Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 151

Natalie feeling a little run down this morning. I think she had  low-grade fever last night. Thought maybe she was teething (that is a joke and the standard answer I give her when she runs a fever with no other symptoms). So we used the Four-Faced Buddha to help. Four-Faced Frank was originally facing Sad Sack, but I see she rotated to Angry Dude.  


You find these four-faced Buddhas's everywhere right now in Shanghai. Fake market, luxury stores, furniture stores, and Dongatai Lu is just silly with them in every stall! So of course I had to get one. But then I started wondering why these are so popular nowadays? You used to see the Laughing Buddha ( 布袋; pinyin: Bùdài) everywhere but he seems to be replaced by this more "utility" Buddha? I mean if I can use the Buddha not just for  Ready for an insight into how complicated "Buddhist" culture is here in China? Did you know that the worship of this particular Buddha is quite common by nin-mainland Chinese in Macau, Hong Kong, and especially Taiwen? The Buddha is actually the Thai representation of the Hindu god Brahma. (yes stole that from Wikipedia). In Thailand is is referred to as Phra Phrom. However a little research indicates that current popularity is probably due to the XUAN TIAN SHANG DI 玄天上帝 popularity in Taiwen. The Shanghai temple (sorry, couldn't find the name, just the description) is actually considered Taoist. The Laughing Buddha, much more of a Chinese Culture Buddha, who generally represents "contentment" seems to have been replaced by a deity representing "prosperity to industry". That is a very interesting shift (indicated by foreign shopping zone stock). Of course,  there is no easy answer as to "why is the four-faced Buddha so popular" but perhaps it is simply due to the number of foreigners purchasing it from cheap icon stalls thinking it represents ancient Chinese culture (it doesn't) and Chinese shoppers purchasing thinking it represents ancient non-Chinese culture (it does). Or it could really represent a deep shift in Chinese Culture from peasant contentment to industrial greed? I guess we won't know the answer to that before I get my sea shipment, so Four-Faced Frank will get a spot in the new house.

"Omkarabindunatam uppannam brohmasahapatinama atikappe su, a, kate pancapatunam tisva namobuddhaya vandanam. Siddhi kiccam siddhi kammam siddhi kariya tadakato siddhi teco jayoniccam siddhi labho nirantaram sabbakammam prasiddhime sabbasiddhi bhavantu." (Traditional Thai prayer used for Phra Phrom)

How Complicated is the Chen GuangCheng issue?

I thought this NYT article was a great summary of the controversy surrounding Chen Guangcheng UNTIL I read the second to last paragraph:

"The deal appeared to resolve the diplomatic crisis. But it was unlikely to silence a fusillade of accusations that the Obama administration had bungled Mr. Chen’s case by essentially handing him over to Chinese authorities without ironclad assurances that he would be safe. And it only underscored the degree to which Chinese violations of human rights have become the lightning rod in the two nations’ ever-more-intertwined relationship, despite Washington’s best efforts to the contrary."

Shame on the NYT for oversimplifying this situation into a statement that an average American will read and place blame on not just on the US government, but the current administration is misleading and inappropriate. This is not as simple of a situation as it seems. I am not suggesting that Chen is not worthy of our support. But as a reminder, this is the activist that is loved by the US Media (in Newsweek cover in 2002, visited by Christian Bale (yes batman) last year. For anyone to assume that China relations should pivot on this particular issue as opposed to something like, I don't know, the fall of Bo Xilai, is interesting.  Why not make that the headline or even reference it in any articles? Or is that not reaching the same entertainment value as Chen? The goings-on in Chongqing, alignment on Iran, economic equity (which some would argue is the root cause of local corruption which initiated the Chen case in the first place) are ultimately much more indicative of where fundamental change should be focused and I think that Secretary State Clinton might have better spent her time focusing on Billions rather than one. Yet 90% of the media coverage was focused on Chen successfully negotiating for escape, I mean to study at NYU. Well, I guess all is right with the now. Whew.

Ayi's Grandson's 100 Days Pcitures

100 Days

I just had to post the pictures that the Ayi gave me of her grandson. Unfortunately, I have to call him "him" as I have only heard his name in Chinese and I don't have the pinyin version of it! I'll get Ayi to write it out for me next week and then one of my pengyou's to translate it!. For Chinese babies, the 100 Day Birthday celebration is a big day. This is an important day for the baby because 100 days birth celebration represents the wish that the baby will live 100 years. Instead of a big party, they took him for his first formal pictures. This is a big deal, because it is not cheap. I want to say it was around 1300 RMB or about $200. Ayi told me that this money was taken from the money they received at the 1 month party. The interesting part of that conversation was learning that a % of the money that was given to the family was earmarked for certain future celebrations like this. They also set aside some money to pay for his first birthday, which in fact will occur in a few weeks. This is because it is traditional to celebrate all births during Chinese New Year (lunar year). That is the traditional age or 虚岁(zhōusùi). And in fact, he is already one and will be two at the lunar holiday! Confused? But most families nowadays use modern age 实岁(shísùi) which is the actual birth date.

The violin to make him look sophisticated!

A couple of observations about the baby pictures. First of all, you may notice the haircut. The first haircut actually comes at the one month date. It was explained that the sides are shaved of all the hair that was considered to have grown in the womb. That hair was tied with a red ribbon and kept as a keepsake. So you can see that the top of his head has more hair. And they didn't actually use a razor to shave it, just scissors. Then there is the choice of composition. The gangster with glasses and pipe is my favorite! But what's up with the ear muffs? 


So, thought I would share these. Enjoy!!

Funny that they would choose a gangster look!

This is just cute!

Why earmuffs?