Newsworthy: China's National Day

October 1, 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. News coverage of the National Day festivities is beginning to trickle in. The following article from the Wall Street Journal reports on the grand military parade that progressed toward Tiananmen Square in Beijing, as well as changes in National Day celebrations over the years that reflect growing prosperity and modernization in China:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125436303133555023.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

The following piece from the BBC reflects upon 60 years of change in China through personal interviews and reminiscences:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8281431.stm

Finally, an audio slideshow provides a fascinating analysis of modern Chinese art from propagandist images of the Mao era to the 21st century international marketplace. The theme of change that is evoked elsewhere in the news media on this occasion is nowhere more apparent than when viewing the dramatic transformation in visual imagery between then and now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8279176.stm

Pop Culture: Ikea, Here and Abroad

Consumers in China really, really like Ikea. They just don't like to buy things there. A stroll through Ikea Beijing, which opened in 1999, reveals consumers walking through displays, handling merchandise, even taking naps on the furniture, but rarely making major purchases. Some are merely there for the refreshing air-conditioning or for the inexpensive cafeteria meals.

Sound strange? Not at all, from the perspective of young parents who frequent Ikea stores in the United States for the free play centers, wallet-friendly cafes, and even free wi-fi. More bang for the buck (or for no buck at all) is certainly a marketing strategy that consumers both in China and the United States can agree with.

For an article on Ikea Beijing, go here:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-ikea25-2009aug25,0,3900096,full.story

And for an article on Ikea in the U.S.:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/garden/11ikea.html?_r=1

Arts Focus: The Fabric of Indian Society

Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee is endeavoring to bring back the use of khadi, homespun fabric, into contemporary Indian fashion. Khadi is made from cotton, silk, or wool which is handspun into threads and then woven by hand. Due to the way it is produced, the fabric has a rougher feel than machine-made fabric.

One of the enduring images of the 20th century is that of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) seated beside a spinning wheel. Throughout the 1920s during the Indian struggle for independence, Gandhi advocated a return to the making and use of khadi, which symbolized self-reliance and a rejection of foreign machine-made textiles. Moreover, Gandhi believed that the separation of production and consumption of consumer goods resulted in the exploitation of workers, another reason for his promotion of khadi.

According to Mukherjee, khadi is "refined, sophisticated, eco-friendly and comfortable" although it "has too long been regarded as the poor man's fabric." In order to bring khadi back into fashion, he is reaching out to Bollywood stars and international celebrities who wear his designs out in public, often to great acclaim. He has also established cooperatives of craftswomen in rural areas across India. Nevertheless, due to the handmade nature of the fabric, his designs are extremely expensive. But the price may be worth it in order to preserve traditional textile-making techniques in India.

An article about Sabyasachi Mukherjee can be found here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8256410.stm

Photograph of Mahatma Gandhi by Margaret Bourke-White, 1946, Time-Life

Newsworthy: Lucky Day

September 9 (9/9) is considered an auspicious day because the number 9 (jiu) in Chinese is a homonym for the word meaning "for a long time." Therefore, the two 9s taken together mean "long-lasting." The fact that the year is 2009 adds to the auspiciousness of the day.

The couple pictured in this link was just one out of tens of thousands in China who chose to marry on this day because of its auspiciousness:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8246078.stm

The article below discusses how local officials responded to the great demand for weddings on 9/9/09:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8245765.stm

However, I wonder how well a Wednesday wedding would go over in the U.S., auspicious day or not!

Arts Focus: Ananda Coomaraswamy

On September 17, Sotheby's New York is due to hold an auction of modern and contemporary South Asian art, as well as six miniature paintings from the collection of Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947). Ananda Coomaraswamy was born in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) to a Tamil father and English mother; after the death of his father when he was only two years old, the young Coomaraswamy moved with his family to England, where he was educated. He studied geology and botany at university, and returned to his homeland between the years 1902-1906 in order to conduct research on Ceylonese mineralogy. During this period of time, an abiding interest in the arts was kindled. Coomaraswamy wrote a book on the premodern art of Sri Lanka, having been deeply influenced by the theories of William Morris, a leading figure of the Arts and Crafts movement who valorized handicrafts above machine-made goods. In India, he associated with well-known intellectuals such as Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

In 1917, Coomaraswamy came to the United States in order to serve as the first curator of Indian art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; he was in fact the first curator of Indian art in any museum in the U.S. He worked at the Museum of Fine Arts until his death in 1947. One area in which he specialized was the study of miniature paintings. For this reason, the sale of six paintings from his collection next week is a significant event.

One of Coomaraswamy's major contributions to the study of miniature painting was his research on Mughal and Rajput painting. The Muslim Mughals, originating from Central Asia, ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent between the 16th-18th centuries. The Hindu Rajputs ruled over the princely states of northwestern India. The paintings produced by Mughal court painters were influenced by Persian painting styles. Over time, the Persian painting styles had an impact on Rajput painting as well, reflecting the political alliances that developed between the Mughals and Rajputs.

The e-catalogue for the Sotheby's auction can be viewed here:
http://catalogue.sothebys.com/events/N08566

Unfortunately, the captions don't identify which paintings are from the Coomaraswamy collection, but the article below on the Sotheby's auction identifies one of them as a painting illustrating a jataka tale (a story of the Buddha's past lives) dating 1780-1790.

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=32819