Jet Lag
I’m just back from China, and reeling with all the sights, sounds, smells and tastes that the last two weeks brought. It’s an incredible country at a remarkable time, and although I’ve hardly scratched the surface with two visits in the last year, I’m beginning to feel attached to the place. This must be in part due to the warmth, enthusiasm and generosity of the people I’ve met there: the last week was no exception. I was in Chongqing for a 4-day forum on ‘Transforming Public Spaces’, run by the *deep breath* Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate General in China. A day of discussion, followed by a 48 hour workshop where 4 groups worked towards a final day of presentations was an intensive format, but it seemed to be a challenge taken on with enthusiasm by all involved. Each group was assigned one of Chongqing’s many and wildly varied public spaces to work with – for my group, that was People’s Square.
It’s an incredible space – 25,000 sq. m in all, boldly claiming one of the only flat spaces in this vertical city between the Great Hall of the People and the Three Gorges Museum. As well as a tourist attraction and icon of the city, it’s an outdoor gym: used by thousands of people every day for dancing (from ballroom to tango to breaking), Tai Chi, aerobics, badminton… the list is endless. Being surrounded by over a thousand people dancing in (near) perfect synchronisation to a soundtrack of disco competing with red songs, is a surreal experience for the uninitiated: yet it happens here every night.
We’re hoping to return to Chongqing later in the year to bring some of our own work to the city: we’ll post details here as they emerge. In the meantime, I’m going to do my best to reset my body clock and get down to the business of making a film. More on that later…