Expo host offers visitor diversions
Bach may engage in dialogue with Buddhist monks, and rock and roll may give way to duets of strings and the four-string pipa, Chinese lute.
On the website for Water Heavens, Tan describes his inspiration.
“One day I was walking along the river bank in Zhujiajiao when I stopped to listen to the monks’ chants from the temple across the river ... what a beautiful moment. In this very tranquillity, I had a vision. It was as if in this sacred chant, I was listening to Bach melodies. At the core of this vision was the harmony between people and nature, East and West. I wanted to let the river flow in and out of the music hall, to create a strong metaphor where, in a space that transcends time, the audience’s hearts and minds would be washed clean and purified.”
In the reconstruction of the building, Isozaki recycled wood materials destined for the junkyard. Each wooden part of a wall in the site plays a different note when it is drummed.
Not far from Water Heavens is a typical Chinese villa called Zhujige, which was a shabby historic building that underwent renovation. The building used to be the private opera stage for a local rich family.
Martin Supper, a professor and sound artist from Berlin University of the Arts, designed a show called “Listening to the Garden” in the villa.
It is not simply a music show, but also an experience where audiences are immersed in the sound of different instruments and the echoes reflected by the building’s structure.
Zheng Shiling, an architecture expert who specializes in historic buildings, said the wooden structure of Chinese buildings is somewhat like the cavity of a musical instrument.
Thus, each show is different in
Zhujige because audiences who walk around the villa wear different shoes that generate different echoes. A cello and a zheng, or Chinese zither, are strummed in the dark corners of the building.
Apart from musical experimentation, Zhujige is also a gallery, a bookstore and an exhibition center.
Zhujiajiao’s success is also its curse. Prey to commercial tourism, the town is often overwhelmed by jostling crowds. The threat of rapid commercialization crushing the traditional charm of the town is ever present.
For those who want to experience less touristy, more authentic rural culture, Lianhu Village on the other side of Dianshan Lake is a good destination.
The small village has only 678 households, and people there maintain a quite traditional lifestyle.
Deke Erh, a renowned local photographer, moved to Jinze Town, which is only a 15-minute drive from Lianhu. There, he started a project of filming 108 local villagers and recording their views on village life and how it has changed.
This year, Lianhu went through a major facelift. Unlike other villages in Qingpu, there is a forest of pond cypress in the heart of the village. Qingxi Country Park is home to many water birds and attracts many bird watchers who come to capture wildlife on film.
Walking around the park after dinner is a common routine for local residents, as well as visitors.
Straight paths cross the fields around the village, where traditional white house have been rehabilitated while preserving their original charm.
Some buildings have been turned into bed-and-breakfast accommodation, which is so popular that rooms must be booked in advance.