What do Vladimir Putin, George Bush, and Helen Clark all have in common? Answer: they have all been subject to Photoshop treatment and hang on the wall at Silk Factory No. 1 in China's industrial city of Suzhou. But why is New Zealand's Prime Minister hung between the presumably more influential leaders of Russia and the USA? How many people passing through the factory shop even know who she is? Apparently Clark is an "old friend" of the Chinese President, having been a strong supporter of China's entry into the WTO.
Continue reading 'IOTW: Leaders wear silk jackets'
Tag archive for 'china'
We travelled to China in Sep/Oct 2006 with CTS Horizons. The first part of our itinerary focused on China's waterways and gardens. The second part of our itinerary focused on China's history and ancient capital. This third part of our itinerary focused on China's natural scenery, taking in the Yangtze and Li rivers before concluding in the rather unnatural glass and concrete cacophony that is Hong Kong.
Continue reading 'China's natural scenery'
We travelled to China in Sep/Oct 2006 with CTS Horizons. The first part of our itinerary focused on China's waterways and gardens. This second part of our itinerary focused on China's history and ancient capital, with a visit to the terracotta army in Xi'an then The Great Wall and Forbidden City near/in Beijing. The third part of our itinerary focused on China's natural scenery.
Continue reading 'China's history and ancient capital'
Sometimes it surely happens by chance that two logos are as alike as peas in a pod. At other times (and I've seen several examples on the 'net) it is equally clear that there is something more than chance at work. During our recent trip to China we noted a few shop logos that looked remarkably familiar, despite a zero probability that we had encountered the shop displaying it before. An imitation is intended to copy or at least closely simulate a design. It is the antithesis of design by inspiration, which implies a certain measure of creativity, innovation and imagination—without stretching all the way to originality and inventiveness. Inspiration is a valuable artistic tool for those suffering from a depletion of vision, but can readily be taken too far. Here is a shop logo that may have been conceived due to lack of inventiveness, sheer laziness, or maybe the constraints of time or budget. But I suspect it may have been re-engineered from a famous logo for reasons of brand association. It makes good marketing sense: a vaguely familiar or trustworthy logo may draw in customers otherwise confused by the visual cacophony of a busy street. You decide: imitation or inspiration?
Continue reading 'IOTW: Imitation v inspiration'
We travelled to China in Sep/Oct 2006 with CTS Horizons. This first part of our itinerary focused on China's waterways and gardens, visiting Shanghai and neighboring cities connected by the Grand Canal. The second part of our itinerary focused on China's history and ancient capital. The third part of our itinerary focused on China's natural scenery.
Continue reading 'China's waterways and gardens'
Every journey has a beginning, and we are soon to begin ours by traveling around China for a few weeks, before carrying on to New Zealand.
