Site 5 ¨C Lijiang, Yunnan Province
History
Lijiang,
formerly the Kingdom of Naxi (Nakhi), borders Tibet and
is home to the Naxi ethnic minority. Lijiang provides
a unique location in which to examine the relationship
between the ethnic minorities of China1 and the dominant
Han Chinese and furthermore, to examine Chinese culture
as seen through the "master narration" of the
Western outsider, both past and present.
Lijiang
has, for at least a thousand years, been a site of constant
invasion and attempts at colonization. The Naxi have managed
to retain their power as well as their land, retaining
a certain control and resistance to hegemony, a preservation
of their way of life, through their willingness to surrender
to certain exercises of power.
Samuel
Taylor Coleridge immortalized Kubla Khan's journey through
Lijiang in the 13th Century in his famous poem Kubla Khan.2
Kubla Khan prophesized war, while leading his Mongols
across the Yangtse River, floating on balloons made of
sheep stomachs. Somewhat similarly, in 1935 Commander
He Long's Red Army crossed the Yangtse River on boats
made of door panels.
The
Stone Drum on the bank of Yangtse River, which Ezra Pound
has written about3, is an old town that has witnessed
profound historical events, among them the passage of
the Red Army. Tourists to the site are entertained by
the local dance "Ten Farewells to the Red Army"
which is considered exotic and odd by visitors from the
more developed East Coast of China. Perhaps bordering
on kitch, the tradition of these dance performances has
been largely forgotten by the modernized city-dwellers.
Today
the Lijiang people enjoy fame generated through tourism.
They are proud of their reputation as people who have
maintained genuine/authentic Han Chinese culture better
than the Han themselves. They are equally and certainly
somewhat paradoxically, proud of their "remoteness"
and "isolation" and do not dissuade the portrayal
of the "exoticism" of themselves. There are
many points of interest in Lijiang: the ancient city,
the Dongba shaman culture and its text of pictographs,
the mysterious custom of sacrificial suicide, even the
devastating earthquake of February 1996 has turned into
an example of the extraordinary experiences Lijiang has
witnessed. Lijiang has become a symbol of China's past,
albeit a beautified version. Its crowning glory is the
United Nations World Cultural Heritage banner, proclaiming
Lijiang to be the most internationally famous, remote
town in China.
Lijiang's
myth was also constructed by the foreigners who visited
there. The Austro-American, Joseph Rock4, of the National
Geographic Society, and his record of images and text
from 1922 to 1949, helped to create the concept of Lijiang
as a kind of Shangri-La. The Russian, Peter Goulart, who
was there on World Bank business in the 40s, also contributed
to the aura of Lijiang as a lost paradise in his book
The Forgotten Kingdom.5 British contributors to Lijiang's
myth include the legendary travel writer Bruce Chatwin
and Beyond the Clouds, the award-winning documentary by
Phil Agland.
Today
Lijiang is best known for its "three eccentrics,"
a term the locals proudly use to promote their town. The
first eccentric is Xuan Ke, who spent 20 years in a labor
camp, but who now tours internationally with his Naxi
Ancient Music Performance Group. Comprised of performers
who are mostly between 60 and 90 years old, the group
glorifies the preservation of ancient Han Chinese music,
which, over time has been lost. The second eccentric is
Doctor He, an herbal doctor who claims he has the ability
to cure all kinds of diseases with his homemade herbal
teas. Since Bruce Chatwin paid his visit to the doctor
many years ago, the doctor's fame has spread - culminating
with his own listing in the Lonely Planet China guidebook
and in his clinic being constantly packed with foreign
tourists. The walls of his clinic are testament to his
many patients and among the namecards and photos to be
found pasted to his walls are those of Deng Xiaoping's
son and Princess Diana, although she never intended to
visit him. The third eccentric is He Zhigang, a disabled
calligrapher who writes poetry by holding the brush in
his mouth. Everyday he can be found in the park performing
his art for the public, along with the photo of him receiving
a visit from Prince Charles.
Exhibition:
A Field Study of Lijiang - Identity, Locality and Nationality
Participants:The
field study was conducted by artist Qiu Zhijie(China),
Mark Dion(U.S.A) and the curator Lu Jie, together with
leading Chinese philosopher Cheng Jiayin(China), anthropologist
Wang Mingming(China), and theorist Zhao Tinyang(China).
Sites
investigated:
1.
Mao Plaza/International Cultural and Exhibition Center
This
statue of Mao was erected in 1992, a time when the entire
nation was quietly taking down these kinds of statues
and destroying them. What made the people of Lijiang counter
the mainstream during this particular time?
2.
Black Dragon Lake's Lijiang Gender Study Institute - this
is one of the rare institutes devoted to gender study
within China.
3.
The Stone Drum town and Red Army Museum on the bank of
the Yangzi River, where the dance of "Ten Farewells
to the Red Army" is performed by the locals.
4.
The airport of the Flying Tigers: during WWII, the American
Volunteer Group led by the legendary pilot, Claire Lee
Chennault used this airport as one of its bases.6 It is
currently used as a practice field where the newly rich
Chinese learn how to drive their private cars. Chennault's
role in WWII, when China and America were allies, elevated
him to the status of "most-loved American."
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese filled the streets to
say good-bye to him when he left the town inspiring his
driver to turn off the ignition and allow the throng to
push the car to the airport. During the Cold War, Chennault's
love for China turned to hatred and he tried but failed
to organize a volunteer group to fight the Chinese Communists.
5.
Interview with the "Three Eccentrics"
The
entire field study was conducted by a small group comprised
of a leading cultural anthropologist, a philosopher, two
artists and the curator. Together, the five-person team
will mount an exhibition of the objects and documents
collected during the study.
Notes
1
Minority nationalities make up approximately 7% of the
mainland China population. In Yunnan alone there are twenty-five
officially registered groups. Minority separatism, particularly
that of the Tibetans and Uighurs of Xinjiang, has continually
been perceived by the Chinese government as a threat to
its stability. To deal with the problem, the government
has in the past, adopted controversial policies such as
stationing troops in the sensitive areas and cracking
down on indigenous religious practices, thus leading to
heated debate and criticism by governments outside of
China.
2
It flung up momentarily the sacred river/ Five miles meandering
with a maze-like motion/ Through wood and dale the sacred
river ran/ Then reached the caverns measureless to man/
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean/ And 'mid this
tumult Kubla heard from far/ Ancestral voices prophesizing
war! From Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan, or, A Vision
in a Dream
3
Although he never did journey to Stone Drum town, Ezra
Pound visited the mythic place in his imagination.
4
The Ancient Nakhi Kingdom of Southwest China, Harvard
University Press, 1947.
5
Peter Goulart, The Forgotten Kingdom, John Murray Co,
1955.
6
It was near here that in 1945, John Blackburn crashed
his P-40 into Lake Kunming. A recovery mission to retrieve
the plane is scheduled for summer 2001, after which it
will be returned to the United States.
Reports from the Road
Site 5 C Lijiang, Yunnan Province
July
23
Today
the Long Marchers split up, with some flying to Lijiang
and others going there by bus. They departed Kunming at
11:00, planning to reach Lijiang by 20:00 that evening.
Traveling with the group were artists Guo Fengyi, He Chi,
and Hu Liu of Shaanxi Province.
July
is Lijiang's rainy season. According to local residents,
it had already rained for ten continuous days. The weather
was cold and damp, and the marchers, most of whom were
wearing just a single layer of clothing, were cold to
the point of shivering. The Long March planned to stop
in Lijiang for three days. Because the city of Lijiang
is full of tourists, the marchers moved into several separate
small guesthouses.
Meanwhile,
preparations for the coming activity at Lugu Lake were
in full swing. Judy Chicago and her husband Donald Woodman
departed for Kunming after three days in Beijing. During
this time, Chicago presented a lecture at the Loft New
Media Art Space, and the couple squeezed in visits to
the Great Wall and Forbidden City. Chicago was about to
join the Long March curatorial crew and a group of Chinese
female artists for the upcoming project at Lugu Lake.
Earlier
in the year, Chicago had put out a call for proposals
to all female artists in China entitled "If Women
Ruled the World." Her call, which invited the artists
to imagine what the world might be like if women, rather
than men, became initiative subjects for decision-making
on our planet, had sparked conversation among female artists
across China for several months. The original idea was
to select twelve proposals, some of which would be realized
on-site at Lugu Lake and others later during the traveling
museum show. However, the response to the call was fervent,
with more than thirty artists submitting proposals, leading
Chicago and the curatorial team to change the plan and
show all submitted proposals at Lugu Lake.
In
an earlier e-mail conversation, Qiu Zhijie shared his
idea to present the artists' proposals on Tibetan Buddhist
prayer flags. Chicago liked the idea, but had not yet
reached a final decision due to the many uncertainties
surrounding the site at Lugu Lake. Prayer flags were left
as an option, with a final decision to come only after
the crew had reached the site. Moreover, the exact number
of artists to be present at Lugu Lake also remained uncertain.
The
day's happenings were as follows:
05:00.
Lisa Horikawa and Megan Connolly set out for the Great
Dragon Hotel in Beijing to meet Judy Chicago and Donald
Woodman.
06:00.The
group departed by air from Beijing for Kunming. On the
plane, Chicago immediately began working with Lisa to
review every submitted proposal, cross-checking content
for mistranslation, and discussing each project's feasibility
for the future museum show. Lisa battled intense drowsiness,
having stayed up the length of the previous night preparing
for the journey. The two-hour flight passed quickly.
11:00.The
group arrived in Kunming, braving cold weather and torrential
downpour they settled into camp.
15:00. Lisa and Mei Guang headed to the Upriver Loft Gallery
to meet with the female artists participating in the Lugu
Lake project. The meeting went well, with lively discussion
and questions. After long discussion, many artists decided
to pack up and make the thirty-hour trek to Lugu Lake.
18:00.
Judy Chicago, Donald Woodman, Lisa Horikawa and Megan
Connolly began a journey to Luo Xu's home and studio,
"The Native's Nest," on the rural periphery
of Kunming. The Native's Nest is a massive fortress constructed
of mud and brick, formerly a restaurant run by Luo Xu
himself. It has been converted into a multi-purpose exhibition
space for Luo's own works. A sound art exhibition was
also scheduled to take place in this bizarre location
after the Long Marchers return from the Lugu Lake project.
Graphic sculptures of naked, headless women filled every
space; Judy Chicago found many of the works aggressive
and vulgar. The group rested after a long day of travel,
joining in a feast at Luo Xu's home organized by the participating
female artists in Kunming. Although she appreciated the
gesture, Chicago felt disappointed that she didn't get
a chance to chat with the female artist brigade in depth.
Cui Jian, one of the most important rock stars in China,
also attended the dinner. After being interrogated by
the Kunming paparazzi for an hour about the feminist movement
in the West and the Lugu Lake project (several journalists
from local newspapers showed up, having heard the news
that Judy Chicago was in town), and consuming vast amounts
of food and alcohol, Judy Chicago and the other troops
decided to pack it in for the night. On the way out, Cui
Jian pulled Judy Chicago aside and thanked her for allowing
him to listen to her interview. He smiled and said in
English, "Thank you, I learned a lot."
July 24
In
the morning, it continued to drizzle throughout Lijiang,
and the Long March team booked two cars headed for the
former residence of Joseph Rock, located below Jade Dragon
Snow Mountain. Rock was an Austro-American Jew who worked
for National Geographic, living nearly thirty years in
the Lijiang area. He undertook strenuous field research,
mostly in botany. His reports opened the mysteries of
the Naxi people's Dongba pictorial script to the world,
leading the area around Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to be
called "Rock's Kingdom." Rock's reports along
with Hilton's novels together created the concept of "Shangri-La,"
a very important Oriental fantasy for a West that was
then in the throes of modernization, and could look to
this region-and by extension all of Asia-as an anti-modernist
Xanadu. This concept has influenced Sino-foreign relations
in the modern and contemporary periods, rearing its head
in the story of the Flying Tigers, Western attitudes toward
Tibet, and Lijiang's current tension between tourism and
the preservation of so-called "world cultural heritage."
The
Rock residence is hidden away in a tiny hamlet, watched
closely by some village elders. It is strictly forbidden
to take pictures, and an exhibition was even further off-limits.
Long March activities in Lijiang were to take place against
the background notion of "Shangri-La," but it
was difficult to know just how to use this significance
to the best artistic advantage. It was as if the group
had come with a sightseeing mindset. After looking at
the dental equipment Rock had designed for the villagers,
and snapping some pictures of Shen Maotou with the old,
obstinate guard, a torrential downpour began, forcing
everyone to sit for a while. As soon as they sat down,
they came up with an idea. Qiu Zhijie asked the old man
minding the residence whether he had ever seen an issue
of National Geographic. The man said he had not. Qiu arranged
to send issues of the magazine to the man at fixed intervals
from then on, turning the residence into a station for
lending the magazine to nearby villagers, subverting the
unilateral relationship between reporter and reported.
Thus, local people would not remain solely as objects
of perception and myth. They would become subjects, able
to view the world beyond.
Around
noon, a group went to Baisha village to try some local
cuisine, and pay a visit to the first of the "three
eccentrics" of Lijiang, Dr. He Shixiu (often noted
in Western travel literature as Daoist Doctor Ho.) The
doctor used English to answer questions from the Long
Marchers. Lu Jie persisted in speaking Chinese, but Dr.
He was insistent on this strange convention of using English
to speak with his fellow Chinese.
When
he heard that Lu Jie had come from New York, the Doctor
grew very excited. He bragged that Joseph Rock had been
an old friend of his father, and that he had taught him
English. This could be neither proven nor denied, but
the similarities between his story and that of Xuan Ke,
another of Lijiang's "three eccentrics," had
the group laughing. Conversation led to the story of the
Flying Tigers, and at this point, Dr. He actually took
out a name card of the daughter of General Claire Chennault,
head of the Tigers. Lu Jie asked Dr. He to examine the
young Shen Maotou. After Maotou had been examined and
given a bag of strange-looking medicines, the group departed.
Amidst
tiny raindrops, the Long March arrived at the former site
of the Flying Tigers' airport, which has been converted
into a driver's license testing facility. Traces of the
old runway remained visible, but more visible still were
the muddy ruts of cars. On the right-hand side, Jade Dragon
Snow Mountain was obscured by fog. The marchers got off
the bus with the same attitude that they had toward the
Rock residence, yearning to insert this place full of
symbolic meaning into their own Long March narrative by
piecing together a work of art. Eyes shifted to Qiu Zhijie
and his specially made shoes, which say "left"
on the right sole and "right" on the left. Everyone
watched on as Qiu walked back and forth through the muddy
ruts, leaving imprints of "left" and "right."
Qiu walked the length of the runway, leaving footprints
that were concealed sometimes and visible other times.
General Chennault's aide in the anti-Japanese war effort
and his later anti-communist stance against China were
brought to mind, along with Chennault's Chinese wife,
Chen Xiangmei, who was one of the few strands left to
bind China and the U.S at that time. These mind-boggling
past events were represented by Qiu Zhijie's confused
footprints walking along the runway.
Driving
back to Lijiang, the group stopped at Black Dragon Pond
on the outskirts of town, where it discovered another
of the "three eccentrics" of Lijiang: He Zhigang,
an armless man who uses his mouth to do calligraphy. Grabbing
the brush with his teeth and moving his head back and
forth, he wrote the rhyming couplet "Contemporary
art is great; Let the Long March go on forever!"
and presented it to the assembled group.
That
evening, Lu Jie and Shen Meng invited everyone to eat
a big meal in the revolving five-star restaurant atop
the Guanfang Hotel, from which they were able to see rainy
Lijiang by night. They drank Shangri-La brand red wine.
This new life experience left construction worker-turned-artist
"Qu Guangci" unable to sleep for a night. Lu
Jie swore that he would try to place "Qu" in
the next Documenta exhibition; "Qu" had no idea
what he was talking about. When he learned that it was
a good thing earnestly sought by artists, "Qu"
laughed.
All
the while, the "red detachment of women" continued
advancing toward Lugu Lake. The events of the day on this
important front were as follows:
Morning.
Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman met with Lisa Horikawa
and Mei Guang to organize a strategic meeting with the
female artists. They mapped out an agenda with the hope
of organizing the Lugu Lake project.
15:00-18:00.Judy
Chicago, Lisa Horikawa and Mei Guang had a meeting with
several artists including Shen Yu, Fu Liya, Huang Ying,
Sun Guojuan, Lei Yan, Song Yaping, and Su Ru Ya. Shen
Yu, director of the Nanjing Women's Art Center, shared
her concern with Judy Chicago about discrepancies between
her initial intention and the final form of the Lugu Lake
project. Shen asked whether the change from selecting
twelve artists as per the original plan to including every
proposal, and the plan to install the proposals in the
form of prayer flags, had been decided solely by the curatorial
team or by Chicago herself. Chicago answered that all
decisions had been made after thorough discussions with
the curatorial team. The artist brigade addressed the
lack of communication with the curatorial crew, which
moved camp to Lijiang that morning.
They
had no time to dwell upon this point, and quickly moved
on to confirm a few things needing to be checked with
the curatorial team:
1. Indoor space was needed to exhibit all the proposals,
as well as for installing works brought over by Chicago.
2. The site of this proposal exhibition needed to be accessible
from the community.
3. With this exhibition site as a focal point, participating
artists could carry out their performance and installation
works in the surrounding area.
Lisa
touched base with Lu Jie and Qiu Zhijie who were coordinating
events in Lijiang. Lu Jie said the so-called "community
spaces" with which the Long March had grown familiar
in other cities might be difficult to find in Lugu Lake,
and that it might be more feasible to carry out the exhibition
out on the lakeshore. In any case, he stressed the importance
following the Long March approach and finalizing the details
on-site.
Evening.
Lisa Horikawa and Mei Guang visited two exhibition sites
that had just been completed by the curatorial crew: the
Indoctrination exhibition at Jiangwutang Military School
and an exhibition of photography works by Li Tianbing
and Li Jicheng at the Upriver Art Club Gallery. Workshops
with schoolchildren were conducted on the day of the opening.
The space still held the energy of the curatorial crew,
which had just moved to the next site in Lijiang.
August 1
10:30.
Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman left Lijiang to return
home via Shanghai, leaving behind a letter addressed to
all participating artists in the Lugu Lake project.
11:00.
Lu Jie received a phone call from an undisclosed individual
in Kunming, warning him to act with caution in Lijiang.
Apparently, the visit to the Red Army Dance on August
26 had drawn extra attention from the local officials.
Qiu Zhijie spent the whole morning and afternoon locked
in his room finishing work to be exhibited in that night's
Lijiang Fieldwork Report exhibition. Meanwhile, Lu Jie
continued to buy faux-indigenous souvenirs.
In
the afternoon, the marchers prepared the exhibition at
Muwangfu. Muwangfu is located in the heart of Lijiang's
old town, the residence and office of a Naxi prince through
the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Muwangfu Guesthouse
was a guesthouse built in the style of a traditional Naxi
home. It has a natural well in its courtyard, and through
modern design, has been supplemented with a downstairs
restaurant, an upstairs bar, and a small hotel. The owner
is a middle-aged man from Beijing, Zhu Yiguang. The other
owner is Pan Xiulong, a painter, who was then in Beijing
preparing for the upcoming Snow Mountain Music Festival.
18:00-24:00.
The long-awaited exhibition entitled Lijiang Fieldwork
Report, was held; it included a display of three "un-art"
projects initiated by a curator, an anthropologist, and
Lu Jie's work that explored the idea of "made in
Lijiang," or rather the making of Lijiang. There
was also a Long March video installation that did not
belong to a single artist. Its raison d'etre was to create
the visual effect needed to begin a discourse. (A "Long
March Installation" was supposed to subvert the value
system of art/non-art.)
Lu
Jie laid out his newly acquired collection of Lijiang
products on the long table in the center of the room:
a fake coin with faces of China's four famous beauties,
an exotic wooden sculpture which looked more like African
craft than Yunnanese, a straw Marlboro hat, a beaded bag,
a T-shirt, a pencil case bearing Mao Zedong's face, and
various other desk ornaments, many of which seemed neither
Chinese, Naxi, nor Western. A label was placed in front
of each object stating the product's name, where it was
manufactured, and the hometown of the storeowner from
which it was bought. It became clear that many of the
products and the storeowners were actually from Fujian
province, Lu Jie's home. One of the few goods that were
made locally, the straw hat, had little to do with Lijiang
identity and instead bore the logo of an American cigarette
brand.
The
next section of Lu Jie's work introduced the famous "three
eccentrics" of Lijiang: He Zhigang, Doctor He, and
Xuan Ke. The exhibition displayed medicines from Dr. He,
a ticket to one of Xuan Ke's performances, and calligraphy
written by He Zhigang. Unraveled were the complex realities
and sign-systems at work in creating the myth of Lijiang
as Shangri-La.
American
anthropologist Sasha Welland also displayed her project,
in which she had asked all sorts of people to draw a map
of Lijiang. These included local Naxi as well as foreign
tourists and Chinese from Beijing and Shanghai. Each person
used a colored pen to draw the old town from memory. In
addition to exhibiting already completed maps, the display
also offered the viewer a chance to draw such a map using
paper and pens that had been laid out.
On
the bar's public computer, Qiu Zhijie presented Windows
ME - Dongba Version, in which he converted the menus and
icons of the computer's operating system into Dongba pictographs.
The bar owner thought his computer had come under the
spell of a strange virus when he saw this. On a back wall
next to the window overlooking the old town of Lijiang,
the curatorial team had set up the Long March Video Installation.
Projected on the white screen was the classic American
movie Flying Tiger starring John Wayne. It tells a heroic
story about the legendary General Claire Lee Chennault
and his pilots in the American Volunteer Group who were
stationed at the Flying Tiger airport in Lijiang to fight
against the Japanese during World War II. At the center
of the white screen was an opening with a television monitor
showing a documentary video work by Qiu Zhijie. It covers
the controversy over Huang Yongping's proposed work EP-3
Airplane for the Shenzhen Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition
in 2001. The work's alleged over-politicized nature led
Huang Yongping to be omitted from the exhibition under
French and American pressure. The juxtapositions between
the two pieces filled the exhibition space with a sense
of tension: ardent air-fighting scenes were in contrast
to the stillness of Huang Yongping's EP-3; the highly
idealized portrayal of American soldiers in the film clashed
with the expressions of French curators caught off-guard.
A
selection of multi-media work was shown in another corner
entitled The Imagined Others. Interactive works by Chen
Shaoxiong (Scenery 3), Qiu Zhijie (The West, CD-Rom /
Power Point, 2000-present), and Shi Qing, (An Apocalypse
to Save the World, CD-Rom, 2001) were accessible to any
visitor. Due to pouring rain, there were not too many
visitors, but those who had come, stayed around for a
while, comfortably interacting with the works over snacks
and drinks. Two viewers entered the room, inspecting the
exhibition thoroughly. They had some familiarity with
contemporary art and they knew about the incident in which
Huang Yongping's sculpture of the American EP3 spy plane,
which went down in Hainan in 2001, was removed from the
Shenzhen Sculpture Exhibition. They had also read Qiu
Zhijie's well-known article "Meat is Not the Important
Thing." They asked questions about the computer works
they didn't understand, which made the Long March team
quite happy. When they departed, they left behind their
own map of Lijiang.
The
exhibition lasted until midnight. The following day, the
curatorial team would depart Lijiang for Kunming. The
Long Marchers separated into a few groups to unwind, celebrating
the successful completion of the last few stages of the
project.
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