散步和迷路 (Taking walks and getting lost)

Hello, all!

After having rainy/overcast weather for the past week, things finally cleared up this Sunday and have been gorgeous ever since. In celebration of this nice weather, Monday afternoon I went for a stroll. Jinghang Dayun River 京杭大运河 runs through our campus, so I decided to follow it for a bit. Along the way, I saw some interesting things.

View of the River near Zhejiang University of Technology

Although I wouldn't want to swim in it, the river is still pretty. While it's rather polluted by my standards, it's been cleaned up a lot in the past 10 years or so. It's also a relatively quiet place, with the exception of some mothers with strollers, some elderly people going for walks, and the occasional motorbike that zips by. Along the way, I bumped into a series of murals with traditional Chinese subjects and calligraphy. Up until now, most of the public art that I've encountered has been Soviet Realist-looking sculpture, so this was a refreshing change of pace.

As I was walking along, I continued to contemplate one of the biggest questions I've been battling since I arrived: how to absorb, process, and articulate my surroundings and experiences here in China. A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with my friend Nathan (a fellow Fulbrighter) about how to describe China. The adjective I settled on was "gritty," and indeed, a lot of it is. However, the adjective he picked was "energetic." The more I think about, the more I'd have to agree with him. There's so much here that I want to record, but when I pull out my camera I can't seem to capture it. I largely blame myself as an ineffective photographer. There must be a better way to frame my shots--perhaps there's an angle that can simultaneously summarize the scene and create a striking composition. But more than just that, I think it also comes down to energy. The snapshot can't encapsulate the smell of rotting garbage or frying tofu. It also can't embody the sounds of honking, construction, or conversation. There's a perpetual underlying hum, or buzz here. So yes, it's loud and dirty. However, there's also something really beautiful about it. Even in something like a construction site, I find myself appreciating the contrast between the green tarp and orange cranes, the geometric repetition of the scaffolding, and even the construction workers that gawk at me as much as I observe them.

I'd venture to guess that these are apartment buildings. Housing in Hangzhou is actually quite difficult, and is currently one of the city's biggest problems

Will you just look at that light...

As I was mulling, I hit a wall. Literally.

Wall

Perplexed, I went back and read the sign. Unfortunately, this did not help matters.

(Note said-wall in the background)

Since it was stating to get late, I decided that this was probably a good time to turn around. My plan was to walk until I hit one of the earlier bridges, cross it, and then continue to walk on the other side of the river for a change in scenery. That's when I found my bridge:

What blew me away was not the bridge itself, but rather its 饕餮 tāotiè motif (Art-105, anyone?). For those of you not familiar, this beastie-creature (note its two eyes and two horns) is an ancient decorative motif that is found on a countless number of Shang-Zhou Dynasty ritual bronzes. I had just finished writing an essay on these bronzes for my history class, and was really tickled to see that the taotie lives on. I wonder how many of the people that cross this bridge notice this decoration, and out of those how many are familiar with its history. Perhaps it's infiltrated enough into their culture that it's a common design like anything else. I'm really not sure, but starting now I'm keeping a taotie tally.

So as I'm close enough to see campus in the distance, I hit another wall [not depicted.] On the bright side, I did stumble upon what appears to be a Drivers Ed class.

An elderly Chinese woman examined me very closely as I took this picture

After back-tracking to the nearest bridge I meandered back towards campus. All in all, it was a successful outing.

And with that, I'm off to study so that I'll have time for a jog later this afternoon. Time to explore the river in the opposite direction!