Favourites from The National Museum of China

There are over a million pieces at the National Museum of China. Of course, I didn't see them all. But even so, there was plenty of stunning artwork and pieces of history to feast my eyes on.

This is just a minute reflection of what I saw. Can you believe some of these items are hundreds, even thousands of years old?

Sometimes it seems like we've come so far with technology but other times, like upon seeing some of these intricately made pieces? It seems like mankind did pretty okay with the "primitive" tools they had back then.

The other thing I found really fascinating was the global influence in many pieces. Way before Mark Zuckerberg was born, people were trading with each other, sharing ideas and thoughts and ways of life.

You'll see below influences from other Asian countries and even Europe! This was way before Chinese cloisonné pieces became popular over there.

The National Museum of China - Beijing, China

During my visit to Beijing this April, I visited the national museum. To my delight, it is actually free!

I spent all my time just enjoying the architecture and the ancient sculptures and jewelry. I didn't take too many photos of the calligraphy or more contemporary pieces.

Here's the front of the building. It is on the west side of Tiananmen Square.



Here is the view it faces. The building you see on the east side of Tianamen Square is the People's Hall where the big important meetings happen.





The National Museum is very imposing but also quite beautiful, I think. Very Western on the inside while steps away at the Forbidden City (south side of the Square) everything remains in true Chinese style.

Originally this area housed two museums - the Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the National Museum of Chinese History. In 2003 they merged to become the National Museum of China. Major renovations, headed by German architectural firm Gerkan, Marg and Partners, began in 2007 and four years later the museum opened with triple the space and almost 30 new exhibition halls.



Inside the exhibition halls. Unfortunately a number of them were not open. I did peek behind a door and it looks like they were preparing an exhibition. I suspect some of them stand empty though.

There was a definite lack of contemporary Chinese art. It seems as if what the museum considers contemporary art is China post-revolution, but still traditional Chinese art forms: pottery, calligraphy, silk thread "painting", etc.

In the past decade, there has been a lot of great photography, abstract art, installations, etc. by Chinese artists but none were shown here. I'm not sure if it is because those artists would rather show in places like the super cool industrial 798 Art Zone or the government does not find it representative of "Chinese" art or perhaps a bit of both.





Here is the inside of the museum. Saying it's HUGE is an understatement!









In the next post, I'll show you some of my favourite pieces in the museum.

ZAZA Restaurant - Beijing, China

I'm back in Toronto! I have to admit, although I visit Beijing annually, have gone without Cam more times than with, and went for less than two weeks this time, I became really home sick by the second week.

Living in Stouffville has really spoiled me. The traffic, population, smog, and general "big city"-ness of Beijing seems like just a jarring difference.

But despite realizing how much I couldn't live in the city again, I still hand a wonderful time visiting with family, shopping, eating, and taking in a few tourist attractions.

My dad took me to ZAZA, a "fusion" restaurant if you will. The decor was beautiful and the food delicious. Here are some photos of the delicious and plentiful food we had.





















With Beijing so inland, I was surprised at how fresh the sashimi was. And the kimchi hotpot full of veggies? So SOO delicious! I kept eating even though I was so stuffed.

I have tons more photos from this trip and a number of beauty reviews to post as well so expect lots of activity on this blog in the next while.

Pre-Christmas Ski Weekend

image via Google

In about an hour, Cam and I are heading off to Tremblant with our friends for the weekend. We'll be taking the bus overnight with several hundred other people and arriving at Tremblant bright and early for first tracks (or in reality, for some nap time until noon).

This is our third year going - we got engaged our first year there! So needless to say it's a happy tradition now.

It's going to be a great weekend of beer drinking, pub food eating, hot tub relaxing, and mayyybbee some snowboarding and skiing.

Have a good weekend everyone!

The World Expo - Shanghai 2010

Just a quick post - I was going through my photos last night and found these from the 2010 World Expo held in Shanghai. My father treated Cam and I with two day passes. Boy, was it a lot of walking...and a LOT of people! But it was an experience of a lifetime. I have many more photos but edited a few of my favourite pavilions there.

You might notice that all the photos are gray. This is after a good amount of brightness and contrast adjustments. The big cities in China are not exactly know for their fresh air! And an overcast sky certainly does not help with the lighting.