Shanghai Dumpling Destination

The steamed dumpling known as xiao long bao, described so evocatively by Olivia Wu elsewhere on this website, is synonymous with Shanghai, and for generations of Shanghainese eating xiao long bao was synonymous with a visit to one particular establishment, the Nanxiang Mantou Dian (Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant). Here, in the historic Yu Garden area of Shanghai, in a second-floor dining room overlooking the nine-turn bridge and the mid-lake teahouse of blue willow China pattern fame, whole feasts are made from nothing more than stacks of dumpling-filled bamboo steamers, accompanied by small bowls of a thin soup.

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Somewhere a Shanghai garden grows

"Vestiges of a Process: Shanghai Garden" during installation.

Shanghai has been up a little more than a week, long enough for a number of media reviews, blog posts, and general discussion points to emerge. One piece that seems to elicit particular comment is Zhang Jian Jun’s installation Vestiges of a Process: Shanghai Garden (2009).

Down in the shadowy basement and back halls of the museum services division, this is known affectionately as the piece with the bricks. Not just your garden variety red clay bricks, but some 3,000 antique grey bricks taken from the remains of buildings dating to the high-times of 1920s Shanghai, recently demolished to pave the way for new construction.

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Meanwhile, in the frozen North

We’re all swept up in Shanghai’s opening weekend, but I didn’t want to wait another moment to congratulate the fantastic design team that is Meomi (aka, Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy).  When I first got word that they were responsible for the Vancouver Olympics mascots, I was doubly happy.  Firstly, because I’m a huge fan of them as illustrators, and secondly because this represents a savvy design move on the part of the Olympics.  Click over to Meomi’s Olympics flickr set and you’ll see what I mean.

We try to keep their Octonauts series in the museum store, but I’m expecting their books to sell out as quickly as Oliver Chin’s Year of the Tiger books did for our Lunar New Year celebration last weekend.  Obviously, I am powerless when confronted by the charms of a cartoon Sasquatch.

The Other Shanghai: 凱蒂貓

You have been given entry into the exclusive province of museum installation; as our guest, you are witness to the realization of years of planning and much strenuous labor.  An air of expectation is palpable, as always, in the fleeting days  preceding an exhibition.

What awaits us is a land at once imaginary and real–Shanghai the concept, the dream–and its rise from a divided, shanty-filled port to innovative megalopolis.

But I want to talk about something you won’t see in the exhibition.

Shanghai’s Hello Kitty House was one of the first images to turn up while I was doing research last year, and although I’ve yet to find anyone who has actually stayed there, I’m willing to believe the place exists.

Thanks to the encyclopedic nature of the internet, I later discovered that the Shanghai subway’s #6 line is also known as the “Hello Kitty Line,” distinguished from other lines by its decidedly femme details (it makes more sense when you see it on the map).

Shanghai represents an imaginary place for me–I’ve never been, but whenever friends return I hear that I’d love the place.  Much in the same way early mapmakers set a course over paper without having seen a land’s shores, I’m doing the same to Shanghai.  Curators and couriers bring us the proof of another world, and we piece together the idea of a place.

I can’t wait to see what the ephemeral city holds for us.

New Year, Old Gift

image courtesy of ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive

As much as I’d like to give you red envelopes stuffed with cash (for the whippersnappers, of course–red envelopes are traditionally given to those younger than yourself), I’m a little broke right now.

Instead, for your Lunar New Year gift, I will give you the first Chinese feature-length animated film, Princess Iron Fan (Tie Shan Gong Zhu).

This 1941 film by the pioneering Wan brothers came out of the Xinhua Film Company, a feat in itself, as Shanghai was under Japanese occupation at the time. Xinhua may have been one of the last of the Shanghai studios to hold out against occupying force’s business interests, but was eventually merged with Japanese-controlled studios.

The details of the film are charmingly Fleischer-esque, and for those familiar with Chinese epics you’ll know that film is based on an episode from Journey to the West. When the film was screened in Japan, a young Tezuka saw it and it influenced him greatly.

Here’s a preview on youtube–but you can watch the film in its entirety at the Internet Archive.

We hope to see you all for this Sunday’s Lunar New Year Celebration!

Shanghai update

Whew! Our first week of installation for Shanghai is over, and week two is about to begin. All of the objects have arrived safely and the galleries are beginning to really take shape. The exhibition crew has been busy condition checking artwork, hanging paintings, dressing mannequins, and dealing with all of the assorted surprises that emerge with a project of this complexity. Here a few behind the scenes images from the past week.

A detail of the neon tube components of Shen Fan's installation "Landscape—Commemorating Huang Binhong—Small Scroll."

Poll: Your favorite Shanghai era

[polldaddy poll=2608818]

The museum’s Shanghai exhibition is organized into four main time periods. One of the themes that runs through the show concerns the attitudes to women expressed in Shanghai art. These four images of women will give a taste — but only a taste, since in each period the range of artistic activity is of course much wider than these images suggest — of the various phases in Shanghai’s artistic development. Asking you to name a favorite is a little silly, like asking what’s your favorite color, as if you would want everything in the world to be green or whatever; still, suppose you only had a few minutes to catch the show — which section would you head for?

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Shanghai sneak peek – Qipao

From behind the scenes of Shanghai, stylish qipao from the Shanghai History Museum are unpacked for condition checking. A total of five of these body-hugging garments, featuring rich fabrics and art deco inspired motifs, are included in the “High Times” section of the exhibition. First worn by fashionable women in Shanghai during the 1920s and 1930s, the distinctive qipao remains popular today.

The perfect soup dumpling

A while ago, I talked about my experience of eating a notable Shanghai delicacy called xiao long bao. Here’s a video of Andrea Nguyen, chef and author of Asian Dumplings, as she talks about the process of making this dish and what she considers the perfect xiao long bao at Shanghai Dumpling King. (short commercial at beginning of video)

Shanghai remodeling

With Shanghai right around the corner, museum preparation staff have been busy reconfiguring the museum in ways we haven’t quite seen before.

Objects selected  for Shanghai include not only the 2-D paintings and works on paper that visitors might expect, but a wide variety of furniture, textile arts, video works, and contemporary installations by leading Shanghai artists. This variety of object types can be a challenge for our designer. In particular, the museum’s existing gallery spaces were not originally designed to fit contemporary installation art or to display video art.

As a result, various spaces around the museum have been receiving substantial Shanghai makeovers.

Windows to north court are covered with new walls to create additional display space.

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