Modern Cold Industrialisation Ltd.

Poor loves, poor truth

2008-12-15T15:37:00.003+08:00

Kingsnorth Power Station policing injuries revealed by The Guardian
Those Kingsnorth police injuries in full: six insect bites and a toothache
- Kent force admits no officers hurt by protests
- £5.9m police operation 'colossal waste of money'

Thank god for the UK's Freedom of Information Act, albeit limited in its scope.

Read the full story here

The fast twist into winter

2008-12-14T05:38:00.004+08:00

Hove beach at dusk
Nine days till the shortest day of the year but I know the longest days are still to come. Post-Christmas we begin the grim haul through real winter, when spring seems a lifetime away and the light cannot return quickly enough.

But on Hove beach there is still life; walkers on the front, fishermen, dog owners doing their duty and exercising their keeps. There is still life, and life is still. Some peace here, with my camera and my son, in the cold and sharp of dusk.

It's been a bustling, busy summer; a busy year all-told. I'm ready for the rest and reset of Christmas and New Year. 2009 stands open before me and I have hope and love in my heart. I don't wish for more.

Gliding on the Downs

2008-05-07T03:09:00.007+08:00

High on Devils Dyke
Rising up behind Brighton & Hove are the South Downs, a 70-mile line of hills that protect the fields of southern England from the buffeting of sea winds. The site of many Neolithic settlements, it's easy to see why ancient Britons favoured such a spectacular vantage point. They must have felt like the whole world lay at their feet.

Now held in the National Trust, the area is popular with walkers, day trippers eager to escape the town, and with modern ancient Britons...

Some of the shapes and patterns in the land (both natural and man-made) reminded me a little of Alex MacLean's superb aerial photography. (Designs on the Land is very fine.)

Nice location for a spot of cricket, wouldn't you say, old bean?

Curvaceous, yellow:

It's an easy ride out of Brighton (on the number 77 bus) to some of the best views the UK has to offer. Map link here.

Kids these days

2008-04-15T04:32:00.007+08:00

Or how stories about the bogeyman can backfire

According to this report from the Guardian, 'Children as young as 10 may be posing as predatory paedophiles on internet networking sites to frighten boys and girls they have fallen out with, police revealed yesterday.'

I mean seriously, in a world where members of the government have clearly never been online or sent an email, how are they supposed to respond to stories like this? They must feel lost - which frankly they deserve.

Seems like kids are, as ever, smarter than adults think, and they don't believe the hype. I'm not saying paedophiles aren't a problem in UK society - just that overblown media-led panic and reaction are. It's good to read that kids are relieving all that pressure in the way they know best: by laughing at it, and us.

Bird shoot

2008-04-06T15:57:00.006+08:00

A weekend in the country
Spent a couple of happy days exploring the Cotswolds with friends. Visited a falconry centre; some amazing birds - and interesting to learn a little about how they're trained, and how their trainers think. The birds are in captivity, yet roam free - seemingly tempted back by the steady supply of food. They're supremely handsome creatures:

Not sure I'd be cool with one on my arm...

We also visited Blenheim Palace, a vast, impressive and vaguely ungainly lump of a place, built by Queen Anne as a gift for the First Duke of Marlborough following his victory at the battle of Blindheim (Blenheim). As you do. The house and 2000 acres of park land are well worth a visit, although you can't help think that the historical tour of the place would be better under National Trust rather than Marlborough family stewardship.

The late-winter light wrapped coldly around the naked trees, reminding me of other branches, on the other side of the world.

Post 100

2008-04-05T16:17:00.007+08:00

Life realigned? Priorities adjusted?
It's taken around one-and-a-half years to reach 100 posts on this blog, in which time I have:

Started a family (well, almost: the kid is due 1st May)
Fallen deeper in love
Lived abroad for the first time
Quit a job I hated
Started a job I love
Learned (some of) a foreign language
Become less materialistic
Become more artistic
Read some fine books
Played some great games
Spent time with great friends
Seen the world in a different light
Seen myself in a different light

I feel that time runs short; seeing more of the world and of myself leaves me hungry for life. Each day could last twice over and still I would wish for more time.

According to the media, China arches and groans in the east but all I remember are smiles and warmth - once again proving that a government is not made of a country's people but of abstract concepts that often disconnect from humanity. Society is just an idea. We miss China, but what I'm doing now feels important (to me; for me), and E, thankfully, understands.

And so, here on the turn of 100, with the arrival of our first child just weeks away, I wait and work, excited, nervous and alive.

Change

2008-03-20T03:12:00.017+08:00

I want to believe it can happen
He may be God Squad, but if I was American I know where my vote would be going in this year's elections...

...I just worry how long it'll take him to right the wrongs of the last eight years. Moreover, I still look back mournfully, and with the scar of accumulated wisdom, at the copy of the Guardian I kept from Labour's 1997 UK election victory.

Alive, alive o

2008-03-13T03:06:00.006+08:00

Brighton beach and pier
Stony, scrambling, clattering Brighton beach, sat beneath the rusting web of the pier. Above, shove ha'penny and knock-down-can games tease amid usual suspect doughnut, candy floss and chip boxes. I love the steamship ironwork propping up the riot above.

Friends' kids.

Recycling.

Family.

Honkers

2008-03-04T04:03:00.004+08:00

Brief shots from an all-too-brief stay in Hong Kong
Won't ramble on here; just posting the pics from our stopover in Hong Kong last year. Am trying to clear the backlog so that I can get up-to-date and post a few things from UK life.

The MTR snakes cleanly through, around and under the city; truly great public transport.

The obligatory one of the Peak...

And on the ferry...

And of the, er, 'Feral Pigeons' warning notice...

Golden days

2008-01-28T21:17:00.000+08:00

Back in October
We're three on the Great Wall - E, my brother and I. It's late autumn and the roar of golden days burns around us as the leaves sizzle and die on their limbs. Perfect blue skies. We're in heaven, truly. All is peace and we're lost in thought as the wonder of the day washes over us. Couldn't have wished for a better final visit - none of us wants to leave.

Burnt out by the beauty of it all, we glide home in silence.

Under blackening skies

2008-01-28T05:55:00.000+08:00

Into Tiger Leaping Gorge
Mountain ridges like torn edges of sky, broken right across your mind in violent jags, rising above as gods. Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the most epic, raw and beautiful places I've ever seen, was one of the stops on our tour of southern China in November 2007. It rained, it was pretty chilly, and pounding down the single track unmade road in a mian bao (bread van - a Bedford Rascal) was fucking terrifying at times. But it was worth it.

House at the end of the world...

As the journey deepened, the heart of the valley reveals itself to be ancient terraces, carved from the steep slopes through generations of hard work.

The view out of the van window:

And the van itself:

Fast days

2008-01-28T05:02:00.000+08:00

I've been somewhat remiss
And not posted for a hell of a long time. We've moved house, which has swallowed the usual amount of time that such changes do, and seem to have spent the last month shuttling between home decoration stores. Oh, and my new job's been quite busy too.

Anyway, things are a little calmer now - if just as expectant - and generally fine. So without further ado, some more pictures...

Bright Moon

2007-12-06T06:29:00.000+08:00

Feeling outside in Yangshuo
Resting on plains amid rudely angled karst rock formations, Yangshuo ('Bright Moon') and its surrounding villages lie in China's Guangxi province. With Vietnam lying to its southern border, the district and its people are both metaphorically and literally a long way from Beijing. The local dialects dance in beats of complex, staccato patterns and pops that sound almost unrelated to Mandarin.

We stayed at the Outside Inn, a hostel created by a Dutchman working in partnership with local people, using local labour and local materials. It felt like a success, forming a refuge for traditional adobe brick architecture amid new-built concrete housing.

High on the tourist agenda, whether you're a laowai or a local, is to take a river cruise on a bamboo (or mock bamboo) raft.

Indiana Jones eat your heart out...

The area where we took our trip upstream graces the back of a 20RMB (£1.33) note.

I loved the colours in the bamboo; from a distance the green leaves were so bright they looked unnatural.

This is where we stayed, which was fine and comfortable, bar the arrival of an unexpected arachnid guest who made the last night rather less restful that we would have liked...

Lots of these things chugging around, their diesel engines maxing-out at perhaps, ooh, five or six revs per minute. The deluxe version ships with four wheels to drive and one to steer with; the entry level makes do with three wheels on the road and handlebar controls. Sturdy, at the least:

Walking back from town after dinner as the sun bleached between the mountains:

My eyes cannot hold all the light

2007-11-30T04:57:00.000+08:00

I'm blind but still staring
Yulong Xue Shan, an hour's drive out of Lijiang, Yunnan province, is a fairly serious peak by English standards but only a warm-up compared to the towers brooding deep into Tibet. Still, rising 2Km up a cable car left me stolen of breath for both the lack of oxygen and the visual thrill that awaited me.

A slow-stepped climb to the highest viewing platform, up at 4680m (15380ft), rewarded my labours with some of the most amazing views I may ever see.

I can't really describe how sharp, how clear, how crisp and clean the views were. It blew my mind, burnt my eyes; left razor-cut lines in my retinas.

On the drive home the peaks echoed a slow call to return.

Back in the UKKR

2007-11-28T13:31:00.000+08:00

Home but not home. Not yet
Back to the land that never smiles. Back to the high street, knee-deep in worthless, plastic gizmos and trinkets. Back to Christmas. Back to rampant, soulless consumerism. Back to people buying their way to happiness but never getting there. And back to grey, back to damp, back to long winter nights.

But also back to the promise of long summer evenings. Back to the seaside, back to fresh air. Back to calls from family and friends with cheery welcomes. Back to winding streets and lazy gulls. Back to the old that's also new. Back to another turn in life's road. Back to figuring out what's next, what's best. Back to figuring out where we fit into English life.

And for me, in about four hours from now, back to work.

The high road

2007-11-27T13:37:00.000+08:00

Lijiang, Yunnan province, in the foothills of the Himalayas
Imagine waking to this view every morning, before heading down to eat breakfast of local bread and fruit while being serenaded with traditional Chinese folk music.

That's part of the experience on offer when you stay in the old Naxi folk town of Lijiang (we stayed at the Zen Garden Hotel for 400RMB/ £27 per night for two).

The town's Black Dragon Pool Park offered some of the most picture postcard views of 'old China' we've ever encountered.

Climbing the hills behind the park gave access to a breathtaking view of the park, the new section of Lijiang, and the surrounding mountains. Much of the town was destroyed in a 1996 earthquake; I can only guess at how atmospheric it must once have been. Click the panorama to see a large version:

At night the warm light from hundreds of red lanterns catches in the fresh mountain streams that run beside the town's streets. Less fittingly, cheesy techno pounds from some of the local drinking establishments. But despite large numbers of tourists and endless shops aiming to sell 'ethnic' wares to the streams of visitors, Lijiang still delivered countless memorable images and moments.

Nothing stays the same

2007-11-27T12:30:00.000+08:00

And sometimes you don't want it to
Something almost indescribably brilliant is happening: E and I are going to be parents. I cannot really express how good it feels, nor how lucky I am to be in love with such an amazing person to create this life with. If ever a baby was born out of love, this is it.

So nothing will be the same, or is the same. We've left Beijing, departing from which was one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever had to do, to return to the UK for the arrival of 'junior'. I've taken up a position at a really cool games company in Brighton, where I start in a couple of days, and we have moved to live at the English seaside. I know we're doing the right thing, even if it was incredibly hard to leave China, and I equally know that we'll be back there, one day, somewhere, somehow.

Living in Beijing was one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. I feel like it was the place where I finished growing up - and where I reconnected with the 'real me', after losing myself in the glaze and bullshit of London. The subtitle to this blog proved an accurate prediction - an accurate hope, perhaps. I've had my life realigned and my priorities adjusted, and I'm a better man for it.

Before we left China, we went on a two-week tour of three superb locations in the south of the country: Lijiang, which sits in Yunnan province, close to Tibet; Yangshuo, which is in Guangxi province, close to Vietnam; and to Hong Kong, which is of course off the southwest coast of the mainland. I'll post some pictures from those places after this 'comeback' piece.

Oh, and I bought a new camera, a Canon 400D with a Sigma 18-200mm lens. It's a lovely thing, and I've been using it with gusto. Hope you like the results.

Read it and weep

2007-10-19T20:04:00.000+08:00

The mad leading the blind

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2195043,00.html

'Mr Blair received three standing ovations during his address to an audience of powerful New Yorkers, including Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the News Corporation, and mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He said that violent extremism was a "perversion of the proper faith of Islam", which used "demonic skill" to exploite genuine grievances and fears held by Muslims around the world.'

Barred and bared

2007-10-15T07:37:00.000+08:00

Day trip to Beijing Zoo
The powers that be are having fun with the internet at the moment, so my connection to various Western sites has been up and down, hence the lack of recent posts. Clearly, one can see the issue with Blogger. Quite why Autotrader has been targeted too is more puzzling.

I want to preface this post by saying that despite down-mouthed comments in the guidebooks about Beijing Zoo being 'depressing', we found it to be to the contrary. In fact, compared to London Zoo, several animals had larger, better considered enclosures. The only parts that might be considered 'depressing' are the galleries that needed external (i.e. human-facing) refurbishment). Simply put, I could have taken these pictures anywhere; the first three are reflective of zoo life anywhere in the world - about the objectification of natural life.

Less acceptable was the poor policing of the zoo, with Chinese visitors happily tossing biscuits to the gibbons and feeding leaves to the herbivores. Banging on the glass in the penguin room, while three attendants lazed nearby, was saddening to see too.

I couldn't find a specific collective noun for gibbons, so we can either go with troop (from monkeys) or whoop (from gorillas). I prefer the latter.

I kind of had to have a panda picture in here. The pandas at Beijing Zoo get a nice, large enclosure near the entrance, which is fine apart from the alien landing of some old rusty furniture in their grass areas outside.

These guys were cool (excuse my complete ignorance of what species this is; I forgot to check). The giraffes had a huge enclosure - perhaps four or five times the space they have in London.

If you happen to be in Beijing and reading this, and pondering a trip, then I'd say go. We enjoyed it. The (very modern) aquarium is good too, although perhaps not worth the extra 80RMB it costs on top of the 20RMB zoo ticket. Having said that, the shark tank there is pretty spectacular, with its convex view holes that wrap the tank's inhabitants around your head.

Beijing's Big Builds

2007-09-23T10:54:00.000+08:00

Towering achievements
A quick apology to my regular readers - all three of you - we've had lots of guests, done a little travelling, and been, well, just quite busy over the last month. I have a few things to post, but let's start with an update on some of Beijing's biggest pre-Olympic building projects.

The CCTV tower is coming together pretty well, although since I took these pictures last month things don't seem to have progressed far since. Considering the Olympic sports news is supposed to be being broadcast from this building, they'd better get cracking...

...that said, it's climbed a long way since I last shot it, back in April. Meanwhile, Beijing's new megatower - already the tallest building in the city - looms somewhat ominously over the skyline:

The steel screens have been removed from around the huge, new, titanium and glass concert dome. Despite some local concerns about the design, I think it's ended up a stunner. The second shot was taken before they filled the huge (but shallow) moat that surrounds it; to enter the dome you pass through a walkway beneath the water.

But the one that I'm really looking forward to, shown below in situ on the Beijing planning office model, is the Olympic stadium, the 'birds nest'. Having managed to catch a first sight of it last week as we sat in traffic on the fourth ring road, I can honestly say it is one of the most breath-taking, most beautiful, most amazing buildings I've ever seen. The grace of the curves, the tangle of symmetry and asymmetry... It's a true landmark creation, and - at least from a distance - a masterpiece.

On the flipside of the news

2007-08-13T12:24:00.000+08:00

The Beijing pollution story you probably won't have read
The BBC and other Western news sources love to run stories about how bad the pollution is in Beijing, and how 'ordinary people' in the city are not excited about the Olympics. I ran one about the pollution too, a couple of posts ago.

However, the story you probably won't read on the BBC is that the Chinese government's trial measures to improve the air quality - at least in the short-term - appear to have worked. One million cars have been banned from the streets, factories have been closed... And the skies have been clear and blue for three days straight now. The air is certainly no worse than it ever was in Los Angeles when I visited there (which I did at least ten times).

To celebrate the sunshine we went for a bike ride down to Longtan Park, which was built in 1952 in an act of post-revolutionary fervour. We sort of ended up there by accident after meandering across the south side of the city for a while. As one does in parks, we bought a lollipop and sat under some willows for a while, enjoying the peace.

A spot of revolutionary flower watering...

The propagandist ways of Western media are often subtle; it's in the language; in the choice of stories; in the tone of writing about country verses that for another. China seems frowned upon, fundamentally, for being non-democratic. Yes, of course there are problems here, but it feels like, to some degree, the country is trying, is aware, knows that it has to change.

But when was the last time you read or saw a really negative story about the other Asian giant, India? Just because it is democratic, does that mean the caste system is fine? Or its massive birthrate (that is set to make it the most-populous nation on Earth by 2050) isn't an issue? Or its nuclear armaments? Or its religious divide? Or the fact that thousands of British jobs have been 'outsourced' to India? Or the country's massive social inequalities? Or its occupation of half of Kashmir?

I think that there's a tinge of post-colonial guilt that colours the way the British write about India. When writing about China, it's easier to take off the gloves and give the country a good beating, whenever possible, because back home no-one cares if you do.

365

2007-08-09T11:42:00.000+08:00

Beijing celebrates the Olympic countdown
But only if you were an invited guest. For the rest of us... Well, there were the police to keep us company as we tried to head down to Tiananmen Square and join in.

There was a moment of elation as 8pm (the start time for the Olympics on 8th August 2008) rolled around and a wall of fireworks erupted over the entrance to the Forbidden City...

...which rapidly subsided along with the sparks, which died down within a couple of minutes. Chinese New Year, sorry, 'Spring Festival' was mind-blowing; in comparison this was a damp squib.

To be fair, the cops did a pretty good job of staying chilled in the face of about 10,000 people trying to walk down Chang'an Avenue. I can actually well imagine British police being heavier-handed at a time like this.

They did bring in the heavy-duty Penfold Squad (below right; click image to zoom), which obviously struck fear into the crowd.

Probably a third to half of the crowd were capturing events on mobile phones and digital cameras, while news media filmed back. I wonder how technology changed the approach to policing at moments like this?

367 days to go

2007-08-06T16:28:00.001+08:00

Thank God they've sorted out the pollu... Er...
One million cars (a third of the total) are supposedly being banned from Beijing's streets for two weeks from tomorrow, as an experiment to see whether it'll work for the Olympics in 2008. Factories have been or are being moved; power stations closed down; building work is allegedly to halt by the end of this year. Beijing will need all that and more if it is not to be blanketed in catastrophic pollution on 8th August 2008.

The pollution has been foul for weeks now. Looking out of the window today, I feel strangely skeptical about prospects for next year.

Another place

2007-08-06T16:08:00.000+08:00

Crosby Beach, Liverpool
Skies so blue they burn your eyes; echoes etched to call you back. This is natural. This is nature. People retire to the seaside to bask in melancholy breezes such as this. I don't blame them. Buy me a sailboat and I'll be there too.

While we were back in the UK, we took a stroll along Crosby Beach, firstly to see Anthony Gormley's Another Place installation. You can read a bit about his 100 steel figures on Wikipedia or on the artist's own website. I loved the ones with decay; rust and barnacles on their chests, silt and driftwood around their toes.

Ah, but secondly for the beach itself - and by the end, firstly. Too fresh, too sunny, too gentle the wind. I close my eyes and I'm there now.

Some days are just made for looking.

5,000 miles and the red flags still fly.

Messing about on the river

2007-07-26T18:06:00.000+08:00

Taking a canal side ride
Apols for the long delay between posts; we were back in the UK catching up with family and friends. One of our stops was in Leamington Spa where the sun shone hard enough to leave us tanned and slightly dazed. Spending the afternoon on a canal side cycle ride was a nice way to readjust to and reacquaint ourselves with the English countryside. Cameraphone pics don't look too bad in black & white...

I always find aqueducts a slightly bizarre place to be.

More soon... I promise...

In a jam

2007-06-28T09:40:00.000+08:00

Gotta love Chinese driving

In London you'd get knifed for this kind of thing; in Beijing it's just an everyday occurrence. People just sort of... drift. There's no malicious intent involved, no deliberate cutting-up: the Chinese are just clueless drivers.

Wandering cars blocking three lanes of traffic; kangarooing on the clutch when anything sudden happens; seventeen point turns in the middle of main roads; forming extra lanes if the one they're in is moving too slowly; happily joining vast traffic jams on main roads while side roads sit empty: these things are all facts of Beijing driving life.

With 3.5 million cars on Beijing's roads and another thousand joining them every day, the task of training all those new drivers must simply be too huge to manage. Because they truly are utterly hopeless behind the wheel.

The silliest thing of all is that there are loads of proper bike lanes in Beijing (not like the ones that get parked on in London), the land is totally flat, and it hardly ever rains. It's a great city to cycle around... But cars are signs of prosperity and everyone wants one. Sad, isn't it?

All timed out

2007-06-24T10:31:00.000+08:00

Living in one country, one time zone
Unlike the States, where the landmass is covered by four time zones, equally-broad China (presumably as part of some ideological concept of national unity) runs a single time zone for the entire country. There is also no implementation of daylight time savings, meaning that we're perhaps two hours adrift of times that would feel 'natural'.

The practical upshot of this is that - just past the summer equinox - we are are witnessing dawn at 4.30am and dusk at 7pm. Which is quite odd; I keep waking at 6am, unable to sleep because of the light pouring around the curtains' edges.

The single time zone also has a vaguely crippling effect on Beijing's night life. A two-hour shift would create dawn at 6.30am and dusk at 9pm, giving rise to summer evenings of the kind that the English summertime so enjoyable.

Splitting China into time zone slices would also give some relief to the inhabitants of Tibet, where dawn often comes at 9am or later. Mostly, however, warm though the nights here are, it would be a real pleasure to be able to stroll Beijing's streets under summer evening sunshine... And not to wake at 6am.

One more from the road

2007-06-23T20:51:00.001+08:00

A few pictures from recent excursions
Being asked very politely if we would mind posing for a photograph:

Emergency rescue:

Respite and exhilaration on the Great Wall:

Not available from Ikea:

Blocked... And busy

2007-06-19T11:56:00.000+08:00

Got so much trouble on my mind
Sorry for the lack of recent updates. All is well here in the B-J. Blogspot (along with every photo on Flickr) appears to be blocked again (sigh). On top of that, I'm super-busy with a new project. More on that when there's more on that. Hope you're all well. Back soon with some new postings...

Back to Beihei

2007-05-29T19:29:00.000+08:00

Lapping the lake shore
We had a couple of really pleasant strolls around the shore of Beijing's Beihei Park lake while our guest were in town. It's so peaceful there, with the wind blowing calm, cool air from the water as dream-like shards of light catch its surface.

This is the view directly north from the top of the White Pagoda to Beijing's (controversially styled) new concert venue.

Peaceful work.

Beautiful trees, with late-spring leaves exploding with life and colour against the blackened, old bark.

And outside, this guy, waiting to get started with some serious plumbing.

Broken dreams frozen in time

2007-05-28T15:30:00.000+08:00

Visiting the Terracotta Warriors
The main aim of our recent trip to Xi'an was to tick one of the big boxes on the tourist checklist in China: to see the Terracotta Warriors. Although we foolishly made the trip during one of China's mass-migratory 'Golden Week' national holidays, which gave us one or two slow-motion moments (such as taking an hour to get out of the car park), the presentation of the Warriors was epic enough to leave them as a stand-out memory.

Housed in three large buildings - the first of which resembles an aircraft hanger - the remains of the Warriors have been restored with truly painstaking (if perhaps over-enthusiastic) effort. Created to honour China's first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, the estimated 8,000 clay figures were smashed by vengeful peasants just four years after he died, bringing to mind Shelley's Ozymandias: 'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!'

Now entombed in a black marble underground display room, two bronze chariots were found near the main site of the Warriors. One is thought to have represented the transportation of Qin's soul to the afterlife. It was hard to hang onto the history when surrounded by the endless hammering of camera flashes illuminating posing Chinese teenagers.

Nothing tastes better than fact

2007-05-20T13:00:00.000+08:00

Vegetarians are smarter
'Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study says.'

Click here for the full story on BBC News.

We're also hung like donkeys.

Cycling the Xi'an city wall

2007-05-20T12:47:00.000+08:00

All 14Km of it
...which is about 8.5 miles in old money. Xi'an's city wall, unlike Beijing's which now lies beneath the route of the second ring road, stands intact and magnificent. The old city's traditional north to south, east to west layout stamps smartly to four grand gates, with the wall (which must exceed five metres in height), squarely wrapping life within it.

Up upon it you can rent bikes for a couple of hours to tour around the city and enjoy the view, the sense of history, and relaxed pace of exploration. While avoiding the odd pothole, of course.

I liked the sign for the stairs, in case you'd not spotted them.

Perhaps the vanishing point gives some sense of scale...

It's not just (a) cricket

2007-05-15T09:47:00.000+08:00

It's actually two crickets
Sorry for the long gap between posts - we've had (are having) guests stay. I'll be back with a bigger update soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of pet crickets that we spotted while we were taking a tour of Beijing's hutong alleys.

Two in Shanghai, in mono

2007-04-28T09:50:00.000+08:00

A different vibe
Many Westerners seem to favour Shanghai over Beijing but after spending a weekend in the former, walking its streets and exploring its nooks, we flew home feeling puzzled as to why that is. Perhaps it's because Shanghai feels more like a Western city, with narrow, bustling streets. Perhaps it's because there seems to be a definite, hard split between ex-pat and local life, with Westerners jammed into very Western places. Perhaps the legacy of Shanghai's colonial history will always make the city feel less welcoming to foreigners: this is where Britons built vast opium empires on the back of Chinese living miserable, drug-addicted lives. This was the birthplace of Communism in China: cause and effect?

Walking off-beat, through some of Shanghai's poorest (central) neighbourhoods, time slips and stumbles. Is this 2007 or 1957? (Click on the image to expand.)

Below is where modern China began. On the back of that moped. Or in the building behind, which is the site of the first congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The area in which it stands is now a high-fashion, Westernised shopping district.

On another theme: we visited Shanghai Museum, which has fabulous, dark galleries of bronze work, pottery, calligraphy and sculpture. The pot in the second shot is EIGHT THOUSAND YEARS OLD. You can look at it in two ways: one, it's just a simple pot. The other, is that all those years ago man was able to dig clay, mould it, fire it, utilise the results - was even able to conceive of the need for a concept like 'pot'.

I rarely post pictures of E or myself but I like both of these:

Here we (verti)go!

2007-04-19T19:18:00.000+08:00

Beijing window cleaners
Our block had its bi-annual window cleaning session today. This being China, the guys bunged a few ropes off the roof of the building then cheerfully lowered and swung themselves all the way down. 25 floors. At first I just couldn't watch them, but by the end was admiring their Harry Tuttle-esque manoeuvres.

"I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone."

(Harry's a heating engineer, by the way, in case you haven't seen Brazil.)

FHM, Chinese style

2007-04-13T13:59:00.000+08:00

No bare boobs
Just a girl standing in grim mist wearing decidedly un-sexy jodhpurs (what has she got down there, a codpiece?!), and yelling at you whilst carrying an automatic rifle.

Boobs-out is a bit of a no-no in China. There were a couple of 20-something Russian girls topless bathing when we took our break at Sanya, Hainan Island. Oooh, mother, there were more tuttin' than if Mavis Deacon had cut too big a slice of cake at t'Womens Guild meetin' again! Being a gentleman, one merely averted one's eyes. Honest.

Shocking

2007-04-13T13:50:00.000+08:00

220 volts of electric love
We have a shared garden between the blocks here at China Central Place, which is nice for a stroll - especially now the trees are coming into bud.

However, over the winter it was a somewhat more nerve-wracking place to walk, especially on rainy days. Why? Because the management here thought it would be nice to wrap chains of decorative lights around the trees - all of the trees. Which was fine, until they pinned-up 'DO NOT TOUCH' signs everywhere, pointing out that the lights were actually wired directly to mains voltage. 220 volts. In public. In the rain.

Ah, China. How I continue to find charm in your collapsing manholes, subsiding pavements and frankly terrifying wiring!

High rising

2007-04-06T12:08:00.001+08:00

Beijing's biggest builds
There is currently some backlash in Beijing, both at the popular and governmental level, over the design of some of the massive building projects that are underway. I think, though, that in time the people will look back and see some of these designs as strongly evocative of China's new era, and feel proud of what was achieved.

Here are some more shots of the fast-rising, wildly-angled CCTV HQ:

This is about one-third of the megatower that is to be Beijing's tallest building:

And this is Sunshine 100, one of the oldest (circa 1999) new developments in Beijing's designated 'CBD' area, caught in a springtime sunset:

March retrospective

2007-04-04T10:12:00.000+08:00

Cold, damp, and quiet
March brought a new aspect to Beijing life - it was vaguely damp, and not a little cold after the heating at our apartment was switched off (as per governmental regulations) in the middle of the month. But some time sans-computer gave me chance to wander the streets again with my camera.

Kids waiting in the lobby at Jianwai Soho:

An old man paints slogans with water using a giant calligraphy brush:

Working guys, on the move:

Waiting for the rain to stop, outside Soho New Town:

New technology in an old factory entrance at Dashanzi art district:

Scuppered, twice

2007-03-29T15:51:00.000+08:00

Damned censors and double-damned computers
Just a quick post to let you know that the reason I've not been posting for the last couple of weeks is that China's internet censors chose to block Blogspot again. Must have been the weather.

On top of that the motherboard in my much-loved, much-used & abused, iBook died for the second time last week, bringing about the end of its five year life. At 400 UKP to fix, it just ain't worth it.

But yea verily there is sunlight clipping silver and gold around these dark clouds. Blogspot is unblocked once more, and a new Mac Book should be winging its way to my loving arms on Monday. I've taken a few cracking pictures recently (if I do say so myself), so check back next week to check 'em out.

Peace, brothers. And sisters.
Cas x

The Sky at Night

2007-03-16T11:15:00.000+08:00

Chaoyang's skyline glows
All fire and life here beneath our gaze as we watch the world turn, turn, turn.

Censorship: live

2007-03-15T14:23:00.000+08:00

BBC World cuts-out
I was just watching the news on BBC World when they started broadcasting a piece about rioting in southern China. The newsreader made it half-way through the introductory sentence, and then the screen went black. At first I thought it might be our ropey cable box, but CNBC, CNN and HBO were all fine, so I went back to the BBC World channel and waited. Sure enough, right at the start of the next item the picture returned.

Seems like someone in one of China's many media-monitoring agencies must have decided to hit the red button. I've had a look on the BBC's website via it's back door, but there's no mention of the story yet. However, I did find this article which discusses censorship of foreign media in China in the run-up to the Olympic Games in 2008.

Mind you, while China clearly has a long (long) way to go in both the media and personal freedom stakes, E reported back from her recent trip to the States that US news channels are packed with fear-inducing stories about Iran. Yeah, 'cos invading Iran would be such a great idea! It would make everything better in a snap, just as it did for, uh, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq.

Six months

2007-03-14T15:29:00.000+08:00

Life in China
It is six months today since I arrived to take some time out living in Beijing with E, my fiancée. It has been good for me: I am more like I was, and less like I had become. These have been special times and I know that I will look back on them as a moment when life really was realigned and priorities definitely were adjusted.

I've put together a list of '50 things I'll remember about Beijing'. There are doubtless things I've missed, and I could double the list with entries from the album of snapshot moments I've accumulated in my mind. But for what it's worth, here (in no particular order) is my list:

1. Old men gently flying kites and smoking their days away
2. Our bubbling local-dokle restaurant on Guanghua Lu
3. The CCTV building's skeleton rising violently into air
4. Fruit market traders living quietly in dirty duvet tents
5. People blithely cycling the wrong way up busy roads
6. Never-oiled chains creaking on much-abused bikes
7. Taxi drivers dumbly cruising into standstill traffic jams
8. Enjoying well-mixed cocktails at low-lit alley bar, Bed
9. Questioning the need for quite so many manholes
10. Beijingers' surprising and reviving warmth and humour
11. Living in a city that is being re-imagined by the hour
12. Collapsing pavements and the fears of bodgy building
13. Mister - you want ties, ties, ties in the Silk, Silk Market?
14. Piracy's friendliest face in Tom's well-stocked DVD store
15. Cycling 80 soulful miles to touch the truly Great Wall
16. Sharing a knowing giggle over a weighty pack of tissues
17. Realising, ex-London, how far a pound might stretch
18. Sparkling black nights in thirty-million-dollar bar, Lan
19. Lapping the Bonjour supermarket in ever quicker time
20. Letting go to find myself and speak in confident tones
21. Trying to figure out where another 1.285 billion people live
22. Baffled and amused by Chinese in their garish beach outfits
23. Dizzied, dazzled by the Great Hall of the People's ceiling
24. Architecture, art and asbestos at dreamlike Dashanzi
25. The towering inferno of limited employment prospects
26. Walking along hutongs, hand-in-hand under dusky skies
27. Lines, lines everywhere leave my eyes too drunk to drink
28. Enjoying laughter and autumn pints at a pond-side inn
29. Threatening elevator notices about 'big and ferocious dogs'
30. Spending a silent, solitary day on the streets of Shanghai
31. Capturing moments in pictures; catching my life in words
32. Standing, electrified and edified, on the Great Wall of China
33. Streets burnt black and gold by the long autumn sunlight
34. Lost in fascination before the awesome Beijing city model
35. Discovering the simple reward of cooking a proper meal
36. Waiting like the desert for the rain that too rarely falls
37. The silent weight of Tiananmen Square beneath my feet
38. Watching two dozen movies projected warmly on the wall
39. Grandma's American breakfasts and Loft-y Noodle treats
40. Tonal abnormalities in every word I stumble to speak
41. Mind-popping firework visuals on Chinese New Year
42. Re-learning to ski on a hungry springtime afternoon
43. Shuffling 3500 songs to discover music all over again
44. Waiting in heavy pauses for a teacher's oh-so-final word
45. Furtive, endless Boggling in case I'm caught 'addicted'
46. New friends and the fresh perspective they can lend
47. Distant, weathered faces of migrant construction workers
48. Pondering a distant past on our 'see the mountains' days
49. Seeing a deeper love in the gleam of two brown eyes
50. Holding my girl in the wind and knowing that this is life

15th March update: ah, I knew I'd forgotten one:

51. Watching an old lady lean head-first on a tree, put her finger over one nostril and proceed to blast her other nasal cavity empty all down the trunk

Rain! In Beijing!

2007-03-06T12:01:00.000+08:00

Perhaps it's because I'm English...
That it has taken quite some adjustment to become used to the dry climate here in Beijing. In some ways, though, I've grown to like it; the winter hasn't had that penetrating cold, damp feel that it does in London, even though the temperatures have been lower.

The sharp, dry Beijing wind can be pretty harsh at times but often the sun shines bright and (relatively) warm. But it is incredibly dry - so you might understand that I was actually quite surprised and happy to see some light rain last week - even to the point that I found myself smiling when I was caught out in it.

Having lived in Beijing for almost six months and (as far as I can remember) seen it drizzle on three days and snow on two, it is easy to understand why the government is spending billions of yuan building the 'South-North Water Transfer' (basically a massive canal to bring water north to Beijing).

Ah, being English. I've had two cups of tea this morning and am now blogging about the weather. Anyone for croquet on the lawn? Does anyone have a lawn these days?

The new Soho

2007-03-04T18:14:00.000+08:00

Jian Wei SOHO buildings
Aesthetically speaking, the Jian Wei SOHO development is one of Beijing's architecture's best attempts at working in the modern style. The proportion of the windows to the concrete structure is very well considered, and there is a simple integrity to the way the style has been maintained throughout. From a human perspective, the masses of white towers prove slightly tricky to navigate - particularly when you stand in the centre of the complex and look for a specific shop or cafe.

The tall towers provide a good view of the still-burgeoning CBD area...

Sadly, as with many new developments in Beijing, you come away with the feeling that the construction techniques might leave a little to be desired. And, due to the city's polluted air, it won't be long before all that white paint starts looking a little grubby. That aside, visually-speaking it is a success.

Zero plus two equals...?

2007-03-04T10:02:00.000+08:00

The lack of common sense in management
I just read this story on Guardian Business and it tweaked my brain. Excerpt:

'Lloyds TSB, the UK's biggest provider of current accounts, is bowing to customer demands and moving calls back to the UK from a service centre in India. The bank will even allow all of its current account customers to ring their local branches instead of a call centre in India which unions claim is unpopular.

This marks a U-turn for the bank which has routed its calls through India since 2004. By allowing customers to call branches directly, Lloyds is also beginning to unravel a policy which began in 1994 when it opened its first call centre.'

I mean seriously... did the management at Lloyds not think that it might be a little bit irritating for their customers to have to call some well-intentioned but ultimately powerless person on the other side of the planet? And did they not think that some of their customers might actually like going into their local branch and seeing a human face, and then being able to call that person if they have a question?

And it is disgusting that they've been exporting jobs to India (uh, sorry, 'implementing strategic cost-savings with a view to improving long-term profitability'), while making over FOUR BILLION POUNDS a year.

Honestly, the older I get, the more I realise to what extent the world is run by this club of greedy, posh sociopaths who are largely detached from reality and are primarily interested in feathering their own nests. Did you see the head of Airbus mumbling away about how they've realised that the company needs completely restructuring? And that - although it's management's fault that the A380 superjumbo was miles off-schedule (bad planning) - it's the 10,000 workers who have to pay the price with their jobs. He was talking like it was someone else's company - like he was sort-of disconnected from what was going on. Made me so angry. They should fire him for incompetence - except he'd probably get a million-Euro 'severance package'.

It is incredible...

2007-03-02T18:40:00.000+08:00

How cheap fruit and veg are in China
I just bought a carrot for 15 mao. That's 0.15 yuan, and there are 15 yuan to the UK pound. That means my carrot cost 1p. ONE PENNY! The bloody wrapping they put it in must be worth more than that!

So long as it's grown in China, food is cheap. And we don't even bother going to the market to haggle - these are supermarket prices. Garlic? Four bulbs for 10p. Pineapples (which are what, £2 each in the UK?) are about 30p. You can also buy them pre-peeled for that. Bananas are under 10p each; big, Chinese-grown apples similarly discount-priced.

But buy an imported fruit - imported anything - and the price skyrockets. Imported apples can be £2 a kilo, versus 20p a kilo for Chinese ones.

Same with eating out, in the main (although Western-style places are still cheap by Western standards). Chinese places are just stupidly cheap. My lovely fiancée is away on business at the moment, so I went to our nice local restaurant on my own last night. I ordered: broccoli cooked in green tea, a big plate of smoked tofu fried with chilli peppers, a bowl of rice and a big bottle of beer. The bill? £4.50 to you, sir. Lovely jubbly!

Confusion

2007-03-01T12:44:00.000+08:00

No, not the philosophical kind
It's fair to say that China has a slight problem with piracy of, well, just about everything. From jeans to DVDs, CDs to iPod look-a-like MP3 players, you want it, you can usually get it. Box-sets of favourite US/ UK TV series for Y10 a disc? No problem, mister! High-quality copies of the latest DVD releases? Y20 a disc for DVD9 (high-capacity discs).

The thing is, some of the copies are so well packaged that - abundant misspellings aside ('Episode Tow', anyone?) - it is sometimes hard to tell what's copied and what is not. Even official government hologram stickers, supposed to indicate a genuine DVD or CD, are faked.

So when I bought this version of Bob Dylan's (excellent) new album 'Modern Times', I was kind of perplexed. It came in a faux-pine case with laminated full-colour outer sleeve, a lyrics booklet, the official-looking hologram... and a second CD of Bob's greatest hits. The pack was only Y20 (£1.30) - but genuine DVDs here are only about Y25 to Y30 (up to £2). Even the fact that it's marked as a 'SUPER-COOING EXETENDED RESOLUTION CD' isn't enough to make me suspicious, because mistranslations are rife in China.

...dunno... what do you reckon? If it's for real then all I have to say is, 'Bargain!'

Claws of the Dragon

2007-02-21T09:08:00.000+08:00

The Forbidden City garden
We have a guest staying at the moment, and so decided to make another visit to the Forbidden City (well, you kind of have to include a trip there on any visit to Beijing). This being the week of Chinese New Year it was quite busy around the main entrance...

...but thankfully the crowds thinned out the further you went in.

At the very north end of the complex is the old palace garden, where the emperors used to sit and read, surrounded by the creations of the Imperial gardeners. One such creation is the 'Dragonclaw Tree', which is formed by grafting two strains of plant together (forgive me for not remembering precisely which two, but I doubt you're about to run out into the garden and give it a go this instant). The branches grow into the most amazing, vicious curls and knots, as you can see below.

I've cut these shots right down to black and white and saved them slightly higher resolution than usual 'cos I thought they might make great desktop wallpapers. If you agree and need an even-higher rez version, leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do.

Boom!

2007-02-18T01:01:00.000+08:00

Chinese N-to-tha-Y
Words in the sparse-style. Chinese new year in the '007. Pigs = good. Fireworks = better. Hope you all = lovin' and rockin' the house. Enjoy it...

Religion: addendum

2007-02-12T13:00:00.000+08:00

Preaching tolerance
I re-read my post about religion and God and realised that it ends quite abruptly. In particular, I do not wish to sound intolerant in regard to the beliefs of others - I feel (I hope) that I'm quite the opposite.

It's my aim in life to 'live and let live' as much as possible, but there are certain aspects of existence where others intrude so deeply upon my own beliefs that it makes it hard not to 'push back'. Religion - specifically the behaviour of some believers in America and the Middle East - is currently one of those areas.

Religion has had a strong guiding influence on mankind and in some regards I think that's been a good thing. The holy books lay down rules for societal existence that in some cases are entirely desirable (the oft-ignored 'thou shalt not kill', for example).

More than anything though, to any friends who hold religious beliefs I'd like to say that I hope I didn't offend you - and if I did then I'm sorry. We will probably never agree on the issue of religion, but equally will probably find many aspects of life on which we do, not least: love, happiness, achievement, progress and peace.

(Update, 14th February: CNN finally ran the interview with Dawkins. It's on YouTube here)

Jaunty

2007-02-11T09:53:00.000+08:00

The CCTV building rises
...and each time I see it, I can hear the music from the Godzilla cartoon in my head. It really is a monster - and an amazing feat of engineering. The two towers of China Central TV's new HQ lean inward toward one another, and will be joined by an L-shaped segment at the top. For me it occupies a creative space somewhere between shocking, horrible, novel and incredibly impressive.

When complete, it should look something like this. At this point in time, however, being flanked on one side by doomed 1960s Beijing apartment blocks, it has a violent aspect - like some long-buried beast awakened and angry.

Ding! Round two!

2007-02-09T12:50:00.000+08:00

Dawkins is going on CNN
Well, the story I linked to in my previous post blew-up somewhat in America, and CNN is now re-running the piece roughly right about now. This time, however, they have invited prominent atheist Richard Dawkins to appear on the show, which should hopefully rebalance things slightly. That said, he may also get shouted down as being a doddery old British snob/ secret support of Islamic faith... which, to be honest, I'm kind of expecting to be the likely outcome.

To hear his views in an more intellectually-enlightened situation, see the below YouTube clip of Dawkins being interviewed by the BBC's Jeremy Paxman:

(Update: this is quite good too)

Love thy neighbour

2007-02-07T11:22:00.000+08:00

Unless he's an atheist
Today I stumbled upon this blog with footage of a CNN feature about discrimination against American atheists. There is lots of interesting commentary from the blogger and from people who've posted to the story. It's particularly interesting to read that 'one nation under God' and 'in god we trust' were added to the American lexicon during the 1950s witch-hunt era.

I'm an atheist, and generally speaking I veer between being baffled by and dismayed at the behaviour of so-called 'believers' around the world. It's been said a billion times before, but what is done in the 'name of God' by so many self-interested people is disgraceful. I think Monty Python's Life of Brian did a good job of summing up how ridiculous the whole 'in the name of the Lord'-thing has become over the last 2000 years, especially in the scene where the two People's Popular Front/ Popular People's Front groups beat each other up in the sewers of Pontius Pilot's HQ. Er, unless I'm missing something, aren't the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Gods basically the same?

Freud's comments on theistic belief have been argued about for decades, but they still make for stark, thought-provoking reading. He said that religious belief is, '...so pathetically absurd and... infantile that it is humiliating and embarrassing to think that the majority of people will never rise above it.'

He went on to say that the concept of God as, '...resembling a man but magnified in every respect, an idealized superman, reflects the gross ignorance of primitive peoples.'

Suffice to say, that does it for me. No-one's pulling anyone's strings in this world - apart from a lot of power-hungry (mostly) men who we would all do better without.

iSay!

2007-02-07T09:51:00.000+08:00

I'm writing about Apple's iPhone...
On a friend of mine's new mobile phone blog, Pocket Picks. We're working to build up traffic at the moment, so spare us a click or two when you get a moment.

Ghost in the machine

2007-02-06T15:09:00.000+08:00

Ooh, spooky...
My iPod just shuffled straight from Daft Punk's Aerodynamic, which opens by sampling AC/DC's Hells Bells, to play (you guessed it), AC/DC's Hells Bells. Pretty crazy considering there are 3793 tracks on there for it to randomly pick from.

Thought I'd share that with you... Now I have to go and lie down for a bit.

Dashanzi day trip

2007-02-05T09:50:00.000+08:00

Back to Factory 798
It's been a while since I first posted about the Dashanzi art district, so I thought I should update with a few recent pictures. The contrast between the currently (questionably?) hot Beijing art galleries and the remaining metal shops remains stark; the asbestos-wrapped pipes remain terrifyingly omnipresent; and the opportunities to take pictures remain abundant.

Always a slow day when you're one of Beijing's thousands of teen-aged 'security' guards.

Engineering the organic way:

These old signs sigh their redundant warnings with style:

People

2007-02-02T10:48:00.000+08:00

Go figure
Recently I've been thinking about the number of people there are in China, and how to express that in a meaningful way. Beijing is a huge city (between 12 and 14m people, depending on whose numbers you read), but still is only half the size of Tokyo (28m people). Having been to Tokyo a couple of times, I can believe it - the concrete seems to go on forever.

Using this data from World Atlas I've come up with two charts:

If World Atlas' numbers are correct, approximately 647m people live in the world's 100 most populous cities, and of those the specific regions break-down as:

China: 107m people in 18 cities (averaging 5.9m per city)
USA: 61m in 9 (average 6.7m)
India: 69m in 8 cities (average 8.6m)
Brazil: 28m in 6 cities (average 4.6m)
Europe: 55m in 12 cities (average 4.6m)
Japan: 42m in 3 cities (average 14m)

So the first conclusion to draw is that if you don't like being surrounded by people, don't move to Japan! To be fair, Tokyo really skews the numbers: the mountain regions of the islands are supposed to be stunningly beautiful.

Specifically in relation to China, I think that the interesting thing, from a European perspective, is just how many big cities there are. The last of the Chinese cities on the chart, Dalian, is similar in size to Berlin.

The second chart shows the 'long tail' of Chinese population distribution: I'm sure if I had the figures available there would be countless cities with a populace in the region of 1m inhabitants. There of course must be in order to make up the remainder of the 1.2 billion Chinese people who don't live in these top 18 conurbations.

I find that last point interesting; where the hell are all those people? It makes me wonder about the accuracy of the Chinese population figures! When you look at the data related to population and country size on this World Atlas page, it is hard to fathom.

America's population of 295,734,100 has an enviable population density of 32 per square Km, with 79% of them outside the cities listed in the world top 100. China's 1,306,313,800 people, on the other hand, live with in population density of 140 per Km2, with 92% of them outside the biggest cities. That means that out there in greater China, 1,198,751,800 live in millions of small cities, towns and villages.

Dammit, I need to get out there and check this out! Now, where did I put that clipboard? This may take a while...

Lovely, lovely

2007-01-29T10:55:00.000+08:00

LINES!

There's something in the air

2007-01-29T09:44:00.000+08:00

And I'd rather not go out today
Beijing's - and China's - pollution problems are reasonably well documented, from the completion of one new coal-burning power station per week, to the towns where (mainly Western) discarded electrical items are recycled and children have allegedly been seen playing in puddles of mercury.

So when a friend of mine here in Beijing sent me the link to the Chinese government's official pollution figures, I thought it would be interesting to compare them against the King's College London pollution guidelines.

Unless I'm mis-interpreting the figures (I've emailed KCL to find out), the 'public alert' level for particulate pollution (called 'PM10' and made-up of carbon emissions and construction dust) in London is 100µg/m3 (whatever that means...). Based on that limit, here's how Beijing's air quality looks for the month of January, thus far:

We hit a peak of 322 on January 5th, with subsequent highs at 170 and 150. (Don't worry, mum, I have the air filter switched on!)

To contextualise this, you need to understand that China is currently hauling large parts of the country through (arguably) a century of development in a couple of decades. That massive drive has created a nation of two faces: not far north of Beijing you will find people still washing their clothes in the river, while one of the most extravagant bars in the world, the $30m Phillipe Starck-designed 'Lan', recently opened in Beijing. It is therefore unsurprising - but clearly still objectionable - that this enormous upheaval is creating a lot of social and ecological debris.

Far less comprehensible, from a moral-perspective, is the self-centred behaviour of America in ecological matters. We constantly hear on the news of how China and India must rein-in their pollution, but the world's number one nation for consumption and pollution continues to refuse to participate in - in fact, I would rather say lead - international efforts such as the Kyoto treaty. In a debate about the ecology recently aired on BBC World, the senator from California proudly declared that his state would reduce its CO2 emissions to 1990 levels by 2010. Such magnanimity from the USA's most forward-thinking region!

I fear most that it will only be when the Greenland ice sheets collapse, the polar bears are extinct, and Manhattan island and large portions of Los Angeles are underwater, that our American friends will finally reconsider and regret their irresponsible behaviour.

Two passions engaged

2007-01-27T10:26:00.000+08:00

BMW's Art Cars in Beijing
I've often read of the BMW Art Car project, wherein famous artists of the 70s, 80s and 90s were sponsored by the German car maker to paint some of its iconic machines. Beijing's Long March Space gallery recently played host to four of the range. As a lover of both art and cars, it was a show I just had to attended.

Alexander Calder's 1975 Le Mans-spec 3.0 CSL, the first art car - and to my eyes the best of the four brought to Beijing. I love the colour tones and the long, graceful curves of his pattern. This car was actually raced at Le Mans:

David Hockney's 850 CSi. Hockney's work attemps to use the surface of the car to depict what lies beneath the panels:

Matazo Kayama's 5-series saloon uses traditional Japanese foil application techniques to create a detailed and delicate surface. But it didn't do much for me; it reminds me of 80s fantasy art (the kind which usually has snakes wrapped around bikini-clad women and lots of airbrushing):

The last of the line, thus far, is this 1999 V12-engined Le Mans racer bearing the works of American artist Jenny Holzer. The main slogan (from her 'Truisms and Survival' series of works) on the car runs in six bold lines: 'PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT'. However, from a petrolhead perspective, you can also just look at the car head-on and agree with the three on the bonnet: 'WHAT I WANT'.

I've searched online to try and find a simple link on the BMW website to show you the other cars in the collection, including works by Warhol, Lichtenstein and Fuchs, but their genius web designers haven't made life easy. Instead, you'll find some images on this 'BMW World' site - or just do a Google image search for 'BMW art car'.

Like a rubber ball

2007-01-23T23:01:00.000+08:00

We've come bouncing back from Sanya
Nice beach; mostly nice weather (have a mild tan); pretty good cocktails; big room; lots of returned room service ('Cold? Again? How thoughtful!'); not much to do apart from losing games of Scrabble to E.

I would just like to ask the ENTIRE ADULT POPULATION OF CHINA what the matching beach outfits are all about:

Ocean-watching is one of China's fastest growing industries:

Volleyball + fiddling with camera:

A trip into Sanya town (we were staying nearby at the purpose-built resort of Yalong Bay) didn't bring much in the way of culture - other than the dozens of traditional fishing boats anchored in the shadow of four new luxury tower blocks. The hundreds of flags fluttering in the wind scattered some atmosphere into the scene.

Hot shock

2007-01-12T21:23:00.000+08:00

Bring it on
Tomorrow morning we escape the bright-chill of Beijing (sunshine and zero-degrees; kind of like the weather when you go skiing), for the bright-heat of Sanya, on Hainan Island. It's pretty much China's most southerly point, on the same latitude as Vietnam. I'm expecting to feel some kind of system-shock at the change in temperature - at least, I hope I do :o)

Anyway, I'll leave you with a nice illustration...

...see you in a week!

It's a bit Modern and Cold

2007-01-10T15:05:00.000+08:00

But Apple's new iPhone is pretty cool
Announced yesterday at the 2007 Macworld show in San Francisco, the iPhone is a touch-screen mobile device that incorporates all the features of an iPod. It comes with either 4GB or 8GB of storage, but the geeky-cool bits are that it:

- Runs a cut-down version of Mac OS X, so it is compatible with lots of the Mac 'widgets', such as weather info, stock quotes, and...
- Google Maps support
- Has quad-band cellular connectivity
- Has automatic wi-fi connectivity
- Can be used to browse the internet and send/ read email
- Has a 2 megapixel camera
- Can be used in either orientation (turn it sideways to watch films)
- Is only 11mm thick (or 11mm thin, as Apple's marketeers would like to say)
- Doesn't need a stylus - you just use a finger - and supports multiple-finger touch sensitivity

It's out in June in the US and late '07 in Europe, with Asia to follow. Pricing in America is $499 for the 4GB and $599 for the 8GB. I think that's a bit steep, but just as with iPod you can expect the price fall/ specs to rise pretty quickly. Back before the beginning of recorded history (when the iPod was launched in 2001), the 5GB iPod sold for $399 (and was widely-criticised at the time because of this).

Overall, along with the Apple TV that was also announced, I'm not convinced that the iPhone is going to have the same impact as the iPod - especially not at those prices. Mind you, people were pretty unimpressed with the latter device when it was first announced, and it took a while to take off. iPhone is far better designed from day one than iPod was (remembering that the iPod didn't really hit its stride until the third-generation appeared), and it's a lot more appealing than a Blackberry or Treo, that's for sure.

For more info on the iPhone click this link to Apple's website
And for more pictures click this link to MacRumors

How to waste a lot of time

2007-01-08T11:33:00.000+08:00

I discovered online Boggle
Click this link if you don't want to do any work today!

Update: for those not familiar with the beautiful game of Boggle, it goes like this:

The aim of the game is to find as many words of three or more letters as possible within the time limit. You cannot use letters twice nor can you skip letters, but you can track diagonally, vertically or horizontally; down to up, up to down; left to right or right to left. The longer the word, the more points you get.

3, 4 letters = 1 point
5 letters = 2 points
6 letters = 3 points
7 letters = 5 points
8 or more = 11 points

Acronyms and abbreviations are, generally-speaking, not allowed (although this online version is played with a crappy American dictionary, so there are some oddities in there - and Americanised spellings). Plurals are allowed, although at home we don't have them because they're kind of 'weak' plays, but proper nouns (place names, etc.) are not - and neither are brand names.

In the table-top version of Boggle, after the time is up, you go through and cross-out any words that other players have. You score points for anything unique to you. In this online version (where up to 200 people are in the game), this rule has, understandably, been removed.

I think Boggle's a great game - made all the more brilliant for its simplicity. If you enjoy the online version, you can buy the table-top game from most toy shops for about 10UKP.

Like an Airfix kit

2007-01-08T10:28:00.000+08:00

Only with a few more pieces
E had the great idea of visiting the Beijing town planning exhibition centre over the Christmas break. On the face of it, this doesn't sound like the most thrilling thing to do. But on the third floor we found what we'd come to see: the incredible town-planning model of Beijing that was put on display in 2006.

Beautifully lit and stunning in scale, it's hard to do justice to the model in pictures. Plus, it was quite dark in the display room which made it hard to get a steady focus. Anyway, I hope these three give you some idea of how incredible it is. The first is a view from the south-west corner of Beijing; the second is the view from the north-west towards the city centre; and the third is of the photo-etched tiles that are used to illustrate the distant suburbs.

Great Hall of the People

2007-01-06T10:19:00.000+08:00

Great ceiling
Really great.

Stepping into the '007

2007-01-02T12:18:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year
Hope you had fun! We spent the night at one of Beijing's best Middle Eastern restaurants, Souk; chatting, nibbling mezze and slurping down cocktails. All told, the last few days have been lazy, hazy. It snowed here on Saturday, plonking a couple of inches of white powder over the city, adding to the festive feel. It was pretty grey when I took these shots (no shit), but since then it's brightened considerably, lighting up Beijing with reflected sunlight.

Suffice to say, it's getting pretty cold now in Beijing, so we've planned a week-long escape to Hainan island (off China's south coast - on the same latitude as Vietnam) on January 14th, where the sun shines with rather more strength. On the day we fly, Beijing has a projected high of -2C, while Sanya is on track for +26C. This, as I'm sure you'll all agree, is Very Good News.

I've made three pretty simple resolutions: to get a job; to eat less snack food; and if (when!) I find work, not to lose track of the things I've enjoyed doing in my time-out. That aside, I have no sage words, no thoughts of the day, no platitudinous comments for the New Year; I can't stand that shit.

Instead (and wonderfully unrelated to anything vaguely 'New Year'-esque), I'll leave you with the most interesting link I've been reading of late. Cheers!

Perspective and light

2006-12-23T13:02:00.000+08:00

Rain and contemplation

2006-12-21T10:10:00.000+08:00

On the streets of Manchester
Last week I spent an evening in Manchester seeing some old (dead old - they both turned 30 in October) friends. Before catching the train back to London I had an hour or so to wander Manchester's streets with my camera, capturing a few moments from the new and old heart of the city. True to form, 'that fine rain that soaks you right through' drizzled down for the whole time I was there.

I've been back to the city a few times since I left in '97, but never before have I been so struck by how much the centre has changed - and the outskirts have stayed the same. While the 1996 IRA bombing delivered the excuse for a much-needed redesign of the central area, a bigger blast began washing through Manchester in the late '80s, with the redevelopment plans for the Castlefield warehouse district. The aftershock of that work lead to vast numbers of apartments being both converted from the city's old building stock, or constructed from new. And they're not cheap: decent two bedroom flats start around the £200,000 mark, rising far above £300,000 for the best on offer.

Elsewhere, the much-heralded branches of Selfridges and Harvey Nichols loom over the street that is optimistically known as 'Shambles Square', while the old pub that once stood as a lone historical marker on the old, windswept '60s version of the square has been relocated around the corner. This move allowed the creation of a view-line from St Anne's Church to the Corn Exchange, which is perhaps the finest result of the reconstruction effort. Out of the centre, however, Manchester remains a grim and grimy experience, with streets of time-locked terraces endlessly representing a vision of the early '80s depression.

And for all the wonders of its rebirth, the city centre itself, along with the vast Trafford Centre retail park, sits as testament to the hollow British obsession with the chain store retail experience (how many branches of Next, HMV and Boots does the country need?), and with the chain pub/ bar experience. The mode and aspirations of British modern life have become almost entirely generic. The notion that people might do anything other than either 'buy stuff' or 'get pissed' during their leisure time has been squeezed out of the picture. Aside from the ceaseless rain, that is a far bleaker and duller future for Manchester and Britain than I care to imagine.

But don't get me wrong: the 2006 version of Manchester seems a much friendlier and more appealing place to be than it was back in 1989, when I first went out drinking there, or 1991 when I moved to live on the city's outskirts. I was lucky enough to run the Manchester Metropolitan University's student magazine, Pulp, in 1996, when the city's rebirth was really getting going, and it is good to see the place in such a vibrant, albeit soggy, state.

On the corner of Kingly Street; by the ferris wheel outside the Corn Exchange; under the arches outside city hall:

The 50-storey Beetham Tower, which stands, somewhat rudely, at the end of Deansgate:

The escalator in Spanish-owned Zara, the current queen of UK high street fashion retail:

Beer goggling

2006-12-10T14:26:00.000+08:00

MCI 2006 Beijing Beer Review
After three months in China it's time to round-up and review the best & worst beers that the local supermarkets have to offer. On the whole, the standard is pretty good (especially when you take the price into account...); Beijingers are quite into their beer so consequently there are a lot of brands to choose from.

Beijing Beer Asahi Co. (above left)
- Y3.3 (19p)
- Full flavoured lager - but not overpoweringly so
- Good head, although I was standing about three feet above the glass when I poured it
- Not too fizzy, which is A Good Thing. This goes for pretty much all Chinese beer
- 4.0%, which is pretty standard. You don't tend to find the 5%+ brands like you have in Europe
- Perhaps a little reminiscent of Cobra or Staropramen
- My current favourite so I wanted to get it out of the way first!
Overall: 7/10

Snow (above right)
- Y3.8 (25p)
- Stronger flavoured than the BBAC
- ...with a really unpleasant aftertaste
- In fact, it has a metallic before and after taste - blurgh!
- 3.6% so doesn't even redeem itself in the alcoholic content stakes
- Says 'refreshing' on the can but I can't wait to move on
- This beer is heavily promoted in Beijing - I guess it needs all the help it can get...
- The 8-Ace of the Chinese drinking world. Except that (relatively) it's not even cheap - just nasty. Or had a cartoon based on it, as far as I know
Overall: 1/10

Beijing Yanjing Draft Beer (above left)
- Y3.6 (23p)
- Better than the Snow. Sweeter and doesn't taste of metal, thank God!
- Really not very fizzy, maybe too much so
- It would be interesting to back-to-back this with normal Y2 (13p) Yanjing but I forgot to buy some. Oh.
Overall: 5/10

Tsing Tao (version one - above right))
- Y3.8 (25p)
- You probably know this as 'Ching Dow/ Dao', which is the correct pronunciation. Tsing Tao is old-style pinyin (phonetic Chinese) from way back
- There are a few different types of Tsing Tao of various pedigrees. This is different to the one we usually have in the UK
- Smooth to drink and definitely the best since the Beijing Beer Asahi
- Really easy to drink, you can tell why this is the 'most famous and popular Chinese beer in the world', like it says on the can
- At 4.3% it's one of the strongest Chinese beers you can buy
Overall: 7/10

Tsing Tao (version two - above left)
- Y3.6 (23p)
- Fruitier that Tsing Tao V1, which is quite nice
- Actually, fruitier than all the others
- Tangy aftertaste, in a good way
- Nice and smooth - this is the best of the bunch so far - I could go for this over the Beijing Beer Asahi, although the fruitiness might wear a bit thin after a few cans.
- 4.3%
Overall: 8/10

Beijing Beer Asahi Co. Draft Beer (above right)
- Y3.8 (25p)
- Arguably (and after five beers I feel like having an argument, alright?) the most 'Western' tasting of all the beers so far
- Very, very slightly metallic
- I'm not sure this is as good as their normal beer. There's a 'draught' version of Tsing Tao which isn't as good as the normal one either
- Pretty standard lager, really. Not horrible but nothing special either
- 3.6%, which is weaker than their cheaper, better beer. Weirdos
Overall: 5/10

Laoshan Beer (above left)
- Y2.2 (14p)
- 'Brewed with heart and passion' according to the can. I'll be the judge of that, boyo
- Quite sweet, but in a good way
- Not much aftertaste, which is A GOOD THING when you're seven cans in the hole as I am right now...
- I could get to like this... maybe too much...
- 4% again, which is perfectly respectable in this company
Overall: 8/10 - a pleasant surprise

Yanjing Beer (black can - above right)
- Y2.something (13p-ish)
- Look where we've ended up - black can Yanjing - like a low-rent Guiness
- Smells like bloody Guiness too. What do they put in this shit? Coal??
- Tastes kind of charcoal-ish, or licorice-ish
- I've never liked this kind of beer, and I'm not about to change my opinion tonight. These black beers are only drunk by the kind of twats who, with no hint of irony, insist on a glass with a handle
- 4.3%, which is some kind of recompense for how horrible it is to drink
Overall: 2/10...minging!

You can also buy both lemon and pineapple flavoured beers here, which are under Y2 and a lot nicer than they sound - especially the pineapple. They're kind of like shandy (about 2% alcohol), but tastier.

I'm pleased to announced that the MCI 2006 Beijing Beer Review results, sorted by score and price are as follows:

1. Laoshan Beer
2. Tsingtao (version 2)
3. Beijing Beer Asahi Co.
4. Tsingtao (version 1)
5. Beijing Yanjing Draft Beer
6. Beijing Beer Asahi Co. Draft Beer
7. Yanjing Beer (black can)
8. Snow

Right, I'm off to catch a plane... Happy Christmas y'all... And cheers!

Reflections on existence

2006-12-08T15:39:00.000+08:00

After three months in Beijing
The header for this blog reads, ‘Specialists in Life Realignment and Priority Adjustment’, but I haven’t particularly written about either of those things – at least, not for a while.

In case you’re wondering, ‘Modern Cold Industrialisation Ltd’ is the name of a company on the outskirts of Muscat, Oman. We passed it one day on a drive out into the desert and the name, writ large and red in a swirling 1950s typeface, stuck in my head. Just seemed to suit how I felt about life when I started the blog.

Today, Dec 8th, is the three-month anniversary of the day I quit work. On the 11th I return to the UK for a week to see my family and friends before Christmas (and to get a new visa). The holiday season itself always seems to bring echoes of the past, present and possible futures. And so with all that in mind, it seems like a good time to reflect a little how I feel about life now.

The photography and writing that I’ve done for this blog, Lost Taxis and my friends’ site, Pocket Gamer, have reawakened parts of my mind that have long been underused. Doing that work has also given me back a lot of the confidence I felt I’d lost over the last few years; I now think that problem stems back to when I left the magazine business to get into game production. That transition proved so much harder than I thought it would be – and in retrospect was driven by greed and curiosity rather than any great creative calling.

Six years on I’ve come to genuinely enjoy making games because of the intellectual challenge the work often presents, and because of the incredibly smart people you often meet. Intelligent (and charismatic) people have an addictive quality: the more you encounter the more you want in your life. Weirdly, I also get a kick out of creating spreadsheets and complicated plans for things. And yeah, the money’s not bad either.

After three months in China, do I feel as though my life as been ‘realigned’ and my priorities ‘adjusted’? To some extent, yes to both points, but more than anything else is that I’ve found my voice again. I know who I am and what I like, more than ever before. And I’ve relaxed enormously (as you’d hope after three months off). I can see it in the blood veins on the backs of my hands, which used to bulge with high pressure.

Experiencing a new culture and a different set of values has been tremendously good for me. ‘Coolness’ is irrelevant to life here, because I’m not really integrated in society and have few peers to impress. I definitely do not miss the push and shove of London life. Relative to the miserable attitude of so many Londoners, Beijingers have a laid-back attitude and subtle sense of humour that slowly permeate your soul.

Here in Beijing is the one thing I need in my life more than anything else. She fills my heart with joy every time she walks through the door, smiles at me, holds my hand, kisses my cheek, picks me up when I’m down... I’m in love and that makes life a rainbow of possibilities. She is my raison d’etre.

The big question for me now is ‘what next?’ There are a couple of interesting jobs on the horizon, both in games, but they’re going to have to be dead right for me to get involved. I’m not going through the kind of nonsense I dealt with for the last two-and-a-half years again. I’ve come to realise the old adage that life is just too short to waste doing things that are not right for you.

If something dead right doesn’t come along then it will be time to get off my arse and do something for myself again. I have a few ideas circling in my mind… Ah, but where will they land… And will they land at all? I’ll have to let you know in another three months…

It's cold outside

2006-12-07T11:46:00.000+08:00

So I've been hiding in the apartment
Which isn't the greatest location for generating fresh photography content for the blog (although I can feel a Beijing beer review coming on, complete with pictures). So instead I thought I'd share with you a few shots from our trip to Cambodia that took place in February of 2006.

Cambodia, as you're probably at least partially aware, hasn't had the best time over the last, oh, 100 or so years From weak and corrupt kings allowing the French to become the de facto rulers at the end of the 19th Century, to being 'secretly' bombed by America in the early 1970s because Vietnamese forces crossed the border, then falling to the horrors of the Pol Pot 'Khmer Rouge' regime (under whose reign over a million people died), the Cambodian people have had a severely tough time. In the 1980s the British SAS taught the remains of Pol Pot's army (because they were facing Chinese-backed forces) how to lay the hundreds of thousands of landmines that still ruin scores of Cambodian lives every year.

Even now, with former Khmer Rouge members continuing to occupy positions of power, the country remains a relatively lawless place, although it feels safe to travel there. This particularly goes for the hundreds of NGO workers who cruise around Phnom Penh in massive four-wheel-drives, carving through the swarms of locals on mopeds. How integrated. Oh, and thanks to a 1990s UN security mission, Cambodia has a serious HIV problem, due to the amount of unprotected sex the UN forces had with local prostitues. Yet despite all that, the people - at least on the surface - are a seemingly upbeat and genuinely friendly bunch. But despite all that, I can only recommend it as a place to visit.

To start at the dark end of the spectrum: the Toul Sleng prison museum, where Pol Pot's forces had thousands of their own people tortured to death. I couldn't bring myself to take many shots; it was too painful. The mental picture of a rusted bed frame with a sharpened spade head lying on it will be with me forever. This old dusty room at the top of the prison (which was converted from a school), summed up the mournful, horrible feel of the place.

Many tourists in Cambodia don't seem focused on the country's recent history; for them the primary interest is the vast network of temples that weaves through the jungle north of the town of Siem Riep. The most famous of these is Angkor Watt, claimed to be the largest religious site in the world. Stunning, crumbling, and 'lost' for centuries, Angkor is now overrun with tourists instead of jungle. But there are so many temples to visit in the area, you can always find a quiet corner to sit and feel the history soak into your soul.

One of our greatest adventures in Cambodia was to hire two moped riders to take us well off the beaten track - so far in fact that we ran out of track altogether and rode for miles in the 30C heat down a dusty, bumpy lane. From there we caught a boat downstream to the shores of the vast Tonle Sap lake. It was worth it in the end, though, when we reached a village we'd been told about where all the property is built either on stilts or able to float because the area is within the lake's flood plain. Amazed, humbled, and feeling as though we we'd stumbled upon a post-apocalyptic film set, we spent an hour or so walking through town. Some experiences seem like they change you; this one definitely did.

Quick plug

2006-12-04T13:54:00.000+08:00

For a hard-working friend's latest work
Sandi Thom's new single Lonely Girl is released today, Dec 4th. For a preview of the song & video go here. If you like the track and/ or can spare 79p to buy it from the iTunes UK Store, follow this link.

21st Century cigarette makers convention

2006-11-27T19:33:00.000+08:00

AKA The Beijing Auto Show 2006
Unless the car industry sorts out fuel efficiency pretty quickly, it is going to be become the late-21st Century's moral equivalent of big tobacco in the late-20th. Thankfully, a Californian group of forward thinkers is working on a solution.

I love cars and driving them; I really don't enjoy owning the unreliable beasts. Frankly, I now view city-dwelling car owners as totally lacking logical reason. Out of town, yes, there's a need for personal transportation, although I challenge anyone to make a case for putting an engine of more than 2000cc in ANY car. Either your attitude or the engineering is wrong.

All that aside, last week's Beijing Auto Show offered few surprises but it did have some nice light entertainment, including Volkswagen's multimedia-meets-acrobatics Olympic-themed piece:

Honda rolled out its Asimo robot for a little body-popping:

Although you can't guarantee that millions of yen's worth of technology is going to impress today's kids. Where's my Nintendo Wii, dad? Like, what-ev-uh...

It's old news, but seeing Audi's Lamborghini-based R8 sportscar in the flesh confirmed how good the German company's styling has become:

Had to have a Ferrari pic in here somewhere, for JDS:

Rolls-Royce in China:

And what became of Rover (or should I say, 'Roewe'). Not worth posting a picture of the cars themselves; they're the same as the ungainly old beasts that sit rapidly depreciating to zero in driveways across the UK.

Last but definitely not least, my favourite of the local talent was this chunky coupe concept from 'Chery' motors. A little dated in places but overall not bad. I won't waste your time showing you the horrors that it beat; they are the dictionary definition of a 'waste of resources'. Which quite neatly brings me back to where we came in, I think...

Another mystery of the Orient revealed

2006-11-24T15:22:00.000+08:00

Translating a Chinese off-licence sign...

Literary giant retakes publishing stage

2006-11-23T13:07:00.000+08:00

Stands astride the videogame scene
And does not like all he sees. What have ye mortals been doing while I was away?

Junbo

2006-11-23T12:17:00.000+08:00

Day trip to the military museum
I was the kind of kid who enjoyed museums - particularly the Science Museum and Imperial War Museum in London. Let's face it: strange, old machines, and instruments of death always go down well with boys.

So last week, with fond childhood memories bubbling in mind, I took the underground across town (about 8Km or so) to Beijing's Military Museum (junbo in Mandarin: jun derived from the word for 'military', and bo from - you guessed it - 'museum').

It was surprisingly busy, with a long queue for a special exhibition about the early days of the Communist struggle. Inside, the crowd split between old Chinese people reading every notice with intense interest, and groups of teenagers stopping to pose for wide-grinned pictures in front of every single exhibit. Conversely and weirdly, the main section of the museum was eerily quiet.

The man himself.

Lots of this sort of thing.

The central hall of the main section of the museum hosts a variety of Chinese and foreign armaments. I couldn't stop a smile spreading across my face when I noticed that every locally-built artifact's name plate bears the words, 'MADE IN CHINA'.

Retired guns in glass cages.

And tucked in the corner of a courtyard that leads off the main hall, the stripped remains of a crashed American U2 spy plane; crumpled, sad and dusty like an old ball gown in the attic.

Unblocked!

2006-11-23T11:54:00.000+08:00

But for how long?
After around a month of waiting, I'm please to say that the Blogspot block appears to have finally been lifted. I don't know how long this will last, but I shall of course make hay while the sun is shining.

Speaking of sunshine, winter has truly arrived in Beijing. It's 2˚C today. And for the 15-day outlook, check out Accuweather (also now added to sidebar links).

Blocked!

2006-11-14T18:38:00.000+08:00

But I’m back
...And I’m not saying how, either. But that's why I've not been posting for the last couple of weeks. Yep, all Blogspot blogs have been blocked in China. Nice to see Google-owned Blogspot weighed-in heavily for its users:

‘Unfortunately, the Chinese government has been blocking all Blogspot pages from being shown within that country. We're sorry about that, but unfortunately there's not much we can do.’

Aw, lil’ Google can’t do a thing! But it’s more than ‘being shown’ – the block stops people from posting too. Big difference. Blogspot will know this, but appears to choose not to offer a solution.

Autumn light

2006-11-14T18:35:00.000+08:00

A long, dark teatime
Cycling along Food Street and walking in Beihei Park with E and V: autumn has begun and everything is baked red-gold.

1000Km south by plane

2006-11-14T18:25:00.000+08:00

To Shanghai
An exotic, chaotic blend of colonial European, Chinese, and, frankly, terrible contemporary architecture, Shanghai is the standard-bearer for the new economic power of China. At its best the city feels something like New York or London, surrounding you with the hullabaloo of contemporary life. At its worst it’s more like Dubai: bland, awkwardly modern and lacking soul.

Easily the most exciting parts are those with European and Chinese influences, where small street kitchens sell buns and pancakes. Too much colour, too much smell, too much sensory impact to take in, the old city burns with energetic life. A few blocks away, marble-clad western brand/ bland stores sell over-priced handbags and shoes.

For my pictures here, though, I’ve chosen two icons of the Shanghai skyline: the TV tower, and the monument to the People’s Hero (LINES!).

And amid the chaos of the old city, I found two moments of peace – an old man sleeping the morning away, and a young man strolling beneath washing slung out on bamboo sticks.

Wiring problem.

To cross the Huangpu river I had to board a little train and take the tourist tunnel: now formally renamed, ‘TUNNEL OF PUREST STRANGE’, wherein you are bombarded with flashing lights and eerie voices as you journey beneath the waters.

Men in the street argue with the police over (seemingly) minor traffic infringements.

Into the Forbidden City

2006-10-24T13:27:00.000+08:00

750m x 950m, 8000+ rooms, courtyards and corridors
And Mao watching you on the way in.

Quite a place to sleep. And to entertain your dozens of concubines.

Slow afternoon; makes me wander; makes me lazy; makes us thoughtful. You had to be a eunuch to work here. 'Surgeons' worked at the gate, slicing and dicing; selling back the removed parts to the recently detached owner as proof of the operation.

Succession of spaces. Windows and frames. Doors and locks. Corridors into courtyards. Lost into found - and then lost again.

I can be Googled

2006-10-23T13:45:00.000+08:00

Ain't that something?
It really is - and who would of thought that this would be the number-one hit for 'modern', 'cold' and 'industrialisation'? ;o)

The final frontier

2006-10-19T15:41:00.000+08:00

Get out of our space
Guardian Online: Bush issues doctrine for US control of space
'The United States will preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so; take actions necessary to protect its space capabilities; respond to interference; and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to US national interests.'

Is the US really proposing to con and bully the rest of mankind out of its access to space, just as the founding fathers conned and bullied the Native Americans out of their lands? How quaint; haven't Bush & co. heard that empires are so last century? Particularly theirs.

And now for something completely different

2006-10-19T11:42:00.000+08:00

Lines
It's a mark of how interesting life in Beijing is (and how interesting it is to photograph), that I've not gone completely line-crazy since arriving here. God knows, there's enough opportunity to do so, and maybe that moment is arriving fast. This is the land of high-rise construction and vast monuments to the tastelessness of so many architects and their clients. But lines in their raw form are beautiful: awe-inspiring in their vicious rejection of natural shapes. The building as a whole, from a distance, may be a brutal, insulting creation, but up close you'll find dizzying wonder in the perspective it offers.

So lines and the visual effects of perspective are something I've always enjoyed, ever since my dad taught me how to draw three-dimensional shapes when I was a kid. On various outings I've collected shots of some good lines - here are some of my favourites. I'll post again with some different takes on the topic at a later date.

From top to bottom:

Tribeca, New York, 2006
Lloyds Building, London, 2005
New York, 2005
Beijing, China, 2006
World Trade Center site, New York, 2005

New Summer Palace in autumn

2006-10-17T12:17:00.000+08:00

Yiheyuan (Garden of Cultivated Harmony)
One of Beijing's most popular tourist attractions is the New Summer Palace, which was only lightly singed (although extensively pillaged) by British and French troops in the 19th Century. The Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) wasn't so lucky; the European powers pretty much toasted the whole thing during the Opium Wars

In these post-post-Imperial days, a whiteboard by the gate boasts the daily visitor numbers (20,000+) to what was once the Emperor's summer retreat. Something of a minor construction effort (spanning 2.5Km-square with a reputed 100,000 labourers hauled in to dig out the lake), the palace grounds are very busy yet strangely peaceful, with lots of places to park your behind and soak up the atmosphere. In the autumn evening sunlight, long shadows and cool winds blowing over the lake shift Beijing a million miles away.

I've found peace...

2006-10-15T12:30:00.000+08:00

It's in the park just up the road
Strolling through Ritan Park, I happen upon a group of old guys whiling away an autumn afternoon in the warm zephyr that's blowing through Beijing. Around a dozen of them have gathered along one side of the Temple of the Sun to fly kites, shoot the breeze, and chain-smoke a pack of cigarettes each. I'm found and lost all at once - drifting away in the sheer peace of the moment.

Drama ebbs and flows as one kite almost crash-lands out of sight but the oldest of the crew is called in to save the day, which he does with effortless skill. He grins toothlessly and deflects words of admiration before sparking up another ciggie and returning to the serious business of catching the wind.

Park life

2006-10-10T11:09:00.000+08:00

People watching in Beihei and Ritan parks
Not much to say about these shots, other than that I like them: I like the faces; I like the people. The ladies are cheeky; the man is touching - amazing to see such childlike wonder in a wise, old face.

What's so great about a wa... Oh, I see...

2006-10-08T19:10:00.000+08:00

Everything is impossible
You cannot conceive of the sheer scale of the Great Wall until you stand on it and try to picture the amount of labour required to build it. Then it hits you. You look down the shale-covered slopes below, down to the village 2Km away; you look out along the ridges, in to the mist where the wall fades from view; you feel the very weight of the stones beneath you. Then it really hits you - but still you cannot take it all in.

Estimates for the Wall's overall length range between 2400Km (1500mi) to 6000Km (4000mi). The construction effort took 10 years and around 800,000 people. 180 million cubic metres of earth and stone went into it. We walked about 10Km of it and just that section was enough to fill our senses for weeks. It was a truly life-enhancing, calf-muscle straining, camera-filling experience. With the sun on our backs and a warm wind wrapped around us, the day went too fast, too soon. But we loved every minute of it.

130Km/ 80mi

2006-10-06T12:16:00.000+08:00

Anything is possible
7am, Tuesday. Set off from the apartment on a two-day ride to the Great Wall at Simatai, 130Km north of Beijing. Feeling positive, full of anticipation - and shocked by the cool morning air. Beijing is busy but peaceful, winding up to work. Sleepy roadworkers file out of the tent where they spent the night. Starbucks is open. Buses roar by. Cyclists creak between and around us.

By 3pm we've covered the first 90Km of the ride, to the guesthouse in Jingziyu where we'll spend the night. Dinner consists of vegetables fresh from the garden; spiced aubergine, greens mixed with tofu. We're asleep by 10pm.

7.30am Weds we're back on the road, shocked this time by the sudden shift in incline. After 90Km of flat cycle lanes, climbing up through 20Km of hills kicks the morning hard into life. A short stop for buns and biscuits is followed by an easier ride down to the turning for Simatai. On the way, at least a dozen lorry loads of massive wind turbine blades whisk past us. Newly-built strip towns that Xerox middle America make bizarre interludes.

Dropping onto the Simatai road, the world changes. 10Km of peaceful, winding twin-track road carries us up into the village, where we find a room in a tiny guest house then head out for a late lunch with beer. Falling asleep in the countryside darkness, we're tired, exhilarated, happy and ready for the following morning's adventure.

'They' lied

2006-10-01T20:11:00.000+08:00

...it was actually a band of triple person
Special report, live from the grounds of China Central Place: Golden Week kick-off party from 18:00 to 20:00. Location moved from garden platform of Tower 18 to main garden between residential blocks. Probably for the best as I've downed three beers in anticipation of rocking out. Arrive on scene 19:03 precisely. Scene not really rocking out. Feel like a stranger in a strange land who's happened upon a strange wedding. Realise am only non-Chinese person within 200m. Realise am only person, non-Chinese or otherwise, who's downed three beers in anticipation of rocking out. Pause to enjoy well-warbled Bananarama cover number. Take picture. Not much sign of karaoke opportunities being offered. Take another picture. Exit stage right.

And by 20:10, when I leave the complex to meet E for a drink, it is like the party never happened. Stage, tables, food, parents, kids and security guards are all gone. Maybe the party never did happen. Maybe it was in my mind... my mind... my mind...

I owe it all to Gursky

2006-09-29T16:41:00.000+08:00

Traffic, Beijing, overlaid in Photoshop
Andreas Gursky's Chicago Board of Trade II has been a great influence on me, ever since I first set eyes on it in Tate Modern. It's a great piece of work. You can find a copy of it online here

A band of double person

2006-09-28T16:46:00.000+08:00

Where's a Dax when you need one?
Looking forward to tomorrow night: the management company for our building has organised 'not only a band of double person' but also the opportunity to 'show your talent on the platform'. That's right folks, they're throwing a live-band karaoke party on the roof of Tower 18. Baby, I am soooo there. I just need to strike the right drinking balance between;

a) having the drunken idiocy to get up and sing and;
b) not falling off the aforementioned roof of Tower 18

It also says that 'you may ask the band to perform your favourite songs', but I'm doubtful of any Dead Kennedys' numbers being in their repertoire. However, anything could happen - and probably will. I'll update you after the party, unless b) happens in which case I probably won't.

Come in number four...

2006-09-27T15:52:00.000+08:00

...your time is up
The Chinese consider the number four to be unlucky (I've a feeling they have a similar downer on six as well); conversely number eight is the new number seven. In many/ most apartment blocks, there's no fourth floor - just as in the States there's sometimes no thirteenth floor. However, it's not just four that's affected in China but any floor with four in it - so 14 and 24 (and so on) are cut too. As a nod of respect to us Westerners, 13 is chopped as well. And for the Fiji islanders 2, 7 and 11 are removed, while 17 and 18 are offensive to Bolivians and so those are often missed too. Some so-called 'skyscrapers' here are barely five stories high.

So it was a surprise to take the elevator in a block the other day and see it pass number four - even if it is on the way down.

Baby blue skies

2006-09-26T09:52:00.000+08:00

Nice day for a bike ride, I think
Beijing definitely does have a pollution issue but it's not all down to cars and industry. The Gobi desert begins a few 100Km from here and strong winds from the north tumble sand clouds down to the city on a regular basis. In addition, the vast construction effort hurls plumes of dust into the air alongside new skyscrapers: it will be interesting to see how the pollution is by late '07, when all building must be complete in time for the Olympics.

It rained two days ago and that has cleared some of the haze, but the wind must be feeling kind today - so we have clear blue skies. Even the distant mountains to the north are on show this morning. So it's about 20 degrees this morning: a fine day for an exploratory bike ride across Chaoyang.

Other end of the rainbow

2006-09-23T17:29:00.000+08:00

One of the things about coming to Beijing is that – while we’re not exactly rolling around in Bentleys – we have effectively slid a long way up the relative wealth spectrum. It’s not like I’ve been immune to that awareness before, in Cambodia or Cuba particularly, but knowing I’m here longer-term it feels somehow different.

I don’t feel boastful about that shift in relative financial wealth – far from it. If nothing else, it's not real, it's just perceptual. And in terms of of living, it's not really much different. I’m just struck by it. But back in London, in Maida Vale, even though we were doing okay it never felt that way. The couple in the flat door next door ran a Porsche convertible and had a house in Ireland, for God’s sake. Is that normal? What the hell is ‘normal’ supposed to be anyway? Mind you, they’re management consultants and prone to gloating about the number of people they’ve had made redundant, so perhaps karma will find them in the end. Maybe I’ve just been in London too long – living in a bubble where the view out is so distorted I’ve lost sight of real life. And maybe there was a time when I’d have hung out more in the parts of London where the well-off don’t live; maybe it’s a facet of growing old. Maybe I just became a fucking snob and didn't/ don't want to admit it.

It would be easy to live a full-on ex-pat life here, especially if something came up work-wise for me. And that’s a weird situation to get into – hire an assistant, maybe get a car and a driver, drink in London-priced bars, eat in London-priced restaurants. Kind of like you never left native soil but lucked-out with a small-sized lottery win. Except you don't, in real terms, have any more money than in the UK. But isn't ex-pat-ism just another version of the life we all live in the West, brought into hard-focus by being so close to the people who are working their arses off for peanuts so we can wear cheap clothes and buy iPods for less than $1000? I think there’s a brutal honesty to some elements of living Western life in non-Western places. Not that I condone the ex-pat life, but I find it equally hard to condone the mindless, consumerist existence that tens of millions of Westerners graze their way through. Where do people think all the cheap shit they buy comes from? It ain’t made in Milton Keynes, honey…

Anyway, by popular demand, and vaguely linked to this topic, here are a couple of pictures of our apartment. Well, E’s apartment – she pays the rent. I’m kept for sex.

So we have a hallway (gasp)

And we have a bathroom (quake in awe)

Last but not least, we have a lounge, a sofa, and in the background there you can see the kitchen (shudder at the sheer reality of it all)

Falling backwards. Is that climbing?

2006-09-19T16:43:00.000+08:00

So I realised that I’ve raced ahead of myself with this blog: pictures, words… it’s like I’m already here in Beijing. Which I am; but I’m also not. I’m still arriving.

One of my previous posts is called ‘Watching the Wheels’, which is taken from a Lennon lyric. The full chorus runs, ‘I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round, I really love to watch them roll. No longer riding on the merry-go-round. I just had to let it go.’ Lennon was of course talking about taking some time out from his music career to spend with his son, Sean.

That resonates strongly in me – I’m letting things go for a little while. Hopefully not on the list is my sanity, but violently scrawled there in black ink is the stress that had built up inside me from operating in an environment that essentially excluded reality from proceedings.

I lost some of myself over the last couple of years. I learned how to hold my tongue, which may play well for me at some stage in life, but I also lost confidence in being able stand up and speak the truth. Truth and common sense are absolutes and I won’t let anyone drown them in front of me again. There were times when I wanted to walk away from it all, and I came close more than once. Now, hand-in-hand with the woman I love, I have taken the first steps back toward understanding myself again.

So that’s why I’m still arriving, part by part, as aspects of my mind tumble after me to China. I’m letting go. Watching the wheels. Gathering myself up for the next 15 years and more. Sanity and truth rule: I won’t ever forget that again.

Meanwhile, in another glint in the prism, I went on a lovely bike ride yesterday...

Short burst of everything

2006-09-17T18:57:00.000+08:00

Sunday Antique and Art Market
Went late afternoon for a quick look at the market; will return. Antique cameras, fans and clocks. The rainbow expressed in bead necklaces. A lot of china, funnily enough. Absolutely an explosion of life, colour and noise. But little food; hunger drove us out. Fascination will drive me back.