Translation coming soon………….. 

After our farewell lunch at the No. 6 High School we were presented with two beautiful paper cuttings. We all held our breath and watched in wonder as Sabrina, one of the Chinese students, completed the final few incisions before our eyes. She had been taught this traditional craft by her mother at the age of 12 but admitted she didn’t know anyone else who had this hobby because each one takes 3 hours to complete. Paper cuts are readily available to buy in shops in China but are they are still hand crafted or machine produced? It was very special for us to receive such a unique gift crafted with love (and a great deal of patience!).

This is a photo of Dinah and Polly, two of our new chinese friends, taken at their high school on our last day in Guangzhou. I thought i’d share with you an email i received from Polly today – it was a lovely surprise and great to be reminded that our connections with China will last beyond our time there.

”Sorry that I send you this E-mail one week after we say farewell because I’m having a mid-term exam last week. This week I’m a little busy too because I’m going to have a competition called NOIP. Maybe NOIP is short for National Olympics Imformatic P….. Well,I don’t know what the P is for. But I guess it may be a word means competition;) In the competition, we will write programmes on the computer. Do the students in the UK play this? There is also a competition called IOI. The first I is short for International. We who take part in this area are often called OIers. Well, maybe it’s Chinglish . After the competition ends this Saturday, I will tell you something about it. If I get the first grade prize,I can go into the university without entrance exam!That’s so fantastic! I hope I can get it. We will know the result in the afternoon of the Saturday. Oh, I’m a little nervous now. But I believe that I can get it~:)
By the way,after we say goodbye have you found the medicine you were finding? I am a little curious because I can’t, for some unknown reasons, get on the PlanC’s blog.
Please write me soon;). Polly.”

After our adventures to the Great Wall, it was back to work for us both on Monday. First thing we had arranged a meeting with Hammer Films, who had approached us after Lindsey’s inspirational presentation at the conference (Lindsey and I thought it was inspirational, so it was good to learn someone else did, too!) Had an interesting and constructive conversation, and there might be lots of scope to do interesting things together – watch this space!

After that we managed to squeeze in a whistle stop viewing of the Forbidden City (a huge complex where all the generations of Emperor’s, their families, concubines and staff lived, but which was forbidden to the general populace). Lovely place architecturally, but very busy with visitors. Had to be photographed alongside one of them, which is wearing a bit thin now. The whole site is being tidied up and improved for the Olympics (which depends on your perspective, I rather liked it how it was on my last visit).

After that, we dashed to the 798 district – this used to be a huge complex of munitions factories and warehouses in west Beijing, which – after lying empty for a while – was taken over by artists for studios and galleries. It is now full of commercial contemporary art galleries, with a few cafes bars and studios. We met Jian Yi there, a film maker who I have met before. It was nice to catch up with him again, and he gave us a quick tour.

 After that – back to the great vegetarian restaurant by the Lama Temple where we both over ordered (as usual) and sampled hot rice wine for our last meal. Rice wine is a little stronger than I realised… then, off round the shops and to the market looking for alarm clocks on the way back to hotel. Beijing is a nice place to walk around, once you get off the tourist areas, as everyone is active and out and about at all hours. eating, walking dogs and generally loitering. Getting chilly, though, and I think snow is on the way.

Anyway, after an uneventful flight back (which is easy for me to say now, but I really didn’t enjoy the turbulence) I am in the land of jetlag and laundry. Hope to catch up with the whole Guangzhou group soon!

To all those who wanted Chairman Mao alarm clocks after my rash comments (Dylan and Shawn- that’s you!). The only one left in the hotel shop didn’t work (there was a rather nice chicken one, but I didn’t think that was quite the same). Lindsey and I checked out all the shops and went to the market Monday night – but it had closed as it was 10.30pm. Sorry guys! I am happy to go back and do loads more shopping for you both any time.

The way I post up images is a bit long winded but is actually quite quick and easy once you get used to it.

All free blog sites have a memory limit on the amount of images you can internally upload, so most bloggers use sites such as Flickr to store their images in.  Flickr is a free image sharing site owned by Yahoo.

1. Log into the blog and go to the ‘write’ section’.  Click on the tab saying ‘code’ above the text window.  No minimise that internet browser window and open a new one.

2. In the new internet window go to flickr.com and Register (if you haven’t registered already)  SORRY BUT I HAVE TO SAY IT, MAKE A NOTE OF YOUR NEW FLICKR USERNAME AND PASSWORD.

3. Upload any images you want to use into Flickr.

4. Double click the image thumbnail of the one you want to blog first and then click on the ‘All sizes’ icon that is just above the image.

5. It will automatically open the largest size available.  Click on ‘medium’, which can be found just above the huge image.

6. When it opens the medium size image, scroll down and you will see that Flickr has given you a load of html code for the image, and also a web address.  Copy the code.

7. Open up the blog internet window and Paste that code into window where you would usually write your blog post.  (make sure it is in ‘code’ tab mode’).

8. Now click onto the ‘Visual’ tab, and you should see your photo, which you can now type above or under at your leisure.  If you want to insert another photo then just go back to Flickr and copy the ‘medium size’ code for the next image you want, and paste that back into the ‘code’ mode of the blog text window above or below what’s already in there.

I know this may sound complicated but once you actually go through the motions it is actually quite straight forward and becomes more intuitive.

There is a way of linking your Flickr account directly to the blog but when it posts it up it looks a bit rubbish and you can only put one image in a post.

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(P.S.  If in your blog window when you write a post you see a small tree icon just above where you would write your message, then that is really useful.  Click that and copy and paste into the ‘Image url’ section the ‘medium’ size web address that Flickr gives you for the image you want.  That way you don’t have to mess about with code.  I noticed though that in China not all of us could see that icon when we were posting.)

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I’ll end here but I hope that all makes some kind of sense.  Trust me, print it off and follow the steps and it should word.

(Famous last words!)

Let me know how it goes or if any problems.

Shawn

I’m really bad at lying in bed wide awake, so instead of staying under the duvet and closing my eyes, I come downstairs and turn on the computer at 4.07 am.

Will I never learn????!!!! 

http://www.cartoonstock.com

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/9487.htm

This time last week we were at the studio of Cold Tea, a free monthly on-line magazine. Alex (a photographer) and Gianni (the Editor) set up the magazine 4 years ago as a way of sharing artists’ work and its representation of the evolving cultural scene (the magazine’s slogan reads ”Youth talks, picture tells”).

We shared some DVDs from the creative projects Abbie, Paige, Alice, Dylan and Luke had been involved in and we saw the work of another photographer, audio artist, illustrator and film maker who are responsible for different sections of the magazine. They were all impressed by the level of creative confidence and ability achieved by our group at such a young age. Later on Alex showed Luke and Dylan how to create the right lighting for an indoor photo shoot. Luke has already posted some of his favourites from the 171 snapped that afternoon (see ‘What a week’). Thanks for a great afternoon guys – and all the extra tips Luke:o)

Guess who?

Booked a private tour to the Great Wall today. We picked the furthest point at Sima tai, as it is less touristed. A 3 hour drive there in a private car, with a monosyllabic guide resenting working on Sunday. The wall was rugged and spectacular – though I can’t decide which I liked best, the wall or the little cable car which takes you half way up the mountain to reach it. We were tailed by local farmers the whole way who hoped to sell us souvenirs. Felt guilty for not buying anything, as they have limited means of making money.

Can anyone tell me how the long the wall is and whether you really can see it from the moon, as our guide didn’t seem to know!