacious and updated in the top floor of the house, but the author states “The other two floors remained as they had been during the height of Communism: cheap, basic and subdivided.”
The Great Wall of China, one of the world’s eight wonders, is one of the most famous feats of human architecture in the history of the world. This ancient marvel is not only a great spectacle, but is also significant in the shaping and molding of the China everyone knows today. The Great Wall of China allowed China to possess some of the longest lived governmental structures in the world by providing a means of protection against hostile nomadic groups and other warlike peoples. This allowed the lifespans of the dynasties-- lines of hereditary rulers who rule over a country for a long period of time-- inside the wall to be prolonged. This massive structure is therefore a key part of China’s history, influencing nearly every dynasty that ruled the region, since the rise of the first emperor.
“‘If you sell the land, it is the end.’” (360). There is absolute truth in these words, if one was in rural, turn-of-the-century China. These wise words, quoted by the main character Wang Lung, come from Pearl S. Buck’s enlightening historical fiction, The Good Earth. In the story, Wang Lung, a poor young farmer, marries a slave of the powerful Hwang family, O-lan. Together, they face hardships and triumphs, prosperity and famine, along with the birth of their three sons and two girls (the fifth child died of strangulation). Throughout Wang Lung’s life, he evolves dramatically in response to the many challenges he faces. In particular, his wealth, idea of women, and the earth itself change Wang Lung’s attitude and point of view as he rises in the social classes of China.
...he repetition of history is an important component of the development of Chinese culture and society.
In traditional Chinese culture, there has always been a strong connection with the earth. The earth gives life and helps to sustain it, and in the end the earth is where you return. For Wang Lung, this was a concept easily grasped. He loved the land, and even in his rise to power, his connection to it remained. When he was most at peace, he was working the land. The times he grew restless were those when he was unable to farm.
I see the three bodies in his painting as people falling from the 110th floor of the South Tower. I see the broken debris and splintered wood as pieces of steel and glass collapsing to the ground, taking firefighters and innocent people with it.
The construction of a wall is often a sign of decline in a civilization. This statement remains true for Asia. Unfortunately Qin Shi Huang’s lack of a real strategy from to prevent further attacks will soon give way to the fall of Asia and it's long lasting empire.
The Chinese people experienced rapid changes, in government and their own culture in the 20th century. In the book, Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, she depicts the experiences of not only oppression and suffering, but the development of the communist revolution, under Mao. Also, to show how the Chinese people, women in particular, fought against impossible odds by interweaving historical and personal stories from the twentieth century China.
Voiced at mid-century, this statement paradoxically depicts the Chinese as both "enveloped" by backwardness, yet capable of reform and progress; as ignorant, superstitious, and characterized as pest-like "vast hordes of populations," yet also seen as equal partners with the British in a "mutual intercourse." This varied and contradictory opinion could just have easily been voiced at the end of the nineteenth century. In a way, this statement can be seen as representative of the history or, more accurately, the story of the relationship between ...
and Culture of China-US Relations.." CHINA US Focus Urbanization Chinas New Driving Force Comments. N.p., 30 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. .
The bridge is a metaphor. A bridge connects two places together but keeps them separate. It shows you ‘a’ view from where you are, you can see in front of you and behind you. It is the bridge in New York which connects Manhattan and Brooklyn, two different communities which are connected but are kept apart.
..., he acknowledges and reinterprets traditional Chinese art in his works. This is his mode of expression via shanshui tradition, and his ways of thinking, viewing and perceiving are infiltrated by the literati ethos. He works in the computer with his countless digital photographs, he creates virtual city landscape, combining the countless small format snapshots in a way that imitate the characteristic structure and composition of the classical shanshui. In his works, we can see that it always visualizes how China is developing and illustrates the consequences of modernization, globalization and the destruction of China’s ecological equilibrium caused by the speedy growth of its megacities over the past few decades. Yang said, “ The media… is not important, no matter what method you use to create, to maintain the creative spirit of the ancients is the most import.”1
The classic novel, The Good Earth, is such a fascinating and pleasantly engaging as it communicates the interesting livelihood of a young man living in China, along with his old father, in a desperate search to discover his place within society. The book is captivating and draws the reader in to want to learn more about this foreign life. The characters within the story line are constantly evolving with fullness of personality that personalities could leap from the pages. If anyone has ever wondered about what the culture in China is like, then reading The Good Earth is undoubtedly a novel that assists in painting a vivid picture of China and its people in an individual’s mind. One of the main characters in the novel is Wang Lung. He is a farmer whose primary concern is cultivating his land and acquiring more of it. This land produced rich soil that inhaled the rainwater to produce a harvest to feed, clothe and shelter Wang Lung and his family. When Wang Lung worked and plowed his land, he was content and overjoyed with pride. His story is also tells of the ability and power what a focused mind can accomplish. Not only does Wang Lung’s story inspire accomplishments as a result of his wealth, but it also shares his strongholds of lust, deception, pride and greed. Initially, Wang Lung desired to maintain secrecy about monies he would earn for he and his family. However, eventually, he did mind broadcasting his wealth by adding additional bedrooms to his home, desiring his youngest daughter’s feet bound and purchasing a concubine. Men of wealth were well respected in China for they were considered to have good fortune as a result of their riches of land, jewels, silver, gold, fine c...
The upper course of the Yangtze begins in the Tibetan Highlands and flows through a spacious scenic valley spotted with lakes and resivours. At the end of the Highlands the river character changes. It descends from the great altitudes and winds it's way South of Pe-yen-ka'a-la Shan.