Episode 134 - Puppet Play of a Skeleton

I visited the Hong Kong Museum of Art today for Phase II of the "Pride of China" Exhibition.

Phase I of the Exhibition ended on 22nd July. It exhibited the original of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" plus 15 great paintings and calligraphy.

Phase II also features a "Qingming River" painting, but this one is an imitation of the original Song painting, which imitation is attributed to Qiu Ying. The Museum also exhibits another 15 paintings and calligraphy.

Whilst the Ming Dynasty version "Qingming River" is also a masterpiece in itself, my heart turns to the other 15 paintings and calligraphy this time. They are housed in another exhibition hall in the Museum. Unlike the "Qingming River", there is no visiting time limit for these 15 artwork.

I believe many visitors were interested in the "Puppet Play of a Skeleton" (see above) by Li Song. It is a strange painting with a skeleton man performing a play of a skeleton puppet!. Many commentators tended to look at this painting from a philosophical perspective of "Life and Death". I do not find this approach attractive. I would rather view the plot of this artwork as a magic performance. The painter, like the girl on the right side, was probably doubting whether the magician (the skeleton man) was in fact a demon, while watching the performance.

Apart from the "Skeleton", I also like the paintings "Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy" and "Vimalakirti Preaching the Doctrine" - I saw photos of these 2 paintings many times in the past. It's great to be able to have a close encounter with the originals of them. As to calligraphy, I was touched by the strokes of Wang Xun and Zhao Mengfu.

Episode 133 - Gogo's trip to the UK

While I am writing this post, Gogo is on the way, having landed safely, to his aunt's home in the UK.

Although Gogo travelled a lot previously, this morning he flied for the first time in his life without a companion.

I was a little bit nervous this morning but I pretended to be calm so as not to make Gogo nervous too. I was not sure whether Gogo could manage passing the immigration / custom counters and found his way to the boarding lounge. I had decided to wait outside the restrictive area with my mobile phone turned on in order to provide on the line advice to Gogo if required.

The flight time was 8:40 so we had to get up very early in the morning. We took a taxi to the Airport Station in Central and checked in there. The airline staff was very helpful. When she discovered that Gogo was to travel alone, she arranged for another colleague to assist Gogo at the airport.

We took the Airport Express and arrived the airport at 7:00 a.m.

We planned to have our breakfast at a restaurant next to the departure gate. To our disappointment, the restaurant had closed. We therefore had a brief breakfast at a fastfood shop nearby.

After finishing the not so tasty fastfood, we went to the airline counter. The staff there were waiting for us and one of them then accompanied Gogo to pass the immigration / custom counters and board the plane through the staff channel!

I was quite relief when I saw the airline staff leading Gogo into the restrictive area. Many thanks to the helpful staff of New Zealand Airline.

Episode 132 - The Five Elements

The "Five Elements" is another basic principle in the Taiji martial art system which has always been misinterpreted by contemporary writers or practitioners.

Some people simply consider these elements as moving forward / backward or taking care of left / right. Some go too far to equate them with the skills of "Sticking, Adhering, Connecting and Following" and adding the "non contentious" as the "Five Inside Elements".

To better understand the nature of the Five Elements, we have to consider them from the perspective of "Turning Yin and Yang Upside Down".

According to "On the Art of Taiji", "Forward and Backward" are the steps of "Water and Fire"; whereas "Left and Right" are the steps of Metal and Wood. The Earth "Centre" is the centre of the dynamic.

If you look at the Five Elements in accordance the rationale behind the principle of "Turning Yin and Yang upside down", you will know that you need to use backward to support forward and vice versa; and you will need to use your left side to support your right side and vice versa - Regarding the importance of centre, please see previous postings.

That's the essence of the 13 forms - We manipulate the application skills by adopting the 8 directions principle (the 4 squares and the 4 corners) and we move around (or unmove) by adopting the principles of the 5 elements.

These 13 forms are inborn (but lost) abilities. They can be revived through the "Know your ownself" training. It is a mistake to confuse them with the "Sticking, Adhering, Connecting and Following" - the latters are the basic skills required in the stage of the "Know Others".

Episode 131 - Night Fishing Light

This photo was taken at Bikuni Port during my 2002 Hokkaido journey.

I was amazed by the large light bulbs hanging across the top of the fishing boat.

Whilst these bulbs made the white fishing boat look artistic (and probably charming at night) they were not hanging there for decoration purpose.

Fishing boats like this will turn on those bulbs at night. The purpose of this is to attract fish, which has a tendency to swim towards a light source at night. The fishermen can then catch the fish gathering near the boat.

The Chinese characters for Bikuni is the same as "USA" in Chinese. That's the reason why I was attracted by the road sign whilst driving along the coastal area in Syakotan Peninsula and stopped at Bikuni to take a short break.

I recall that the roads along the coastal area of Syakotan were finely paved. However, there were quite a number of road tunnels along the coastal line. These tunnels were probably built many years ago and the roads inside these tunnels were not wide enough to provide comfortable driving. The degree of closeness between my car and the cars in the opposite lane astonished me.

Episode 130 - Along the River During the Qingming Festival

[The Rainbow Bridge and a closer-look of it: portion of the Qingming River as reproduced in the museum brochure]

My family visited the Hong Kong Museum of Art and saw the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" (the "Qingming River") today.

The Qingming River is a painting of over 5 metres in length. It depicts in details what's happening in the Bian City and the outlying areas along the Bian River during a Qingming festival. It was drawn at the time of the Song Dynasty in ancient China.

The Qingming River exhibition is one of the hot events in town in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Reunification of Hong Kong with China.

It is said that the Qingming River will only be available for public viewing once every 10 years. Further, it is the first time the painting is displayed in Hong Kong. Hence, the ticket office of the Museum is always line up with people.

My family have the Museum annual passes so we did not need to buy tickets. We arrived the Museum at 11 a.m. but were not able to view the painting immediately. As there were too many visitors, we only managed to get registered for a time slot at 4 pm.

In addition to the Qingming River, there are 15 great paintings being exhibited in another exhibition hall in the Museum. We took advantage of the time in between to visit these paintings and have a lunch as well.

As there are too many visitors, the viewing session in respect of the Qingming River is limited to 5 minutes for each visitor. We were only able to view the painting for one and a half round within these 5 minutes. To my and Judith's surprise, both Gogo and Chiu Yin were excited to see the painting.

I have seen a copy of another version of the Qingming River. Such version was an imitation drawn at the time of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing version is more colourful. However, there are a number of differences between the two. The major difference is the "Rainbow Bridge" (see above) which flies over the Bian River in the middle of the painting. The Song version features a wooden bridge but the Qing version features a stone bridge. Further, the positions and conditions of the boats near the bridge and the body languages of the various characters around make the Song version a more attractive piece of work.

Outside the viewing room is a large hall displaying detailed explanations on various portions of the painting to enable visitors to have a deeper understanding of this great artwork. The brochure provided by the Museum also gives a good briefing on the contents of and background information in relation to the painting.

The Museum did a very good job. Although the viewing time was limited, the arrangement was good and the staff were helpful.

We received a small souvenir before leaving the exhibition hall. It is a miniature scroll of the painting!

Episode 129 - Sword Play

The taiji sword is an advanced level training tool.

One has to consider the taiji sword from 2 different perspectives. The sword as a weapon and the sword as an extension of the limbs.

I shall write something on the weapon aspect in the future.

The second aspect relates to empty-hand combat. It can further be sub-divided into 2 sub-headings:

1. Power enhancer: A sword used for power training is different from a demonstration sword. A "real sword" (like the one in the photo) should be used for the purpose of power training. A "real sword" is much heavier than a demonstration sword. Manipulating and making use of the weight of a "real sword" requires specific technique.

In a taijiquan form, it is the body that leads the limb. In a sword play using a "real sword" it is the limb that leads the body - the purpose is to enhance the flowing of power like "mercury in a bamboo pipe".

Apart from facilitating the power flow, the taiji sword form is designed to enhance the opening of the "Gate of Life" and the wrist joints. In most time of the sword play, the "gate" is opened. It also demands high flexibility of the wrist joints.

2. Application Techniques: The sword form embodied the advanced level application techniques in the taiji martial art system. Apart from the hand techniques, it has many complicated footworks.

Looking at the sword form from a different angle, you will have many interesting discoveries.

The sword play is not equal to sword dance.

Episode 128 - Sunset Danshui

This photo was taken at the coastal area of the Danshui River.

Apart from offering a spectacular view of the Danshui sunset, the coastal area has a number of sovenair shops and restaurants.

The restaurants along the coastal line offer Chinese style seafood and Western food. The Western styled restaurants are mostly located in an area covered by some huge banyan trees. I tried one of them and was happy with the service and the food offered. The prices of the food are very reasonable in the light of the quality of the food and the location of the restaurant. Enjoying the delicious food in front of the beautiful Danshui River is a double treat.