DISGRASIAN™

AMAZIAN OF THE WEEK! Liu “The Invisible Man” Bolin

Name: Liu Bolin

Age: 38

Hails from: Beijing, China

Occupation: Visual Artist

Known for: Appearing to disappear. China Daily just did a feature on Liu, a Chinese performance artist who camouflages himself into everyday surroundings for photographs using an awe-inspiring combination of paint and patience. Liu has created over 80 “invisible” works since 2006 and has been featured in museums across Europe and the US–one of the few modern Chinese artists to be recognized by the worldwide art market.

Continue reading AMAZIAN OF THE WEEK! Liu “The Invisible Man” Bolin

Filed under: Artists, Awesome, Beijing, China, Chinese Artists, Chinese Government, Enclaves, Expression, Liu Bolin, Performance Art, Rebels, The Chinese Government, The Invisible Man, Visual Artists

We Found Our Chinese Haunt: The Dali Gay Bar

In an attempt to counter a rapidly rising AIDS rate, the Chinese government has actually done something cool: opened a government-funded gay bar in Dali, one of the ten Chinese cities most affected by the disease.

The bar will offer free condoms, sex ed and a proper watering hole for the area’s gays, many of whom are from rural villages, and “used to gather in a patch of woods near the historic town.” Not to linger on the past, but hanging out in a patch of woods without mushrooms or a cooler/tent/bonfire or elf leader just makes us sad.

Anyway, this is awesome progress and we’re psyched! But enough jibber-jabber. When do we drink???

[via AMERICAblog Gay]
[Reuters: China City Government Opens Gay Bar To Fight AIDS]

Source
Thanks, Jasmine!

Filed under: AIDS, Booze Rules, China, Dali, Gaysian = Fun, Gaysians, Government Funding, HIV, The Chinese Government, The Woods, Thinking and Drinking, Watering Holes, We Heart Gaysians

AMAZIAN OF THE WEEK! Woeser

Name: Woeser

Age: 42

Occupation: Poet, Essayist, Blogger

Known for: quietly fighting the good fight. Woeser, who was profiled last weekend in the New York Times, is the daughter of a Tibetan mother and half-Han Chinese army general (schooled in Mandarin, she is one of the few Tibetan writers to speak in Chinese).

The Chinese government condemns her books, four of Woeser’s blogs have been blocked or hacked by authorities, and her family and friends have experienced detainment and questioning for disseminating her information–yet still she continues to blog. Her site, “Invisible Tibet,” has become a reliable source of Tibetan news for those who can scale The Great Firewall, and she recently published the book “Forbidden Memory” in Taiwan, which shares her father’s photos of the Cultural Revolution.

Despite the level of danger she faces on a daily basis, Woeser keeps on speaking, hoping enough people will eventually hear.

[NYT: A Tibetan Blogger, Always Under Close Watch, Struggles for Visibility]
[Invisible Tibet]

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Thanks, Dave!

Filed under: Bloggers, China, Cultural Revolution, Danger, Essayists, Forbidden Memory, Hackers, Invisible Tibet, Mandarin Speakers, Poets, The Chinese Government, The Great Firewall Taiwan, Tibet, Woeser

DISGRASIAN OF THE WEAK! Pierre Berge

Media outlets swirled this week with the story of a Chinese art dealer’s phony $40-million bid for two Chinese zodiac status, included in Christie’s recent auction of the late Yves Saint Laurent’s art collection.

The dealer, Cai Mingchao, placed an anonymous phone bid for the bronze rabbit and head sculptures and later refused to pay–as an act of patriotism. The pieces were originally part of a 12-statue set–all abducted by British and French troops in 1860–and millions of dollars have already been spent by Chinese philanthropists to bring five of them back to the country.

These actions were not sanctioned by the Chinese government, according to both Cai and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

In the aftermath of this scandal, the statues’ owner, Pierre Berge, has decided to hold on to the statues.

From the LA Times:

Saint Laurent’s former business partner and life companion, Pierre Berge, was quoted in French newspapers Tuesday as saying he would keep the heads and put them on either side of a Picasso that also did not sell at last week’s auction.

“The heads were with me and they will return and we will continue to live together,” said Berge, a longtime critic of the Chinese government’s human rights policy. “If this was a maneuver so that the Chinese government could buy them back at a cheaper price, it won’t work.”

We’re obviously no fans of the Chinese government’s human rights policy. But China’s people are more than their government, and punishing the people of China–by withholding their country’s looted history–seems like a most unfortunate instance of wire-crossing to us.

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Filed under: Auctions, China, Christie's, Crossed Wires, Government, History, Human Rights, Loot, Opium Wars, Pierre Berge, Protests, Punishment, The Chinese Government, Yves Saint Laurent, Zodiac Statues