J-term in Shanghai: Josh Sniegowski’s entries

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film and video major) writes:
After getting off of the 14½ hour flight (which actually wasn’t even close to as bad as I thought since I brought a lot to keep me busy) everything actually didn’t seem that different. The airport was less crowded than O’Hare and seemed to be running everything relatively the same. People ran around in business suits trying to get to their next flight too. I still was somewhat nervous being in a foreign communist country, but as I went down the escalator to get my luggage, I noticed a huge poster with Jackie Chan on it. This helped somewhat to ease the change.

Once we started driving to our hotel, I started to see the differences much more clearly, starting with the traffic. This may be a sad statement, but I believe that when I leave China the traffic is going to be what amazed me most about the entire trip. If anyone ever thought Chicago traffic was hectic, they should come to Shanghai. When they return to Chicago they will be kissing the ground they drive on. Three-lane highways seem more like six-lane highways as every car zigzags in and out of whatever lane they want without worrying about who is driving up behind them. Our bus literally would cut the guy next to us off leaving no more space than the width of a hair between the car and our rear bumper.

Driving off the highway is no better than on. At intersections there is no turn arrow, so you would think that cars would wait for an opening in traffic to turn, but this is not the case. If a car has any opportunity to turn, be it only a second, it goes. This causes the other car to slam on its breaks as the other car makes its turn. Police around watch this and shrug it off.

Along with cars, there are bikes and motorcycles everywhere. Never before have I seen a street lined with near 100 parked bicycles. There are even individual lanes in some sections where bikes and motorcycles are meant to drive. If there isn’t a lane, then they either drive on the street or even right on the sidewalk. With all these different kinds of traffic, it’s obvious that there are a huge number of horns going of at any given moment.

Once we got to where we would be staying for the trip, we checked in and went straight to the rooms. I expected a lot less and was very pleasantly surprised when I actually saw our rooms. Although small, they are furnished very nicely and comfortable to sleep in. Everyone was exhausted, but we didn’t get more than five minutes in the room before we were herded back onto the bus to head for a gallery.

After arriving on the Bund, I was amazed. All the buildings did not appear to be Chinese at all. Everything around us looked to be European. Once inside the gallery, the first thing that I thought was that I was under-dressed. Everything seemed very formal and I felt privileged to be there. The piece of art that stood out the most involved multiple buildings being filmed to look as if they were thrusting up and down, which were paired with the sounds of a female orgasm. I’m not sure what the meaning of this was, but it stuck with me after seeing it.

At the end of the day, everyone went out to dinner together and enjoyed a vast array of food. Everything was vegetarian and the food that stuck out the most was the eggplant. It was very sweet and tasted almost like candy, but it resembled a bowl of slugs. The meal was amazing, as was my first day in Shanghai. By the time I got back to the hotel I was half asleep and I passed out almost instantly.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film/video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film and video major) writes:
When I woke up for my second day in Shanghai, I felt like I had all the energy in the world. I’m guessing the reason for this was a mix between my excitement to see more of Shanghai, and the fact that I was really waking up around 6:00 p.m. Chicago time.

We met down in the lobby and took off for our first destination as soon as everyone was ready. When we arrived at Xintiandi, which now is a shopping area, this area appeared more like France than Shanghai, with expensive-looking stores and nice restaurants. Once we walked farther back into the area, however, we saw definite signs of Chinese history. The big cement arches around the doorways were inscribed with communist sayings written in Chinese. We were told the reason for this was that by writing these things, the buildings were considered sacred and therefore prevented them from being demolished. It obviously worked, seeing as they still stand in very good condition today.

Photo: At the Urban Planning Museum, viewing the scale model of present and future Shanghai. Photo by Liz Chilsen.

Our second location was the French Concession. Here we saw people living in very traditional Chinese housing. Bigger than most areas, it still resembled the poor sections of Chicago. Most homes had damp concrete floors and people used many things which were shared by the other people living around them. One thing that was very interesting was the area meant for old people to exercise. It resembled an American park for children, with extremely colorful bars and poles meant for climbing on. One man stood pulling wires which would, in turn, stretch both of his arms out. It was incredibly interesting to see.

Next, we ate Shanghai dumplings at the Taikang road market, which are considered a specialty. These dumplings contained soup in the middle and were delicious. More interesting than the food itself, however, was the building that we ate in. The halls were thin, but the building was tall and packed with people. We couldn’t find seats, so we walked multiple flights of stairs up in hopes of finding a place to eat. The entire building was filled with people and there were literally no open tables to sit at. Our group ended up having to split apart and sit wherever there was space. Sean and I ended up squeezing back into a corner with a Chinese family to eat. This was an experience in itself as I tried to manage with my limited chopstick skills as those around me ate with ease.

After eating, we went to learn about the city of Shanghai and where it plans to go in the future. We visited one building that contained a huge miniature Shanghai, which was awesome to see. After this we had the amazing opportunity of meeting the famous architect Xing Tonghe. He told us all about the World Expo and where he plans to lead the city in the future. This was a true privilege and I felt extremely lucky to take place in this experience.

Photo: Seated, Mr. Xing Tonghe, Josh Sniegowski, Sean Connor; standing, Natasha Egan and Hadley Vogel, with Mr. Xing's translator. Photo by Liz Chilsen.

From Mr. Xing’s presentation, we headed to another gallery, this time headed by Bizart. At this gallery, the piece of art that stood out the most to me showed a man getting slapped repeated times until he bled, while being belittled by another man. I assume that this was a criticism toward the government of China, but I would need much more time to think about this before trying to interpret what was being shown.

Finally, our group ate at a restaurant called Hotpot. This place was much like the Melting Pot located in Chicago. We had a boiling pot of some sort of broth and many different forms of meat and vegetables, which we cooked in these pots on our own. The meal was once again delicious. The best part about this time eating out, was that I felt that our group really got to know each other and become friends. Without this meal, our group would have never reached the level of comfort we have with each other.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film & video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film and video major) writes:
Once again, we had to wake up at what seemed to be a very early time due to everyone’s jet lag. Once everyone was ready, we headed out to a Catholic church. This was extremely interesting because I have never seen a statue of Jesus with Chinese characters surrounding it. The entire church was beautiful, and even though I don’t think this trip was planned, I was glad we went here.

Next we went to Old Shanghai, where we first visited a Taoist temple containing the city god. Here, I got to see multiple statues representing different gods and even see rituals of those people within the religion. People held sticks, which were lit on fire in order to create smoke. The reason for this is because the belief is that smoke carries things such as prayers up into the afterlife. Others also did things such as burn special money made for the deceased. I had never heard or seen anything like this and I was very excited to see it all.

In the same area, we left the temple and entered the shopping areas of Old Shanghai. Before we went shopping, however, we went into the Yu Gardens. This was once again beautiful, as we saw gardens that resembled those shown in movies having to do with traditional China. After the gardens we were allowed to shop all throughout Old Shanghai.

While shopping, I got my first chance to barter with a salesman in Shanghai. People may think this is easy, but I assure you that this takes a great amount of skill. Once I bought what I had wanted at a much lower price than originally given, I walked away thinking to myself that I could have gotten the price down further. It felt almost as if I was gambling and I wanted to go out and “save” more money.

After shopping for a while, everyone went out to eat in a group. We had the VIP treatment as we were led up into a room where we ate alone at a huge table. Again, the food was delicious as I tried the many different tastes of dim sum. After this we got lost for a bit, but this led us to many different interesting places. I saw street vendors selling huge fish and full ducks. As we continued to walk we also got the chance to visit another temple, which once again was very interesting. We didn’t get a chance to see it, but we were told that an entire paper house was going to be burnt in order to send it to someone who had passed away. This was a surprise stop, but the next stop was what I thought to be the most exciting of all.

After the temple, we stopped at the bird and insect market. Crickets, birds, turtles, cats, and dogs were being sold as pets. The most surprising of all of these were the crickets. They ranged from being very small to being as big as your finger. I got the opportunity to see the buying of a cricket, which seemed more like an underground dealing of illegal goods. I thought the lucky crickets were awesome, but unfortunately these bugs could not be brought back to the States and therefore not bought by anyone in the group.

Finally, everyone went out to eat together once again as a group. The restaurant was very fancy and the food very good. I finally got the chance to try the Peking Duck, which was much harder to eat that I had imagined due to all the bone left in the meat. My favorite part of the meal, though, was the ground duck meat and vegetables, which were put into a lettuce wrap then dipped in sauce and eaten. It was VERY good and I ate as much as I could before everyone else ate it all.

Once we all got back to the hotel, a group of people decided to go out on our own. We went to a nearby bar in hopes of getting a few drinks. We quickly realized that despite everything else being cheap, alcohol in Shanghai is very expensive. We had a few drinks, some people sang karaoke, and then we went back to the hotel and passed out for the night.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film & video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film and video major) writes:
This was the first day that we did not have an extremely full day of activities already planned. We did wake up as early as always, however, and head out for what we had planned. Our first stop was the Jade Buddha Temple.

After walking for a while, we reached our destination. This temple is one of the few remaining Buddhist temples in Shanghai, and it is very impressive. One of the first things that I noticed when I entered was that people were doing the same rituals as in the Taoist temples with the smoking sticks. I was told that many rituals were shared by multiple religions in China. While here we were also given the opportunity of seeing the Jade Buddha. This was amazing and the statue was beautiful. I will remember seeing it for the rest of my life. Also while at this temple, I got the chance to see a man who painted intricate landscapes using only his hands. The pictures were beautiful, as was the entire temple.

Once we were done walking around the temple, our group got the opportunity to see a traditional tea ceremony. This blew my mind, as they mixed different herbal teas, meant for specific purposes right in front of me. I don’t like tea that much, but the tea here was very good and I was glad to take part in the ceremony. After this, we were all allowed some much-needed free time.

The first thing everyone thought to do with their free time was to get some rest. The jet lag was still getting to people at night, and a short time to just sit was exactly what everyone needed. Nobody sat for long, however, as everyone almost instantly wanted to go out and explore Shanghai on their own. A small group of people and I decided to go out and get a meal of our choosing. After eating some skewers of steak, we got a huge meal for extremely cheap. The food was prepared in front of us and again everything was very good.

After this I planned on going out with everyone again, but as soon as I sat down for a few minutes I fell asleep. The remaining jet lag, mixed with the amounts of walking we had been doing, put me out instantly. My day was cut short here, but the sleep helped a lot for the next.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film/video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film and video major) writes:
We started this day by walking back to the Bizart gallery. Here we got the chance to learn a lot of new things about the past and present of art in Shanghai. We had previously read about them, but we heard more about the Stars movement, which held one of the first exhibits to be closed by authorities. We also heard about the movement from painting to other styles of art in the '90s. In 2000 the Chinese government finally allowed contemporary art into a sanctioned exhibition space.

From all the pieces that I got to see while at Bizart, there were a few that stood out over the rest to me. I do not recall the artists’ names, but their artwork will stick with me. In one, a man tried to sell knowledge in a jar. What was actually in the jar, though, was ground up human brain. Another thing being sold was sausages, but next to the sausages was a disgusting video of them being made. Needless to say, not many looked to have sold. The other two pieces that stood out were completely different from the first two pieces of artwork I mentioned. In one, a man’s arm came through the ceiling and he held a chandelier. Once he could not bear the weight any longer, he dropped the light and it shattered on the floor. In the other one that I liked, an entire room was slowly tilted upward until everything inside of it slid out. I’m not sure what these pieces of artwork were trying to comment on in society, but they definitely will stick with me.

After a nice lunch followed by short talks from some of the heads of Bizart, we were off to the next gallery. The next one we stopped at, Made in Shanghai, included multiple pieces of art which were made within LED lights. This was a school, which I found incredibly interesting, that tried to bring young artists into the main contemporary scene of Shanghai. The main work that stood out to me here was a drummer video that was superimposed onto an actual drum set.

After this we made one more stop at a gallery that contained old-style ink-based paintings. Even though this was more like the art I have been used too, it was a good break from the experimental art we had been seeing for the last couple of days. The pictures were all beautiful, especially the ones that the curator himself painted, which included black-and-white paintings of traffic. After that we ate dinner and were done with the day together as a class.

Later at night, a few classmates and I went out to the New York Bar as a joke to see what it was like. The only thing that made it seem even somewhat American was the fact that it was playing old pop songs like Will Smith’s "Miami." It turned out to be an incredibly fun time though, as some played pool while others danced on the little dance floor. Once again the day was fun and I couldn’t wait to see what we were doing on the next day.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film/video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film & video major) writes:
Today we spent almost all of our time wandering around the general area of the Bizart offices. We stopped at a huge number of different galleries. Even though I would like to cover them all individually, I am only going to speak of the things I found most interesting.

After a bit of walking through different galleries, I saw all kinds of things that caught my eye. For a while I got the chance to mess around with actual remote-control exercise machines. The point of this exhibit was to make a comment on how most people today are operating like machines, doing repetitive tasks. No matter what it was saying, though, it was really fun. At the same gallery, I also got the chance to see a piece of art made completely by silk worms.

At another gallery, we got a chance to meet the main artist. His students' and his own paintings all seemed to have to do with the city of Shanghai itself. The painting I liked the most here was one that from afar looked to be a traditional painting of Chinese mountains, but once you got close, you realized that the mountains were composed of all modern-day things like buildings and cars. So far, this has been one of my favorite pieces that I have seen.

Some other pieces of art that blew my mind included a huge statue of an elderly Chinese man, pictures of soldiers running through a battlefield trying to reach a microphone, and a huge group of men in a battle in what appeared to be hell. These paintings and statues were beautiful and also made one think a lot about what you were seeing. Even though I saw a lot more than this, I saw so many pieces of art that caught my eye individually that I found it hard to remember the rest.

With the rest of my free time throughout the day, I got a chance to go to some general stores. One of the stores was huge and resembled something like a Wal-Mart back in the States. They sold anything you could need. After that, I ate a great dinner of steak and an egg, which comes with almost every meal you eat in Shanghai. By the time I got back to my room, I was very tired.

Josh Sniegowski is a sopohmore in the film/video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film & video major) writes:
Today we had to wake up very early, and after spending all previous days doing a lot of walking, it was hard. The first thing that we did was go to a very big garden where many people from the city go to exercise in the morning. Going into the garden I couldn’t have even began to imagine how many people would actually be doing their morning routines. The place was massive and there were people everywhere you looked. A group of elderly women danced in sync with music, a group of people swung their arms violently to the beat of music, and others moved very slowly while practicing Tai Chi. By far the most interesting form of morning workout, however, was the old man I saw practice fighting with a sword. He was not young, but he was still able to jump and spin in the air while keeping great control over his blade.

While here, we were told that people do this every morning because it is said to help prolong life and is very good for the body. I was skeptical to believe that these basic exercises could do this until I met a 92-year-old man who walked around and acted as if he were 20. He told our group that two minutes of small squats per day would grant us these abilities as well. After seeing all this, we headed out on a two-hour drive to our next destination in Suzhou.

Once we got to the I.M. Pei Museum, we got to see something completely new. The entire building was a mix of old garden tradition with modern architecture. It was incredibly clean in and around the museum and all the works it held inside were amazing. After this, however, we visited The Humble Administrator’s Garden, which was the traditional style of gardens. Here we saw everything from incredibly old Bonsai trees to caves that multiple people could walk through. It was a huge and beautiful place.

After this we visited a few smaller gardens, then got a chance to eat. The restaurant we went to has Muslim cuisine. In my opinion, this was by far the best place we have gone to eat throughout the entire trip. Everything tasted amazing, and it was the first time that I stuffed myself past the point of being full.

Our last place to visit before we drove back to Shanghai was a silk factory. Here we learned the entire process of making silk clothing and quilts. Even though this was all a strategy to sell us silk, it was still very interesting. After the tour, we got back on the bus and took the long ride back, ate one last time, and headed for the hotel. By this time everyone was so exhausted that we all went straight back to our rooms instead of going out on the town. Hopefully tomorrow everyone will have more energy.

Josh Sniegowski is a sopohmore in the film/video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film + video major) writes:
Today we got the chance to talk to Chinese students who are studying in our same fields at Tongji University. Even though I didn’t think this would go too smoothly with the language barrier, everything was awesome. I met two students in particular that I talked with for almost the entire time. Since everyone was unable to pronounce the students' actual names, they told us their “American” names. The two students, Austin and Dura, were incredibly nice and very excited that we were there. Even though we couldn’t leave, Austin wanted to go to his dorm room with a few others and myself to show us some of his animation work. I will definitely remember this for a long time and I hope to keep in contact with the students through email.

Also while at the university, I got the chance to watch a few short normal and animation films. Even though the normal films were good, the animation was really good. I was very happy to get the chance to see what film students were learning in China compared to in America. After lunch we left the school.

After a while of driving, we arrived at Radiance Studios. Since I actually play video games, this was very interesting for me. We got the chance to walk around the studio and actually look at what the programmers were working on. After that, we got to hear from the owner of the studio, who told us a lot of different things about the video-game industry. I know I’m here to view and learn about actual contemporary art at different galleries, but the visit to Radiance was one of the most interesting things I have done yet.

Once our day of learning was over, we got some free time. Almost everyone went to get a massage. This was great and it was also a nice break from all the walking in the freezing cold we had been doing throughout the week. From here everyone went to a DVD store. Even though all the DVDs were most likely pirated, they were sold packaged like any other DVD in America. I ended up getting eight movies and two TV series for the equivalent of $30. By this time it was late and everyone headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film + video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film + video major) writes:
Today we did a vast array of different things, starting with a trip to the Shanghai Museum. The museum was huge and shaped to look like an ancient Bronze. The main hall of the museum a huge square, while above was a gigantic circular skylight. I thought it was very interesting when we were told that the reason for this was because in some Chinese beliefs the Earth is square while heaven is circular.

The first area of the museum that we looked at was the bronze section. There were many amazing pieces in this collection. I personally liked to see the contrast of how different animals were portrayed on bronze throughout different periods of Chinese history. On some pieces, many animals were even blended together to form a new creature. We also got to see one of the largest collections of bronze bells in this section as well. After this we were allowed to explore the rest of the museum. Everything was amazing, but if I talked about it all this would go on forever.

Next we took another long bus ride to the Zendai Museum in Pudong. Here we saw many different pieces of art that also took different forms. Some were normal paintings, some were cracked ceramic bowls that were painted and assembled to look like the artist's wife, and some were in a league of their own. On example of this kind of work would be the video of a naked woman who was covered with Braille dots. Then multiple blind men continued to feel them. I am not sure what the deeper meaning of this was, but it was definitely interesting.

Also while at the museum, we got the chance to hear from a museum head, Biliana Ciric. From her, we got to hear many different things on many different subjects. The most interesting, however, was her talk about the censorship of art in Shanghai. We were told that sometimes paintings were just taken with nothing left but a note. I did not know that censorship was this severe in some cases, but I guess it can get far worse than this.

After dinner, we got the privilege of attending a private concert. We heard the playing of a Gu-Zheng, which was an amazing opportunity. The music was beautiful and the musician was incredibly skilled. I felt very lucky to be able to attend this and it instantly became one of my favorite parts of the trip.

To finish the night off, everyone went out to a nightclub that our guide Shin Yu got us into. Bacardi sponsored it and we even got our own private table. The party was insane and had everything from people dancing in full glow suits to people appearing out of lights. It was awesome and everyone got a chance to have good time and just relax with each other. By the time we left the party everyone desperately needed sleep and headed straight for a bed.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film + video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film + video major) writes:
Today was practically a free day for everyone, since all the galleries that were planned were closed for different reasons. All that we had to do as a group was to get together and talk about the trip in general and our final projects. Once this was out of the way, we were free to do whatever we wanted.

The first thing that was on everyone’s mind was to get something to eat. We headed to a nearby restaurant and ordered a lot of family-style food. Everyone was surprised when the bill came out to be $2 per person, but no one complained. From here we had to battle for a taxi to head to our next destination.

After a long taxi ride due to traffic, we arrived once again at old Shanghai. It was pouring rain, but this didn’t stop anyone from getting the shopping they needed done. At one point someone was going to buy a watch from one man who was asking around, but after he tried to lead us down an alley to some dirty door to get to the watches, we quickly got out of there. After a short while of hunting for everything that I wanted to get my family and girlfriend, everyone met back up and we once again searched for a taxi.

To end the night, a group of people went out together to another bar. This turned out to be the most American bar yet, with everything from burgers to chicken tenders on the menu. After some pretty good food and a few beers everyone went back and got some sleep.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film + video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film + video major) writes:
We started today by heading out to get a tour of old Jewish Shanghai. To be honest, I thought this was going to be long and somewhat dull, but our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and made everything incredibly interesting. We started the tour in an old mansion, which was beautiful, but this was not what caught my attention the most. The old Jewish neighborhood by far was the most interesting to me, but we did not head straight there from the mansion.

We next got the chance to head to the Bund and see a great view of Pudong. I finally got a chance to see through the fog and see the Pearl Tower. Boats filled the river, carrying everything from garbage to giant advertisement signs. I also got a great view of the famous Peace Hotel. We heard some history of the area and then headed out to the old Jewish town.

In the small area, we got the chance to see many different things. We were told that the buildings’ addresses are the same now as they were years ago, during WWI. We even got the opportunity to enter a house. You do not understand how small these houses are until you are actually inside one. The entire house is almost smaller than a closet in many American houses. Multiple people live in these small places, where there is absolutely no heating and a concrete floor. Seeing this would help anyone living in the U.S. to gain much more appreciation for what they have.

After a few more stops on the tour, we ate lunch and then got a short time to ourselves. Some people went shopping, but a few others and myself decided that we just wanted to hang out back at the hotel for a while. The bus ride back took so long that we only had about an hour to ourselves before we were supposed to go back out for our last dinner.

Yet again we got the chance to eat at a Muslim restaurant, and since the last one had the best food on the trip so far, I was excited. While we were waiting for our food, men came around and handed out something that resembled a calzone that was filled with lamb. It was very good, kind of tasting like a White Castle, in my opinion. After this we got the entire rear end of a lamb, which everyone received gloves in order to eat it with their hands. The meal was amazing. Also while eating, people were pulled up to dance with the waiters. I had to cling to my chair in order to prevent this, as did all the other guys in our group. It was a fun night.

We ended the night by going out to yet another club with everyone. This was a more relaxing night and for most of the time everyone just sat together and talked. I was running low on Yuan by now, so I left pretty early and got some sleep. This was my last night out and I had a great time once again.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film + video department.

JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film + video major) writes:
Since today we are leaving, I had to wake up and make sure I had everything charged for the plane and packed up. I did this as fast as I could, then got down to the lobby with everyone else. Everyone was checked out and we had to put all of our luggage in the corner of the lobby while we went out.

This day was completely free, so everyone started it by just walking around the area near our hotel. We found an open-air market where there were all kinds of crazy eels and huge frogs that could be bought. From here everyone hopped into a taxi.

They next place that we ended up was at the Pearl Tower. Everyone wanted to go up in it, but the place wouldn’t accept credit cards and many were running low on Yuan. Most ended up going up, but one other person and I didn’t have any way to pay, so we decided to search for a restaurant that would accept credit cards.

We only had a short time, so we tried to find somewhere that would have fast food. Assuming that little shops wouldn’t accept cards, we tried bigger-name chains. After going to Subway, Burger King, McDonald's, and KFC, we had no luck. We waited for everyone to come down and headed back to the hotel.

It was time to head for the airport. Instead of taking the long bus ride, we decided to take an incredibly fast train, which reached up to 275 MPH. We got to the airport in around eight minutes, and my time in Shanghai was coming to an end. It was an amazing trip, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to travel. I met a lot of great people and I am incredibly glad that I was given the opportunity to participate in this experience.

Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film + video department.