beBee China

Dr. No! LMAO! I can just picture him leading you around with your tummy grumbling...

Awesome pieces, great history there...

Great artcle

#12 Yes, I enjoyed my time there @Dean Owen. I was there just long enough to start grasping the language. I spent the majority of my time in Onoda, down in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. Unlike the larger cities, there weren't many English speaking people, so it was a great immersion.

The tsaklis certainly appear to tell a story.

#9 Cherish them, or pass them on to someone who is in a better position to share the religious significance of the iconography depicted in these pictures! :)

#8 I had no idea you spent time in Japan. I had a similar experience at an old farm house in Shizuoka. These tsaklis were commissioned by lamas to be used in various rituals. They depict the various deities and icons of Vajrayana Buddhism such as Hevajra and his consort Nairatmya. I have quite a few that depict what appears to be a white conch shell, Sankha being the goddess of the conch.

#6 I am quite surprised at the views and almost carefree attitude of the current Dalai Lama. In this recent interview with John Oliver he says "if I become the last Dalai Lama, I feel very happy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLY45o6rHm0 View more

#5 These were painted on commission from a lama or monastery by Buddhist monks and depict many of the deities and icons of Vajrayana Buddhism. "The small painting would be placed in an offering bowl with wheat or rice in it, or else put on a korma, a special sculptural offering made of roasted barley flour and butter, the shape differing with each deity" (Treasures of Tibetan Art)

Beautiful treasures, Dean. Their worth is in their memory then, now and in the future. Cherish them.

Good Karma indeed! Interesting little pieces of history you hold @Dean Owen. I'm curious as to the symbolism or folk tales behind each.

I remember spending some time with one local during my time in Japan who was a storyteller of old folk tales. He loved telling telling Yamata no Orochi legends. He had similar small artwork (on parchment) that depicted the stories.

Cool stuff!

Very interesting read and the value of this buzz shall stay for long times. Bravo @Dean Owen

You of course realize that you are holding artifacts that will themselves considerably change in significance when history coincides with a potential epochal moment in Tibetan culture :
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-china-nuclear-plarf-agni-v-mirv-beijing/1/900370.html

@Dean Owen A real historic treasure you have there Dean. I wonder what the folk history is behind the depiction in each. Thanks for a post continuing my learning of the cultures of the east.

#3 I may well need to employ Fatima Blush to sneak them out of the country on Maximillian Largo's yacht.

Sounds like Dr No was a Wiseman indeed. Only time will tell if his word is a good as his Bond, or if your purchase is a mere Moneypenny. 🤔

#1 We'll see at the auction block one day!

So was it good karma for Dean The Collector @Dean Owen ? :-)

#13 @Dean Owen Many 🙏for your informative reply. That's good to know. It appears there has been a lot of sensational China bashing in USA media. Thus, I appreciate hearing your firsthand account to help dispel some of the media hype that runs rampant. Thanks again and good luck with everything over there! 😇👏🌎

#18 Thanks for the share @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher! We also have a bit of a problem with smog here in SA too. In the winter you can see quite a dirty haze over Johannesburg, this is mainly due to all the cooking fires that have been lit....

Very interesting to view these and I had no idea China had so many replicas. Actually beautiful to view and of course I love photos! Ken mentioned Las Vegas, so true... multicultural buildings everywhere. We have reduced our smog in the US but still have a long way to go. I remember when we were kids and would drive to Cleveland Ohio with my parents, the closer we got, we were told to roll up our windows (yep before we had a car with electric windows). The smog was so bad you could taste it even with the windows rolled up. I believe there are still cities within the US that have smog issues, San Fransico being one. Thanks for sharing this @Claire L Cardwell!

Thanks for the share @David B. Grinberg! Have a super weekend!

#13 Thanks @Dean Owen - it's awesome that China has such a proactive environmental policy and I wish it was the same in England. Yes the 'pea souper' fogs are of the distant past, but when I worked in London for a while about 15 years ago I had to walk the long way around from Waterloo to work as if I walked over Waterloo Bridge I would be breathless and about to feel that I was going to have an asthma attack by about half way....

#12 Thanks for the share @David B. Grinberg! Another thing to consider is the often poor quality of the cement, steel and engineering of a lot of Chinese buildings. I've seen many photos of buildings that have collapsed and we have a problem here in SA with cheap Chinese imports of cement etc. which have also caused buildings to fail. I also think it's appalling that people have to venture outside with masks on.......

Loys of copycat architecture on india too. But most of it is not serving its prescribed purpose. Instead it is about disregarding the orignal so that some networked undeservig guy secures a Govt contract loaded with a lot of tax payers money.

I would rather look at the scale at which China has done it to actually improve the Urban Infrastructure and how it improves the basic denominators of a good life for the people.

#12 I look out my window and see a crystal blue sky. I live in the fastest developing city in the world. I read an article last week stating China is now the global leader in climate change reform. Combatting pollution is a priority in the current Five Year Plan. I look at what China has achieved, building cities to accommodate the urbanisation of 400 million, a road and rail network that is the envy of every nation, infrastructure that makes the West look positively archaic. There has been a heavy price to rapid and unprecedented growth, but that is true of every nation. Remember the perception of London as foggy? The Great Smog of London in 1952 killed upwards of 12,000 people, and Churchill responded as is Xi Jinping responding right now. Unlike many Western nations who tend to sweep things under a rug, the Chinese government is proactive and responsible, recently setting up an environmental police force and adopting a whole slew of other measures. Could they do more? Well certainly, every nation could possibly do more except perhaps for Bhutan, the Maldives, and some other smaller nations. But China is heading in the right direction whereas it appears the US has just done a major U-turn with the appointment of Pruitt as EPA Chief. China will remain committed to the Paris Accord even if the US drops out.

Thanks for sharing this interesting buzz and great photos, Claire, which I've shard in three hives. I agree with you that "the scale of China's architectural copying is breathtaking." It appears that Chinese cities are building and developing so quickly that there are many unintended repercussions, perhaps the most dangerous being the health threat to the Chinese people -- some of whom literally can't breath outdoors without masks. Some Chinese cities don't even see the light of day some days due to terrible smog and pollution, which should be inexcusable. No citizen of any country should have to wear masks to protect themselves from toxic pollution levels whenever they venture outdoors. Thus, the Chinese government would be wise to strike an appropriate balance between massive construction and environmental degradation. The status quo is simply untenable and taking a huge toll on the health of the Chinese people -- which should be priority #1. @Dean Owen, any thoughts on these points?

Thanks @Praveen Raj Gullepalli! I will check out the video later.... There is another big storm brewing so I have to unplug everything.....

#8 @Ken Boddie you are so right, all you have to do is walk around most big cities in the world and you will find them choc full of colonial architecture. Architecture in London borrowed a lot from Greek and Roman Architecture. There are a lot of colonial buildings in Johannesburg and Cape Town that look very European in style. There is even a miniature Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomfe in Parys in the Free State. A friend & I discovered it by accident when we got lost.... Will post pics later!

Great share Claire! I guess it also reveals the appreciation that Chinese have for art and architecture worldwide if they go to such lengths at reproduction. (Of the civil and structural kind obviously ;) Imagine having such miniatures in every country as a celebration of global art and architecture! (With some Augmented Reality and VR headsets thrown in for the visitors to compare with the real thing while on a visit!) I was brwosing through some local architecture links recently and this one on the Kailash Temple had me going for a while (have yet to see it though)...there are enough mysteries already! Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Jl4HNDixc

We westerners are, I suspect, too quick to ridicule the Chinese copy, Claire. Perhaps these architectural clones are evidence of an identity crisis, as a new middle class society emerges from the feudal system and associated magnificent architecture of China's past. China, with its indomitable focus on impressive development, will undoubtedly move through this localised clone phase and emerge into a new and even more magnificent order eventually. Before we scoff let us think of Las Vegas and the many copy cat buildings in the various former colonial countries, including Australia and the USA. Thanks for the thought provoking post, Claire.

#6 @Dean Owen Huaxi is only one of the places I would visit in China.... the Hanging Temple is an amazing feat of architecture. I wouldn't spend more than 2-3 hours in Huaxi!

#5 Take Huaxi off your bucket list and see the real marvels of China, Pingyao, The Summer Palace, the Hanging Temple at Cuiping Peak, Xian, Jiuzhaigou, Yunnan, Lijiang, oh too many to list.....

#2 I thought you might have been to some of these places @Dean Owen! Huaxi is definitely on my bucket list of places to visit!

It is fascinating I agree @Phil Friedman - it would be awesome to go somewhere like Huaxi, the village of knockoffs or Thames Town.... i found the fact that Chinese Emperors celebrated the defeat of their enemies by replicating their architecture very interesting.... I wonder if China is busy taking over the world by doing the same thing in the 21st century.....

#1 Thanks, Claire, for the tag. It is fascinating that the Chinese, who have the Great Wall and other timeless masterpieces, are copying architectural notables from the West. Then again, not so strange, I suppose, as disassembling the 1831 London Bridge (not the Tower Bridge) and re-assembling it in the Lake Havasu, AZ area.

I've been to some of these. Thames Town is actually a nice place to live and kind of reminded me of the Docklands. I would have bought a house there had the commute to Shanghai not been so harsh.

@Ken Boddie @Dean Owen @Lada 🏡 Prkic @Phil Friedman @Praveen Raj Gullepalli - have you seen some of the imitation architecture in China? Thought you might find this interesting... Have an awesome day!