Chengguan on the Street in Wuzhou

I have some Wuzhou chengguan (Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau officers) stories to tell another day. For now, here's a photo of a pair chengguan during a less dramatic moment:

Near Pantang Park on what is identified (similar to another branch of the road) as Dieshan 2nd Road (蝶山二路)

A Bird Falling From the Sky in Macau

A few days ago while walking down a pedestrian lane off of Largo Maia de Magalhães in Macau's Taipa Village, I froze when I unexpectedly saw something small fall straight down from above 15 feet directly in front me. The object landed with a clearly audible thud and cracking sound.

I continued forward, and to my surprise found a small bird — I believe a sparrow.

Although there were some high ledges on a nearby building, straight above was only sky. Perhaps the bird had experienced a heart attack while flying. On closer inspection, one of the bird's legs slowly moved and it slowly opened and closed its eyes a couple of times. I am not an expert on birds, but given how it had hit the ground and its current condition I felt confident I was witnessing its final moments of life or postmortem reflexes.

In either case, it felt wrong to just leave the bird in the middle of an area where there were many pedestrians who could unwittingly step on it. So I picked up the bird. It didn't react. I then looked for the most fitting nearby location.

After relocating the bird and noticing similar birds flying around, I went to a nearby public restroom that I knew had soap and washed my hands. I then returned to the quieter side of a tree to take one last photo of the bird that I had seen come out of the sky for its last time.

An Icy Post to Post for a Post

Folks, my apologies for posting very infrequently lately. I can't blame it on a lack of things to post. The situation is quite the opposite.

Much more is on the way though. Really. Before that, I'm not sure what to say. But I did see one intriguing suggestion this evening for something to do.

I'm already convinced, as long as it's good ice.

More later . . .

We Made It in Wuzhou

Budweiser ad in a KTV lobby in Wuzhou

An Interspecies Confrontation in Wuzhou

I witnessed the interaction in the above photo while walking in Wuzhou this afternoon. Most of the time, the cat, which wore a collar, stood its ground in a defensive posture while the dog yapped at it. Although the cat didn't seem to be in serious danger, I later tried blocking the dog a few times to give the cat a chance to more safely flee. The cat didn't take advantage of the opportunity, so I left life as it was on the otherwise peaceful street.

The Core Socialist Values of a Fallen Planter in Wuzhou

Within sight of a new core socialist values sign in Wuzhou a row of planters serve to block vehicles from entering a pedestrian street. Today there was a small tragedy.

After I took the above photo, a woman who had been sitting nearby rushed over and told me I couldn't take photos like this one. She then explained that somebody would be arriving soon to fix things. I guessed she didn't want me sharing what she considered to be a bad look. But I simply wished to capture a moment of everyday life which also spoke to issues regarding design.

Since I was photographing in a public area an inanimate object presumably of little concern to the Ministry of State Security or the Ministry of Public Security and the woman wasn't wearing a uniform, I felt I didn't need to be worried about being negatively affected by at least one of China's core socialist values — rule of law. So I exercised another core socialist value — freedom — and took one more photo for context.

Yes, the woman was still watching me, perhaps thinking I was not following one of the core socialist values — civility.

About two hours later, I returned to the same location. The woman was gone. And the problem had been fixed.

So I will happily share a photo which speaks to yet another core socialist value.

Harmony

Posting the Values Again in Wuzhou

China's 12 core socialist values are displayed at many (many, many) locations in the country. Now there is at least one more new sign in Wuzhou to remind people of them.

Monday alongside Da'nan Road

Wednesday

Spiritual Clothing in Wuzhou

My Faith, God, Because of You . . .

Some fashion recently seen at the Wangcheng Plaza (旺城广场) shopping mall in Wuzhou that together forms a message:

Riverside Fun With Toy Construction Vehicles in Wuzhou

This afternoon in Wuzhou a woman brought a little boy to the left bank of the Xi River. The boy was at first momentarily interested in some of the activities ongoing in the river, but soon his attention shifted to the apparent reason he had been brought there.

And he played with his toy construction vehicles in the sand and dirt while the woman used her mobile phone.

Sure seemed like an excellent choice of location.

From Aristotle to Xie Juezai: Eight "Rule of Law Celebrity Sculptures" at Pantang Park in Wuzhou, China

Pantang Park (潘塘公园) offers a place to walk through a bit of greenery and somewhat get away from the urban areas which surround it in central Wuzhou. The park also offers a bit of a history through a series of busts titled "Rule of Law Celebrity Sculptures" ("法治名人雕像"). The busts are almost all arranged in the chronological order of the lives of the people they depict, ranging in time from Ancient Greece to Communist China. Below are photos of the eight busts and also links to the English Wikipedia page for each person, though the articles for the Chinese figures are less well referenced, if at all.

Notably, the first four busts are all of Westerners and the rest are all of Chinese. I am not very familiar with the history of rule of law in the Western world and China, but I am sure people more knowledgable about the topic would have deeper observations about this selection of people put on display at a relatively peaceful park in Wuzhou.

Aristotle (亚里士多德; 384–322 BC), Greek philosopher

Ulpian (乌尔比安; 170 – 223), Roman jurist

Montesquieu (孟德斯鸠; 1689-1755), French judge and political philosopher

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (黑格尔; 1770-1831), German philosopher

Shen Jiaben (沈家本; 1840-1913), Chinese politician and jurist

Shen Junru (沈钧儒, 1875 - 1963), first president of the Supreme People's Court of China in the People's Republic of China

Dong Biwu (董必武; 1886 - 1975), Chinese communist political leader

Xie Juezai (谢觉哉; 1884 - 1971), former President of the Supreme People's Court

A Cantonese Opera in Hong Kong About Donald Trump

About a month and a half ago in Hong Kong, as I left the Yau Ma Tei metro station I noticed an advertisement for the new Cantonese opera "Trump On Show".

Yes, this really exists:

Start with a performer playing President Trump. Then bring in a long-lost brother who was raised in China.

Throw in castmates portraying a ping-pong-loving Mao Zedong, a deal-seeking Kim Jong Un, Ivanka Trump and Mao’s power-hungry fourth wife.

They are singing. Opera. In Cantonese.

And, well, it’s complicated.

For more about those complications, read Mary Hui's piece about the Trumpian opera in The Washington Post, which includes some perspectives from the opera's creator, Li Kui-ming:

Li also studied the president’s quirks and habits — his penchant for fast food and television-watching habits — to develop Trump’s character.

Li, however, was struck by similarities between Mao and Trump.

“What they share in common is they both started a cultural revolution,” Li said.

Oh boy.

Trump wasn't the only Republican U.S. politician that I recently noticed in Hong Kong. Admittedly, it was a bit confounding to turn around at a bus stop in Kowloon Bay and think "Is that really Dick Cheney?".

I don't expect to attend any "Trump on Show" performances, which opens April 12, or have anything worth saying about the movie "Vice". So this post is probably all you'll find about them here. I will update if I see any indications of a Hong Kong musical about George W. Bush though.

Making Music in Wuzhou

Woman playing a qinqin (秦琴) alongside Fumin Road (阜民路)