Posts

Showing posts from October, 2016

October 1st. The Last Swim and Beijing Film Academy

Image
October 1st 2016 On this day 67 years ago, Mao Zedong - 毛 泽东 - officially proclaimed the People’s Republic of China.  A new country was born, a new era, a new philosophy. Mao addressing the nation (Wikipedia, public domain) Woken up by firecrackers at 6am. Skies half open as crimson flares, like shrapnel-sculpted rose petals, pound upwards in the skies. Across the street, in the flats opposite mine, there is sudden morning activity. I see into kitchens and living rooms, as they can see into mine . . . like a living dolls’ house, and oddly, rear windowesque, active voyeurism, is not intended, but one cannot divert one’s eyes. Flats (photo by Jeanne Pope) For some reason, like the Dutch, the Chinese do not seem bothered about shuttering up their homes. A few children smudge noses against the windowpanes, watching the puffy residue that stretches out smoky fingers, this way and that. The effect of entire neighborhoods celebrating National Holiday with firecracke