After seeing some photos of Hankou at 0000, I felt like doing a post or two of China. Perhaps I have been reading way too much of The Economist lately, but I cannot help but feel that the world (America?) has such an antagonistic distorted view of China as the big bad dragon that threatens to challenge America's hegemony. When people of think of China they focus way too much on Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen that they forget some parts of China is still rural and traditional. As if on cue, my father just returned from a trip to XIAMEN (廈門) where he took many wonderful photos which I will share you today. Apparently, Xiamen is not too far from Hong Kong at all and sits across the strait from Taiwan. I had to wiki that due to poor Chinese geography from so many years of British education at the ex-colony. I am going to blame the Brits for my ignorance! Heh. That aside, it is only when I see pictures of old buildings that I dream of being an architect and follow my parents' footsteps. It would be wonderful to apply ANDO TADAO (安藤 忠雄)'s thinking of marrying the old with the new. That said, it is sad to see that despite China's growth at breakneck speed, it sometimes does not have the matching wherewithal and knowledge to preserve whatever old relic that survived the Cultural Revolution.
