Paperwork

It is the second time that I am applying to teach in China and it is the second time that I do not have a written contract in hand when boarding the plane.

Last time everything went well and I expect the same to happen this time. However, for the reasonable and careful at heart, this approach seems rather reckless or euphemistically: adventurous. Maybe, one has to ascribe these qualities to oneself when venturing into the legal void, on the other hand, I expect great returns that come with great risks.

Chinese Monastery

Chinese Monastery

If all paths to monasteries would be so beautiful, this would be a world of clerics. This is a path to a Taoist monastery that has been moved from downtown Nanchang to this peninsula. Fringe benefits of being a Taoist monk ...

A bridge too far

A bridge  too far

That is why I gave you the closer up image in the previous post.

Bridge to nowhere

Bridge to nowhere

Not only Palin has bridges to nowhere.

Not having seen the Alaska money waste, I bet that this specimen is more beautiful and poetic, enveloped in mist.

Gary the better photographer

Gary the better photographer

My friend Gary sent me these beautiful pictures which I want to share.

Gary do you have a website so that I can link to you ?

Modern Architecture

Modern Architecture

Nanchang Campus, Arts and Design building, inner courtyard.

Flower of the night

Flower of the night

It was late, the light was fading, when I happened upon this specimen. Underexposed, she looks tender and mysterious.

Le rouge et le noir

Le  rouge et le noir

I imagine this painting (located at the entrance of the arts and design building of Nanchang university) as a backdrop for a type a personality portrait, the beholder, entranced by the protruding jaw and the scowling brows, unaware of the suffering of Stendhal's Julien Sorel, whose colorful decline epitomizes Chinese national colors.

Despite the Communist emblems in red and gold, the traditional colors seem to be novelistic: strong ink on a bloody background.

Old is new is old

Old is new is old

Chinese architecture of historical buildings is ... new. The original buildings do not exist and have been reconstructed in a mixture of cement (painted brown to indicate wood) and plaster.

Even though this sounds horrendous to the classically inclined, the effect is nevertheless uplifting, since the building serves as a reminder of the beauty gone. I would compare it to a Greek ruin whose remnants need to be complemented by a fruitful imagination. Same here.

But is it art ...

But is it art ...

This mural graces the walls of NanDa's Arts and Design department. Certainly an image one does not immediately associate with modern Chinese art ...