ByGD
If you don’t know better, sea mammal shows are interesting and exciting. I remember the thrill of watching Orcas jump at SeaWorld. As an adult, I know better and try to avoid the exploitation and abuse of intelligent animals. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I took my daughter to Qingdao’s Polar Ocean World. She was just as excited to watch the sea mammals perform as I once had been.
ByGD
I once thought anime is full of unrealistic mascot pets, but I have discovered that some of them are based on real animals.
There really is a rodent called a pika. That weird little rodent with tufted ears that showed up all over the place in early 90s anime is a Hokkaido squirrel. Remember the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion? If you’re an otaku, of course you do. But do you remember Pen Pen, Misato’s pet warm-water penguin that lived in her freezer?
So I guess I wasn’t really that surprised to see penguins hanging out on the ice rink in Qingdao’s MixC Mall. Pet penguins.
ByGD
I don’t go to the Seattle International Film Festival every year, and even when I do, I usually only see a couple of movies. So it’s notable that out of the thousands of movies I’ve seen in my life, so many of the ones that made a lasting impression were SIFF movies.
One of those movies was called King of Masks. That’s mostly because of the powerful adoption story at its heart. But its partly because it was my first exposure to Sichuan Change Art.
The second time that I took my daughter to eat at the restaurant at the China Community Art and Culture hotel, they were having a children’s festival performance. One of the performers was a Change Artist. My daughter didn’t know why I was so excited, because she hasn’t seen the movie. (We can’t afford the therapy that would trigger.)
But the Sichuan Change Art was the highlight of the evening.
ByGD
I really have to wonder if Hayao Miyazaki spent time in Qingdao. So much of the old German Concession area of Qingdao looks like the pseudo-Europe of Studio Ghibli productions. It gave our entire trip a bit of a fantasy feeling. This super cute little cafe looks so much like the bakery in Kiki’s Delivery Service that I wouldn’t have been surprised if a little girl in a black dress came running out the door and hopped on a broomstick.
ByGD
This Kentucky Fried Chicken is one of the few American stores I saw the entire time I was in China. Its prime corner location in a grand-looking building overlooks the May 4th Square right on the water in Qingdao’s prosperous commercial district.
The May 4th Movement (五四运动, wǔsì yùndòng) was sparked by the Treaty of Versailles which transferred German concessions in Shandong (the area where I stayed) to Japan rather than returning sovereign authority to China. Mass student demonstrations on May 4th, 1919 kept China from signing the treaty. The May Fourth Movement supporting Chinese sovereignty is an early successful example of direct democracy in China.
So does that make the appearance of American chain restaurant in the May 4th Square poetic or ironic?