LIZ CHILSEN, Photography professor, writes: Happy New Year! I thought I'd take advantage of the newness of the year to plunge in on this blog. Even as I write "Happy New Year," though, I am aware that in China, this is not New Year's day, but just another Monday in January.
I’m really excited about this trip, and am busily preparing, reading, packing, worrying about having enough memory cards for my camera, etc. I checked the weather in Shanghai, and happily saw that while we're there it's predicted to be sunny and warm.
I have traveled a bit before, but never to Asia. I’ve been trying to study the language… very intimidating, actually. Looking at the characters, I can’t help but see them as beautiful designs, rather than words. It will be interesting to experience being clueless again. In my other travels, I’ve been able to rely on my grasp of Spanish and the tiny bit of German I picked up somewhere to get me by, but in Chinese, it will all be new.
As I reflect on my past travels, I realize that in addition to other countries in Europe and Latin America, I’ve been to a number of communist countries: Nicaragua in the 80s, Czechoslovakia before the wall fell, and now China. I wonder how it will be to be there. Very different I’m sure, but I’m also curious about any similarities. Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution was a whirl of artistic expression on every level. Czechoslovakia in 1988, not so much. It was dark and gray and historical rather than vibrant and fresh. I wonder if Shanghai will be a kind of combination of those elements; the long history of state control blended with the excitement of all the changes and opportunities offered now.
I also wonder about the architecture and the makeup of the city. We have been reading about all the beautiful architecture, and also the rapid pace of change. I wonder about ordinary Shanghai streets. Are they being completely destroyed, or are some preserved? I’ve looked at images by Howard French, a New York Times photographer, who recently published “Disappearing Shanghai”; photographs of the streets of the city that are being razed for development. I’ll be interested in seeing these things firsthand, and meeting artists working now. Hear about their interests and concerns. Learn about how they are supported and/or challenged by government policy and the current pace of change.
