Occasional Moments of Brilliance

Photography that is always great, and occasionally brilliant.

Posts tagged ‘china’

From Dragon to Snake

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On a clear, cold Sunday afternoon I made my way to Wentworth Avenue, just south of the Loop in Chicago. I remembered as I walked, the only other time that I’d been to Chinatown. It was years ago. I was breaking in my new to me Mamiya 645AFD and I ended up shooting a couple rolls of Fuji E-6 transparency film. They turned out to be two of the, to date, less than 20 rolls I’ve put through that camera. Today the goal, and my entire perspective was quite different. I was going in to cover the Lunar New Year parade, this time through the lens of my years living in Asia. While in Korea, I often asked my friends about events in Seoul to celebrate the holiday. It turned out that during Seollal as it’s known in Korean, the city turns into a ghost town. There is a mass migration out of the city as families gather in their ancestral homes. It’s a good opportunity to photograph giant subway stations devoid of people, but not much else. This year however, I anticipated an energetic public event.

Known in China as Yuan Tan, Lunar New Year is celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice. The parade was part of 15 days of celebration celebrating the beginning of the year of the water snake. The snake represents the12 year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, and water comes from the five year repeating cycle of elements.

The parade itself was a lively event, and the sidewalks were packed. People cheered loudly for the Chinese themed presentations including beautiful two person lion costumes, fireworks and a long dragon, requiring several people to operate. There were also representatives from several local Chinatown cultural organizations, and seeming a bit out of place, local marching bands and of course Ronald MacDonald. After passing beneath the large archway over Wentworth Ave., the lion performers gathered around the marshall’s stage as the observers flowed in behind them for a brief closing ceremony and some fireworks. I was just looking for the parade staging area when I noticed all of the lion costume performers and a group of musicians leading a crowd down the street.

The lion costumes and dance performance comes from a legend in ancient China where a beast called a ‘nian’ would terrorize, and sometimes consume, villagers. The people soon learned that the color red, loud noises and light would frighten the creature away. Red is now seen as a symbol of good luck for the New Year. In modern times, firecrackers are in abundance and red is seen as a symbol of good luck. Gifts of money are often delivered in red envelopes, red lanterns are hung and good luck wishes are written on red paper.

The lion dancers and their accompanying musicians went through the streets performing for many local businesses. Their routine involved three bows outside, with a further performance inside to bring luck and prosperity in the coming year.

119

This summer’s pre-national volleyball tournament at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Illinois brought in dozens of teams from around the country. The gymnasium pulsed with the sound of simultaneous matches. Families, fans and other teams had to occasionally dodge errant spiked volleyballs. Thrown into this mix was a group of high school aged Chinese nationals who were training at the center for the month. I was curious about this team of tall thin players with close cropped, bob style haircuts. The gym reverberated with shouts, cheers and whistles which made it impossible to hear what any of the team members were saying which made it easier to focus on the difference in playing styles. Besides being consistently taller than the other teams, their style seemed to be for lack of a better term, more businesslike. They were clearly happy and excited to be there, but their play and celebrations between points seemed more reserved and serious. The coaches appeared to be more distant and focused on fine-tuning technical aspects of their young charges, as opposed to cheering and encouraging them along the way.

I was reminded again of these athletes when I read about the Chinese government’s medal goal in the London Olympics, called Project 119. The plan is for the Chinese delegation to win medals in 119 events. I wondered what kind of life awaited these athletes once their American tour was finished. Having lived in Seoul, I’m familiar with the crushing social pressure to succeed leading to all day and all night cram sessions. It wasn’t unusual to see students still in uniform dozing on the bus home at 11pm. Then I read about some of these young Chinese athletes who hadn’t been home for more than a handful of days during most of the last decade, missing birthdays, holidays and the passing of loved ones.

One of coaches at the Great Lakes Center laughed a little when he mentioned how these girls would jump at the opportunity to go out for fast food, or shopping after training all day. Maybe, knowing that in a few short weeks they would go home to a strict, government-controlled program that could lead to them being labeled either a hero or a national disgrace…they decided it was time for a cheeseburger.