Julia: A Dream I Dreamed

In the end of March many of our MCM group visited the „Yayoi Kusama Solo Exhebition – A dream I dreamed“ in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai.

The artist Yayoi Kusama is one of the most important living artists in Japan and also one very famous contemporary artist worldwide. The exhibition in Shanghai showed her representative works as well as her recent works, which demonstrates Kusama’s vigorous creativity. Kusama’s work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content. Kusama is also a published novelist and poet, and has created notable work in film and fashion design.

Not all of us are very interested in art, but this exhibition was interesting for everyone! Yayoi Kusama’s pictures and sculptures are very colorful and modern. Especially her installation with thousands of colorful spots was our favorite. In this colorful bedroom you feel like you would dream, but everyone is dreaming its own dream here in the middle of Shanghai!

Anna: About Art and Culture in Shanghai

I want to write my blog entry not only as a review of things which happened here but rather as a guide for the next MCM groups to provide some useful tips about the art scene in Shanghai. The metropolis has culturally seen much more to offer than only the skyscraper silhouette of Pudong or the many rooftop bars and clubs on the Bund.

I want the journey to begin in the heart of Shanghai at People’s Square. In the middle of the park next to Tomorrow Square there lies the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). During our stay it hosted an exhibition by Japanese artist Kusama Yayoi. Maybe some of you know her also since she collaborated with Marc Jacobs in 2012 for the new Louis Vuitton bag collection. Almost every one of the group went to see „A dream I dreamed“ and it seems Kusama dreams of many dots, not surprisingly they are her trademark since the 1960s. If MOCA does not host an exhibition and you are in the mood for some modern and young art you can also check out the Power Station of Art. This giant museum is located in the Urban Best Practice Area south of Nanpu Bridge. Placed in a former electricity plant you will see not only works from Chinese artists like chopsticks who count calories but also international artists are hosted. During my visit there was also an exhibition of students of „Die Angewandte“ from Vienna. In general the Power Station of Art offers continuously changing exhibitions. It has a great terrace and a restaurant on the 8th floor with a spectacular view of the EXPO area and the river.

If museums are not your thing and you are more into performance there are plenty of venues to go. Of course there is the big Mercedes-Benz Arena hosting international stars like the Rolling Stones but there are many small and hidden venues and within no time you will find yourself on a rooftop garden downtown watching a modern dance performance. For those kind of events I recommend websites like timeoutshanghai.com or creativehunt.com.

What you should definitely not miss during your stay in China is watching a Beijing Opera. This cultural treasure of China has seen some changes in the last years. With sagging audience numbers they did some reforms and try nowadays to combine the best of traditional opera and modern performance, in a new and agile theatrical style. I think for westerners this new style of Beijing Opera might be easier to handle since it is not anymore hours of strange and irregular sounds (to our ears). Therefore it might be the best preparation for a classical Beijing Opera which still can be seen in plenty of venues. I was driven away by the play „One hundred years on stage“ by director Li Xiao Ping and the Guoguang Opera Company at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. You could feel the excitement of the audience since after almost every song or acrobatic stunt people were screaming „Hao!“ and clapping enthusiastically. Going to the opera in China differs from Europe. No one will dress up with long evening gowns or wear a tie. I saw people wearing jogging suits and sneakers as well as simply jeans. Some even had a snack during the performance or were talking on their phones which was naturally not put on silence. In Beijing at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) you will get security checked like at the airport so do not bring your camera with you or you will have to leave it the wardrobe.

In the end I want to recommend to be open and outgoing to meet new people and therefore you will get to know the best shows, acts and venues!

MCM at MOCA “Room of Dots”

Modern Dance Performance on the rooftop garden of Anken Green

Entrance Hall of the Power Station of Art

Maxi: Paparazzi everywhere. A story about feeling like a star – and actually meeting one.

Ok I must admit, maybe I exaggerate a little bit with the title and sub-title, but I did not choose it without good reason and I hope you understand my sense of humor and irony in this text. Have fun!

You want to know who it is like being followed by paparazzi? – Come to Shanghai!

So why shouldn´t I exaggerate a little bit more? – You see cameras peering behind bushes, you hear the click of an iPhone camera when you pass people and you will think that the people next to your table don´t write a message but they are making a video with their mobile. To say it in general: You will get a persecution complex. At least when you go the Bund – especially when you are a big group (at best you have some long fair-haired girls or tall blond man with you) – then you are the star! They run towards you, they follow you, they seize you by the arm and they will snap their little child and give it to you for a photo.

Here are some tips for the best picture: Smile and don´t look bored (It will just take you longer, because they won´t stop taking pictures before they have a good one). Peace sign or thump up is required! If you accept to take one picture you should have enough time for several more pictures with other people passing by. You should not have a problem with people touching you or giving you kind of a hug and very important: You should not have problems with little kids. You cannot even look that fast and you have a child on your arm for a photo.

Big smile and thumps up:
A lot of people will see this picture

I don´t want to transfer this phenomena to all Chinese people. Our buddies and teachers for example see that very funny saying it is weird when we show them the pictures. We are of the opinion that those people who are taking photos of us come from the countryside and cities in China, which are not visited by tourists. I would vouch for the fact that no Shanghai habitant wants a picture with us – probably only when he likes the girl – because they see people like us every day. But for those who are visiting Shanghai for the first time, who are even on their first journey maybe, it is a highlight when they can show pictures with European people as soon as they are back home.

We´ve asked our-self why shouldn´t we make it the other way round? Why don´t we just ask some Chinese woman or man for a picture with us. Let´s see how they will react. Do they think we are weird or is that normal for them as well? So we were walking on The Bund and that fancy looking woman crossed our way. We really had to make a photo with her! Very nice person, she asked whether we were Germans and then she said a German sentence: “Ich liebe Dich!” And yes, we loved her too! So in today´s time what do you do with such a nice photo? You upload it on Facebook! The reactions were incredible! (I´m exaggerating again…) But it seems like – that’s what the celebrity experts are saying – we took a photo with Bai Ling who is one of the most famous Chinese actresses and who has played several roles in Hollywood films! Can you believe that? We had no idea to whom we were talking and now we have this photo with her! So funny!

There are still some bad voices saying it´s not her, but I think they are all wrong and just jealous we met a real star – that has already been arrested for shoplifting two magazines and a package of batteries at Los Angeles Airport.

Photo with a star: Bai Ling
(Let´s just believe it´s her!)

Regina: The first days in Shanghai. Exploring Fudan University Campus and learning to get to know our neighbourhood.

Our first days in Shanghai couldn´t be more exciting and breath taking as they were for us. After arriving with an undeliverable delay of nearly 15 hours (the first plain from Munich to Dubai had some technical difficulties) we were picked up by a few of our buddies at Pudong International Airport, Shanghai.

It was nearly midnight and after picking up our luggage we had the first „different to home“ experience, as we had to queue for a taxi at the airport. There were so many people who wanted to get a taxi to the city centre and so we had to wait for 30 minutes. After arriving at Tohee International Student Accommodation, just across the street of Fudan University Campus, we entered our flats and first of all needed a ton of sleep. On the next day our buddies picked us up and showed us the huge and awesome campus of Fudan University. We then got registered pretty uncomplicated after taking some pictures for our student ID. The campus itself is completely different to our University in Salzburg, it is huge and is build up like a small city, not as in Salzburg were there is not really a campus, but separate buildings spread all over the city centre.

Our faculty here in Shanghai is called School of Journalism and is a separate building made out of brick. It is not far away from our accommodation, we can walk there or also take the bus when there is a rainy day, which we also had a few since we were here.

Fudan’s main building – the „Twin Towers“.

Fudan’s School of Journalism.

The people we met in the first few days we spend at University were all very nice, especially other foreign colleagues who are also here to spend a semester abroad and share some classes with us. Our student coordinator Jake also helped us, provided some good information and introduced us to the professors at the welcome dinner we had on Tuesday. Also the professors are very open-minded and friendly and I think the courses will be interesting and stunning this semester here at Fudan. Most of us take six courses, from Monday to Wednesday, two courses on each day, which is quite a good schedule for a semester abroad. The courses on Monday focus on environmental communication and brand communication, which are both very interesting and up-to-date topics held by some really friendly professors from China. Tuesday classes focus on Chinese Media and Politics and New Media in China, which are also interesting topics, especially to get to know how policy works in China and to learn some facts about censorship on the internet and how to handle it because it affects us all here in China. Without a VPN server websites like Google or Facebook are not available in this country. Wednesday classes cover Chinese Culture and also the field of crisis communication. In this courses we I aspect to learn a lot about how Chinese people live and how they behave in everyday life and about the history of China. Crisis communication can also be a hot and interesting topic, especially when we think about environmental or food crises in the last years regarding China, so I am also pretty much looking forward to learning some facts about this topic.

From this semester abroad here in Shanghai I expect to have a good time at University and on the Campus of Fudan, to learn some new things and to have a lot of fun and experience China in many different ways while travelling through this big and fascinating country.

Annika: How to live in Shanghai

After the acceptance of your application for the Mcm-program the organization of your flights, visa and everything else needs to be done. Very important is indeed the search for a place to stay in Shanghai. Like the main part of the previous Mcm-groups we decided to rent flats in the Tohee International students dormitory in Shanghai.  This dorm is very close to the Fudan University Campus and because of this the perfect location for us.

The apartments in Tohee are mostly for 2 or 3 persons, so you have to find some roommates, which worked out fine in our group after a few discussions. The flats include a bathroom, a kitchen with a small additional washroom and a huge living room with couches and a dinner table. A refridgerator and a washing machine are in stock of every apartment.

Our bathroom, with shower.

Washingroom with fungi on the walls.

Our kitchen, which we most of the time don´t use.

The rooms are without a real heating system, but have air-conditioning, through which we try to heat our rooms. Unfortunately this doesn´t work too great in some rooms, so the first weeks have been really cold at night and we had to buy additional heaters and blankets.

My room, with the desperate try to caulk the window.

The apartments are larger than thought and I have a bigger room then the one I had in Salzburg. Good to know might be the fact, that the rooms are not the same size and cost different rent because of this. For the smallest room in category 2, which we all took, you have to pay about 250 Euros a month and for the largest room you have to pay about 300 Euros. The rent is without water and electricity, which you have to pay separately for every month.

The internet connection here has at the beginning been a huge problem for us, because it took a while until everything was working quite fine. Until now our connection is very slow and sometimes doesn´t work, even if we have no idea why there is a problem again. You have to buy a router or lan-cables to make it work and also have to pay about 10 Euro each month for the internet access.

In the students dormitory we have a reception, which is open 24/7, but sometimes there is nobody who can speak proper English, so we can´t describe them our problems. But normally after a few days and with much motivation every problem can be solved. The people are mostly really nice and try to help us. Mainly we have problems with too much funghi in our rooms on the walls or with complicated technical tools, which make us completely crazy sometimes.

Also you have the possibility to use the house intern fitness room, when you have paid the additional fee of around 10 Euros. In this room there is a treadmill, a stairwalker and some weights for lifting. As an alternative you can join another fitness club close to the university, which is more professional, but also much more expensive.

The biggest advantage of Tohee is, I guess for everybody of us, the fact, that we all live together in one building and can visit us in a minute. Most of the rooms in building 3 are filled with our Austrian students at the moment, and so it´s easy to find each other and meet up in the evening or to go out together in the morning. Even though we had to clean up every room for hours, when we arrived, because the hygiene standards are not that high, as we are used to, I would really recommend this students dorm to all the following generations of Mcm-people, because we have a great time here and there are many important factors, which can only be guaranteed by renting rooms here, like the location and the community here. You can check it out on http://www.tohee.com/.

Some tips for Tohee:

–        Let one of the Chinese buddies book the rooms with a name list for everybody in the group, because the staff in Tohee doesn´t speak to much English

–        Be aware, that you should not throw to much toilet paper in the toilets, because the pipes are very thin and they get blocked very easy

–        Bring something warm for the first, cold weeks in China, like a hot-water bottle, when you arrive at night, or buy it the first day. Maybe some blankets or a water-boiler, too. (good place to buy: Walmart)

–        Tohee wants to have the rent in hard cash, so bring at least enough money for the first month rent, in case you have problems with your bankcards and the cash machines in China, which many of us had in the beginning. You can change money at the airport, if you want to.

–        And finally: Be prepared, that maybe your standards of hygiene will not be fulfilled, when you walk into the door: so just take a deep breath and relax, when you arrive. Everything will be ok in a few days, like it worked out for everyone of us, after buying some cleaning powder.

Carolin: Temples and parks

Well, I was looking for some quiet place in this noisy city, in which each pedestrian gets haunted somehow by motorcycles, which drive on a pedestrians walking strip as if this was nothing extraordinary. As the motorcycles are electric, of course you cannot hear them approaching quietly from behind, like a silent tiger to his victim. If you as a pedestrian do not give way to them, they make you give way to them, by some constant sounds ringing light a shy little bell in your ear: PEEEEP PEEEP PEEEEP.

You learn quickly that as a pedestrian – being the weakest of all creatures in the daily traffic jungle – that your “rights” are constantly violated and that you yourself should pay extreme care of yourself, because no one else will do so. Traffic is a jungle as in many other big cities. And in jungles either the strongest or the cleverest will survive.

But even among the small and clever ones there is little solidarity. Concurrence is big for each and everything. Seats in metros are one of those things that are worth a quarrel. People cross the streets in penguin groups so that there is always someone between yourself and an approaching car that just might not mind a red light. Taxis are another thing precious enough to start fighting for it, especially in the pouring rain.

Cities are like jungles. But even in those jungles there are those small islands of quietness that sometimes are very welcome sanctuaries.

Jing´an temple is a small temple worth seeing, unfortunately next to one of the busiest streets in Shanghai. Although silence was something I looked for without any big success, looking around in the temple makes you forget cars rushing by right in front of the doors of the temple.

Monks start singing and there is the sweet smell of incense sticks all over the place. In the yard coins are raining from the sky. The result of people trying to throw them in a pot of three meters height.  Even if you as a Chinese person like to enter the temple for prayer, you have to pay 50 RMB, what I think is quite a lot for someone who does not have an touristic interest in such a place, but enters in order to proceed with a ritual. In front of the statues there are apples, bottles of water, cookies, pictures and other things that people hand as presents to the statues of gold.

Longhua temple, my second stop, is outside the city center. Traffic is less and prices are cheaper. 10 RMB is the price for religious visitors and tourists. When I came, there was a funeral on going.  A group of monks guided a coffin and some relatives to a fireplace to burn the passed away.  The monks were singing and the relatives wished them luck and were very grateful for their participation in the ceremony. No one was dressed in black and they did not behave, as if this was a “real” funeral. I would not say they seemed happy, but the way they walked around and talked to each other they seemed somehow relaxed.

Parks

In parks each and everyone is in a certain type of movement. Be it slower be it faster. Everything moves. Everybody is doing something. Moving an arm, a shoulder, a foot. People walk backwards, as if this was a common way to move in china. Old women throw their legs over benches to do some stretching. Some of them draw some invisible lines in this air, with their hands, that happen to have a certain pattern.

Zhong Qian: Leave Me in the Best Blossoming Time – Europe 135 days

 

„The Range someone walks is his world“ – Bei Dao

About one year ago, I happened to read a book written by a 22-year-old girl, I just want to stop and see the world. I was 20 then and decided to go further study in Fudan University.

Life has been always smooth for me, thus I was deeply touched by the plot contrivances of her journey. What’s more, feeling myself just like the scarecrow hollow, body and soul being pulled out, getting numb, I wondered whether it is so-called growth. My mind has discovered a huge exclamation to wake up.

You can either travel or read, but either your body or soul must be on the way. I made the decision of participating in the MCM program. However, the excitement from impulse decision is soon diluted by tedious formalities to get the Schengen Visa.

The moment we arrived at the Munich Airport, I still couldn’t believe the reality I was in Europe that I pictured numerous times. The train roared, from Munich to Salzburg, and the peaceful and quiet rural scenery is my first impression of the carnival ride.

New friends, new environment

Before MCM program, I have never made friends with a foreign guy, never attended a party in club, never lived in a hostel, never learned to cook western cuisine, never went hiking or skiing …

So the process of adapting the new environment is filled with accomplishment of new different fresh things. Austrian friends of the program become intimate friends soon. We invited them for dinner and cooked traditional Chinese food for them. Though we didn’t cook much in China, we attempt our best according to the recipe. 

Walk, and more walk

When I began to recall what has happened in the past 4 months, the photos tell me how many countries and cities I have walked over, and the best part of which is most of the journey is on the train or just foot.

A EuRail Global Pass, a bag in shoulder, a camera ,a journey to start without delay.

I remember the time when we went to Switzerland，the most impressive and unforgettable moment of which is that we traveled 6 cities in 3 days. After the train stopped at Zurich, we just find a place to leave luggage and started our trip. To have a closer understanding of the city and save money, we seldom choose to take a bus or subway. The only transportation is to walk. 

 

What I learned most is that travel is not about the magic scenery to observe, the delicious food to taste, the fancy souvenirs, the gorgeous clothes you wear，the stamp on the passport page, or how much money you spend, how many beautiful photos you take. It is actually about the people you meet, your thoughts, feelings, your lifestyle and notion, and the dialogue with your own world.

Life can be any shape except what you imagine. For me, the best time is on the road – to meet different people in different places. They are not the same flashes of humanity in that moment and you staggered change, attunement, filling your life.

Janet: When I was on the road

There was not so much time left to be in Salzburg. I enjoyed everything here in Europe, the clean air, the glamourous nature scenery, the friendly people, the delicious food, the peaceful and relieved life. But what made me most excited about the Europe was the journeys especially when I was travelling by myself. In my opinion, it is something necessary for the youth to travel alone. It does not mean you just talk to yourself and be alone all the time. Instead, travelling alone provides you the chance to meet new friends from other places and exchange your ideas or experiences.

 

The critical thing in my point of view, however, is to know yourself better by solving one and another problems occuring during the journey, by opening the mind to new friends and a new world, by just keeping silence or talking to yourself. I really enjoyed my trip during the Christmas holiday. In Milan, I went to the recommended restaurant to have ‚happy hour‘ and watched the girls next to my table exchanging Christmas presents joyfully. In Rome, I took the seat before the Colosseum and imagined how unequal and uncivilized the society was in the Ancient Rome. In Vatican, I waited three hours chilly for the Christmas Mass but had a pleasant six-hour conversation with a Macao couple. In Lisbon, I went to the centale square to celebrate the new year with some Finish guys and had a view of the magnificent fireworks and the craziness of Portuguese.

 

In Porto, an old gentleman stopped and asked me if it was the reason that I liked the rain why I did not bring a umbrella with me. During the bus to Paris, an French lady who could not say any English tried her best to communicate with me and shared her afternoon biscuits with me. Though sometimes I would feel lonely especially when I was sick or had difficult problems, it would be much to me when I recoverd from the dilemma and became active and positive again. The great buildings I have visited and the magnificent sunsets I have enjoyed together with the nice people I met made up a unforgetable memory for me about the Europe. 

Saphy: Read 10000 books and travel 10000 miles

There is a Chinese old saying –“Read 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles.” It says that people need to read as many books as they can, meanwhile need to travel as many places as they can. This saying clarifies the importance of combining knowledge with practices. On one hand, people can learn a lots of things from practice, if they only read books but do not practice, it’s hard to learn the essence of knowledge and use it into practices. Moreover, people can get knowledge and experience which cannot learn from books by practices. On the other hand, people without knowledge are hard to get benefit from practices. In my mind, the time of the MCM program is a fantastic journey to “Read 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles.”

The Excursions

The MCM program has three excursions, they are the excursions to Brussels, Vienna and Munich. These excursions are one of the best ways to achieve this sayings.

During the excursions, I have visited the workplaces of European Union, APA, Osterreich, MediaCom, IPI, Der Standard, News Group, Mediaprint, FM4, Tomorrow Focus, BR etc. and listened the presentations of their responsible persons. The visited media companies included different kinds of media, such as newspaper, media agency, broadcasting company, public broadcasting service, media print company, street paper corporation, NGO and so on. It’s excited to experience the various media industries and even EU which I have only read on books before. What’s more, I have learned a lot of knowledge and got a deeper understanding of European media by the learning methods of visiting and experiencing firsthand in the workplaces.

The Additional Contribution work

To hand in the additional contribution work for the class Case studies in Austria and the European Union, our group choose the Salzburg community TV station FS1 to do a talk show program. We lent the open studio of it and shooting talk show all by ourselves. It’s an amazing practice for me because I have never shooting talk show in formal studio before. It’s the first time I do the following work with my group members: we prepared the content and performing way of our talk show, setting the technical staffs in the studio like lights, cameras, audio, microphones and so on, manipulated three cameras and shooting our talk show by three scenes (one for all, one for host and one for talking guests), operating the live content producer in order to change the scene during the recording of live talk show. It is really interesting and benefit to us all for the reason that this experience makes us acquire the basic knowledge and operation methods of talk show program production in studio. This unforgettable experience is another practice of “Read 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles.”

The travels

My travels around European countries are exactly “the 10,000 miles travels”. During the travels I saw lots of famous cultural sights, natural sights in many countries and countered a lot of special events. The experiences and knowledge I get from these travels are much more dimensional and profound than what wrote in books. In my heart, the travels are one of the best parts of the MCM program.

It’s reluctant to face the end of the MCM program in Salzburg, however, life will move on with the memories of “Read 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles” journey here, and the memories will never end.

Mandy: Precious memories in future

Because of MCM program, I have an opportunity to experiences many thing different. One of these experiences is travelling. Traveling around different counties in Europe, and contacting with different people from different regions benefit us with wider vision so that we could understand culture of different countries soon within limited time. 

In North Europe, we found that the people were hot for sport and seek healthy life, so most of them have nice figure. In Vienna, we experienced a slow and graceful life style from local people , who were reading books or talking with friends with a coffee in the afternoon, watching an opera or going to concert in the evening, visiting different museums on the weekends. In Italy ,we found something unexpected with integrating classical and modern, impact of fashion and tradition. We experienced the ancient civilization in Roma and origination of the Renaissance in Florence, tasted many delicious food and communicated with the enthusiastic people. In Barcelona and Madrid, Colorful architecture,  beach and sunshine, Flamenco Dancing, lively night life, joyous and the free…All these draw a marvellous picture of Spain. When I came here , I could understand why the genius artists like Antonio Gaudi and Picasso belong to this land.

Among all this travels, I think the hiking in Swiss is the highlight for me. We arrived at the small town called Zermatt in Wallis on the last Friday in October. The most famous scenery here is the Matterhorn, which has tapered appearance, high altitude and steep cliff. However, it is not our destination . Because this is our first hiking, we chose a lower mountain with the height of more than 2800 meters  beside the Matterhorn . On the first day , We investigated the route , bought food for the next day and went to bed early in order to have a fine condition both physically and mentally.  Second day we got up early and had a good breakfast ,then set out at 8:00 am. The air was very fresh , few people were on the street, and the peaks in the early morning mist was partly hidden and partly visible, like a fairyland. In order to be faster, we chose a relatively steep slopes without detour, and began climbing. From the foot of the mountain to the halfway up the hill, we saw small green forest to golden fallen leaves, felt like going through from summer to autumn during several hours. On the way, we met many different people, an old lady with grey-hair from Swiss hiking alone, a Korean girl who can not get down from a slope with ice , a young couple with bright smile from German. But when we reached 2/3 level of the mountain, we were so tired that we even wanted to give up and climb down.  However,  the scenery we were seeing — the colorful plants , the peak of mountains with snow opposite seemed within reach — made us full of energy and wanted to challenge ourselves to explore more. Then we continued to climb. It was excited when we stood on the summit of the mountain full of snow. In fact, one hour ago, I still felt worried when I climbed on the mountain with all my feet and part of my legs in the snow, at same time I could not see anybody and could not find my friends . Maybe for a while but for me it is a long time, I saw a lady in red cloth was climbing down. We talked a lot and she told me “Every woman should have their own experience ,be independent,  be brave, this will be your precious memories in future,” She is right. Now I have taken that experience as my first lesson in Europe. I not only saw beautiful scenery and learned a life attitude close to nature, but also learned to be brave and independent when I faced with the difficulties in life in Austria and Europe.

In China, we have proverb said “traveling is more eye-opening than reading”. During these excursions, we learned how to make a plan , how to manage our time, and how to communicate with different people. I also saw many beautiful scenery here , which offered me a better understanding of art in Europe, the paintings and the music and the architecture. I think this is a great treasure in our life.