Long Lost Club Photos

In the theme of nightlife, I was asked to include some photos from inside one of Xi'an's nightclubs. So in order to placate these demands  I went camera in hand to one of Xi'an's most popular nightclubs, Club Salsa. Don't let the name fool you there was no Salsa music being played, just extremely loud house techno.  Without further ado, Club Salsa......

 

    The Bar at Club Salsa w/ flash   And without flash

                       

This way to the Bathroom.....

Dance China style...

     

                       

The future is here!

So You Think You're Punk Rock.....

Last night I found myself with a unique opportunity; the opportunity to see an underground punk rock show and to view first hand China's counter-culture. I expected to find some watered down version of the Ramones or an grating high-pitched scream fest that would inevitably drive me out the door. Now in my day I have been to quite a few punk shows with mixed results. The best provide an energetic atmosphere that makes you want to go out of control and the worst leave you standing stupefied at the awful sound that's assaulting your eardrums.


So, I entered the cave themed nightclub "Before Sunset" with a diverse cadre of foreigners who hailed from Germany, Italy, Slovenia, France, and of course the good ole' US of A to find a packed house of black clad Chinese punk rockers. The headliner of the night was a Beijing Ska band named SKO but the highlight of my night was a SoCal inspired pop punk band that brought me right back to my high school days. I must say that they knew the in's-and-outs of SoCal pop punk better than I thought a foreigner ever could. The MxPx shirt on the bass player gave me a hint that Chinese kids aren't exactly ignorant to non-mainstream American culture. Here is a video for added emphasis

All of this really brought me back to thinking about how far reaching American culture really is. It isn't just mainstream American culture that is adopted worldwide but all strata and variation of American lifestyle. In American eyes, America seems isolated from the rest of the world; surrounded by oceans and hostile to immigaration or foriegn influence. Punk music is often an angry response to this feeling of isolation and in many ways in the US it is a maginalized and obscure prospective. I know many punks feel the urge to reject American culture without realizing that they are very much a part of it. The sense of alienation amongst youth born into a complex and frightening world is common and America's youth have a great opportunity to express this feeling and be heard. You may not think that your country of 300 million is listening to you but a world of 6 billion is. The world is listening.

And it isn't just punk rock and metal but hip-hop culture has a profound influence as well. The youth of the world seems to pay more attention to Ameica's hip-hop videos than it does to the inner-workings of its politics. In the Bai Hui flea market there are numerous stores selling G Unit, LRG, Sean John, Phat Pharm, and other clothes targeted at America's black youth. I always have to chuckle when I see a skinny little Chinese kid in the overly baggy jeans with a G-U on each butt check. I think that one of the least understood facts within the American black community is the shear scope of their global influence. Most of China's nightclubs actually look like the ones in hip-hop videos. America's cultural diversity is unique and it is imparitive especially for its marginalized groups to understand their place as cultural leaders in the world.

As for the Punk rock concert I went to, it was a blast. Not only were the Chinese punks familiar with American punk music they also were knew the mosh pit. Jumping, pushing, and whiling out of control the pit was an energetic frenzy. I felt like I was in awash in a sea of Chinese punks but they could not push me down. Just as the thought of invincibility entered into my mind a kid jumped backwards off the stage and right into my face. I felt my nose stream with blood but nothing was broken. After hundreds of punk shows in my life the first to draw blood was in China. Alas, I had a good time, China is certainly fertile ground for punk rock.

Xi'an: the Natural Setting

A broad and fertile river valley, a massive granitic mountain range crowned by jagged peaks, rolling hills made of loess and silt, and one massive sprawling capital city. Sounds like I could be describing the San Joaquin Valley of central California but no this is North China's Wei River valley. This valley is home to Xi'an not Sacramento, to the QinLing Mountains not the Sierra Nevada, and is the cradle to many millennia of Chinese civilization not to the agricultural payload fueling California's economy. The single largest difference between these two places is its orientation- the Wei Valley stretches East-West while the Sierras are a North-South range.

When the ancient ancestors of the modern Han people reached this fertile valley, named Guanzhong 關中 , they created a sedentary farming population from which an agricultural civilization with specialization of labor and a written language. The valley's fertility comes from the silt rich Wei river, the largest tributary of the Yellow, and the snow capped peaks of the QinLing range. The stability of the region's climate provided consistent harvests of wheat, millet, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. This breadbasket provided supplies for the armies that would conquer most of what is today modern China and bring back tribute to the emperors in Xi'an.

The Qinling Mountains not only provided a steady stream of water to the valleys farmers it also protected these ancient Han peoples from Southern intrusion. Without such steep mountains, the north was less easily defended thus spurring the creation of a northern Great Wall to protect country from the Northern nomads. The Chinese term for China, 中国, means middle kingdom and its entomology is derived from the Wei valley's location.

Seeing the parallels between China's Wei river valley can at first be quite difficult because it is hard to see past the gray haze of pollution that is epidemic in Xi'an. Much like California's central valley, pollution gets trapped in the valley due to its natural shape and is further exacerbated because of temperature inversions holding pollutants down near the earth surface. Most days the QinLing mountains are often not visible despite being under 25 kms away. Most of the energy generated in China comes from coal and coal burns dirty. Even my apartment building's heating system is coal powered. This smoke stack pollution mixes with construction dust, car exhaust, and the burning of agricultural waste to create a thick blanket of smog that is palpable. Yet in China, there aren't many alternatives. Coal is primary because it is available and cheap, two assets desperately needed in a developing country with 1.5 billion people, and the city is building a subway system to slow the purchase of cars and decrease the stress on its buses.

California on the other hand has a lot more flexibility in the way it can deal with its naturally exacerbated pollution problems. Perhaps Xi'an will be a reminder of what Sacramento could become without planning and China could learn from environmental strides made in a very similar natural setting.

Layers of History Part 2

The Terra Cotta Warriors is perhaps Xi'an most world famous attraction. It hearkens back to the feudal slave society that imperial China was built upon. The Terra Cotta Warriors are the massive tomb of the first emperor to unite North and South China- Qin Shi Huang. If the history is a bit fuzzy, he is the "Dragon Emperor" from the new "Mummy" movie. His tomb housed over 8000 life size clay soldiers each one unique and equipped with real weapons. In addition he created 180 war-chariots, 520 horses, and a command center for his generals. A tomb of this magnitude was built as a display to show the extent of his earthly power and also so that he could conquer in the after life. I have been told by my Chinese culture professor that Qin Shi Huang knew of a emperor of heaven and that the emperor must be very powerful but he had not heard of a emperor of hell and it was his ambition to rule the underworld as the emperor of hell.

With this army of clay Emperor Qin would conquer the underworld

Today, the site is very much a commodity much like many of the other historical sites of Xi'an. The entrance fee is 90 元，and the cost of the bus is pretty high, the cost of a guide is even more. Surrounding the complex is newly built stores where fake culture relics are sold at astronomical prices. On the inside I saw a set of 6 jade cups sold for 16,000 元 ($2400). The place is not used at all by the locals and its hollow facade was kind of disappointing but to be expected since so many foreigners go to visit. The contrast is quite revealing. The tomb was sealed in the second century BC and did not see the light of day until 1980. It sat underground a testament to an ancient time and reemerged in an era when China was not Imperial but Communist. It is very much a reminder of China's long and storied history but I cannot think of a monument more out of place with its surroundings.

In contrast to this disjointed place is Hua Qing Pool, a place that was continuously lived in from its creation until today. This place displays how the flow of time gives new meaning to ancient places. First built during the Tang Dynasty on the site of a hot spring to be used as a imperial pleasure palace. During the Tang dynasty the palace is most famous for the torrid love affair between the Tang emperor and the concubine of one of his son's concubines- Yang Yuhuan. The Tang Emperor Xuanzong would often take her there to recite poetry, picnic and bathe in the hot springs.Today a statue of her remains at Hua Qing pool as a reminder of her story.

Considered plump for ancient China, Consort Yang changed the

popular preferance from thin to full-figured women during the Tang Dyansty

Her beauty was claimed to be so into intoxicating that she played a part in a love triangle between the emperor, and a general named An Lushan. In Bai Juyi's poem on their love "The Song of Unending Sorrow," he wrote that the emperior was so in love with her that he ignored his governmental responsibilities so that "lavish all his time on her with feasts and revelry." But Consort Yang also had eyes for An Lushan whom she adopted as an honorary son. Emperor Xuangzong demoted An Lushan and the general then refused to attend royal functions he was invited to. 4 months later, the general rebelled and was successful in sacking the capital of Chang'an. This forced the emperor to flee to Chengdu, but his troops who blamed Consort Yang for this misfortune mutinied and refused to go unless Yang Yuhuan was killed. This rebellion marked the decline of the Tang dynasty since much of the central governments power was compromised in deals with regional warlords whose alliances were needed to defeat the rebellion. Thus from this place the stage was set for the "Golden Age" of imperial of China to come to an end.

The bedroom Chaing Kai Shek was kidnapped from was in this lily pond surronded pavillion on the right

Hua Qing pool would later be the stage for another important event in Chinese history- the Xi'an incident. This story is set under entirely different circumstances than the Imperial decadence of Consort Yang and Emperor Xuanzong but instead in the pretext of World War 2. The Xi'an incident involves the leader of Nationalist China, Chiang Kai-Shek, during the time when China was being invaded and occupied by the Japanese. Chiang Kai-Shek had followed a policy of non-resistance to Japanese aggression which infuriated most of the Chinese citizenry and members of his government. His focus lay on destroying China's Communist party and various regional warlords even though the Japanese were killing millions of Chinese. In an effort to end this bitter situation, one of Generalissimo Chaing's generals kidnapped him in order to force him to accept a military unification of Communist and Nationalist forces to expel the Japanese occupation. Without such an effort China may have been completely taken over by the Japanese and the course of modern history would be radically different.

Recreated over and over again as times and circumstances change, Hua Qing is a prototypical place to discover the romantic history of China. Generation after generation has carried the torch of Chinese civilization and put its own signiture on the land. But, perhaps more important than the different lifestyles and challanges each generation has faced are the threads of humanity that bind these stories togeather. It is the human dramas of love and betrayl, the thirsts for power, and the drive for justice that bring China's history to life.

Clogged Arteries

It has been found that the dynamics of vehicular traffic are nearly identical to that of the bloodstream and last night this was on full display. For the first time in my life I experienced true gridlocked traffic and its epicenter was on two of the largest streets in Xi'an- Chang'an South St and Wild Goose Pagoda West St.

Right now, traffic is Xi'an is already a headache since one half of Chang'an St is under construction for the new subway system. Because of this, the traffic that would take up both sides of the street are pushed over into a space designed for one side. I've seen at many points giant two storey buses driving in the same lane seemingly destined for a head on collision only to dodge each other at the last minute. Under this condition, Xi'an is constantly primed for traffic disaster. Yesterday it happened.

It was indeed the perfect storm, a Saturday at twilight- shoppers filling department stores, an important futbol game coming to a close, and eager drivers looking to beat the traffic. As I began walking home from the soccer game, I was floored by the number of people walking the streets. For me, it was like I was a fish pushing my way up stream. I thought it was just a abnormally busy Saturday but when I made my way up onto a pedestrian bridge, I could see the red lights of cars in standstill traffic stretch beyond what my eyes could see. I know that Xi'an needs a subway badly but the mess it is creating is beyond description.

The messages associated with the creation of the subway is one on modernity and civilization. The walls that create a barrier from the construction are covered in advertisements highlighting the Xi'an made of skyscrapers mixed with open green spaces, and an slogan that strikes at the heart of the governments desires- "做地鐡做文明人" make a subway, make civilized people.

But last night, was truly the most awe inspiring traffic nightmare I have ever witnessed- befitting of Halloween time. After fighting thought the crowds, we made our way to the epicenter- the gridlocked intersection. It was a mishmash of cars, trucks and buses some so close together they were touching and interspersed with pedestrians trying to make it across the street. The police had arrived to try to untangle the knot but their task was daunting. Some cars decided to drive on the pedestrian filled sidewalk to sidestep the gridlock. While pedestrians filled the streets in the in the the space after

the gridlock had stopped all vehicular traffic. It was a rare experience to be able to walk in the middle of one of the busiest streets in Xi'an during rush hour and not have to worry about the safety of your life. All in all, I think it is a testament to the difficulty of governance when population density is this high.