May's China & Hong Kong Escapade - 2002
Bill's Introduction:
Ms. May had planned for quite some time to go back to Hong Kong and China
for an extended stay this summer. She had several 'agenda items',
but I'll let her tell you, in her own words & phrases - what she did.
After her text, here - there's a link to some pictures...
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Yellow-Moutain 'collage' picture - more details below.
May's Summer 02 China Trip:
I took off early from Ft. Lauderdale, so we spent the night in my cousin's
place down there. Changed plane in Chicago, not a bad connection, until
they said the cargo door was jam, and we were two hours late departing and
an hour late arriving Hong Kong, after 15 hours in the air.
Spent a week in Hong Kong, catching up with friends and getting ready for
the mainland trip. I bought a little eletronic translator, which later
I found very useful when I came back home, but no much use there.
May14th: pick up Harvey (head of the Armory Art center(West Palm
Beach), ceramic department.) from the (Hong Kong) airport and arranged for
him to stay in the Kolwoon Hotel, which has computer in the room and internet
connection 24/7.
May15th, take the ferry and show Harvey around the Hong Kong Island in
the morning, then take the bus across the border to China. After 4 hour
ride, we arrived at the Golden Lake Hotel in Foshan.
May16-25th, 2 weeks ceramic workshops in a factory with 20 other artists
from all around the world; Norway, Congo, Canada, Kajikistan, Korea, India,
Taiwan, America, China, Hong Kong.....
May26-28th, conference opening and lecture, if you're interested in some
pictures of the show, see the follow web site:
http://www.artcn.net/New/foshan/index.htm
BTW, my show piece arrived in one piece after travel half way around the
world, but someone broke it while placing in the showroom. They glued it
back in one piece finally.
May29th, visited the Guangzhou museum of Art again, forget to tell you
all, I did spend some time visiting museum and ceramic historic place (kiln
site and so forth) during the workshop weeks. I also visit the Guangdong
Museum of Art, which has a very nice Dali show, which I didn't expect.
May 30th-June 15th, 17 hours train ride to Jingdezheng, the home town of
porcelain. 2 weeks as "artist in residence" in Sanbao - Jingdezhen
Ceramic Art Institute, if you're interested, please visit their web-site:
http://www.chinaclayart.com
while, I'm there, I learn a lot of things about porcelain from a number
of the masters in the country. Also went up to Lo Mountain - gorgeous
scenery - which is 3 hours drive away.
June 16-18th, Yellow Mountain! One of my wish for a long time. Of course,
I hiked up and down 1860 km, saw the sunrise.
June 19-26, back to Sanbao to pick up the big luggage and head to Beijing
(12 hours on the train) with Sharon, who is a NYer but can speak fluent
Mandarin, as she has spent months in China both teaching English and studying
ceramics. After saying bye to Sharon, I spend the rest of the week
with a group of Tianshiwuyu friends (a Gallery chain) to research a business
opportunity with them. Also spend some time in the Central Academy
of Fine Arts, visiting new friends and their studio set up.
June 27th- July 4th, 24hours train-ride back to Hong Kong. You know what,
the worst part of the whole journey is from Shenzhen to Lo Wu, the 20 mins
walk with all the 50kg of luggage up and down from the China last train
station to the first Hong Kong train station. I thought they would try to
make it easier. No, I didn't take the direct train to Kolwoon, since
that 20 mins walk worth as much as the whole ride. Again, catch all
chances to see the rest of the gang, then fly back on the 4th of July.
A lot of friends advise to change the date, but I think maybe I can have
a whole row of seats. No luck, the whole plane back to Chicago is
full. I slept almost the whole way, plus some on the way back to Ft.
Lauderdale.
It's good to be back to see my huggleable hubby and pettable cats.
However, it's taken some time to unpack, re-organize all the contacts (dozens
of name cards), do what I've promised, write thank you notes....... OOPs,
cannot wait to try to make some thin porcelain bowls! WOW! Package showed
up from China, which is the 15kg of books my Chinese friend help me to send
home via boat-freight-postal-mail.
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there will be more 'annotation' here eventually...
last updated: 25 July 2002, revID: 1e by : Bill
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