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Everyone, Do
What They Want!
Hi Art,
October 2007
The deadline
for submitting this article is very near, and I have written nothing. To
be strictly correct, I have already written something. I initially
intended to write “Sunshine on Chaobai River” in which I would talk
about boisterous events surrounding land reform in Huajia Village in
Tongzhou. But I stopped after writing only half.
I then
attempted to continue with the essay published two issues ago, on
“Movement”. I gave up again. During this lack of focus, an old friend
brought several officials form the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
to my studio. They wanted to talk about many irrelevant things, and
ordered several of my ink and wash paintings made by silkscreen.
One kind
hearted, humane, beautiful woman in the party heard that I was worrying
about writing an article. As she left, she told me that I should write
something relaxing. And all of a sudden, I knew what to write.
Every day,
when I go to downtown Beijing, I will drive the Beijing-Chengde highway.
When the Africans came to Beijing last time for the Sino-African Summit,
they stopped non-Beijing lorries with odd or even plates from driving
the highway on alternate days. A narrow breach the width of two Jettas
was left open beside the toll gates, and many suburban and non-Beijing
cars swarms towards this gap like waters in the upper reaches of the
Three Gorges Dam. My God!
A passage fee
of ten, twenty, thirty yuan was paid in order to save time, which had
been completely destroyed by the jam at the toll gate. All the beautiful
dreams of speeding along the highway vanished like burst soap bubbles.
This same
phenomenon visited a few days ago when the “Good Luck Beijing” Olympic
trial events were held in Beijing. The only difference this time was
that all vehicles - not just suburban ones - were regulated by the
odd/even license plate system. For the African Summit, it was only
official cars that were taken off the road, with private car owners
invited to voluntarily participate.
After I
extracted my car from the clogged road exist, I drove onto a bridge. An
electronic screen bore the words “One World, One Dream”. In, this screen
was intended to warn drivers about the condition of the road ahead, but
this cheery message had never been replaced before, forcing drivers to
hesitate about which route would serve them best.
I can’t work
out who created this slogan. In a crosstalk routine by Hou Baolin, there
was a riddle that went something like this: What is something that
everyone can have, but cannot have together, and only one person can
have individually, but not have by looking to one side? The answer is “a
dream”. This slogan constantly reminds me of the riddle. “One World” is
quite reasonable, but “One Dream” sounds quite frightening. In China,
there are 1.3 billion people, and if all of us dream about eating pig
shanks or fantasize about the same girl, it would have devastating
consequences. On the highway, there is one toll gate for us all to
squeeze through, and every day we see drivers throw open their doors to
argue with another driver. They throw plastic bottles at each other.
After such an incident, will they simply cheer up as they arrive at the
site of the opening ceremony? If he can turn to cheer so quickly, then
he is no more than an animal.
Admittedly
the Olympic Games is a good thing - and this activity is certainly
better than war. I agree with it coming to Beijing from the bottom of my
heart. But I desperately hope that it will be held in a leisurely and
pleasant manner. Only when the majority of Chinese people feel glad can
the event afford general satisfaction.
It is not
easy to hold the Olympics, because the entire society needs to be
motivated, so everyone can join in. Fatigue is quite natural, and
boredom is unavoidable. The US has held the Olympics twice recently, in
1984 and 1996, but otherwise, countries become tired by the end, and
host it only once. But if the people can enjoy themselves to the full
and feel happy, then the Games were worthwhile.
Strangely,
other slogans are following in the wake of “New Beijing, New Olympics”.
They are: “New Beijing, New Haidian”, “New Beijing, New Chaoyang,” “New
Beijing, New Shunyi,” “New Beijing, New Huoshenying”, and so on. The
original English is not actually this, but “New Beijing, Great
Olympics”. The change implies that time is urgent, pressing, and running
out. After winning the bid, it became imperative that a new Beijing,
Haidian, Shunyi, and Huoshenying be built up in the next seven years.
Just look at
everything that sits outside those areas under national protection, such
as the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and Yuanming Gardens. Everything
else has been destroyed and rebuilt. A seven-year timeline is not enough
for the mobilization of people caused by destroying the houses, as well
as the excavation, destruction, decoration, and support facilities. The
present-day Beijing was developed over 800 years.
“New
Olympics” sounds even stranger than “New Beijing”. Which Olympics does
this refer to? Which country is the organizing committee in? Who leads
it? How often does it happen? What are its rules? Will martial arts be
included? How about tug-of-war? These final two will benefit China, as
they will be included this time.
Since its
first outing in Athens 1896, there have been 29 Games, held regularly
except for during World Wars I and II. In 1984, China rejoined the
Games, and in the last two Games took a place in the top three of the
gold medal table.
The Olympic
Games has a history of 112 years, and they are not a new event in any
respect. But they do have fair and set rules, plus human vitality and
strong humanistic color. They can mobilize people from all over the
world. I wonder where “New Olympics” fits with this idea.
I have heard
that the Beijing International Biennale Art Exhibition hopes to be the
best in the world. I also hear that many exhibitions will time their
openings for 2008 because of this New Olympics. This puzzles me, because
the Venice Biennale has only been affected by the onset of World War II.
All activities are promoted as a movement of some kind, and maybe this
is part of our national character. (To be continued)
Zhu Wei
Monday,
September 17, 2007
大家都做想做的
《HI艺术》2007年10月号
眼瞅着截稿的时间到了，啥还没写。也不能说没写啥，本来要写《太阳照在潮白河上》，想说说通县画家村最近闹“土改”的事，写一半，停。又想续写大上一期的《运动》，越写越大，弄不好得出事，停。正发呆，一老朋友带从瑞士来的国际奥委会几位官员到工作室参观，东拉西扯，最后定了几张丝网版的水墨画。一位善良、有人味、美丽的女官员听说我正在为写稿子发愁，临走甩了一句，随便一点轻松的写。忽然会写了我。
每天进城都要走京承高速，上次非洲人来的时候实行单双号，限制外地大货进城，在收费站十几个收费口用交通标志围成一个只能两辆捷达并排通过的一个小口，众多远郊区县、外地进京车辆像三峡大坝上游的洪水，全都一起憋在这小小的出口处，那叫一个悬啊！你一路上交的这十几、二十几、三十几块钱的过桥费，在高速路上节省出来的时间，在这统统变成零，我感觉每个高速前行一路做梦的人，他们的美梦在这个瞬间都破灭了。前几天，“好运北京”奥运北京测试赛又这样重复了一次，只不过这次是公私车一律分单双号，不像上次非洲人开会，只限制公家车辆，对私人车辆采取自愿的办法。好不容易挤出出口刚上桥迎面一横跨马路的电子显示屏，几个大字：同一个世界，同一个梦想。本来显示屏是提示前方道路路面情况的，这一口号一放至今没换，前面的道路该怎么走，大家开始猜测、开始犹豫了。
细想这一口号不知谁琢磨出来的？侯宝林大师的相声有一段叫猜谜语：说人人都能做，不能一起做，只能一人做，不能看着做。谜底：梦。说的就是这事。同一个世界没错，同一个梦想，听起来有点糁得慌，全世界不说，就中国，13亿人口大家都想吃肘子，大家都喜欢一个姑娘，那还不得出人命。就高速路上这收费口，大家都想早点挤过去，每天都能看到吵架的，有的还站在车外隔着一辆车开骂，扔矿泉水瓶子。跟这生完气，坐到奥运会开幕式现场，能高兴得起来吗？如果能马上欢快起来，那这人一定是牲口。
当然，办奥运会是一件好事，总比打一场仗强吧？我从心眼里赞成举办奥运会，只是希望办得从容，办得开心，办得大部分中国人都觉得愉快，才是件大快人心的事。办奥运不易，全民动员，人人参与，累点那是正常，烦点那是应该的。除了1984和1996在美国举办的两次奥运会外，哪个国家最后不是累得跟三孙子似的，但是大家心里痛快，高兴，那就值。办人的奥运，这也是奥运会的宗旨，要办的理由。
还有一标语，也让人很奇怪：“新北京，新奥运”，还有紧跟着后面的：新北京，新海淀，新北京，新朝阳，新北京，新顺义，新北京，新火神营……。英文的不是这样写，英文原意是：新北京，伟大的奥林匹克。把口号改成新北京，新奥运，看了马上觉得急，时间紧，不够用。2000年申奥成功，要在短短的八年时间建成个崭新的新北京，新海淀，新顺义，新火神营，那时间真够紧的！就说把故宫、紫禁城、颐和园、圆明园等重点文物单位和沾点世界遗产边的都留下，其它的推倒重来，光动员、拆迁、挖坑、盖房、装修、配套，八年时间就不够，现在的北京是八百年才建成的。新奥运听起来就更奇怪了，新奥运是指哪个奥运？新奥运组委会在哪个国家，谁牵头，几年一办，比赛规则是什么？有武术没？有拔河没？这都是中国人的强项，这回一定得放进去。
老的奥运会从1896年在希腊雅典举办了第一届后，除第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战因故取消外，至今已举办了29届。中国在1984年重返奥运会并实现“零”的突破，并在最近的两届奥运会上已成为拿金牌前三名的国家之一。奥运会至今已有112年的历史，从哪个角度来说都不新了，但是它有公正不变的规则，有人的活力，有很强的人文色彩，能让全世界的人都动起来，不知道标语上写“新奥运”指的是否就是这个奥运？！
还听说举办了几届，努力要办成国际上最好的北京国际美术双年展以及众多国内大大小小的展览也因新奥运要改在2008年展出，这就更让人不解了，威尼斯双年展，除了第二次世界大战以外，从没因为有什么会而改变。把什么都搞得跟运动似的，好像一扎堆一窝蜂这事就成真的了，这可能是我们中国人的特色。（待续）
——朱伟
2007年9月17日星期一
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