A new way of seeing Confucius!

 # 7 Crashing Confucius’ Party

"The common person sees beauty in grand things;the wise person sees grandeur in common things."
Confucius

      How is it that my brother Glen and I are sipping wine and snacking on exotic hors d’oeuvres with the arts crowd at a “by invitation only” opening for the Confucius exhibit at the Rockbund art Museum in Shanghai?

      I guess it started in Beijing with my suggestion to visit the Temple of Heaven, described in Fodor’s as the “one of the largest temple complexes in China and a paradigm of architectural balance and symbolism."  It rates two full pages in the travel guide where most sites get the equivalent of a tweet. So I figure, as I read it out loud, that  it will be a worthwhile stop.

      Glen, with another big eye roll, (see previous post) exclaims that if he never sees an effing temple again, it will be too soon! Keep in mind that my baby brother  has spent considerable time in Thailand and in  a gazillion other countries and as such has seen quite a few temples. A little jaded? Maybe. So instead of spending an afternoon at the Temple or the fantabulous and opulent  Summer Palace (I quote: "who gives a F#@! about seeing how the rich people lived??") we wander on a circuitous trajectory that might or might not lead to the Temple of Confucius.  Yes it’s a temple, but at least it’s a lesser known one, a bit off the beaten path.  I know this because we used a magnifier to locate it on the Beijing Street map, while the Temple of Heaven is clearly visible with the naked eye, taking up a full square centimeter of map space.

      It's a dingy gray smoggy day, which is to say, a typical day in Bejing. We head North on Wangfujing Daji and wander into one of the many hutong areas of the city. Hutongs are walled self contained single story city blocks. Within which are winding narrow streets and tiny living quarters.

       The hutongs are still home to many Beijing residents, but in recent years lots of them have been razed to make way for new development. The word is that they will soon all disappear. Typical development in China. Guess we call it Manifest Destiny in the West. Doubt those Beijingers got much recompense for vacating their homes, though. Meandering through the narrow alleyways gives a glimpse of the lives of the Beijing of the 13th century as well as of some residents today.

Hutong

Hutong

        A right turn onto Guoziajian Jie brings us close to the Temple, but we are in no hurry. We stop to sip a beer at a funky street cafe and watch the parade of people amble down the pedestrian street through the gray, misty Beijing afternoon.

Across from the cafe...

Guess who?

       Finally at the temple we are welcomed by a smiling white stone Confucius.    Serenity permeates the temple courtyard, enhanced by the fine mist that puts everything into soft focus. The temple is similar to other structures we have seen in Beijing. The walls bear colorful ornate painting in bright blue and red. Intricate carvings adorn the roof. Massive stylized lion statues are positioned in the open courtyard.   The requisite gift shop beckons and we succumb; we while away considerable time examining intricate Chinese paper cuts, Mao's Little Red Book and books of Chinese characters.  
       A modest museum housing a history of Confucius' life occupies the West end of the courtyard. In the museum we also find a description of the Confucius Institutes whose purpose is "the promotion and teaching of Chinese culture and language abroad, the encouraging of trade tries, and the extension of the Chinese Party-State's campaign of "soft power" into the educational sphere in foreign countries". A world map shows locations of over 350 such institutes from Kansas to Boston. 

You can find  Confucius Institute at many locations.  Hmmm, is this a plot for world domination????

http://college.chinese.cn/en/node_1979.htm

Seems that there’s some controversy over these Institutes infiltrating the world.   Beware the Chinese!!

      Fast forward from our mellow educational day in Confucius' Temple to an early morning stroll around Shanghai. The return route to our home in Shanghai “Manhattan Bund Hotel” takes me down a side street and the rear entrance of the Rockbund Art Museum. A poster of a giant and very realistic (as in - you can see the pores in his skin) bust of Confucius catches my eye. There’s also a large white temporary stage in the pedestrian area near the museum; perhaps a concert is happening? I note the date of the opening : October 15.  Just before we leave to go to the opening on the 15th I notice in a newspaper that the opening is by invitation only. Well, it’s not too far away, so we decide to check it out anyway.  A hum of activity and music greets us as we turn down the street toward the museum.  Guards are positioned along the street. Any minute one of them will ask for our invitations. But no, we merge with the outdoor crowd, casually pick up  glasses of wine from one of the waiters and start taking in the show. 
     On that white stage that I had seen a couple of mornings ago is a strange and thought provoking performance. The performers move slowly with Tai Chi like movements as if through fluid. Each in turn slides down a 20 foot high white ramp, their paint covered bodies leaving abstract trails . Loud percussive music provides a counterpoint to the performers'  monotonous, fluid, captivating dance of abstraction. “What was that?” Glen and I muse, shaking our heads in bewilderment?  Art is making us think again!

Yes - this is a terrible photo!  Rita should have been her to do the photos!  Included her only t show the stage with the beginning of the painting on the sloped shite surface...

       Wine and hors d’oeuvres dispatched, we converse with an artist who invites us to her show at the Shanghai Industrial Center next day and even gives us tickets! She’s a very direct lady. She makes it quite clear that she is looking for a man and my attempts to engage her in other conversation fail. We exchange a few more pleasantries and move on.

      The Q Confucius exhibit by artist Zhang Huan concludes our immersion in the great philosopher’s life.

Floor One: Being the only person in the room with the giant sculpture whose heart beating heart is visible through is lifelike plastic skin is transcendent and spooky.

Just me and the BIG GUY - hanging out.

Floor two: is home to large textured paintings......

Spooky testured paintings - not really sure what this has to do with Confucius, but they are...interesting!

Floor three:  A caged Confucius flails about violently while monkeys cavort around the room -sized cage. Whew! This really gives me a new view of Confucius. I’m not sure what to think, but my neurons are firing for sure.


Animated confucius.  What does this say???

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/video-robotic-confucius-steel-cage-aims-provoke-debate-chinese-society                      (This link shows the robotic Confucius in motion!)

What does it all mean???  It does give us pause!    I guess that’s the purpose of art: to convey so much concentrated content that we are forced to grapple with it. Or walk away.

   Crashing Confucius’ party iss a cool way to culminate our visit to Shanghai. . Plus it's fun and thought provoking and the wine is pretty good too!     On my bookshelf at home there's a copy of The Sayings of Confucius.  Here's one of them: The Common person sees beauty in grand things;the wise person sees grandeur in common things. The Confucius Temple and the exhibits at the Rockbund are somehow both common and grand.   Come to think of it, perhaps that ability to convey pardox is another characteristic of art?