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chinese medicine and art
about the photographs:
I have traveled a fair amount around the world and the
sights and sounds of China have stayed with me like no other country.
In your hometown, a month passes at its own boring speed.
The same month traveling is a separate lifetime for a separate place.
As my friend Peter said, even if you go to a place for just 2 weeks,
the experience will be with you for the rest of your life.
I spent less than 2 months in Shanghai and I now have a
“virtual memory” of the city.
Sometimes the “feel” of Shanghai comes back as if I were still there.
In my mind, I walk the streets, revisiting as if I had never left.
Reading an acupuncture book can bring back the same body awareness
I had while in the two hospitals we worked at.
I went to Shanghai with 9 other students from our acupuncture school.
There were 7 native born Americans, 2 Korean students, (Hee Jae and
Han) and Eva who was born near Shanghai but lived most of her adult life
in the West.
We studied and practiced at two hospitals.
At the end of the trip most of us went to Beijing for a few days.
I went knowing that I wanted to take photographs.
It had been years since I had done any serious still photography.
The night before I left my sister gave me her 35mm Minolta rangefinder
with a 38 mm lens.
On the way to the airport I bought 20 rolls of Tri-x black and white.
My friend Dina had loaned me her small flash. I was set.
Someday I might want to try to make presentation prints,
find a gallery, print invitations etc...
Now, I’m content with a cheap small scanner for my computer and a photo/paint
editing system.
And, of course, with any art comes the questions.
What to do with these photographs?
Behind each picture is my story plus three thousands of years of history.
I was there for 2 months.
Can a photo from China say anything but “exotic” without context?
Is my work “just” snapshots and tourist reminders?
How much should I manipulate them in the computer? (answer = some)
How much should I worry about the computer quality.. DPI, laser prints,
etc...?
(answer = not much).
What will my Chinese friends here and abroad think of what I write?
People make the analogy that Shanghai is to New York what Beijing is
to Washington D.C. It has always been the most “progressive” city in China.
Western corporations built their headquarters along the waterfront
and the communist revolution started among the workers and proletariat
of the Shanghai port.
The Cultural Revolution took root in Shanghai.
Now the older neighborhoods are being torn down and replaced with skyscrapers.
The government wants Shanghai to become an extension of Hong Kong when
is taken over in 1997.
Developing China is a contradiction.
With so many people, to install individual initiative and opportunity
is a risky proposition.
There is little room psyhically and physically for the people of this
country to expand to.
One small ecological disaster for air quality will occur when more
people put little moped motors on their bicycles.
China remains “third world” yet it has had been fully governed for
thousands of years.
One can see this culture not only as “ancient” but also how the rest
of the world might become in the near future.
I usually travel alone so it was quite an experience to be with nine
other people for 2 months.
I dare say we all learned alot about each other and ourselves.
Kathie, Kia, Patty, Cyndee, David, Han, Eva, Hee Jae, Yvonne and I
took Shanghai by storm.
I am sure the city is still talking about us.
Hee Jae, Han and I stayed in the foreign student’s dormitory of the
Shanghai Medical University.
They became good friends to me as well as the other students there.
Some of my best memories come from those crazy times with Hee Jae,
Han and their friends,my talks with Sarah,
the birthday party with the African students and making friends with
people from around the world.
As well, there was a great educational opportunity in the clinics and
I am grateful to all the doctors and patients for putting up with our Americanisms.
I thank you all for a great time.
1996
DOUGLAS EISENSTARK Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac)
1423 Elkgrove Circle #2
Venice, CA
90291
(310) 450-5654
email: taiqi@taiqi.com
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