Monthly Archive for June, 2007

How a traditional Chinese painting looks 3D… and animated!

Published
by
Jason Li
on June 30, 2007
in Art, Commerce, Design and Education
. 18 Comments

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

The video above was produced by the Shenzhen branch of the Institute of Digital Media Technology (IDMT), which is associated with the Global Digital Creations (GDC). The GDC/IDMT group is located in Shenezhen, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Shenzhen base is a production house as well as school; the Shanghai base is primarily a school; and the Hong Kong & Singapore are for marketing and operations.

Both the websites for the Shanghai and Shenzhen centers feature demo animations but the Shenzhen site is the only one that carries work with a distinctively Chinese style.

Backtracking to the video above, the questions are: what is lost in the transfer from 2D to 3D, can the style scale to a film (a tv commercial it can surely do), and how long will it take before someone tries doing so?

Original video found over at One Inch Punch.

P.S. 2D animations of traditional paintings have been done in the past, I have a set of DVDs called 中国水墨动画 with a bunch in there — interesting, but it didn’t hold my attention beyond five minutes.

The 12 Taboo Ways of Using Chopsticks

Published
by
Jason Li
on June 27, 2007
in Meme
. 2 Comments

Chopsticks

Translated excerpts from a PostShow blog post entitled "the 12 Taboo Ways of Using Chopsticks":

1. 三长两短 Three long two short [an idiomatic expression that translates to "an unexpected misfortune"].
This refers to before or during meals, when a pair of chopsticks is not neatly put together with its ends matching. This is not lucky…

9. 定海神针 The Needle That Stopped the Sea
Sticking a chopstick into the food in a bowl, this is no good, this is understood to be humiliating towards the others at the table. Doing this during a meal is like sticking up your middle finger within a group of Europeans, this is no good.

Link to original post with all twelve ways!

P.S. Image from ShanghaiBlog: four german students in shanghai.

“music for buying dark landscapes”: The Contractors

Published
by
IFTF
on June 20, 2007
in Art, Blogs, Commerce, Music, Translation, Video Clips and Virtual China
. 0 Comments

Contractors

Check out one of Beijing/San Francisco artist Rania Ho’s relatively new projects: The Contractors.  The group makes music, videos, photos, concerts, and apparently can even lead a mean art tour (see their latest video). Their MySpace page is not to be missed.

We are inspired by other superstar building contractors, high-ranking
government officials, housing bureau officials, land management
officials, special interest lobbyists, investment bankers, venture
capitalists, media moguls, real estate investors, internationally
renown architects, construction crews, welders, plumbers, electricians,
bricklayers, cement mixers, stone cutters, various migrant workers.
Our aim is to rule them all.

PRC 外的虚拟中国/Virtual China outside the PRC: child labor on Youtube

Published
by
Lyn Jeffery
on June 19, 2007
in News, Politics, Translation, Video Clips and Virtual China
. 3 Comments

Youtube is a forum for independent media that could never get a voice in China. Low cost cut-and-paste TV news clips, with voice-overs and bilingual subtitles, will be an increasingly powerful tool for cross-cultural dialogue.  These types of DIY videos will also be rallying points in PRC 外的虚拟中国/Virtual China outside the PRC, for discussions that cannot take place openly online on the mainland, drawing a mix of patriotic zealots of all stripes: American and Chinese, right wing and left wing.

"Child slaves, Shanxi China" is the latest video posted on Youtube by a user named daughterofchina.  Her earlier video on environmental conflicts in Wuxi and Xiamen was informative and  provocative.  "Child slaves," however, which deals with the recent Internet exposure of horrific forced child labor in a brickmaking factory in Shanxi, goes right over the top.  If you want a hit of sensational sentimental drama, you’ll find it full force here, with an overwrought, verging-on-tears narrative tone, and also in the news clips of a runaway teenager who had been kidnapped but still didn’t want to return home, but who is convinced to do so by a parent who is looking for her own missing child.  There is an Epoch Times kind of a feeling to this particular video.

The comments are a delicious sea of Chinese viewers living outside of China, and Americans arguing about contemporary American politics, with passion, cursing, and inevitable accusations of homosexuality.  Selected comments below:

[yimaoyunyun] what I can say, we chinese just can’t fight with government anymore, we deserve torture. we deserve it

[fishhead06] No, you deserve freedom and democracy - the Chinese people need to rise
up and finish what the protesters in Tiannemen Square began.

[denbosz] based on what model? The American system? Where the media is controlled
by five corporations and to be elected people need to raise millions
from special interests to pay for campaigns. Where you can be in a war
where 70% of the population don’t want to be.

[xyzshimizu] actually all chinese are just slaves of commie dictatorship..all
chinese should fight for freedom against 1-party dictatioship. btw Free
Tibet, Free Taiwan, Free inner Mongolia, Free Uyghur!!!

[beefhead1984] free willy!!

[sadcow66] Hi..Well China’s Law Is Far From Perfect And Something Should Be Done
About It Before Its To Late And Many More Children Face This Fate And
They Need To Stop Killing Dogs For Fur And Meat Its Barbaric And
Because Of This A Lot Of People Are Becoming Racist. Thanks

[daughterofchina] I know. But maybe we’re too late already. You can not understand how I
feel. It’s the tragedy of our nation. So, friend, please help us to
spread this. Our voice was suppressed. I used to say that "life is
going on and tmr will be better", but now I feel I can hardly go ahead.
We’re destroying our future. It’s not only the gov to be blamed. We all
chinese are sinners. As for killing dogs, I do apologize. But I am vegetarian.

[beadtj] That is not I mean, general to say, I dont see any difference between
your opinion and CCTVs. you repeat the same story that DongFangShiKong
shows on TV. So, Why do you think, you are critcize the gov and the
CCTV not? How can you declare here CCTV is lying and you are not?

[noolympics] The CCTV never mentioned how uncooperative the local Shanxi government
was. The CCTV never mentioned the possibility of collusion between
local Shanxi government and evil businesses. The CCTV never mentioned
when the entire incident first happened. The CCTV never challenged the
responsibilities of the governments. The CCTV never mentioned that a
lot of Chinese are very disappointed about the CCP as shown on
discussion forums.

[beadtj] That is too much requirements for a CCTV, but all of this can be found
in chinese media (another many CCTVs). Nothing can be hiding if it has
be discovered in china this time. Another big step to a opening country.

[beadtj] You are not only sometimes naive man. what kind of a serious narrator
are you? Trying to mislead the foreigner by translate. Seat by TV
without necessary investigate and copy the text and just read it aloud.
Typical manner from a uneducated chinese.

[Hey Lizzy] Actually the
news were published by a local TV channel, and then was wide spread in
the nation through Internet, TV and other media. The freedown was now
led by the highest level of the government. Although there are still
nearly one thousand of children awaiting to be set free, we are
attempting to search for them. As a Chinese, I don’t want to judge my
country. And pls, don’t judge China from only one video.

[classicieon] It’s true crime and we have to prevent this happened again by chastising these criminals.
Before
thtat, we should let that "noolympics" shut the fuck up, as he insanely
roared me, it’s just likes I slaved those kids in his mind.

[noolympics] For someone who resorts to "barbaric" foul language, instead of
educated human logic, we surely know how reliable he/she is!
classicleon is a classic example of a Chinese communist!

[classicieon] I’m not a communist, even if I am, what’s wrong with that? but why you
care my words too much and keep dreaming about me? even if I don’t know
you. because you are a homosex, you keep thinking the way i am to
fulfil your sexual needs!

Coincidentally, I recently posted on Missing Persons websites–it looks like at least some of the missing younger people are probably in similar situations–kidnapped or tricked into brutal, exploitative work situations.

Danwei and ESWN have great round-ups on unfolding Shanxi forced labor events here and here.

Web2.0 ware links US designers with Chinese manufacturers

Published
by
Jason Li
on June 19, 2007
in Commerce and Design
. 0 Comments

Kidrobot

37signals, the creators of Basecamp and other slick Web2.0 wares, has a post on their blog about how their software links up trendy, vinyl toy designers from Kidrobot in New York with Chinese manufacturers for cheap.

For 100 US dollars per month, "his team uses
Basecamp to share Illustrator files with engineers in China who
transform them into clay or wax models. One week later the models
arrive in New York. With Basecamp acting as the messenger, the two
sides repeat the back-and-forth until the toys meet Budnitz’s approval.
The final design — along with specs for paint and form-fitting
packaging — is then uploaded to Basecamp, and 30 days later finished
toys march off production lines in China."

The blog post compares this speedy manufacturing process with that of Mattel and Hasbro. But my question is, with the scale of Mattel and Hasbro and their more complex products, does such a hands-off approach make sense? In other words, is this an example of what is to come for all manufacturing or just for small, simple orders?

Link to original blog post.

Featured designer: Nod Young

Published
by
Jason Li
on June 17, 2007
in Art and Design
. 4 Comments

Nod Young is the art director/co-owner at Beijing-based Khaki Creative and Design and a graduate of the  Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua. Today, we shall feature three of his works that represent his forays into crossing the chasm between analog and digital design.

First up, using computer vector art to mimic and refine the aesthetic of traditional Chinese paper-cuts (剪纸). This one is of the King of Hell (阎王).

Nianhua

Second, using watercolor in a design that is often seen in vector form.

Watercolornod

(An interesting aside: the four characters on the bottom of the image above (Ai Lou Hu You) is, according to Nod, "a phrase that dates back to the days of
early English learners who were learning to say “I love you.” It’s
funny that “Lao Hu” also happens to be the word for Tiger.")

Thirdly, representing Chinese text as vector typography, always a difficult task because Chinese characters depend so much on small details (at least, compared to the English alphabet).

 

Yonghegong

Link to Nod’s Flickr.

The Chinese Animated Shorts Oscars!

Published
by
Jason Li
on June 14, 2007
in Art, Design, Video Clips and Web 2.0c
. 1 Comment

Cnanishortsoscars

Was poking around Chinese video-sharing website 6rooms today and discovered a link (shown above) to the Chinese Animated Shorts Oscars!

I hunkered down and watched quite a few of them, which I’ll highlight before moving onto my conclusion:

Animated1

生活原来是这样的 (Life is Actually Like This), by students at the Beijing Film Academy, is one of the most popular and highly-rated shorts. It cuts between animation and live action a few times, features some pretty slick swerving camera shots, and is subtitled in both English and Chinese. The plot follows a chain-effect story, which is somewhat common within animated shorts.

Animated2

花鞋子 Colorful Shoes, by the TianJin Academy of Fine Art, is my favorite pick. It’s a nicely produced claymation set in a village, and despite a threadbare plot, is incredibly evocative of a mood + scene/setting.

Animated3

And then, screencapped above, a couple of shorts that didn’t really stick for me: A 3D bad guy plotting stuff; the Empress meets the first animators; and daddy loves his daughter. As you can see the production values were also quite a bit lower than the first two films. (In the animation world, that translates to a lack of time, a smaller team, smaller budgets, or less experienced artists.)

My conclusion? It’s looking up for animation in China — there are positive signs in terms of production values, plots and an air of experimentation. However, the work here still lags behind that of the top art schools, say, in the US.

The catch is which factor causes this lag: time spent, access to technology, technical skill, or "creativity"?

“Fuc* GFW”: coming to a t-shirt near you

Published
by
Lyn Jeffery
on June 13, 2007
in Blogs, Government, Meme, Photos and Virtual China
. 0 Comments

Fuck_gfw1

From Chinese IT guru Keso’s Flickr stream, a t-shirt with the latest rallying cry against Chinese Internet censoring, most recently of Flickr itself: Fuck GFW (Great Firewall).  Above, in Chinese, followed by "Please use Tor".  Tor is an anonymity network — a free service that, according to Tor’s website, works like this:

The idea is similar to using a twisty, hard-to-follow route in order to throw off somebody who is tailing you—and then periodically erasing your footprints. Instead of taking a direct route from source to
destination, data packets on the Tor network take a random pathway through several servers that cover your tracks so no observer at any single point can tell where the data came from or where it’s going.

Tor is also where you get taken when you click on a "Fuck GFW!" button on IT blog Herock:

Fuck_gfw2

Herock has apparently been hosting either a FuckGFW proxy or a link to a proxy for awhile now, as you can read here. No doubt the term has a long and glorious history.  But according to a Jeremy Goldkorn June 8 post on Danwei, this latest round was started by Keso’s June 8 response to the blocking of Flickr, Fuck GFW post, which Danwei translates as:

In the global Internet, the better the website, the more likely it
will get GFWed. This is the sorrow of all Internet users in this
country. In the past it has been Google, Blogger, Wikipedia,
Wordpress.com, Vix.com… Now it’s Flick’s turn …

… 

I just have one character to tell those bastards: Fuck!

citizen journalism: outside a hospital’s doors

Published
by
Lyn Jeffery
on June 12, 2007
in Photos and Virtual China
. 2 Comments

Childrens_hospital

From citizen journalism site Moobol.com, this glimpse of parents and caretakers sleeping outside the doors of Beijing Children’s Hospital.  Translated text and selected comments below:

Late night, June 12 2007, over 100 parents of sick children, and some children themselves, sleep on the ground in the underground parking garage and on the disabled ramp outside the doors of Beijing Children’s Hospital. In order to save the 20 RMB nightly cost of staying at the hospital, the underground parking garage has become a residence for the poor families and children who have come from around the country. The temperature in the underground parking garage reaches 35℃.

Selected comments:

Who would put up with this if they had enough money?  Medical costs are expensive enough that taking a child to the doctor basically empties the family coffers, so the adults have to save when they can.

The Chinese medical system seems strong, but if you look closely it only addresses a certain group of people. It’s only the rich who can see the doctor, and those without money just have to take it. Exorbitant medical costs make the common people shrink and the high cost of medicines drives the common people crazy.  Could it be that in the future the common people will just die on the street? The medical industry has so many dark sides.

Better not to have kids at all.

The long travel to Beijing to see to the child’s illness means that savings are long gone.  The hospital only has beds for patients, why would they have beds for caretakers?

Why do people have to go to Beijing to cure sickness? It can’t be that there are no local hospitals? Of course they won’t be able to handle the high costs of Beijing.  Even if people follow others blindly, they  still have to consider their own economic strengths. Outsiders coming to Beijing is like Chinese going to the United States, it’s definitely difficult.

China’s healthcare system reform is being reformed daily, but there seems to be no affect; at any rate medicines cost more and more! It’s harder and harder to see the doctor!

Every big hospital in Beijing is the same situation. Last year I saw a couple who came to Beijing to seek medical treatment for their child. The mother stayed in the room with the child but the father couldn’t spend the 20 RMB for the bed and slept in a chair in the hospital hallway every night. For his own meals it was just two steamed buns, but he didn’t forget to buy his daughter some grapes or an apple each day.  Pity the parents’ heart.

The flow of fan translated manga around the interweb

Published
by
Jason Li
on June 11, 2007
in Art, P2P and Translation
. 0 Comments

Manga

Introducing: 漫漫看 (loosely translates as Read A Comic). The site allows you to view, online, page by page, the latest manga (= Japanese comic) releases. The text within these manga has already been translated into Chinese. There are similar sites in English, though they are much more underground than their Chinese counterparts.

The translated text is often traditional rather than simplified Chinese, though both are present. Of the two manga I browsed, one was a scan from an official Taiwanese published release of a book, while the other seemed to be a translation from the latest installment in Japanese aggregated comic serials. The latter fan translation included the usual fine print about supporting the commercial versions when they come out and not selling the fan translation.

Interestingly enough, the English versions of one of the manga I looked at had traces of text that was sometimes in simplified Chinese, sometimes in traditional Chinese, sometimes in Japanese. This suggests that the comic was translated from Japanese to Chinese, then from Chinese to English.

From what I’ve seen, Chinese translations of Japanese comics are pretty easy to find because Chinese translators are quick to churn them out. (It helps that Japanese is more similar to Chinese than English.) Meanwhile, Japanese-to-English translators are somewhat of a commodity in the fansubbing/translation community. So for the series I looked at, there happened to be more Chinese-to-English translators available/interested and so the translation became second-hand.

In this way, virtual china acts as a bridge between the Japanese and English speaking worlds.