Shanghai, Friday – but not all here yet
I'm trusting David to tell you how we nearly didn't get to Shanghai. Well, actually, to be honest, which we have to be, we're already at another there, in Hangzhou, but I didn't have a spare minute yesterday. Even the instruments managed it fine....just...... after half of them got left behind again. Allan, our driver, comes with us to expedite these matters – he has a fearsome physique, very bright eyes, and a nuclear armed smile. But what is not yet here, wherever that is, is my brain, because it got left back there in Beijing. Maybe I'm obsessing – it wouldn't be the first time – but a batch of thoughts is spinning in my mind. The Centre for Performing Arts is astounding just as a building; but it's peripheral stuff going off in my mind like fire crackers. A French architect was chosen. A world class building placed as close as possible to Tiananmen Square, The Great Hall, the Mao Mausoleum and the Forbidden City – the greatest symbols of Chinese tradition and culture. Blokes used to have to be castrated before getting into the Forbidden City – how's that for a symbol of control and sterility? The new Centre is the biggest egg in the world, and a third of its shows are to be foreign. What's wriggling into that egg and what's going to be hatched? It's been told to keep its ticket prices accessible, particularly for foreign ensembles. Alcohol will not be sold in it. China's president Hu Jintao had a couple of very important visitors this week. On Tuesday, President Lee of South Korea was in the Great Hall, standing on Mao's bit of floor, as part of his ground breaking state visit. Korean reunification, with China's support, is well up on the agenda. The message is screaming loud. Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung of Taiwan was the other visitor; pursuing his agenda to thaw relationships with China. You might remember the saga about our instruments getting 'stuck' in China on our way to Taiwan in 2000. Wu and Hu were talking about getting China Taiwan flights started, at last. I was raving about Beihai Park in my last blog. The thing about that park is that the emperor built the huge Tibetan Dagoba (tower) as a demonstration of his belief in Buddhism and as a demonstration of his wish to unite Chinese ethnic groups, and it was deliberately placed on the very spot that Kublai Khan greeted Marco Polo. Think long term. Our concert in Beijing was the first of the 'Meet in Beijing' series, continuing through the Olympics. What are the Olympics going to do to Beijing? From my microbial viewpoint on world biz, this all begins to feel like that time when Gorbachev suddenly started letting go, and the Berlin Wall came tumbling down (our conductor over here is an East Berliner). The effect of China's Great Wall is another topic firecracking in my mind – but I'll spare you that for today. China's Prime Minister Wen has already established a feely shirt sleeves style. Whatever the appalling suffering caused by the earthquake, it has provided an awesome stage on which to demonstrate a new openness – a crashing together of need and desire.
This is meant to be a music blog site.......? Yes, but that's it, we're here, here is now, and we're playing music – just our little contribution – which happened to go down a bomb here (only that is already back there) in Shanghai. My first day in China was in Shanghai, at the start of our last trip in 2000. I went to the museum; it's a striking white building, the shape of an ancient bronze stew pot – with handles on top. Inside, I was immersed in the whole China thing. It's that stew pot I was talking about in my 'Chinoiserie' blog – I'm bubbling away right inside it now. You'll have noticed?
Anthony
