The Egg Form Opera

Form follows function or function follows form? Norman Foster and his Beijing Opera Hall is definitely follows the latter. The half egg shape building sits beautifully on the water, which reflects the building into a full egg form. I really like the neat shape of the building and its circulation strategy. Towards the busy street, it reveals its beautiful form, but the entrance to the theater is hidden in a amphitheater space. I tried to go in and experience the performance inside. But sadly, It's not allowed to take any pictures. I did however take some with my mobile phone....., but I lost my mobile phone before I got the chance to transfer it to the computer. Maybe its not meant to be. hahaha. 

The performance was really nice, although it wasn't as nice as European opera performance. I guess in China, looks and appearance is still more important than the voice. All the main singers are very good looking and skinny. And how could you push out a powerful voice out of a skinny body.. Pardon my judgment :)

Street Life of Beijing

After discussing the architecture wonder by the great wall, we shouldn't forget that Beijing also has a sweet street life. Some are very humble, the rest are full of blink blink. In this episode, I'm interested to show the humbleness. I guess, I just enjoy too much of simplicity from other countries, as I can't really enjoy the simplicity in my city, Jakarta. It's not that I'm a hot shot here, but there are just too much limitation for me. O well, shall we go back to Beijing topic. 

Beijing street life often shows the real China culture. It's often you can see a man riding a bike and carrying tons of stuff. This shows the tough life in China despite the development of the modern world. It's amazing to see this kind of thing happened in one of the most prosperous city in the world. But again, this is Asia.., other than Japan and Singapore, contrast living is still pretty common.

Commune by the Great Wall

Quite close to the Great Wall of China in Beijing, there's this architectural wonder. It's a resort hotel, managed by Le Meridian, built by numbers of architect from Asia. The resort is divided into clusters, and each cluster can be differentiate by the architectural style. It is a good idea for a retreat hotel. Being built on the piece of expansive land, all the visitors can enjoy privacy and  serene lifestyle. 

However, in my opinion, the resort is lack of the community feeling nor the expensive luxury feeling in it. It is definitely not that easy to get service delivered to your room. And it is definitely lack of friendliness to the neighboring villas. Unless you stay in the villa for more than a week, you won't feel like living in it. 

To reach there is not the easiest. Best way is either to drive or hire a private cab. I guess, it serves the purpose of creating exclusivity. Here the web: http://www.communebythegreatwall.com/

Textures of Shanghai Expo

In 2010, Shanghai had a big cultural/ tourism/ architectural/ technology exhibition, called the Shanghai World Expo. It was a huge event that can drew millions of people to pour down the expo site. Despite the summer heat and sweat, and never ending queues, to visit the expo was still an interesting experience. Mostly because  we can learn bits and pieces from different countries. It was like scanning the world through miniature models. The one thing that I found quite interesting are the textures and patterns featured there.

Smile for Other's Glory

Smile of glory and smile of other people's glory. Yesterday I got the mood to look through my photos. One reason because I think my bedroom is still lacking of personal items, and reason two is that I just wanna remember of how cool my life is :)
Then I found these photos that I took during the athletic grand prix in Shanghai last year. One of the ultimate stars in the event is Liu Xiang, the hurdling athlete. The whole China loves him so much. You can see through the pics below. To be honest, I am not a fan of him, but it was kinda cool to see the electric mood he creates after he won the game.

CHINA at the Royal Academy of Arts

Royal Academy of Arts has the exhibition of "CHINA- The Three Emperors". I went there couple of weeks ago. Basically the exhibition tells about the three emperors that are the most renowed rulers of China's last dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911). They are known by the titles of their reigns, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, and were descended from the Manchu rulers who invaded China and overthrew the Ming dynasty (1386-1644).
The exhibition exhibits all the art in that era, from the daily equipments, paintings, calligraphy, etc... Ou well... about the exhibition.. it was really good. To see all the Chinese cultures... Don't really like the Chinese robes though... Loves the calligraphy... even though I don't understand... not even a single characted.. Yeah I know.. what a shame for Chinese like me.
And the painting.. I think it has a very different techniques with the western painting... Chinese paintings looks more technical.. Almost all the landscape paintings I saw that day were in axonometry. And very detail aswell... until you kinda lost the focus...