Absurdity, Allegory and China

“Ground zero is hallowed ground to Americans,” Elliott Maynard, a Republican trying to unseat Representative Nick J. Rahall II, a Democrat, in West Virginia’s Third District, said in a typical statement. “Do you think the Muslims would allow a Jewish temple or Christian church to be built in Mecca?” ( G.O.P. Seizes on Mosque Issue [...]

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The last two mornings have seen capital sunrises in the capital city, and below are a few photos of Beijing architecture from both mornings, shortly after sunrise. (Click on each photo for a larger version that opens in a lightbox.)

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Yesterday (August 11, 2010) morning I waded through the mess masquerading as Beijing air down to the CCTV Headquarters project to see if the rumors, via Weibo, of the demolition of the TVCC were true. Was the building about to be dismantled as the rumor hinted. I am happy to report that I still don’t [...]

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The Television Culture Centre, Beijing, CN August 11, 2010, 11:04 AM An extremely shitty air day in the business heart of the Kingdom. ________

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The CCTV Building project has been rife with rumors since before the first hole was dug, and the latest one (via niubi at Twitter) was spotted on Weibao, a Chinese microblogging service. The rough translation (and I stress “rough”) is “Heard that my foolish masters’ big underpants scorched little brother [TVCC] must be demolished tomorrow, [...]

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“Architecture is surely our greatest physical symbol of the idea of community, our surest way to express in concrete form our belief in the notion of common ground. The way a community builds tells you , sometimes, all you need to know about it’s values.” — Paul Goldberger, Why Architecture Matter I am not about [...]

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At the end of June Vanity Fair, in a web exclusive, published Vanity Fair’s World Architecture Survey: the Complete Results. We asked the world’s leading architects, critics, and deans of architecture schools two questions: what are the five most important buildings, bridges, or monuments constructed since 1980, and what is the greatest work of architecture [...]

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If you don’t know the Global Times you should. Here’s a brief sample from their About Us page: Global Times particularly focuses on expressing Chinese people’s real feelings, sharing their opinions and standpoints on significant international issues and promoting their understanding of the global views on China. When I see “Chinese people” and “real feelings” [...]

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