I was in Beijing in Septmber 2006 at the beggining of fall. Mist and fog crept everywhere in the city, in the mountains, in the streets and it reminded me how this kind of atmosphere has found its way into Chinese ink paintings. You see, when you look at a Chinse landscape painting depth is suggested in two ways 1) placing subjects that appear farther to the topmost portion of the composition and nearer subjects at the lowerpost 2) obscuring subjects at the back of certain mountains with fading effects that mimic fog.
No trip to China was complete without a visit to the Great Wall at Badaling. This section of the wall was constructed by the Ming Emperor Zhu Di in the 1400's to protect his new capital, Peking which was once Tatu, the capital city of the Mongol conquerors. But the Great Wall at that time was enveloped in a thick fog and we could barely see 500 meters in front of us. The wall is heavily etched with the names of visitors. I am here with Hasnul Saidon, Curator of the Muzium Galleri of the University Sains Malaysia, who celebrated his birthday a few days ago before this was taken. Hasnul and I were part of the First Asian Art bMuseum Conference held at the National Art Musem of China.The Wall was packed with tourists. On a nearby mountain a large sign advertised Beijing's hosting of the Olympics in 2008.
