Chinese, China and the Olympic Games

I'm sure all of you who do drop by from time to time are quite aware of all the hullabaloo of anti-Chinese sentiment leading up to this summer's Olympic Games because of China's poor record of human rights.

TIME and BusinessWeek have a couple of the better articles on Chinese anti-foreign media stance, highlighting the opinion that the Chinese are retaliating against what they see as very biased anti-China coverage by Western media. Do skim through the readers' comments if you have time - very interesting conflicting viewpoints.)

I have to admit I was actually more indignant about the Western media's blanket criticism over fallacies in Chinese manufacturing, blackening the tag "Made in China" even further, to the extent that I actually wrote a short defense about it in one of my January exams. To me, currently the whole storm is very much a China-issue, with the criticisms directed at China the country no reflection on my identity as a Chinese, and I can't help feeling slightly ambivalent about it all.

But the question one must pose is, if not for the March 14 Tibetan riots, would all these so-called righteous activists have done anything to voice "popular" dissent over China's poor human rights record? Communist China has had stringent controls over its people's fundamental human rights for many decades, but never have we seen such widespread, intense criticism before. The whole issue this time started with the recognition of Tibet's independence and separate cultural identity, and has gone on to criticise China's policies as a whole.

Accuse me of being apathetic, but I won't claim to know enough of the big picture to put down an opinion on the Tibet contention. What strikes me as pure irony is that dissenters have chosen to highlight their pet peeve by disrupting the Olympic torch relay around the world. Don't get me wrong - it is good that people are actually doing something about an issue they believe strongly in, but for any instance did they think that this destructive campaigning will affect the Games in any way, or make China change its policies? Cases like the Chinese paraplegic who was attacked while relaying the torch makes one wonder who the real "bad guy" is. Presumably these "activists" will also be boycotting the Games in Beijing come August, not that they have enough $$ to go anyway.

Secondly, society's collective memory seems to have conveniently forgotten that the whole Olympic torch relay was the brainchild of Carl Diem, a Nazi commander, for the purpose of promoting Nazi ideology and propaganda. With the support of the infamous Joseph Goebbels, Diem twisted the ancient tradition of a fire burning throughout the Olympics in commemoration of Prometheus (a human) stealing fire from Zeus. It shouldn't be necessary for me to point out that Nazi Germany is one of the most well-known instances of the lack of human rights in Western history. Shouldn't these well-meaning activists be channeling their energy into getting rid of a practice with such a foul conception, or at least actively doing something about China's other issues such as child labour?

I'll take the Chinese's side in being irritated by those countries and politicians who have felt pressurized by the media to boycott the opening or closing ceremonies, or even the Games in its entirety. For goodness' sake, get a backbone. Nevertheless, however much we would like to the the high moral ground that "the Games are a celebration of sportsmanship and the human spirit, leave politics out of it!" (hello, Mr. Bush?), the truth remains that the Olympics have always been a source of political intrigue since its conception, a fact so succinctly pointed out in an excellent commentary by a classics professor from Cambridge writing for the Times.

Contrary to what I wrote earlier, I did get a little riled-up there hehe. Come what may, this August I'm gonna be glued to the TV watching the Games on Astro (television provider la, not Minishort's rabbit haha). Okay, lame joke.

Anyway, here are some images emailed in today by my cousin brother (one of the many =P) of botanic Olympic advertisement scattered in various cities in China. Kinda reminds me of the big keris-with-hibiscus structures promoting our Commonwealth Games way back in 1998. Hope the Chinese will be able to maintain these beautiful creations even after the Games are over, unlike the miserable state of our monuments.

Impressive water features:

Particularly like the one on the left

Amazing animals - I think the horse is really realistic

Elegant celebration of the (idealised) ancient Chinese lifestyle,

Allusion to a couple of Chinese inventions.











Fitting homage to the Games' Greek origins,
with the Temple of Zeus in Olympia on the left,
and what seems to be a very Palladian structure on the right,
a likely symbol of Western Civilisation's rebirth in Renaissance Italy.

And of course, what would a celebration of mankind be, without a salute to the 2 other cornerstones of civilisation?

Finally, a salute to the tremendous effort and
sacrifice of sportsmen around the world,

while ordinary rakyat like you and I go about our daily lives
interrupted once in 4 years by the greatest sporting event of all time.

Of Airports and Boobs

Just seen a new slide-show on BusinessWeek, the results from the latest annual survey by the Airports Council International on the best airport service quality around the world. (Check it out here.) KLIA is ranked 2nd! How awesome is that! I've always thought that KLIA was a great airport, with its high airy ceilings and palm-tree columns, plentiful use of glass, clear signage, clean and abundant toilets, etc. So proud that we Malaysians can actually get some things right, and especially since the airport is really the first contact point for so many people visiting Malaysia for the first time. Often, good or bad first impressions of a place is pretty dependent on what kind of welcome greets you.

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And this is another random bit from earlier this evening when *ahem* mammary glands crept into the dinner conversation, and the girls on the table commented that we were pretty happy with what we had been blessed (or cursed?) with. This reminded me of something on a random blog I stumbled upon some time ago:

According to some research (via the BBC) released to time neatly with all those women exercising to remove the Christmas poundage, apparently 9.5 million British women don't wear the right bra when they run and are damaging themselves irreperably. Some scary facts and figures...

• Boobs move in a figure of 8 shape when you jog. This strains your ligaments and tissues.
• If you run a mile, your bosoms will bounce 135 metres.
• Each funbag moves independently of the body by an average of 9cm for each step.
• An average boob weighs 200 - 300g.
• Wearing an average bra stops bounce by 37%.
• Wearing a sports bra stops bounce by 78%.

Scattered Thoughts: Wow! 200-300 grams! What size cup is that? Hmm.. I really should get hold of a sports bra then, if it really is that helpful... Why figure of 8 and not just "up-down-up-down"? How is it possible for a boob to move 9cm for each step??? Is that when one is or isn't wearing a bra?

For all ye female readers, hope that was an amusing read and a strong enough warning that we should heed our mothers' advice to always give 'em girls enough support. It's never too late to get properly fitted! And to all our dear blokes out there, please appreciate *them* better and with more care! =D

Of Competition and Triumph

Been reflecting a little on the various events that have transpired over the past 3 weeks, and realising that they've been linked by a common theme. (Apologies for the lateness in actually publishing this post - I've been waiting for the photos from Phing's camera which I borrowed for the first event.)

What a month! Be warned, it is a very long post, so skip the bits where I start rambling away.

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~ COVENTRY ~

Date: 29 Feb - 2 March
Place: Coventry (Warwick University)
Status: a very long overdue reunion with some of my good friends from school
People: Cindy Ting, Meryl Lam, Fred Emmott, Nick Sutcliffe, Ruari Edwards
Event: University of Warwick Symphony Orchestra concert.
Soloist: Cindy Ting

For those who don't know, Cindy, Meryl and I were part of the Sherborne Schools' Joint Symphony Orchestra way back when we were in 6th form. The SO was a joint effort between the all-boys Sherborne School and our Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset. (Similarly, Fred, Nick, Ruari and I were part of the Wells Cathedral Symphony Orchestra when I was in Years 10-11.) And as with most school and university orchestras who have sufficient resources, every year there are concerto auditions for musicians to grab the chance to perform as a soloist with the orchestra in one of the concerts usually held throughout the year.

Cindy and I went for the concerto auditions in September 2004 under the guidance of our piano teacher, Martin Walker. I played the 2nd movement and part of the 3rd from Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto, and Cindy performed Schumann's Introduction and Allegro Appassionato, a quasi-concerto stand-alone work. While yours truly received some favourable comments but ultimately did not win a concerto spot, Cindy shone through with her authoritative and elegaic take on Schumman's rather neglected work, and we performed her concert in March 2005 in none other that the famous St. John's, Smith Square, in London.

Words couldn't not rightly describe the intensity of the emotions and bonding between us during that year so full of joyous music-making. Suffice to say, learning a concerto is no mean task, and we stuck together through the whole journey. Unless you've experienced it yourself, I couldn't possibly convey to you the incredible fullness of connecting through the creation of music. It's not the same when you are the audience, merely absorbing the sounds coming from the orchestra or speakers in front of you. Immersing yourself in the whole creation process is a completely different experience, and the connection you make with the musicians around you, however brief, transcends the moment and stays with you for a lifetime.

Needless to say, when Cindy told me that once more, she will be performing the Schumann, this time with the UWSO, I couldn't have missed it for the world. After a ridiculously cold journey complete with train detour from Manchester, I arrived in Coventry and was picked up by Meryl and her boyfriend. Carefully bought the flower bouquets for later, and went to IKEA for a warming cup of (free!) hot chocolate. Met up with Cindy before the rehearsal started, and the first thing she says to me is, "You've grown!" - jokingly of course. Helped her sound-check in the venue hall, which, with its slightly out-of-tune piano, awkward stage arrangements and short length, was rather dissatisfactory. (A concert venue that's not long enough results in the sound from the stage bouncing front-to-back-to-front very quickly, giving off jarring echoes and poor clarity.)

But poor performance conditions aside, the whole evening was a nostalgic trip down memory lane for both of us, and I'd freely admit that we both got rather emotional at some point. Nobody broke down and cried, but there were definitely 2 pairs of misty eyes that evening. In all, just those 16 minutes when Cindy played her Schumann made the whole trip worthwhile, if not for the actual performance itself, then at least for the sense of closure and accomplishment I felt.

Post concert: a rather dishevelled me with the lovely soloist.

Holding up the back page of Cindy's Schumann score.
My comments and signature as the "Page Tuner" are in black in the middle of the page.
Yes, the one from 3 years ago! =D

The rest of the weekend consisted of some nice chill-out in a peaceful, green uni campus, a lively flat dinner, and a tour around the University of Warwick and Coventry town.

Cindy in front of her uni flat.

The superbly sinful hot chocolate at the Warwick Arts Centre cafe.

Equally superb but a thousand times more sinful "Thing".
Method: 2 slices thick white bread, peanut butter in between, deep fried in oil, slathered with butter and honey. Munch away.
Argh.

Cindy's Stitch fetish.

And lastly, the rather wonderful ruins of Coventry Cathedral:

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~ MALAYSIA ~

Date: 8 March
Place: all over Malaysia
Event: 12th General Election
People: Malaysians
Status: the people have spoken

Probably the most exciting and tense election in Malaysia's recent history. The very year in which I turn legal to vote, but unfortunately the registration was held before my 21st birthday. Darn! Anyway, it was still a pretty exhilarating time once the election date was announced, reading analyses from pro-government papers like The Star, prolific opposition blogs such as Screenshots and Malaysia Today, to articles in the international news-sphere of our election's hanky-panky phantom voters and politicians' gerrymandering. Late Saturday night, when the "experts'" analysis and commentaries started flooding in, I stumbled across a Reuters articles with a slide-show of the election proceedings. After numerous images of notorious politicians and voters from all walks of life, the last photo was a quiet one devoid of any signs of human activity.

(Copyright Reuters International)

After all the excitement, tension and relief of the previous hours, going through the intense emotions and swirling thoughts shared by most of my fellow Malaysians wherever they might be, the sight of a new sun dawning upon the heart of our country was a veritable tear-jerker. Aye, I choked up.

And who wouldn't? Whether pro-government or pro-opposition, passionate or apathetic, no one person involved with the progress of Malaysia and the fate of Malaysians could possibly remain unmoved by the thought of 27,496,000 Malaysians waking up to a whole new political landscape on the morning of 9th March 2008. The feeling must be somewhat akin to our forebears' emotions when Malaya declared her independence 50 years ago in 1957.

Only time will give judgment on the choices we Malaysians made that day. Stay tuned.

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~ MANCHESTER ~

Date: 15 March
Place: Council Chamber, UMSU
Event: inaugural UKEC Intra-Regional (North-West) Debate 2008
People: Rohit and Krishnan; miscellaneous
Status: pretty flabbergasted

Seeing the low levels of interest for this inaugural event, Vince made quite a few phone calls in an attempt to persuade more people to participate, and managed to rope in my interest more than a week before the debate. However, I didn't manage to find anyone else who was keen/available to participate, partly due to the last notice and the high turn-off point of having to wake up super early on the first Saturday of Easter Break.

On Friday morning I received a last-minute offer from Rohit and Krishnan to join their hastily-formed team. Vince decided to open up the competition to non-Malaysians as well, and they were roped in to fill the 4th team for Saturday. (Note: participation was so bad, that instead of the targeted 8 teams, UKEC would've only gotten 3 teams if not for us.) Went over to Whitworth Park early evening and we trashed out our basic argument, and decided on the order of speakers. 1st speaker: Krishna; 2nd speaker: Rohit; 3rd speaker: Yours Truly.

- 1st preliminary round: This house believes that commercialization has eroded sportsmanship. Opposition.

Having had an evening to prepare for the first round, we were reasonably confident and ready to tackle the debate head-on. Nearly had an emergency when Mr. "Let's-Meet-At-8am" Madathil stayed up until 3am watching some Indian movie called 'One-Dollar Curry' and couldn't wake up in time. Rohit had to go bang on his door at 9am and almost physically dress the fella up and drag him to the SU.

Being the first time I'd participated in a formal debate, I was understandably nervous when it was finally my turn to speak, and didn't do as well as intended. Nevertheless, we won! 178 to 158 points. Unbelievably, the score was out of 180. What a shock. What on earth did we say right??


- 2nd preliminary round: This house believes that everyone should be able to access your Facebook profile. Opposition.

In all fairness, the topic was obviously biased towards the Opposition. Government had hardly any space for argument at all, and honestly they did jolly well considering how difficult it was for them. Their main argument was that these so-called privacy settings only serve to give users a false sense of security, and opening up everybody's profile functions as a protective psychological warning for users.

Our argument was divided into 3 neat parts: the inherent human right of privacy; information security against predators, fraud and exploitation; the right to choose. Needless to say, we won by a considerable margin too.

The other 2 teams had the pretty fun topic of "This house believes that Wikipedia should be given equal importance as Encyclopedia Britannica", which seemed a more balanced debate than ours. The 2 teams with the highest cumulative marks from both rounds were to proceed to the finals. Rather pleasingly, but not surprisingly, our team emerged with the top score out of the 4. For the finals we were going up against the winners of the Wikipedia/Britannica round, Joshua's team whom we faced in Round 1.


- Finals round: This house believes that tradition hinders progress. Opposition.

At first glance, the topic seemed highly daunting as one's immediate impression would be that tradition does indeed hinder progress. Then we pushed way our self-doubt, the 3 big brains got cracking, and the battle plan was formulated.

Govt 1st Speaker, Arthur, started his "social" argument with how traditions such as female circumcision has impeded women's suffrage/progress, and the blossoming of LGBT rights in our modern society unshackled by tradition. I POI-ed both points with examples of circumcised women such as Iman and Waris Dirie who have become international icons and successful female entrepreneurs, and the prevalent tradition of homosexuality in ancient Greece and Rome, the 2 founding empires of Western civilisation.

Opp 1st Speaker, Krishna, spoke of the founding of the UAE, and the incredible progress the nation has achieved despite (because of?) the highly traditional mind-set of the first president, Sheikh Zayed. G1 POI-ed by claiming that the UAE is very much the exception to the norm, and other tradition-bound countries in the Middle-East such as Yemen and Oman are still very backward.

G2, Lilian, tackled the arts aspect of progress, drawing on 2 examples: if society followed tradition, we would still be painting Madonnas like the Renaissance, instead of works such as Warhol's iconic multi-coloured Marilyn Monroe; and it is because society has broken free of tradition that literature such as Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code can be written, where before the Church would have persecuted their authors much like Nostradamus was for claiming the Earth is round.

O2, Rohit's argument was that India, commonly claimed to be the world's most religious country (by The Economist, etc), is also one of the fastest-progressing countries. Govt POI-ed by arguing that we were confusing religion with tradition, and that India is still held by by outdated practices such as caste barriers. Rohit defended by saying that India's religious practices are their traditions, and the analogy is a metaphorical representative of tradition. He went on to tie-in Krishna's UAE example by illustrating briefly the concept of Islamic finance - brilliant supportive example, don'tcha think? He finished off by contending that tradition evolves with time, and goes hand-in-hand with progress.

G3, Joshua, took the typical textbook route by expounding on how all our team's arguments so far were mere exceptions to the norm.

And finally, it was my turn to take the floor. I began by explaining how my speech's structure will be much like Joshua's, firstly by rebutting some of the Government's points, then adding my own examples, and closing off with a summary of my whole team's argument. I got a perverse satisfaction in knowing that, being the final speaker of the whole lot, I get the supreme upper-hand in having literally the last say, thus refuting all of Government's points and firmly driving home my team's argument.

1. G2's point about art is irrelevant and invalid. The reason why Madonnas were prevalent in the Renaissance was that Christianity was a huge aspect in their everyday lives, and the Madonna served as a constant point of reference and reverence. (1) Nothing to do with tradition. Secondly, where the Renaissance Italians worshiped the Madonna by creating images of her, arguably our modern society is a continuation of that by worshiping images of our modern idols/celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe. (2) G2's Warhol example illustrates how tradition has continued into our time, and encouraged "progress". p.s. With both examples, G2 seemed to be mixing up religion with tradition, so how dare they accuse us of getting confused?
2. G2's literature argument is irrelevant and invalid. (Poor Lilian! Going up against a History of Art/ClassCiv student. Sorry girl, my A Levels learning was at stake =P) The Chuch dislikes Harry Potter and DVC not out of tradition, but because content within these 2 works directly contravenes some of the very foundations of Christianity. Again, a theology-based argument, nothing to do with traditional religious practices.
   
3. Our examples are not exceptions to the norm. (1) Japan, arguably the world's most progressive country, has grown with an economic structure based around the 19th century concept of zaibatsu, ie family conglomerates. (2) Going along with China's stance that Tibet is part of China - Tibet is famously known for being an ultra-traditional society, but the standard of quality of living there is considerably higher than many urban areas in the rest of China.
4. Time does not stand still, and neither does tradition. Tradition and progress and not mutually exclusive. In fact, tradition is a new expression of progress, and to throw off tradition is to be stagnant.
   

Heckling for the first time, I banged my hand subtly on the table top, and uttered the opponent's death-blow: "To say that tradition hinders progress is to put a full-stop to our time, and to our future." You just had to be there. =P


When Vince went on-stage for his final announcement, he certainly dramatized the situation to the fullest extent! Grinning at the audience with the results in his hand, his first comment was "Ohhh it's very close!", then went on to invite the panel to distribute the certificates of participation, the award for Best Speaker for the preliminary rounds (congrats, Nicholas!), and the award for Best Speaker for final round (way to go, Rohit!). By the time he declared, "And now I would like to invite the runners-up to come to the front," my nails were gone and my hair had almost turned white from the gan jeong-ness. And then he said, "The runners-up for the *insert full title* debate...

"-Government."

I stood there for several moments before the realisation actually hit. And when it did, the flood of jubilation was incredible. Grabbing my teammates for a celebratory group hug, the adrenalin and pent-up tension drained away like an unplugged bathtub, and my whole body went weak from the relief and happiness.

Champion team.
from left: myself, Krishna, Rohit

(No amount of superb Photoshop is gonna save the photo. Sheesh.)

Yours truly receiving her trophy and certificate from one of the judges.

WOOHOO! My heartfelt thanks, you two.

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~ MANCHESTER, LATVIA? ~

Date: February - March 2008
Event: Peak Time Business Challenge 2008
People: Allen, Aditi, JJ, myself
Status: did not proceed beyond semi-finals

Aditi, Allen and myself randomly decided to participate in one of the current biggest business challenges available, and managed to rope JJ in as our 4th team member. Finals to be held in Riga, Latvia, with cash prizes of up to 5,000 euros!

First stage involved 5 rounds of an online hotel business simulation, directly competing against 7 other teams. All the teams started out equal in terms of financial and operational resources, with decision-making required in each round according to market outlook. Competing for highest market share and revenue, we were required to make decisions on factors such as staff wage, employees' numbers and capabilities, marketing budget, room rates for current, +1 and +2 periods (each period = 6 months), renovation and maintenance budget, dividends paid, loans and payback etc.

At the end of the 5 rounds, the top 3 teams from each group of 8 were selected to proceed to Stage 2, and we got through! And with the highest market share by a considerable way, no less! Out of the 4 teams from Manc Uni, we were 1 out of the 2 that succeeded. For Stage 2, each team was required to submit their recommendations and reasonings for a case study on automobile leasing, auctioning and sales, a brief group description, 1-page CV from each member, and a "creative" group photo.

My favourite photo among the whole lot. Lookin' good!

Even though, in the end, we were not among the top 20 teams shortlisted for the final round in Riga, the whole exercise was pretty interesting, informative, challenging and above all, good fun!

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It's been a great month for learning and challenges. So for whatever life serves up next, bring it on!

Of Chinese New Year and artsy ramblings

Shocking... I've only posted TWICE since CNY last year... That's once every 6 months. I guess the tiny handful of you guys that do actually visit have given up already =) Apologies, I've indulged too much in my private, offline journal to find enough time to write in here. The second "barrier" to writing in this blog is that I've changed email address, and stupid Blogger doesn't allow blog users to change the email associated with their account. It's too much of a hassle to log in on my old email add here, esp when this logs me out of my iGoogle account.

Anyways, how are you finding the new layout? It's a special temporary one just for CNY - I'll be switching it again after Feb is over. I rather like it, actually, even though the column is annoyingly narrow and the designer forgot to write the code to enable comments. It's quite "Chinesey" and festive without being too in-your-face bright. Quite impressed that I managed to play around with HTML after nearly 2 years without doing any (the last time I changed my blogskin), and I even manage to insert some code and fix the comments problem!

Ok, this post is going nowhere. Since my last "update for 2007" post I've gone through the inevitable hell of assignments and exams. Sem 2 has started, and it's pretty unbelievable that these are my last few months as an undergraduate. I refuse to continue being a student after July, but as things stand, I have yet to formulate a "life plan". CM's been berating Phing and I over this ehehe...

On a different note, it seems that my prose has somewhat deteriorated. It's lost a certain... eloquence. I haven't neglected my reading, but guess I haven't been articulating myself often enough recently. The advantage to regularly maintaining a public blog is that I'm always very conscious of how my language is presented to the whole wide world (not that many people do read me), which means my writing skills are constantly maintained by the process of writing for the public. When I'm writing in my private journal, I simply reel off whatever thoughts run through my mind without too much concern over the elegance of my syntax.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, just finished watching a great episode of the anime Gallery Fake. The basic premise of the series are stand-alone incidents around Reiji Fujita, the owner of an art gallery called 'Gallery Fake' and his assistant, Sarah. As you can guess, most of the art that passes through Fujita's hands tend to be excellent copies indistinguishable from the originals to the untrained eye, but the business itself is a facade for his 'black market' dealings of rare original pieces. Fujita himself was once a curator at the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY- omg I want that job!), and has regular conflicts with Sayoko Mitamura, the head curator of another Japanese museum. Mmm.. any drama based on art is a surefire favourite of mine, but unfortunately subbed episodes don't appear often as most subbers are intimidated by the art-heavy references of the series.

To summarise, Episode 13 is set during Fujita's student years where he assists tattooist prison inmate Shimoda in creating a Michelangelo-inspired Buddhist fresco for a prison's dome ceiling. Many years later, Mitamura attempts to prevent the destruction of the now-abandoned prison and tries to purchase the frescoed ceiling for her own museum, but Fujita had already bought the rights to the building, and proceeds to blow it up in accordance with Shimoda's last wishes. At the end, Fujita obviously had some regrets that such a work of art is destroyed, but the conflict is outweighed by his loyalty to the artist's wishes.

This brings us to the conundrum of art's true ownership.

Virgil wanted his (unfinished) epic Roman poem The Aeneid to be burnt after his death, and similarly, Michelangelo himself nearly destroyed his rather excellent poems. Very fortunately, Virgil's friends ignored his last wishes, and thus we have the blessing of modern Western civilisation's first epic literature. When a piece of art is physically mobile, the artist owns the work unless a publisher/patron owns the commission rights, or it is sold off. Much like how Leonardo da Vinci had every right to destroy his Mona Lisa for the 10-odd years in which he carried the painting around. But when the creator of works with considerable artistic merit dies, do we have a duty to honour and fulfill his request to destroy his unsold works, or do we have a duty towards society to preserve such artefacts integral to our culture? One can argue that works of art, especially those of important historical significance, are an integral part of our cultural inheritance. For example, William Turner gave some of his paintings to the National Gallery so they would forever belong to the British people. No one would challenge Turner's artistic ownership of his works, but what if Turner gave his paintings to the Gallery on the condition that they would be destroyed on the event of his death? Could you bring yourself to destroy a Turner painting?

The second aspect of this discussion is the physical ownership of art. When the work is on a physical medium that belongs to the artist, ie the paper that a book is written on, the canvas and frame that the painter himself purchased, they have a right to destroy it. But when the art is part of another's property, like a fresco which is an integral part of a building's ceiling, who has greater right to it - the artist, the property's owner if it is privately-owned, or the public? If Ghiberti wanted to destroy his Gates of Paradise on the Florence Baptistery and the Florentine council was not opposed to it, does the public have any right to protect the Gates? On another dimension, the Mona Lisa (the most famous painting by Italy's most famous artist) belongs to the Louvre (France's most famous museum) and by extension, the French people. Who has more right to the painting - the cultural structure and legacy that gave birth to such genius as Leonardo, or the French cultural identity of which the Louvre is an intangible part?

This brings me to the final aspect of cultural ownership. When a work of art is an integral part of a culture, especially if it does not have a specific physical owner/creator, who can claim the greatest ownership over it and to what degree? When the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, there was a global outcry, but too late. Unfortunately, the Taliban were the ruling government of Afghanistan at the time, and the collective Afghanistan people were too oppressed and suppressed to mount any resistance. Imagine if the Chinese government decided to destroy the Great Wall, or the Egyptians the Pyramid of Khufur, to use famous examples. (There are no legal inheritors of these cultural artefacts, unlike the still-existing Romanovs who could arguably stake a claim over Romanov palaces seized by the Bolsheviks, or the descendants of the Qing dynasty who could stake a claim over the Forbidden Palace etc) If the Malaysian government decided to pull down Fort A Famosa, we would probably lynch them. But when the Bok family illegally obliterated Bok House a couple of years ago, the Malaysian public should have put in a greater effort to stop them, as the Bok House was the sole remaining colonial proper Palladian structure left in our cultural inheritance. (Telekom Museum and the Coliseum don't count as full Palladian.) Unfortunately, our heritage ministry seems to have taken that reprehensible cultural blindness to any part of our collective legacy that's not Malay.

(But I veer dangerously close to digressing from the discussion.) Further complications arise when more than one culture can claim cultural ownership of the work. Continuing the Mona Lisa analogy, the painting was legitimately purchased by King Francois I, so the French have legitimate physical ownership of the painting even though everything else about it is Italian. However, part of the Parthenon's frieze was famously stolen by Lord Elgin during the loot of Athens, and the so-called Elgin Marbles in the British Museum have become an integral part of British culture, even though they are fundamentally Greek. Looting does not constitute a legitimate transfer of physical ownership - however, to an extent the British can claim some cultural ownership of these priceless Greek treasures.

So to sum it all up, the conflict between the artistic, physical and cultural ownership of creative works makes the "arts" as a whole terribly fascinating. I guess even with the lack of a clear "life plan", the fact that I just spent more than an hour writing the above discussion demonstrates that irresistible hold the arts sector retains over me, and that no one should be surprised if that's what I go into after graduation. And also how I've got a little too much time to waste, plus a rather sad, nerd-ish propensity to turn blog entries into essays.

In memorium:

(Copyright Azrul Kevin Abdullah, 2001)
I can't seem to find the photos of Bok House I took for my History of Art A Levels thesis, so I'm posting this haunting B&W photo instead.
Incidentally, I met Azrul himself in August 2007 when I attended a photography workshop at the Annexe Central Market.

Farewell to 2007

Imported from Facebook notes:

Hi everybody! How've you been? Hope you have all been keeping well and enjoying the Christmas break. Haven't heard from some of you in a while, and I'm sorry I've been so terrible at keeping in touch as much as I could and should have!

2007 was a pretty intense year for me. As usual, in January we had exams and assignments due, and that was pretty much it for the whole month. I went home for Chinese New Year in February to visit my grandmother who had been ill with cancer for nearly 2 years. That was quite an emotional trip for me, the first time I'd been home for CNY in the 6 years since I left Malaysia, and in hindsight I'm glad I took that trip. My grandmother passed away a week after I returned to Manchester.

From March onwards life was rather hectic. Rehearsals for the Malaysian Night performance started, and my parents came over for a couple of weeks during Easter. Had a lovely time overall, and would really recommend visiting the Peak District to anyone who enjoys being outdoors, bonding with the calm and peaceful (dare I say tame?) British countryside. Malaysian Night 2007 finally arrived at the end of April, and the performance was a satisfying success for all the months of time and effort put in, especially on that fiendish Indian dance! A big Thank You to all the hardworking, fun, and above all inspiring people I had the fortune to meet and work with during these months.

The end of April saw me take on the post of President of The People Society. It was a big committment that I was initially reluctant to accept, and involved a few sacrifices such as my volunteer job at The Bridgewater Hall, not to mention time away from studies. May/June came and went with the exams, and so soon it was the end of 2nd year, and I was back in Malaysia.

Summer was mainly taken up with interning for KPMG, on the whole a good time due to the fun and lively people in the Marketing department. Managed to squeeze in a very productive fishing trip off the coast of Kuala Rompin, Terengganu, and I caught my biggest fish ever! 6 hefty kilos of solid tenggiri. A darn good fight, and delicious afterwards, of course.

I started my final year in uni with a big bang that was Freshers' Week - organising the People Society committee, running the stall and Freshers' Party, desperately trying to recruit new members by hook or by crook. My tenure as President ended with the high that was our Zest fashion and dance performance show at the end of November. I've never had so much responsibility before in my life and it was a rather... interesting learning experience. Despite all the ups and downs that come as part of the job, being President is a decision I don't regret in the least, and part of the reason was being able to meet such creative, dynamic people who provided such incredible support and were willing to do anything for what they believed in. Thank you, guys - you know who you are.

Since then it's been assignments as usual, catching up on my (slightly) neglected studies, and a short break to Switzerland for some extreme cold and the beauty of mountain landscapes. Turned 21 too - thank you all for the birthday wishes, I will get around to answering them personally. Eventually.

In all, 2007 was a good year, one in which I learnt a lot, and lived a lot. After graduating next year, I'll probably do a mini-Euro trip with the parents, go back to Malaysia for a while, and come back Sept/Oct to take up the IGS and line the Labour government's pockets even further. I've got that one year to get a job here, fingers crossed! So, for all my friends old and new, here's to an equally fruitful 2008, and I sincerely hope that you will find joy and fulfilment in the year to come. Thank you for being here.

Best wishes and much love,

Yi-Wen x

Marzipan Babies!

Aren't these babies so absolutely adorable?! Dear ole Daddy emailed them to me, really cheered me up after today's fiasco. Aaaahhh I can't decide which one I love the best!

Definition of Marzipan
Almond paste: a sweet paste made of ground almonds and sugar, often with egg whites or yolks, used as a layer in cakes or molded into ornamental shapes. While some of the faces may look "crafted" rather than "real", every detail is amazing, and the rest looks VERY real.


Yups, I'm blogging when I should be revising =P Had Marketing: Foundations and Applications last Tuesday, which went so much better than I was expecting - I felt so unprepared! All the concepts were already there, but the details just weren't sticking in my head. Felt like a human-sieve. Today was Marketing Research, which, on the contrary, was quite screwed up even though I felt a lot better prepared than MFA. Gaah! MR MCQs are driving me nuts! Anyways, got International Business Strategy on Thursday, then International Business Environment the following Monday... and then I'm home on the 9th of June! Wahey.. can't wait. =D

CNY

Happy Chinese New Year people! (Hah I sound like I'm writing one of those People Society emails...) Had a fabulous 10 days celebrating at home, spent some lovely quality time with parents and relatives, pigged out for all I was worth... Thankfully I seemed to have brought the rain back with me, so it was a pretty wet and cooling CNY for a change.

Wrote the following semi-fictional short piece during my 6-hr-transit in Abu Dhabi airport. 'Tis killing two birds with one stone as it fits Sean's silly MPH theme of "The Young Malaysian's Identity" as well as my contribution to Jian Liang's Bristol newsletter of which he's given me free reign. PleasepleasePLEASE leave some constructive criticism if you do read it.

Coffee Arabica

The initial mystery that attends any journey is:

how did the traveller reach his starting point in the first place?

- Anonymous

Here I am again, sipping an iced coffee in the waiting lounge of an unfamiliar airport, in yet another foreign country. All around me hangs the shimmering, shallow allure of the different, the mirage wavering only when one looks past the exotic mosaics and gilt, red-wrapped Valentine cherubs to the grittiness, the sandiness underneath. The Costa coffee cost me six US dollars, my neighbour to the right is a middle-aged Caucasian man in a blue chequered shirt, but the younger men to the left in matching leather jackets and shoes, puffing away between exclamations in a melodic tongue are, like the majority of travellers here, Middle-Eastern. Across the concourse, a dark-skinned man stands shirtless in front of the Swatch shop, half-heartedly fanning away the encroaching evening heat. Abu Dhabi, I decide, is an unapologetic diamond in the rough.

If life is a journey, then it feels as though I have spent these twenty years of my life in an airport waiting lounge. The decision to undertake the journey was made long ago, but still the uncertainty resounds – why am I here? Where am I heading to? The moment I check in, I merge into the many-hued crowd, the only stamp of my identity is a passport and the sheet of fragile paper I clutch which says, Name: HUI/YIWEN MISS, Destination:… The destination has changed many times over the years, the countless airports merged into the single image of a universal waiting lounge.

Was it really the wisest decision to leave home - Malaysia, at the age of fourteen? One is always advised never to look back and harbour regrets, but I simply cannot ignore the irresistible urge to re-examine the past. The years of travelling from country to country have made it so easy to fit in everywhere and yet nowhere, so easy to run away whenever things turn sour. Every time my destination changes, I am back again in this place where all paths intersect, the ubiquitous traveller-in-transit.

Tomorrow will be the first time in six years that I will celebrate Chinese New Year with my family, at home. But can I honestly say that this is home? There is barely anything left to keep me anchored here, merely a childish sense of loyalty - or duty? - towards this country I’ve never truly experienced. A feeling of… displacement, the longing to belong somewhere, emptiness harboured within for many years.

Within hours I will be back in the sticky warmth I was born into, see the familiar-forgotten smiles through the Arrivals glass, and feel the security of my family around me. Then I’ll savour the hour-long drive from the airport when my inner world slowly unwinds on the road to rest. And when I enter the house and allow the familiar scents to crowd my senses, the trappings to pull me deeper and tighter into the place - understanding dawns. In truth, no matter where we are, home dwells within the spaces we choose to make our own.

The Caucasian man finishes his coffee and paper, and leaves. I offer to take a photograph for the three leather-clad Arabs, but in the end, they don’t understand English and the picture is never taken. Within five minutes I will have forgotten their faces, and they will be hard-pressed to recall the small Chinese girl who spoke to them in a foreign tongue in a familiar airport.

But I suppose in such chance encounters lies the magic of the waiting lounge. For in these places of bewildering humanity, I’ve discovered that perhaps life isn’t meant to be lived as a straight and narrow path towards a solitary destination, and that waiting lounges are, after all, also shelters to catch one’s breath between adventures. Besides, wasn’t it by chance that our paths intersected, so long ago, in a waiting lounge just like this one?

Home for CNY at long last

Weather: 6°C, wind North at 9 km/h, humidity 72%. Melancholic end to a beautiful, rare day of clear skies. Not that I was awake long enough to enjoy it hehe.

Soundtrack: Non allegro from Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances. Alternating between the Liverpool Phil's lush orchestral version and that fiery and lyrical piano duo of Ashkenazy and Previn. Sublime.

State of mind: wine-infused.

Outfit: oversized Esso "Save the Tiger" T-Shirt

Random thought of the day: my keyboard's sticky with fruit juice! eww...

The past few months have seen me retreat into a terribly introverted frame of mind and I realise I've completely lost the incentive to blog. Saying I'll extensively update the bloggy soon is just deceiving myself, n'est pas? So to clear the vicious cycle of procrastination, here's the key features of 2nd year in uni so far:

Study: classes have been mostly good, my choice of modules, on the whole engaging lecturers and seminar leaders. Babs and whassername from Marketing F&A highly snooze-inducing; Jonathan Swift of Consumer Behaviour the highlight of 1st term. No proper assessment until January's 2 exams and 1-and-a-half essays, which was kinda worrying, but overall they went pretty well. MLP group quite a fun bunch. 9am triples have been very taxing on ye ordinary student who does not normally emerge before 10am as a rule.

Wimslow Park has been a great place to live in. The Times did a feature on university students living in luxury accommodation and slotted in a photo of three smug young blokes relaxing in a spa complete with bubbles. Ooh yes you guessed it, our very own Momentum Leisure Health Club, conveninelty situation 20 seconds away from my front door. Had a quite a bit of excitement and stress organising my final year accommodation, but in the end I'm staying on, same room, 2 floors above.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Am now continuing this post from my dear ole room in 795, Jalan 17/24, PJ, Malaysia! Wheeee... arrived back yesterday noon (KL time Thursday) and thoroughly enjoying the rest, company and food, but certainly not the heat. Thankfully it's rained the past couple of days, and my hair's already been trimmed so it's not terribly sweltering. Still retaining my "bak zham kai" (steamed chicken) pale skin hehe.

Been on the People Society's committee as Communications Officer since November. On the whole a fascinating experience, and because just about everybody on the communications team quit or was asked to step down, I've had full control of the whole comms and publicity works even though I'm still vaguely feeling my way around this job. We have weekly Monday meetings which usually last 2 hrs - Mon evenings are busy times writing the committee email (which I created) and the weekly members' email. So far I've helped publicise the annual Badminton Tournament and taken lots of photos of all the leng zhais competing against each other =P, and we're gearing up to the big Charity Day on 12th March.

December hols saw a fantastic trip with Emma (Stubbs) to her father's place in Gutersloher (near Dortmund), Germany. Weather was freezing, house was lovely, Christmas markets were almost as amazing as her family. Unfortunately I got stranded in London on Christmas Eve with no transport back to Manc as the flights were delayed from the terrible fog. Should really have taken up their offer to stay on until the 27th, but in the end I stay with Teng Huang on Xmas Eve night, and Mum's ex-classmate Aunty Ai Tee picked me up on Xmas morning. Managed to catch the earliest coach to Manc on the 26th - what a horrible ending to my brilliant holiday! Photos up once I clear some capacity on my hd.

Anyways this will be my first Chinese New Year in Malaysia after a 5-yr abscence. Be back in Manc 6am on Monday the 26th. Have a lovely week, everybody!

47

Hello people, I'm finally back into blogger mode after a 2 month hiatus. So let's start off with... a survey mwahahaha... More updates this wkend. Watch this space.

(Ok, so this was stolen off Phing's bloggy. I was bored!)


1. FIRST NAME?
Yi-Wen

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
yeah... this taiwanese girl whom my dad never even met. haha.. don't ask.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
yesterday! only a couple of crocodillo tears. it was while watching this korean family breakdown when they thought their lil girl had been eaten by a giant mutant formaldehyde fish with legs.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
most of the times. when everything's nice and cursive and the letters all conform to the same size.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
luncheon meat? hehe no la.. erm.. fish ball?

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
hell yeah! i'm like, the nicest most amiable person to get along with. even with pmt.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?
got. private ah so no sneaky peeks.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
ya.

9. FAVORITE TV SHOW(s):
don't watch much tv. honest!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Special K Peach & Apricot! yummy stuff especially without milk. munchmunchmunch goes me during exam period.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
errr.. who does?

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
bring it on mate. 6 years of carting one block of wood my own size (the cello, duh) has built up pretty impressive biceps and triceps. no la, i'm normal for my size i guess.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
fossil fuel. it's that ben n jerry's one with little chocolate dinosaurs... awwh.

14. SHOE SIZE?
UK 3.

15. RED OR PINK?
Red, definitely.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
i'm terribly low on motivation. especially when getting my fat ass to the gym.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
mummy.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
nah don't bother.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
barefeet, lime-green and white beach shorts. bikini pants cos i went for a swim earlier

20. LAST THING YOU ATE?
convent garden roast chicken and rosemary soup, slice of tesco finest seeded wholegrain bread mmhmm.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
classic fm. some random march.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
sky blue.

23. FAVORITE SMELL?
food when i'm hungry. a pot of cyclamen minis.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
phone? umm.. shyan i guess.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO?
goofy smile.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
She didn't send it to me, I took it off her blog. And yes i suppose i like phing or else i wouldnt be cohabitating with her rite?

27. FAVORITE DRINK?
elderflower press.

28. FAVORITE SPORT?
swimming.

29. EYE COLOR?
Dark brown.

30. HAT SIZE?
small?

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Yes.

32. FAVORITE FOOD?
oooh lots! it varies.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING?
scary movies with happy endings

34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
dark green sherbs hoodie

35. SUMMER OR WINTER?
autumn

36. HUGS OR KISSES?
a huggy kiss.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT?
apple crumble with custard. or if i'm up for something more posh then it's gotta be gaucho grill's chocolate truffle cake with that divine vanilla icecream.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?
Scipio by Ross Leckie, A Short History of Asia by Colin Mason, the Ramayana. apart from all those %&^%$E%* text books of course.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
I have no mouse, and therefore no mousepad.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV?
didn't watch tv last night. the last tv programme i watched was gordon ramsey's nightmare kitchens or whatever it was called

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
good music. that peculiar sound when you're alone at sea at night. sound of slicing cleanly through the water when you're swimming. the sound of your name when loved ones call you.

44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
no comment

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME?
i suppose manchester does qualify as the furthest distance, doesn't it?

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT?
you tell me.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
assunta hospital, selangor, malaysia.

On This Day

On this day... in 1678, the Temple of Athena Parthenos (more familiarly, the Parthenon) was partially destroyed during an armed conflict between Venetian and Ottoman forces. Lobbed explosives from the Ottoman side blew huge chunks of glorious Pentelic marble into flying fragment, forever destroying the elegant men, women, gods and animals that peopled the many friezes and metopes of argubaly the greatest stucture from ancient Greece's golden era.

On this day... in 1957, a musical written by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim debuted on Broadway and was nominated for Best Musical the same year. Revitalising the ages-old tale of love across social boundaries, the musical spawned a number of remakes, films documentaries, and revivals, and is still touring to this day. This musical is West Side Story.

On this day... in 1983, a potential nuclear WWIII was averted when, despite indications from his computerised early warning systems, retired Russian colonel Stanislav Petrov refused to believe that the USA had launched long-range missiles against the USSR.

On this day... in 2006, Yi-Wen Hui was finally blessed from the powers-that-be the gift of Ethernet Connection, thereby putting her in touch with the world at 2 in the morning after a sorely-felt abscence of three months. On the same day she rose at 8.30am, cooked and ate a substantial meal, and set off to Gilds Silver Service training where she learned all about food handling and how to hold large serving cutlery with small hands and how to serve potatoes and how to clear ten plates at once. Adjourning from the training centre, she spent the next two hours being intellectually enriched on contemporary industrial relations. The following two hours was spent at the opposite end of the university campus listening to an old prune about marketing foundations and applications. She grabbed an egg-and-cress malted sandwich during her mid-afternoon break, and prowled through endless dusty cartons at a book fair in a bid to find a good bargain (something one cannot live without). Half and hour passed before she emerged into the afternoon sunlight, triumphantly brandishing three management text books, one of which was core reading, and all for the very thrifty price of thirty-five pounds. From 4-6pm she absorbed a rather inspirational introduction and talk given by the vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, as part of her Leadership in Action unit. And now, utterly exhausted by the day's activities, she is going to bed.

yoohoo just a quick note to say i'm only gonna get connected to uni broadband on the 15th ah... so just gimme ur patience a little bitty bit longer ok? akan datang: loadsa holiday photos n updates on the resits!

p.s. i'm writing this in Varsity, the pub directly below my new home-away-from home =P

Back on Wednesday from Kuching! Spent 3 nights in the city of cats and 2 nights at the Holiday Inn Damai Lagoon hotel while visiting the Sarawak Cultural Village in Damai.

Rainforest Festival ROCKS!!!

I'm brown like a monkey nut.

Hahaha got lots of pics n stories to tell, but I haven't even posted up the Fraser's Hill photos n I'm still quite busy revising for resits, practicing n editing LiYing's mini novella as well as other editing projects n my own bits of writing. So... patience ah. They'll be up soon.