Wedding requirements in China

Thanks to my job a meet a lot of people and have to work with different people. Some of the guides I work with are unbelievable incompetent (especially in China as they get this well payed job thanks to their connections) but some are really devoted to their work. The information the guides give are sometimes not the things you can read in the guidebooks and because of this so interesting.
One of my good Chinese guides named Betty, in Kunming, told me about the wedding requirement's in China. Mostly what the male partner should have to offer his future wife. As seen through different decades you can clearly understand the enormous economical change in China.

In the '70 the 3 requirements for a husband were things associated with a wheel (round, rotation)

- Watch
- Bike
- Sewing machine


In the '90 the beginning of the economic reforms of Deng Xiao Peng can be felt. The 3 requirements were:

- Colour TV
- Refrigerator
- Automatic washing machine

And nowadays things have dramatically changed, more pressure for the husband:

- Car
- Private apartment
- Computer

So I hope in the future I will get more interesting tour guides, that would be one of my wishes for the New Year.

Wish reminds me :

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

Beautiful Yunnan

Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China and borders Tibet, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. It is the 8Th biggest province of China and has a population of about 44 million. Especially the different minorities are well represented in the province. Yunnan is also very mountainous and has an average height of 2000m with the Kawagebo (6740m) as highest peak in Yunnan.

So Yunnan can be very beautiful, I mean can because lately the climate change also affect this province and more and more rain and clouds disturb the view. But if you are lucky this is a province where you will find spectacular views. Another beauty of the province are the local minorities with their colourful traditional clothes. These elements make that Yunnan is very appropriate for taking pictures. So in this post I want to show you some of my pictures from the province of Yunnan. Especially the nice landscape views as I want to make another topic concerning the minorities.




22 October 2007

View on the Erhai lake, Dali.



3 November 2006

Naxi house in the town of Lijiang.




4 November 2006

View on Lijiang.




24 October 2007

Baisha village with totem of local spirit, Lijiang.




23 October 2007

Famous view on Black dragon pool and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Lijiang.



25 October 2007

View on local minority fields with the Jade Dragon Swom mountain in the back, Zhongdian.




4 November 2006

View on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Lijiang.




4 November 2007

View on Zhongdian from the Songzanlin monastery, Zhongdian.




4 November 2007

View of the Songzanlin monastery, Zhongdian.




26 October 2007

Bita Hai Natinonal Park, Zhongdian.

Bird's nest

Christmas and New Year coming soon! That means a lot of reviews and lists will be published about 2007. One of those list is published by the famous magazine TIME. TIME compiled a top 10 of architectural marvels. In this list 3 architectures from Beijing were included.

Beijing National Stadium, the new CCTV headquarters and the office building project "Linked Hybrid" represent the modern side of Beijing.

The Bird's nest as the Beijing National Stadium is called will be finished around March 2008. The design was developed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. The 250,000 km² stadium is to be built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. It is clear why the stadium gets its peculiar name. Since November last year the stadium can stand on its own without any support. The works started in December 2003 and when it will be completed the stadium will have a capacity of 100.000 spectators. The stadium will be used as the main stadium and most track and field competitions as well as the opening and closing ceremony will take place in The Bird's nest.

As I have seen it, the stadium (most other stadia as well) look finished from the outside. The Olympic green, which includes the Olympic village and the stadia, is well guarded and no unauthorized visitors are allowed.

The CCTV Headquarters is a skyscraper which will be used as the new headquarters of the Chinese Central TeleVision. It is a strange site nowadays in the busy Central Business District of Beijing. Like two towers of Pisa bending towards each other. The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed the building. It is seen as a architectural challenge to be realised.

The remaining architectural wonders of 2007 according to TIME magazine:


Linked Hybrid, Beijing. Steven Holl's retail/office complex will have sky bridges connecting each of its eight towers.

Heathrow Five, London. Richard Rogers' firm is giving Heathrow a big new terminal under a vast, column-free arch.


Caja Madrid Tower, Madrid.Norman Foster's oil-and-gas-company headquarters will have rooftop wind turbines.


IAC Headquarters, New York Frank Gehry Partners.


The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York Sanaa.


Bloch Building, Nelson-Atkins, Museum of Art addition, Kansas City, Mo. Steven Holl Architects.


Federal Building, San Francisco Morphosis.


Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Weiss/Manfredi.

Pai Pai

About a week ago Nok and I went on a 4-day trip to the North of Thailand. Originally we were planning to visit the Long neck Karen in Mae Hong Son province. Only 2 ways to get there, the plane or siting for 6 hours in a bus. We decide for the bus, but with a stop-over halfway in Pai. We heard a lot of positive reactions about Pai so we gave it a shot. 3 hours in a minibus to Pai!

Pai in Thai means "go" so a funny saying is "Pai pai" "going to Pai". A lot of backpackers have made Pai their second home. Pai is said to have beautiful landscapes and countryside, cheap accommodations and the availability of illegal drugs.

After 3 hours in the minibus we arrived finally in Pai. We survived the more than 700 curves, but looked more like zombies than human. We didn't find the cheap guesthouses, but that was a bit our mistake. Not that we were too lazy to walk around and ask, oooh no we had to ask a lot for free rooms. A lot of tourist resided in Pai at that time. A lot of foreign backpackers and an even amount of Thai people. After the Birthday of the King, which is a national holiday, most Thai people get a week, know as the Thai golden week, holiday. So we really got a bad timing. Finally we found a little guesthouse just out of town for a reasonable price.

We were still amazed about the quite little town of Pai with its 2000 inhabitants. It wasn't quiet at all and there were about 4 times more tourists then inhabitants. But you could so that Pai lives from tourism, most of the town is collection of guesthouses, bars, shops and restaurants. I never saw such a wide collection of food (Mexican, Thai, Arabic, French, ,...) on such a small surface.

I can agree that Pai has cheap stuff and rooms, but it wouldn't be cheaper than any other part of Thailand. The town wasn't so calm, but still we had high hopes about the views. We rented a motorbike and off we were! A beautiful day, a sky dotted with clouds and a blazing sun. We had the best possible weather and saw nice landscapes, even though we were certainly not alone and had to watch out not to be pushed of the road. But still I couldn't understand why you had to go to Pai for the landscapes, I think you can find the same scenery in Chiang Mai and certainly in Mae Hong Son, which is for me richer in nature.

So maybe I should conclude to say that the backpacker tourists come to Pai for the illegal drugs. I am sure this is not true. We didn't even saw a sign of drugs, I wasn't looking for it of course. And now with the military government in Thailand it must be very hard to get even in the remote places, because we saw some control of the Thai military.

I can understand that Pai attracts people, especially the young backpackers. Because everything in Pai is developed for the backpacker's taste. You can get your rastas done, get a hennep tattoo, eat all you favourite global or local food, ... So if you like Khaosan road in Bangkok you will also love Pai. (Khaosan road the backpacker area of Bangkok. Cheap accommodations and a lot of special souvenirs to buy there. A special party atmosphere is haunting the place and people can't stop having fun, but it is a place where you will be surrounded by other backpackers. In the movie "The Beach" Khaosan is the place where Leonardo Di Caprio stays in a guesthouse in the beginning of the movie).

The beautiful nature of Pai can be found in most parts of the North of Thailand, like in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phrae, Mae Hong Son. Phayao, ... Even the hill tribe populations in Pai are not very diversified. Mainly the colourful Lisu live around Pai.

More than half a year ago there was an American film crew in the North of Thailand and they used wild nature locations in Chiang Mai, Pai and Mae Hong Son for the new Rambo movie, starring Sylvester Stallone of course!

Pictures of Pai:

Belgium concession in China

European powers are well know for their colonial history. Even a small country as Belgium was able to enrich itself with a colony, Congo. Belgian Congo was about 76 times bigger than its home country. This colony was annexed to Belgium in 1908.

A less well know fact is that a few years before earlier Belgium gained a concession in China. A concession is an enclave inside a major city. The best know concessions, actually more territories, are probably Macau and Hong Kong, but there were some in major cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin.

Because the foreign powers (next to European countries also Japan and the United States were also involved) were military stronger than the conservative Chinese empire. Because of the military inequality and the tumultuous chaos in China, the foreign powers easily got access to mainland China. The first concessions are given to the British after signing the "unequal" Treaty of Nanjing, which marks the end of the first Opium War in 1842. Gradually other countries get their concession after consecutive Chinese defeats. During that time Belgium got its own concession in Tianjin on 6 Ferbruari 1908.
In a concession everything is administrated by the foreign country. The concessions had their own police, military and court. So the laws could differ from concession to concession. This brought a lot of misbehaviour from those foreigners residing in these areas, because they were practically protected by their home country. A famous example is the signs that were hung up near the foreign concessions in Shanghai, which said : "Forbidden to dogs and Chinese".
Tianjin is a harbour city about 150 km from Beijing. About 3 million people reside there nowadays and it's also the place where the Sail sports will be hold during the Olympic Games. It is a very important city because it gives access to Beijing by water canals. Although not too much is know about these concessions, the most famous one would be the Japanese one. In 1911 the Republic of China is established and the last emperor has to flee. He finds refuge in the Japanese concession and will later be used as puppet emperor by the Japanese for their state of Manchuoku.
The Belgium concession was allocated in 1902, but it was not before1924 that it was in use. A mutual treaty on 31 August 1929 proclaimed the transfer back to China, which was completed on 18 February 1931. Not much is left from the Belgian concession as the area is now covered by medium density housing estates.


The Belgian Bund.
Map of Tianjin 1937.

King Bhumibol

Congratulations to the King of Thailand with his 80Th Birthday!

Today on 5 December Thailand celebrates the birthday of His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). With his 80 years he is the longest living and reigning monarch.
A special day for Thailand as it is also father's day and most people get a day of. A lot of activities and a military parade in Bangkok will be held in order to celebrate the birthday of the beloved King. And of course most Thai people will wear their yellow shirt.

On the eve of his birthday the King gave his annual speech at the Chitralada Palace on Tuesday evening. Broadcasted on most Thai channels the King urged the Thai people for more unity. Thailand faces some urgent problems at the moment. After one year of military government elections will finally be held, but it's not sure if they will be held peacefully and without tumult.
An other problem is situated in the three southern provinces of Thailand, near Malaysia, where Muslim extremist are making a lot of trouble. So to be able to cope with these modern problems Thai people have to unite.

As for now the King is in good health but about a month ago he was sent to hospital because of a stroke. So especially on this day everybody prays for the King to live long! Emblem created for the King's 80Th Birthday

Miss World 2007

This Saturday the Miss World elections were held in China. 112 girls competed in Sanya on Hainan island for the title.
Hainan island is located at the south end of China, and occupies an area of 35,000 square kilometers. Because of its tropical climate it is considered as the place where the nicest beaches from China can be found. It is an island in full development and so are the prices. It is no surprise Sanya on Hainan island was chosen as the location for this election. The whole world knows the cultural richness of China and now a different side of China was shown. More tourist are expected!

Anyway Zhang Zi Lin, a 23 year old secretary from Beijing won this election. 2Nd place was for Miss Angola, followed by Miss Mexico.

Zhang Yi Mou 张艺谋

Zhang Yi Mou is one of the stars of the growing Chinese movie business. He is probably the most internationally known Chinese filmmaker (producer, director, writer, cinematographer).

Yi Mou was born in Xi'An (where the terracotta army is situated) in Shaanxi province on 14 November 1951. Because of the support his family gave the Kuomintang, he got a hard life during the reign of the Communist Party. During the Cultural Revolution he had to do forced labour on a farm and later in a textile mill. This period give him inspiration for later movies and already during his youth he was interested in painting and acting.

After Mao's death and the end of the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Yi Mou started to develop his talent. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982 and started to handle some projects with his former classmates.

In 1987 he produces his first his directorial debut, Red Sorghum, starring Gong Li. Red Sorghum narrates the hard life of a young woman working on a distillery for sorghum liquor. His debut wins him the Golden Bear for Best Picture at the Berlin Film festival in 1988.

His next international recognition will earn him an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with his movie Ju Dou. Ju Dou tells the story of a young girl, again played by Gong Li, sold to a dye merchant. Again a real life movie about the more hard rural life in earlier China.

Raise the Red Lantern is considered as his best work and is about the struggle of 4 woman, concubines and wives, in a rich family compound. The movie stars Gong Li and was internationally acclaimed and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Unfortunately it was banned from China, because politically not correct.

His next movies win him different awards on various International Film festivals. Still starring his best star Gong Li. His most recent movies still show different aspects of Chinese life and society but are more going on the Hollywood tour. Bigger, more budget and reaching a bigger audience. His 2002 movie Hero has an impressive line-up of Asian stars, the likes of Gong Li, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung and Zhang's new protegee Zhang Ziyi. Thanks to the help of Quentin Tarantino the Movie becomes a big international hit and gets a nominee for Best Foreign Language Movie.

House of Flying Daggers follows the line of Hero and brings a mixture of great cinematography and action scenes. Also starring Zhang Ziyi and Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro.

His latest movie Curse of the Golden flower, again with his favourite Gong Li was well received but not seen as his best. In China this movie has been titled "Curse of the big boobs", because of the intensive focus on Gong Li's pushed-up bosom.

Zhang Yi Mou not only produces movies he also has some Impression productions running in China. Impression are huge shows set on landscapes with artist performing with their environment in front of a stage being able to host about up to 600 people.

Momently there are three Impression shows. One in Yangshuo, one in Lijiang and one in Hangzhou. More info about Impression shows.

Zhang Yi Mou also directed a portion of the Closing Ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic Games Athens in Greece. For the Olympic Games of 2008 Beijing Zhang Yi Mou will direct the opening ceremony and that will be a stunner, so I highly recommend you not to miss this Opening Ceremony of Beijing 2008!

Zhang Yi Mou
Gong Li in Curse of the Golden Flower
Zhang Zi Yi in House of Flying Daggers


Filmography Zhang Yi Mou:


- 1987 Red Sorghum, 红高粱
- 1989 Codename Cougar, 代号美洲豹
- 1991 Ju Dou, 菊豆
- 1992 Raise the Red Lantern, 大红灯笼高高挂
- 1994 To Live, 活着
- 1995 Shanghai Triad, 摇啊摇
- 1995 Lumière and Company
- 1997 Keep Cool, 有话好好说
- 1999 Not One Less, 一个都不能少
- 1999 The Road Home, 我的父亲母亲
- 2000 Happy Times, 幸福时光
- 2002 Hero, 英雄
- 2004 House of Flying Daggers, 十面埋伏
- 2005 Riding Alone for Thousand of Miles, 千里走单骑
- 2006 Curse of the Golden Flower, 满城尽带黄金甲
- 2007 To Each His Cinema (in production)

Loy Krathong

This weekend on the full moon of 24 and 25 November the annual Thai festival of Loy Krathong was held. The festival is held 12Th month in the traditional lunar calendar.

Loy Krathong finds its origin in the Hindu festival to thank the deity of the Ganges. Nowadays the festival has been assimilated with the many Buddhist celebrations in Thailand. Loy Krathong is a festival to thank the goddess of the water for using the water for a whole year. All the sins and bad things will also be washed away on this festival.

Loy in Thai means "to float" and Krathong is a kind of self made little raft. The Krathong is made from banana leaves, or nowadays from foam) and holds a candle, three incense sticks and flowers or other decorations. For realising their Krathongs Thai people will go to the nearby river and if possible to a temple with access to the river. The candles and incense sticks will be lit and a wish will be made. A piece of your hair, symbolising the bad deeds and feelings, will be attached to the Krathong. After this ritual the Krathong is ready to go and float on.

This was a description of the more traditional festival, nowadays the releasing of the Krathong is still very important but a lot of different customs have been added to the festival.

Most Thai people get a holiday and anyway this year the festival took please in the weekend, so it is a festival for the whole family and a lot of food and especially drinks will be consumed.

In a lot of cities parades will be held. On the first day the parade will be more like a miss contest. The beauties of the city will be waving from their parade car. On the next day the government offices will decorate the parade cars with big Krathongs.

A more modern form of Kratong has also been introduced and is called khom fai. These are lantern or hot air balloons which are released to wash away the bad things and also a wish is granted when you release the lantern. These lantern are a lot of fun to do especially with a bunch of people it really creates a nice atmosphere. But be careful because the can be a bit dangerous if released when there is not enough hot air. The lantern will go down and can cause some damage. I witnessed it this year a lantern that came down on someone's balcony and burned all the plants.

Loy Krathong is sometimes referred as the festival of fire. The thing you will notice even more than the Krathongs and lanterns is the fireworks! I have never seen so much fireworks and so many different kinds. The disco firework, dinosaur eggs, garlic crackers, rockets in all sizes. I could get a bit of an idea how soldiers would have to live under constant threat of bombardment. Sleeping is a bit of a problem when all you hear is constant explosions and scared barking dogs. In Thailand there is no restriction on fireworks and no legal age to buy it. On the Thai TV news a lot accidents were shown. Especially children who had no experience lost a hand or some fingers.

So I apart from the sleepless nights and the constant state of vigilance I really enjoyed Loy Krathong for its tradition and fairy tale atmosphere.