The Work of Iris Chang

Iris Chang is one of the great, contemporary writers about the cutural experiences of Chinese people.  Many of them are American born Chinese who have a personal and family connection to China that is difficult to express in mere words.  Chang has taken her own experience as a Chinese American to help convey the feelings, ideas, and history of American Chinese people.  She has chronicled the challenge of being Chinese in several published works.  Her first book was titled "Thread of the Silkworm" (1995).  It tells the compelling story of the Chinese professor, Dr. Tsien Hsue-shen during the Red Scare of the 1950s. 

Her second book was titled "The Rape of Naking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II" (1997).  It was actually published on the 60th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre.  In part, her book was motivated by her own grandparent's stories about their escape from this terrible war crime.  This book has been widely read around the world today, and has caused new debate on the subject of Imperial Japan's record of war crimes during World War II.

Her third (and, sadly, final) book was titled "The Chinese in America" (2003).  This work is a short history of Chinese-Americans which contended that Chinese-Americans were treated as constant outsiders for a long time.  This book also relied heavily on personal accounts of Chang and her family.  The book draws strong emotions from the family stories told in Chang's unique style of writing. 

Unfortunately, Iris Chang also suffered a nervous breakdown in August of 2004.  It was caused partly from sleep deprivation, according to her family, friends, and doctors.  At the time she was involved in research for her fourth book about the Bataan Death March.  On November 9th, 2004 Chang was found dead in her car on a country road south of Los Gatos, California.  Police noted that she had shot herself through the mouth with a pistol.  At the time of her death, she has been taking anti-depressant medications to stablize her mood swings.  In one of ther three suicide notes she wrote the following in part:  "I had considered running away, but I will never be able to escape from myself and my thoughts.  I am doing this because I am too weak to withstand the years of pain and agony ahead..."  Her fans, friends, and family all wish that she is resting in peace at last.  Her loss, for the world, is surely a great one.

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

A Fond Farewell to Iris Chang

One of the saddest and most confusing tragedies of recent years was the suicide death of Chinese writer Iris Chang.  Chang was the prominent Chinese American author/journalist who wrote the explosive book "The Rape of Nanking" which exposed Japanese military war crimes during World War II.  This book helped to fuel contemporary, international protest against the record of Japan during a very hard and bitter period of history.  Chang, 36, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in her car by a commuter about 9:00 AM on rural road south of Lost Gatos, CA on November 4th, 2004.  Her family and friends were stunned, shocked, and at a total loss to understand her actions.  No one seemed to know what might have caused her to commit suicide.  Today, the mystery of her death abides with us still.  She was a young woman of energy and passion who successfully channeled  her personal outrage over Japanese war atrocities into a hectic career of writing and lecturing.  Her other works include a history of China's missile program and a chronicle of the Chinese experience in America.

Iris Chang was the intelligent daughter of two university professors who emigrated from China.  She was born in Princeton, New Jersey.  She grew up in the Champagin-Urbana, Illinois area.  This is where she attend University Laboratory High School of Urbana.  She graduated in 1985.  Then she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaing in 1989.  After a brief time at the Associated Press and the Chicogo Tribune she pursued a master's degree in Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.  It was then she started her influential career as an author.  She lectured and wrote articles for several magazines.  Later she married Bretton Lee Douglas.  He was a man she had met in college.  They had one son, Christopher, who was two years old at the time of his mother's death in 2004.  Iris Chang lived in San Jose, California during the final days of her short life.  We all miss Iris, especially those of us who understood her significant contribution to the Chinese experience.  Years have passed since her death, but her influence remains with us in her writing and words.

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to check out my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

The Beauty of Classical in the Contemporary

To investigate the past is to better understand human nature.  After all, in the past (especially the ancient past) all the strengths and weaknesses of humanity are vividly portrayed for us.  Our connection with those people from the past is often more personal than we might want to think.  Human beings have loved, hated, encouraged each other, envied, lusted, and sacrificed for the same reaons throughout time.  When it comes to the subject of Asian art, this grand truth is demonstrated plainly for us.  In fact, the ancient works of the past have given a basis for the art we still enjoy today.

To know the gold and jade figurines of the famous Qin dynasty of China is a very interesting study for this reason.  The first gold figures of the Qin known to modern students are a number of thin gold sheets.  These sheets were made to form the shapes of animals and other geometric forms.  These particular gold leafs were made to embellish coffins.  However, their superior sophistication strongly suggests that the Qin's love for gold got started very early.  Naturally, gold was not just used for human ornaments.  It was also used for luxury pieces like the reins used by horses, chariot decorations, and even belt buckles!  The belt buckles were often made to resemble the head of a mandarin duck and there was another made in the shape of seven coiled serpents.  In addition, gold tigers have also been discovered in ther relic collection of the Qin dynasty.

The Qin emperor also inherited a rich legacy of jade carvings.  Qin jade demonstrates a special quality which is very distinctive.  These are in the form of art pieces which come in the shape of rectangular plaques and circular pendants.  The use of gold and silver as well as jade for luxuries became more and more commonplace over time in ancient China.  Even so, it was still the early developments and innovations which served as crucial foundations for the maturity which occurred during the reign of the first Qin emperor.

To know the decor of ancient China is a wise pursuit for the serious Asian collector.  China has influenced most of East Asian culture (and beyond) at one time or another in history.  To understand the meaning and relevance of any Asian decor scheme, it is a good idea to know something about the Middle Kingdom.  The classical still speaks to us today in the contemporary.  Someone has said, There is nothing new under the sun.  This is an undeniable truth for the human race!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.  

Changing Times for Asian Women

Asian women's fashion is a growing and lucrative business without dispute.  When one views the many East Asian magazines for women's fashion, clothes, shoes, and other related products there is a definite realization that "fashion" itself is now an international enterprise.  Asian women have taken their place in the business world.  Furthermore, there seems to be no desire or indication that this trend will be slowing down either. 

Japan and China are huge markets for women's fashion today.  There is a great interest on the part of many women in these countries to have the latest and the best fashion available.  There is a sizeable amount of disposable, family income available to many women living in these areas to make such a goal a reality.  In short, the societies of these countries have been changing for some time now as women have acquired more education and status in the work place over time.  Chinese and Japanese women have come to seek equality in their work and relationships just as Western women have come to expect.

The mobility of women from different parts of Asia to the West has also caused social and economic changes.  Business is not a local enterprise any longer no matter where you live in the world.  Asian women are business people on more than one continent in the world we live in now.  As exciting as these things are, it must also be noted that traditional ideas about roles are quickly being discared by many women.  This has caused some to wonder what will become of their society and families in the future?  The answer is yet to be discovered.  However, it is best to approach the future with optimism whenver possible.  After all, change is inevitable.

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at: http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

What Does A Chinese Dragon Look Like?

The mythology of China says that dragons lived under the Earth.  They only visited the world in the second month of the Chinese calendar.  Often, they would cause rain and thunderstorms.  It was said they looked a lot like snakes and had no wings at all.  Each dragon had four short legs and five toes.  The Chinese dragon is usually portrayed without wings, but it is believed to fly through the air nonetheless.  This is why it is generally painted against the clouds or the sun or the moon.

Nobody actually knows where the dragon comes from.  It appears like a combination of many animals.  For the Chinese people, dragons are described in a visual way as a composite of parts from nine, different creatures:  the horns of a deer, the head of a camel, the eyes of a devil, the neck of a serpent, the abdomen of a large cock, the scales of a carp, the claws of an eagle, the paws of a tiger, and the ears of an ox.  So this is indeed a very fascinating and unusual creature to put it mildly!

In China the Dragon was said to have very great and fantastic powers.  These powers allowed them to make rain and to control the floods.  They could transport human beings to the celestial world above after death.  However, dragons are also symbols of the natural world people live in.  They are known for adaptability and transformation.  When two dragons are placed together but turned away, they represent eternity.  The Chinese Dragon is something not to be taken lightly or passed over.  It is a very important and historically noteworthy symbol!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

The Classic Fashion of the Contemporary Dragon

The Chinese Dragon symbol is friendly but also potentially dangerous.  It is considered to be a benign creature of myth while at the same time very powerful.  In fact, the Chinese Dragon has been worshipped for a long time as a dynamic symbol representing vitality throughout East Asia.  The dragons of old rose into the heavens and called forth the rains.  This helped to keep life, as we observe it, constant within an ancient civilization fundamentally dependent on agriculture.  The dragon was thought to make an appearance in the heavens whenever a new emperor was born.  Therefore, it became a symbol of imperial Chinese leadership and authority.

For all these reasons and more, the Dragon symbol has made its way into the fashion trends of Asian people for a very long time.  Dragons began to appear on robes as a purely informal fashion trend during the Ming dynasty.  However, they quickly rose to the highest form of official dress.  Dragon robes were adopted by the rulers of the Qing dynasty.  After that, they became a vital part of the wardrobe of the imperial court of China.

Today, most dragon robes are found in the West since they were removed from China during a time of national distress:  i.e. the sacking of the Summer Palace in 1860 amd the removal of the Qing dynasty in 1911.  However, a trend among younger Asian people of modern times would be the tatoo of a dragon symbol on the body.  Since the symbol is a powerful one, it seems understandable why so many remain fascinated by it.  The symbol of the dragon is by no means confined to China.  It remains a symbol of power throughout most of East Asia and beyond!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

Surprising Sales in Hong Kong

The results of the 2010 Christie's Hong Kong auction are the new buzz in the Asian art collecting world!  It was a record breaking season for Chinese jewelry, paintings, and other works of fine art.  The auction recorded its most successful season.  Its total sales came to roughly $414 million in U.S. dollars.  As it turned out, this was a 41% increase over the Spring 2010 auction.  It was also a staggering 95% increase over the Autumn 2009 sale!  Thirty five new world auction records were achieved across all the major collecting categories.  Sixty nine lots were sold above $1 million.

These are very impressive financial figures for the Asian art collecting industry in any part of the world.  In 2010 Chinese art auctions proved to be more than lucrative than ever before.  So Hong Kong leads the way as the most dynamic center for Asian art.  The mindset of the Chinese collector is the desire to have the very best piece of art possible.  From the record number of sales at Christie's Hong Kong, this collector seems to not mind paying for the luxury.  This is truly a historic and exciting time for the serious Asian art collector!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at: http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

Got Your Chinese Table Yet?

Whenever a lover of Asian home or office decor thinks about how to decorate their space, one particular item that fits any style is the classic Chinese hardwood table.  It is a fact that Chinese hardwood tables are regarded by both their form and function.  These tables can be separated into the following types.  There are square tables, long narrow tables, broad long tables, semicircular tables, circular tables, game tables, altar tables, qin tables, narrown tables with drawers, low tables, and even stands!  The Asian household is better off simply by the presence of a Chinese table.  It is very adaptable and beautiful to look at.  Such a table brings the ancient elegance of the past to the contemporary home or office quite well.  If you are looking to create this type of spiritual aroma in your decorating strategy, I strongly suggest you consider investing in a quality table from China.  It is a tremendous value that will gain in its usefulness and worth over time!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

The Working Life in China

"To get rich is glorious," declared Deng Xiaoping in 1978.  The people of China responded with nothing short of gusto to this statement over the past three decades.  However, in spite of increases in the urban wage, China' current income levels are quite low in comparison to those in the West.  The figures which reflect this trend are somewhat deceptive in part because rental property for most urban workers are still subsidised.  Sometimes apartments cost the equivalent of a few dollars per month!

There is no doubt a widening gap between the rich coastlands and the poor interior of China.  Living expenses in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are quickly approaching those of Hong Kong and the West.  There was a time when the gap between the rural and urban centers was much more obvious than it is today.  Some progress in this area has indeed been made.  Even so, most rural people still believe the gap is far too wide.  With the hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, it is evident that China has come a long ways in the modern world of the 21st century.  So it is even more pressing upon the Middle Kingdom to continue its progress as it aims to become the new economic giant of the century!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.

A Taste of Japan for Your Home

For the most part, the history of Japan is much like its language.  It seems rather simple in the initial stages of acquaintance.  However, it suddenly grows more complex and subtle the further one probes into the mysterious regions of idiom and thought.  Japan's history appears to be simple at first because it is smaller and its recorded history is shorter than its more ancient and larger neigbhor China.  It would be a great mistake to let these surface facts mislead a person who is genuinely interested in understanding Japan.

For centuries the scholars of both China and Japan were unaware of the division of academic disciplines which is so common in the history of the West.  East Asian scholars were at one and the same time scholars, philosophers, artists, poets, calligraphers, essayists, and often historians.  They did not intentionally concieve of their native culture as a unity because they could not imagine it ever being anything else.  This same feeling and viewpoint was naturally transferred throughout the culture of Japan, in particular, down to the ordinary people of the country for generations.  Therefore, Japanese culture (and much of other East Asian cultures) must be studied through all avenues of art, religion, and economic/social life.  It is for such reasons that Japanese home decor is something that takes times to understand properly.  One must know Japan to create the right atmosphere for personal taste!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.