Travel London

If you have a chance to Britain, you must go to see London. London is the largest urban area and capital of England and the United Kingdom. At its core, the ancient City of London, to which the name historically belongs, still retains its limited mediaeval boundaries; but since at least the 19th century the name "London" has also referred to the whole metropolis which has developed around it. Today the bulk of this conurbation forms the London region of England and the Greater London administrative area, with its own elected mayor and assembly.

(Please click pictures to enlarge, if you don't see very clearly)

Shaolin Temple, Hometown of Chinese Kongfu

People, native or foreign, are easily amazed by Chinese Kungfu performed by Jet Li (李连杰）, a film star now active in Hollywood, or that is shown in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Anyone interested in Kongfu has heard of Shaolin Temple (Shaolin Si), which is worshipped as the birth place of Kungfu.

Shaolin Temple, located on the south foot of Songshan Mountain (one of China's five most famous mountains), is 76 kilometres away from Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province.

Origins of the myth

Founded in 496 during the period of the Northern Wei (386-534), the temple is full of history.

In 527, an Indian monk, Bodhidarma (known to the Chinese as Da Mo), founded the Mahayana sect of Buddhism, which is known as Chen (or Zen).

He stayed there till his death in 535, and the temple has become the centre of Chinese Buddhism.

It is said that Da Mo, seeing monks becoming fat and lazy from long hours sitting in meditation, came up with the idea of walking meditation, which imitated the natural motions of animals and birds. Eventually, the imitation evolved into a form of unarmed combat or martial arts, which is known as Kungfu.

Kongfu worship

Unlike other temples such as Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou or Ta'er Temple in Qinghai, Shaolin Temple enjoyed much fewer worshipers with burning incense.

I was told that this was because people had shifted their expectations from meditation to physical martial arts practicing.

The layout of the temple is quite similar to other Chinese Buddhist temples. However, there are some differences. One of these variations is the numerous stone steles that line the main roads of the temple on which there have been left important records.
On the high stele in front of the Bell Building, people can see the carved autograph of Li Shimin, a Tang Dynasty (618-907) emperor.

Li granted the temple the status of "No.1 temple on earth", and gave the monks a high rank, after 13 martial monks saved him from the enemy - this is the plot of the movie "Shaolin Temple".


Afterwards, the temple became famous and attracted a lot of lay people to study Kungfu. In other areas of China, other schools were established with names such as Emei Shaolin and Guangdong Shaolin.

At present special organizations for imparting Shaolin Kungfu have been set up in more than 10 countries including the US, Holland, France, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, and Switzerland.

People from more than 30 countries and regions have come to the Shaolin Temple to receive Kungfu training. And delegations of Shaolin monks have visited many countries for cultural exchanges in Kung Fu.

Quietly wandering in the temple, you are sure to learn more about Shaolin Kungfu while listening to the monks practicing in the yard.

But to watch their performances, you have to pay 20 yuan ($2.5). [It is not sure how much is it now] For the price of a very small donation, you can beat the big bell by the side of Bell Building nine times as the most sincere and effective prayer for blessings.

Pagoda forest

In another part of the temple, you can see the unique "Forest of Dagobas" (Pagoda Forest), with its 243 stupas or dagobas each containing the remains of an abbot from the Shaolin Monastery.

They were built of either stone or brick. The first stupa at this site was built in 791 and the last in 1803. They range from seven stories (14.6 metres) to just a metre in height with many different styles.

Against the deep and far mountains, this forest looks more like a holy place. But most of the trees are badly weather beaten and require maintenance.

Stephen Chow - the King of Comedy in Asia

Stephen Chow

If you were to ask Western fans of Hong Kong movies who the most popular star in Asia is, names such as Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat would probably come up. However, it is Stephen Chow (sometimes credited as Steven Chow, Stephen Chiau or by his Chinese name, Chow Sing Chi) that is Asia's top box office draw.

Born in 1962 in Hong Kong, Chow grew up as the only boy among three sisters (which may explain the troubles he often encounters with the ladies in his movies). After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Shaw Bros. TVB acting school in 1982. During his time at the school, his rubber-faced mannerisms found many fans, and he had his first taste of success on the children's TV show "430 Space Shuttle," which also starred another future Hong Kong movie star, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Chow finding success on a kid's show could be considered a bit ironic, since Chow is said not to like children very much). Chow also worked with Ng Man-Tat, who would later become his sidekick in many of his most popular movies.

After his time at the TVB school, the studio immediately signed him to a contract, and he enjoyed a successful run on the network in both comedies and dramas. By 1987, Chow had entered into the movie industry with a role in Final Justice, for which he won the prestigious Taiwanese Golden Horse award for best supporting actor. The award caused Chow to put his comedic talents on the back burner as he appeared in a series of action and dramatic roles, including John Woo's Just Heroes and Jet Li's Dragon Fight. However, after appearing with Jacky Cheung in the comedy Faithfully Yours, Chow's comedic nature returned to his film work.

In 1990, Chow scored his first major box office hit with All for the Winner, which was a parody of the previous year's box office champ, Wong Jing's God of Gamblers. Wong is a producer/director who is never one to shy away from cheap publicity, so he hired Chow for the sequel to God of Gamblers. It was with Wong -- a director known for his schizophrenic style -- that Chow solidified his own comedic style, which would come to be known as "moy len tau." Moy len tau is a Cantonese term that roughly translates to "nine comes after eight, but eight has nothing to do with nine," but is more generally termed as "nonsense comedy."

Born from the comedies of the Hui brothers of the late 1970's-early 1980's such as the Mr. Boo series, Chow's moy len tau style features manic pacing, high levels of physical comedy, parody, popular culture references, and heavy use of Cantonese slang. The dependence on Cantonese terms made Chow's movies huge hits with local audiences, and his physical attributes -- notably the aforementioned "rubber face" and general good looks -- translated Chow's films into international hits as well. Chow's collaborations with Wong, which included yet another God of Gamblers movie (by which time he had gained enough popularity to be the movie's top-billed star) had given Chow the basic template for his films -- a slightly dimwitted, but talented, man gets thrown into strange circumstances, where he ultimately finds redemption (and resolution) through love.

After the success of the God of Gamblers movies, Chow's star continued to rise. 1991's Fight Back to School became Hong Kong's top-grossing film of all time, knocking John Woo's mega-hit A Better Tomorrow out of the top spot. The same year also saw Chow appearing in a comedic homage to one of his idols, with Fist of Fury '91, a parody of the classic Bruce Lee movie. Chow continued to spoof other popular movies, such as Swordsman with Royal Tramp, and also did somewhat more serious fare with movies based on folk tales and heroes, as with Flirting Scholar and King of Beggars. Though not was all wine and roses during this period -- Hong Kong audiences are notoriously fickle -- and Chow had his share of flops. But by the time he completed The God of Cookery in 1997, Chow had not only cemented himself as one of Asia's top stars, but a talented producer, writer and director as well.

Stephen Chow is now in the envious position in the Hong Kong movie industry of only having to do one or two movies a year in order to keep in a public's eye (many stars appear in as many as a dozen films a year). And like many of Hong Kong's top stars, Hollywood has come calling. He was originally slated to direct a US remake of God of Cookery starring Jim Carrey, but eventually turned the job down after getting tired of dealing with Hollywood's red tape. Like his comedic style, Stephen Chow seems something that is unique to Hong Kong movies and something which would (and could) only be featured there. However, with the recent success of Chow's Shaolin Soccer (which became the all-time Hong Kong box office winner for a domestic product), American interest seems to have been renewed. Shaolin Soccer is slated to be given a release in US theatres, with re-releases of some of his older movies to follow.

Famous Korean Transsexual - Harisu

Harisu
하리수 · 河莉秀

About Harisu
Birth name Lee Kyung-yup (changed to Lee Kyung-eun in 2002)
Date of birth February 17, 1975 (1975-02-17) (age 33)
Place of birth Seongnam, South Korea
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Hair color black
Eye color brown
Measurements 89-61-89 (35-24-35)
Weight 48 kg (106 lb)
Alias(es) He Li Xiu (Chinese name)
Spouse(s) Micky Jung (2007-present)
Official website

Harisu (Hangul: 하리수; Chinese: 河莉秀) is the stage name of Lee Kyung-eun (born Lee Kyung-yup, February 17, 1975), a transsexual pop singer, model and actress from South Korea. Despite being born male, she identified as female from early childhood, and underwent sex reassignment surgery in the 1990s. She is noted for being South Korea's first transgender entertainer, and in 2002 became only the second person in Korea to legally change their gender. Her stage name is an adaptation of the English phrase "hot issue".

Harisu first gained public attention in 2001, after appearing in a television commercial for DoDo cosmetics. The commercial was a big success and ended up launching her career, allowing her to branch out into other fields such as music and acting. So far she has recorded five Korean musical albums, switching genres between techno and R&B, and her overseas releases have featured songs recorded in Mandarin. Her first major acting role was in the 2001 film Yellow Hair 2, and since then her credits have included Hi! Honey, a Taiwanese drama series, and Colour Blossoms, an erotic drama by Hong Kong filmmaker Yonfan.

On May 19, 2007, Harisu married boyfriend Micky Jung, whom she had been dating for two years previously.

The Pathenon - ancient Greek architecture

Historical Setting

When work began on the Parthenon in 447 BC, the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. Work on the temple continued until 432; the Parthenon, then, represents the tangible and visible efflorescence of Athenian imperial power, unencumbered by the depradations of the Peloponnesian War. Likewise, it symbolizes the power and influence of the Athenian politician, Perikles, who championed its construction.

Some historians believe that Athens concluded a peace treaty with Persia in 449, two years before work began on the Parthenon. The significance of this would be that the Delian League/Athenian Empire continued to exist, even after the reason for its existence (a mutual defense league against the Persians) had ceased to be valid. In other words it was now openly acknowledged that Athens was not just the head of the Greek defense league but actually an imperial master over other Greek states. The decision by the Athenians in 454 BC to move the League treasury from the Panhellenic sanctuary at Delos to the Athenian acropolis points in the same direction. Because the Parthenon was built with League funds, the building may be read as an expression of the confidence of the Athenians in this newly naked imperialism. But the piety of this undertaking should not be underestimated; the Persians had sacked the temples on the Athenian acropolis in 480, and rebuilding them fulfilled, in Bury's words, the Athenians' "debt of gratitude to heaven for the defeat of the Mede."

Architectural Features

The Parthenon is a Doric peripteral temple, which means that it consists of a rectangular floor plan with a series of low steps on every side, and a colonnade (8 x 17) of Doric columns extending around the periphery of the entire structure. Each entrance has an additional six columns in front of it. The larger of the two interior rooms, the naos, housed the cult statue. The smaller room (the opisthodomos) was used as a treasury. Here is a plan of the temple:
It was built to replace two earlier temples of Athena on the Acropolis. One of these, of which almost no trace remains today, stood south of the Parthenon (between the Parthenon and the Erechtheum). The other, which was still being built at the time of the Persian sack in 480, was on the same spot as the Parthenon. We know the names of the architects (Iktinos and Kallikrates) and also of the sculptor (Pheidias) who made the massive chryselephantine cult statue of the goddess.

The Orders

The three main types of columns used in Greek temples and other public buildings are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The truest and most basic difference among the orders has to do with proportions (Doric columns, for example, being thicker and shorter, Ionic columns taller and slimmer). As a shortcut, the orders may be distinguished most easily by their capitals (the tops of the columns). As you can see from the following examples, the Doric capital has the simplest design; the Ionic has the curlicues called volutes, and the Corinthian has the acanthus leaves:
Doric Capital Ionic Capital Corinthian Capital
Doric is not only a type of column, but an "order"; this means that temples of the Doric order not only have this type of column, but also have a certain structure at the upper levels. The different types of orders (column plus entablature) are illustrated by these diagrams, from Perseus: Doric order, and Ionic order. The Doric order is characterized by the series of triglyphs and metopes on the entablature. Each metope was occupied by a panel of relief sculpture.
The Parthenon combines elements of the Doric and Ionic orders. Basically a Doric peripteral temple, it features a continuous sculpted frieze borrowed from the Ionic order, as well as four Ionic columns supporting the roof of the opisthodomos.

The Metopes

The metopes of the Parthenon all represented various instances of the struggle between the forces of order and justice, on the one hand, and criminal chaos on the other. On the west side, the mythical battle against the Amazons (Amazonomachy); on the south, the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs (Centauromachy); on the east, the battle between the gods and the giants (Gigantomachy); on the north, the Greeks versus the Trojans. Of the panels the best preserved are those showing the Centauromachy. Here are South Metope 31 and 30 (compare the discussion in Pollitt, Art & Experience, 82-83):

For a complete catalogue, with images and descriptions of all the Parthenon metopes, see Perseus' Parthenon Metope Page (photos will be available only if you are on a Reed computer or a computer on another campus which has enhanced access to the Perseus photos by license agreement), and the Australian National University collection (photos, but no text).

The Pedimental Sculptures

These relief sculptures, larger than those of the metopes, occupied the triangular space above the triglyphs and metopes. Those at the west end of the temple depicted the contest between Poseidon and Athena for the right to be the patron deity of Athens (Athena's gift of the olive tree was preferred over Poseidon's spring). The eastern pedimental group showed the birth of Athena from Zeus' head. The pedimental sculpture suffered badly when the Parthenon was hit by a Venetian shell in 1687 and the powder magazine inside exploded. This reclining god (probably Dionysus) from the east pediment gives some sense of the quality of the sculpture:

For a complete catalogue, with images and descriptions of all the Parthenon pedimental sculpture, see Perseus' Parthenon East Pediment Page and West Pediment Page (photos will be available only if you are on a Reed computer or a computer on another campus which has enhanced access to the Perseus photos by license agreement).

The Frieze

The Parthenon frieze runs around the upper edge of the temple wall. Its relatively small size (3 feet 5 inches tall) and placement (inside from the triglyphs and metopes) made it fairly hard to see from the ground. Unlike the metopes, the frieze has a single subject on all four sides. On three sides (north, west, and south) it depicts a procession of horsemen, musicians, sacrificial animals, and other figures with various ritual functions. On the east side there is a scene centered on a child handing a folded cloth to an older man. On one side of them seated gods and goddess are in attendance; on the other, two girls are carrying something. Although the state of preservation is poor, the interpretation of the subject has hotly debated. Most scholars agree that it represents the Panathenaic procession, but some think it is a mythical, "original" procession, while others believe that it is the procession which took place in the same period as the temple was built, and that this illustrates the (over-)confident spirit of the Athenians, who dared to put themselves where ordinarily only gods and heroes might be found.
Recently the debate has taken a new turn with the publication of a radical original theory by Joan B. Connelly. Here is a detailed summary of Connelly's ideas and some questions about them. Connelly's theory depends on a reinterpretation of this scene from the east frieze:
For a complete set of images and descriptions of the Parthenon frieze, see the Perseus Parthenon Frieze Page (photos will be available only if you are on a Reed computer or a computer on another campus which has enhanced access to the Perseus photos by license agreement).

Qingming Festival

The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. After the festival, the temperature will rise up and rainfall increases. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing. But the Qingming Festival is not only a seasonal point to guide farm work, it is more a festival of commemoration.

The Qingming Festival sees a combination of sadness and happiness.This is the most important day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep the tombs of the diseased. Also, they will not cook on this day and only cold food is served.

The Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival was usually one day before the Qingming Festival. As our ancestors often extended the day to the Qingming, they were later combined.

On each Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before the memorial tablet.

In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope of Spring on this day. The Qingming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of Spring outings. At this time tourists are everywhere.

People love to fly kites during the Qingming Festival. Kite flying is actually not limited to the Qingming Festival. Its uniqueness lies in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night. A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns."
The Qingming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. In the past, the Qingming Festival was called "Arbor Day". But since 1979, "Arbor Day" was settled as March 12 according to the Gregorian calendar.