3/16/2015. Yesterday I met Ji, a 25 year old who wanted to improve her already excellent English. We traded language practice for cultural insight. I learned that her parents violated the one-child policy. Ji was the second born. After her birth her parents had to pay a fine, and the government has come after the family with all sorts of penalties ever since.
Ji comes from a middle-class family several hours outside of Beijing. Her whole life long her parents have urged her to "trust in the government, they provide for you."
I asked Ji who in China sees things her way, and who sees things her parents way. She thinks it's the creative and intellectual class who see what's going on.
"Peasants and laborers don't care about development, globalization, and especially the environment. Huo shao meimao. That is to say, their eyebrows are on fire. They have immediate needs and the big picture is not their concern. If local officials force a village woman to have abortion at seven months, then yes, there will be an outcry. Then a reporter for The Economist might get wind of it and it will get some buzz and then all the world believes that all of China is dying to get out. But most Chinese truly believe what they read in the state-controlled media."
Then she told me that if I really wanted to see some good critiques of the government to go to 798, the gallery district.
I took a 45 minute cab ride from the city center. The sign at the entrance says you're about to enter Beijing's equivalent of MoMA or the Tate Modern.
Liu Wei made these buildings out of rawhide dog chews to suggest the carnivorous way emperors have gone about obtaining power.
I couldn't find an artist or title for this one, but it was outside in an alley full of graffiti (which is legal here).
This one's called Urban Capsule.
An immersive environment where you are invited to step in and feel creepy, uncontrolled, heartless agents swarming around.
Someone didn't quite get the sinister thrust of the piece.
And finally, the classic Ming chair, freshly updated. The header photo shows it in a deconstructed state.
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