Can not Change China: A Briton's Bitter Farewell to China Echoes Loudly

A Briton's Bitter Farewell to China Echoes LoudlyBy EDWARD WONG June 21, 2013十六年，一個英國商人從中國夢中醒來黃安偉 2013年06月21日
MOGANSHAN, China — MARK KITTO is still here. But he is leaving soon, he swears. It will happen sometime this summer, he said, after a final road trip with his family to the outer reaches of the Chinese empire, where two decades ago as a British soldier he joined a 59-day expedition to cross the Taklamakan Desert.
中國莫干山——馬克·基多(Mark Kitto)還在這裡，但他發誓很快就離開。他說要在今年夏天走，走之前會和家人一起去中華帝國版圖最外沿做一次最後的公路旅行。 20年前，他作為英國士兵在那裡參加過一次橫穿塔克拉瑪干沙漠的為期59天的探險。
The furniture has already been removed from the home he rebuilt atop this bamboo-cloaked mountain three hours from Shanghai. And his Cantonese wife, Joanna Kitto, is handing day-to-day management of their restaurant and three atmospheric guesthouses to others.
莫干山距離上海有三個小時車程。他在這座遍布竹林的山頂重建的房子裡，家具已經搬走了。他的廣東妻子吳寧華(Joanna Kitto)正在將他們的餐館和三套別具特色客房的日常管理交接給別人。
Many foreigners in China think Mr. Kitto left the country last summer. But Mr. Kitto, 46​​, one of the better-known foreign entrepreneurs of his generation in China, is only now making good on the promise that he set forth in a provocative essay titled “You'll Never Be Chinese.” It was published in August in Prospect, a British literary magazine, and it was Mr. Kitto's farewell to a time when he made Shanghai and then Moganshan his adopted homes, all after being born Cornish , growing up in Wales, attending college in London and completing service in the Welsh Guards.
很多在華外國人以為基多去年夏天就已經離開了中國。但是，作為在他這代人中的比較著名的旅華外國企業家，今年46歲的基多現在才開始兌現他在《你永遠成不了中國人》(You'll Never Be Chinese)一文中做出的承諾。這篇文章是去年8月在英國文學雜誌《展望》(Prospect)上發表的，當時引發了極大的爭議。基多出生在康沃爾郡，在威爾士長大，後來到倫敦讀大學，並在威爾士衛隊(Welsh Guards)服完兵役。過去一段時間，他把上海和莫干山當成了自己的家，那篇文章也是對這段經歷的訣別書。5月份，馬克·基多從莫干山的家裡搬了出來。
Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times
5月份，馬克·基多從莫干山的家裡搬了出來。
In the essay, he laid out why, after 16 years in this country, he would be heading back to his homeland. He wrote about the hardships of sustaining a business here, of a government that sacrifices the well-being of its people to stay in power and finally of very personal concerns over raising his two children, ages 8 and 10, in China.
他在文章中闡述了在中國生活16年後要回國的原因。他講述了在這裡經營生意的艱難，講述了這個政府為了繼續掌權而犧牲人民福祉，最後還寫到了個人對在中國養育分別是8歲和10歲的兩個孩子的擔心。
“I wanted China to be the place where I made a career and lived my life,” he wrote. “I have fallen out of love, woken from my China Dream.”
“我曾想把中國當成經營事業、過生活的地方，”他寫道。 “現在我從中國夢中醒來，已經失去了愛。”
The dream still looks rather attractive from the perch where Mr. Kitto recently had lunch with a couple of visitors — an outdoor table at a local restaurant with panoramic views of the valley. He pointed to a half-finished Buddhist temple below. Local officials were building it to attract tourist revenue, he said, even though no monks lived in the valley.
坐在基多最近和一些客人共進午餐的當地一家餐館的室外桌旁，能將山谷的風光盡收眼底。此時，他的這個夢看上去依然相當誘人。他指著下面修建了一半的寺廟說，當地官員修這座廟是為了吸引遊客創收，儘管山谷裡並沒有和尚居住。
But back to the essay: “After that article came out, there was quite a lot of reaction,” he said.
不過回到那篇文章，他說，“那篇文章發表以後，反響很大。”
Mr. Kitto's article became widely circulated among expatriates in China, forcing some to question the basic assumptions they had m​​ade in trying to build a life here. Others asked whether Mr. Kitto had been unrealistic in what he had expected from China. And what exactly did Mr. Kitto mean by saying “You'll never be Chinese?” What foreigner expected to become Chinese anyway?
基多的這篇文章被旅華外國人廣泛傳閱，迫使很多人對試圖在中國生活時所做的基本假設提出了疑問。另一些人則問道，基多過去對中國的期望是不是不切實際。基多說“你永遠成不了中國人”到底指的是什麼？有什麼外國人會指望自己能變成中國人嗎？
But Mr. Kitto seems to have been a harbinger. In the months afterward, other expatriates wrote essays about leaving China. The departures appear to have accelerated this year, as people who moved here around 2008, in the prelude to the Summer Olympics, cycle out. Foreigners also increasingly fear the pollution in northern China, among the worst in the world, and the shortcomings in water and food safety.
然而，基多的文章似乎的確是一個預警。之後的幾個月裡，其他一些旅華外國人也寫文章表示要離開中國。今年，隨著在2008年夏季奧運會前搬到中國來的外國人漸漸離開，外國人離開中國的步伐加快了。很多外國人還越來越擔心中國北方的污染，這裡的污染問題是世界最嚴重的，其次還有缺水和食品安全問題。
The exodus seems to be particularly pronounced among expatriates who, like Mr. Kitto, are immersed in the literary and journalistic scene. They have all prided themselves on being engaged with China in a much deeper way than your average corporate employee posted here by a multinational company. They are descendants of the kinds of foreigners that the historian Jonathan D. Spence wrote about in his first book, “To Change China”: students of the language, entrepreneurs, explorers.
這股離開中國的潮流，似乎在像基多這樣浸淫於文學和新聞圈子的外國人當中尤為明顯。他們都自詡比一般跨國公司派出的員工更了解中國。他們的前輩是歷史學家史景遷(Jonathan D. Spence)在他的第一本書《改變中國》(To Change China)中描述的那些人：學習語言的人、創業者和冒險家。
“I think Mark sees himself in the continuum of British adventurers in China,” said Harvey Thomlinson, a publisher in Hong Kong who owns the non-American rights to Mr. Kitto's memoir, “China Cuckoo.”
香港出版人哈維·托姆林森(Harvey Thomlinson)擁有基多的回憶錄《中國杜鵑》(China Cuckoo)在美國以外地區版權，他說，“我認為馬克在審視自己時，會認為自己是在延續英國冒險家在中國的脈絡。”
And Britons do have a colorful history here, whether adventurers like Sir Edmund Backhouse, who claimed to be an insider in the Qing imperial court and a lover of the Empress Dowager Cixi, or the missionaries who built stone villas atop Moganshan in the early 20th century . Each generation of foreigners has a different character, much of it dependent on the changes in China.
英國人在中國的歷史上的確有過濃墨重彩的一章。從自稱清廷的圈內人、慈禧太后情人的埃德蒙·巴恪思爵士(Sir Edmund Backhouse)這樣的冒險家，到20世紀初在莫干山頂修建別墅的傳教士，都是如此。每個年代的外國人都有不同的特點，其中大部分都取決於中國的變化。
“I think Beijing's entered a new stage in its development,” said Alex Pearson, a longtime British expatriate, bookstore owner and friend of Mr. Kitto who is also leaving China this summer. “You have a new kind of foreigner coming, and young Chinese with different goals. It's a different vibe than when I came here.”
長期居住在中國的英國人亞歷克斯·皮爾遜(Alex Pearson)是基多的朋友在中國擁有一家書店，也打算今年夏天離開中國。皮爾遜說，“我認為北京進入了一個新的發展階段。來了一批不同的外國人，中國年輕人的目標也不同。現在的氛圍和我來的時候很不一樣。”
MR. KITTO'S history here is well documented. He first embraced China while a student at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Then there was the crossing of the Taklamakan in 1993, in a camel caravan led by another British adventurer, Charles Blackmore. But Mr. Kitto is best known for publishing in the late 1990s and early 2000s an authorized expatriate magazine in three Chinese cities — unheard of for a foreigner. The profitable venture was seized by officials in 2004, he said, and Mr. Kitto retreated to Moganshan to start another China career.
基多在中國的經歷被很好地記錄了下來。他第一次來中國時還是倫敦大學(University of London)亞非學院(School of Oriental and African Studies)的學生。後來在1993年，他加入了另一個英國探險家查爾斯·布萊克莫爾(Charles Blackmore)率領的駝隊，穿越了塔克拉瑪干沙漠。但是基多最為人熟知的則是在20世紀90年代末和21世紀初，在中國的三座城市出版了一本得到批准的旅華外國人雜誌，這對外國人來說是聞所未聞的。他說，這樁利潤豐厚的生意在2004年被官員攫走，之後基多就隱居莫干山，開始了另一份在中國的事業。
Then Mr. Kitto wrote of leaving Moganshan in what he had intended to be his final column for Prospect. Officials in Zhejiang Province took it personally and started an inquiry. Mr. Kitto was in Shanghai en route to the United States when the police questioned his wife.
之後，基多寫下了要離開莫干山的文章。他本來打算以這篇文章作為在《展望》雜誌上的最後一篇專欄文章，但浙江省的官員認為文章是在針對他們，於是開展了調查。警察盤問他妻子時，基多正經過上海前往美國。
“She was exploding; she was screaming on the phone: 'What have you gone and done now? I've got the police calling me,'” he said. “She's Cantonese. She does get excited.”
他說，“她簡直氣瘋了，在電話里大喊：'你去哪兒了，乾了什麼？警察來找我了。'她是廣東人。確實容易激動。”
By the time Mr. Kitto returned a week later, things had calmed down, but the local officials were still determined to find out why he wanted to leave, he said. In part, they were following orders from provincial officials who had apparently become concerned about the potential impact of Mr. Kitto's essay on foreign investment.
一周之後基多回來時，事情已經平息。但他說，當地官員還是決心要搞清楚他離開的原因。部分原因是他們接到了省級官員的命令，他們顯然是在擔心基多的文章可能會給外商投資造成影響。
TO a degree, Mr. Kitto's disenchantment did arise from business regulations. Mr. Kitto said one of his gripes was that you could never truly build a long-term business here without the fear that officials could take it from you at any time. Mr . Kitto and his wife, for instance, can never legally own the land on which their Moganshan homes stand.
從某種程度上來說，基多離開的確是由商業法規引發的。基多說，自己不滿的一件事是，在中國長期做生意，隨時都要擔心官員會把生意奪走。比如，基多和他的妻子從未合法地擁有過他們在莫干山房子下的土地。
But there were more fundamental issues. “Modern day mainland Chinese society is focused on one object: money and the acquisition thereof,” Mr. Kitto wrote. In another section, he wrote, “The government is so scared of the people it prefers not to lead them,” and “the Party only steps to the fore where its power or personal wealth is under direct threat.”
但是，還有一些更根本的問題。基多寫道，“現代中國大陸社會只關註一個目標：金錢和獲取金錢。”他還在另一部分寫道，“政府十分害怕人民，所以寧願不去引領他們，”而且“共產黨只有在自己的權力或者個人財產受到直接威脅時才會介入乾涉。”
The overriding reason Mr. Kitto offered for his departure was to give his children “a decent education,” away from the test-oriented curriculums of Chinese schools and their propagandistic history lessons.
基多對自己離開給出的最重要的理由是，要給孩子們提供“良好的教育”，脫離中國學校里以考試為目的的課程，以及充滿宣傳色彩的歷史課。
Mr. Kitto said he stood by the essay, no matter the controversies, and had m​​apped out his re-entry to England. The family plans to live in a cottage that Mr. Kitto's father owned in a rural area of​​ Norfolk that is now popular with vacationers.
基多說他不在意引發的爭議，堅持自己在文章中闡述的立場，他已經做好了重回英格蘭的準備。他和家人會搬到他父親在諾福克郡鄉間的一棟房屋居住，現在那裡已經成了度假者經常光臨的地方。
In some ways, he said, the place is like Moganshan. “It is very beautiful. It's quiet except for weekends in the summer,” Mr. Kitto said. And from there, Mr. Kitto hopes to do marketing for local businesses and to edit English translations of Chinese books, as he recently did with “The Civil Servant's Notebook” by Wang Xiaofang, published by Penguin.
他說，從某些方面來看那里和莫干山很像。他說，“很漂亮。除了夏季的周末之外，很安靜。”基多希望在那里為當地的公司做市場營銷，並編輯中文書的英譯本，最近他就編輯了王曉方所著的《公務員筆記》一書的英譯本，該書英譯本由企鵝出版社(Penguin)出版。
Mr. Kitto said that his wife would continue to oversee the business in M​​oganshan, and that the family would travel back on occasion — at least for as long as the Moganshan homes stay in their hands.
基多稱，他妻子會繼續打理莫干山的生意，他們全家會時常回來，至少在莫干山的房子還歸他們所有的時候。
“One of my main points was: Look at the history of foreigners in China,” he said. “The only foreigners who have made a fortune in China are the traders. Buy and sell. It's what the Chinese do, too. Everything's short term.”
他說，“我的一個主要觀點是：看一看外國人在中國的歷史，唯一在中國發財的外國人是商人，做買賣的。中國人也在這麼做，所有事都是短期的。”


Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
黃安偉(Edward Wong)是《紐約時報》駐京記者。
翻譯：張亮亮

Virginals/ WILLIAM BYRD - CONSORT SONGS

李美文  英國伊利莎白時期的維吉諾音樂  載中外文學34:12, 2006.5, 65-82

WILLIAM BYRD - CONSORT SONGS .wmv

 1542/3-1623

使用不同音高的提琴族合作稱為consort

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF-j17hIp94

Muselar Virginal Demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv6q39gjLcg


Virginals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muselar (also muselaar or muselars) virginals were made only in northern Europe. Here, the keyboard is placed right of centre and the strings are plucked about one third the way along their sounding length. This gives a warm rich and fundamental sound (somewhat reminiscent of a square wave), but at a price: the action for the left hand is inevitably placed in the middle of the instrument's sounding board, with the result that any mechanical noise from this action is amplified. In addition to mechanical noise, from the string vibrating against the descending plectrum, the central plucking point in the bass makes repetition difficult, because the motion of the still-sounding string interferes with the ability of the plectrum to connect again. An 18th century commentator (Van Blankenberg, 1739) said that muselars "grunt in the bass like young pigs". Thus the muselar was better suited to chord-and-melody music without complex left hand parts. The muselar could also be provided with a stop called the Harpichordium (also arpichordium), which consists of lead hooks being being lightly applied against the ends of the bass strings in such a manner that the string vibrating against the hook produces a buzzing, snarling sound.

Muselars were popular in the 16th and 17th centuries and their ubiquity has been compared to that of the upright piano in the early 20th century, but like other types of virginals they fell out of use in the 18th century.

• Category

  Music

• License

  Standard YouTube License

How the Great War transformed a group of artists 英国绘画1525－1975

 

British 20th-century painting

The big rupture

How the Great War transformed a group of artists

Jun 22nd 2013 |From the print edition

• 
  
• 
  

• 
  “In the Hold” by David Bomberg, 1913-14

  Tate, London
• 
  “Le Vieux Port” by C.R.W. Nevinson, 1913

  Courtesy the artist's estate/ Bridgeman

1 / 9

ARTISTS born in Europe in the last decade of the 19th century found, almost without exception, that their careers were made (or unmade) by the first world war. In Britain six of the best had studied in London at the Slade School of Art, the top school of the day. From 1893 the towering personality there was Henry Tonks, a former medic turned artist, gaunt and severe.

A stickler for meticulous observation and accurate drawing, Tonks guided his young charges towards the early Renaissance masters, such as Sandro Botticelli and Piero della Francesca. But his students were soon influenced by the debates that were raging around Europe about the direction of the artistic avant-garde. The war interrupted all of this, inspiring some, destroying others. In a memoir written in 1929, well after the end of the war, Tonks described the group—Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash, C.R.W. Nevinson, Mark Gertler, David Bomberg and Dora Carrington—as representing the Slade’s last “crisis of brilliance”.

A new exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London illustrates the evolution of this crisis, and also its fallout. The show opens with Bomberg’s vast, dazzling, jagged painting “In the Hold” from 1913-14 (pictured). This almost abstract image, splintered into fragments, sits at odds with the Old Masters of the Dulwich’s permanent collection. It is a dramatic vision of a world soon to be torn apart.

The precocious talent of these young artists is evident in their student work. An early drawing by Nash of an angel fighting a devil on a dark wooded hill reveals a poetic feeling for nature—one that informed his work for the rest of his life. Spencer’s idiosyncratic drawing of a large fairy on a tiny water-lily leaf captures an imagination that strained against conventional rules of composition from the start. Gertler, who like Bomberg was on a scholarship supported by the Jewish Education Aid Society, is represented here with clear, pure, Italianate paintings in a vein Tonks would have approved of. Nevinson, less natively talented, restlessly paints himself in a variety of styles.

Such nascent efforts were radicalised by two big London exhibitions, in 1910 and 1912. With paintings by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, Picasso and Matisse, these shows had an immediate impact on the students’ work. Nevinson soon creates kinetic, disorienting images of the modern world—trains, bridges, dance halls—that convey speed and distraction. Bomberg begins to pioneer a unique approach to abstraction, evident in “Jewish Theatre” (1913) and “Bathing Scene” (1912-13). Spencer meanwhile clearly drew on Gauguin to produce the powerfully symbolic “Apple Gatherers” (1912-13).

The war, however, was more profoundly influential. The six artists all survived, but the conflict left each of them changed. Nevinson’s stark, stylised images of soldiers, bombed buildings and the wounded have become a poignant record of the Great War, alongside Nash’s desolate landscapes. Yet after the fighting, traumatised by what he had experienced, Nevinson made few masterpieces and entered a gradual decline. Gertler, excused from service on grounds of poor health, found that the bold, figurative style of his pre-war paintings (evident in “The Rabbi and his Grandchild” and “The Creation of Eve”) had little relevance during and after the war. Dogged by depression and self-doubt, he struggled to recapture his earlier sense of purpose and committed suicide in 1939.

It is a shame that Gertler’s wartime masterpiece, “Merry-Go-Round” (1916), hanging in Tate Britain, is missing from this show, as is Nash’s important 1919 work “The Menin Road”. Bomberg, meanwhile, had an ambitious war commission rejected as “a Futurist abortion”. This devastated his confidence, though he would become an important influence on later artists. Carrington, who lost a brother on the Somme, took refuge from the carnage with Lytton Strachey in the countryside. Despite the strength of her portraits, she never summoned the confidence to show her work publicly and committed suicide after Strachey’s death from cancer in 1932.

The show ends in 1922, when it seemed the earlier promise of these artists would be fulfilled. And indeed, after producing his harrowing images of war, Nash found his ideal subject in nature, as he had been advised to do years earlier at the Slade. Spencer, perhaps buoyed by his strong religious faith and deep attachment to his home village, was able in images like “Unveiling Cookham War Memorial” to find some resolution to the crises he had lived through.

In a letter to a friend in 1945 Nash could not but mourn the pre-war exuberance. “When I came to look into the early drawings I lived again that wonderful hour.” For every member of his generation, he wrote, the years after 1914 ushered in “another life, another world”.

From the print edition: Books and arts

 

 

• 
  
• 
  
  “Le Vieux Port” by C.R.W. Nevinson, 1913

  Courtesy the artist's estate/ Bridgeman
• 
  “La Patrie” by C.R.W. Nevinson, 1916-19

  Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

 

• “La Patrie” by C.R.W. Nevinson, 1916-19

  Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
• 
  “Some Later Primitives with Madame Tisceron” by John Currie, 1912

 

• “Some Later Primitives with Madame Tisceron” by John Currie, 1912

  The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
• 
  “Lytton Strachey” by Dora Carrington, 1916 

  • “Lytton Strachey” by Dora Carrington, 1916

    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • 
    “The Fruit Sorters” by Mark Gertler, 1914 

   
  

  • “

    New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester
  • 
    “Apple Gatherers” by Stanley Spencer, 1912-13 

     
    

    • “Apple Gatherers” by Stanley Spencer, 1912-13

      Tate, London
    • “Unveiling Cookham War Memorial” by Stanley Spencer, 1922

   
  

  • 
    “Unveiling Cookham War Memorial” by Stanley Spencer, 1922

    Bridgeman
  • 
    “The Void” by Paul Nash, 1917

Painting in Britain: 1525-1975

Painting in Britain: 1525-1975
John Sunderland (著)*
出版社: Phaidon Press;New York Univ Pr (1976/06)

《英国绘画1525－1975》

作者: John Sunderland
摘譯者: 刘明毅, / 唐伯祥
出版社: 上海人民美术出版社
出版年: 1991
书中介绍了英国从1525年开始的绘画史，还附有197幅黑白的图版。
(為 什麼選1525呢 一來1525-1975為450年 好記 二來1525是宗教改革方興未艾之年 (1525. marked an exceedingly complex and difficult. time in Luther's life and the Reformation's story.) 隔年Holbein渡海到英國.....)

My hero: John Cooke (Geoffrey Robertson)

杰弗裡·羅伯遜：正義與革命 

 Robertson, Geoffrey (23 April 2011). "My hero: John Cooke". The Guardian.
 Audio from a talk on John Cooke by Geoffrey Robertson for Bristol Radical History Group

My hero: John Cooke

As Cromwell's solicitor general, he drafted the Act which abolished the monarchy. Then, for good measure, he abolished the House of Lords as 'useless and dangerous'

• • Geoffrey Robertson
  • The Guardian, Saturday 23 April 2011
  • Jump to comments (6)

John Cooke, from an engraving by R Cooper. Photograph: Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cook_%28regicide%29

 

My hero is a man who did his best and gave his life to stop England becoming the kind of nation it will be over the next week. John Cooke prosecuted Charles I. As Cromwell's solicitor general, he drafted the Act which abolished the monarchy ("the office of a king in this country is unnecessary, burdensome and dangerous to the liberty, safety and public interest of the people"). Then, for good measure, he abolished the House of Lords as "useless and dangerous". For these heroic acts of republican faith, he was disembowelled at the restoration. He was the son of a Leicestershire farmer. He defended "Freeborn John" Lilburne the Leveller, in a case that established the right to silence. Cooke was the visionary who first recognised poverty as a cause of crime, and was the first to suggest a national health service (in 1647) and abolition of imprisonment for debt (two centuries before Dickens). He proposed that barristers' fees should be controlled and they should do 10% of their work pro bono.

When all the great lawyers fled from the Temple for fear of treason if they prosecuted the king, Cooke accepted the brief and mounted what became in effect the first war-crimes trial of a head of state. The "great lawyers" soon returned to frustrate Cooke's reforms, so he accepted Cromwell's offer to become chief justice of Ireland, where he speeded up proceedings and decided cases in favour of tenants rather than landlords. Come the restoration, however, he was arrested as a regicide, subjected to an outrageously rigged trial, and then hanged, drawn and quartered at Charing Cross.

Cooke was a man of great courage and republican principle. In words worth remembering this week, he wrote to his wife from the Tower shortly before his execution: "We fought for the public good and would have enfranchised the people and secured the welfare of the whole groaning creation, if the nation had not delighted more in servitude than freedom."

Bristol Radical History Week 2008

Off With Their Heads
Assassins, Plots & Regicide

Date: Monday 27th October 2008
Venue: The Cube, Dove St. South off King Square.
Time: 7:30pm
Price: £3/4

The Tyrannicide Brief

Speaker: Geoffrey Robertson
Renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC examines the first trial of a head of state - Charles I, and how this groundbreaking moment in history opened the way for the trials of Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic, and Saddam Hussein.
Robertson became a barrister in 1973 and a QC in 1988. His became well known acting for the defence in the celebrated English criminal trials of Oz, Gay News, the 'ABC Trial', The Romans in Britain (the prosecution brought by Mary Whitehouse), the Brighton bombing and Matrix Churchill. Robertson was also threatened by terrorists for representing Salman Rushdie. He has appeared in civil liberties cases before the European Court of Human Rights and in other courts across the world. He sits as an appeal judge at the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. His latest book, The Tyrannicide Brief, details the story of John Cooke, who prosecuted King Charles I of England in the treason trial that led to his execution.

• Listen to this lecture

Charles I by Sir Anthony Van Dyck,
painted in April 1634

A woodcut of the execution of Chales I

Experimental Food Society 群星

HC加入連結等諸項

倫敦時尚：美食實驗師

倫敦政經學院國際關係本科生 朱潔

更新時間 2013年 6月 24日, 星期一 - 格林尼治標準時間10:14

Bompas & Parr的兩位年輕創始人在英國實驗美食協會展覽上。

英國實驗美食協會（Experimental Food Society）裏，聚集了一批引領飲食界潮流的奇才，大多常駐在倫敦。他們不是廚師，而是美食藝術家，是魔術師、建築師、煉金術士、科學家、社會學者……他們有一個共同的名字：美食實驗師。

他們通過跨界的實驗，融合科學和藝術，無時無刻不在進行著美食創新，挑戰飲食常態，將人們對食物的認知推向新的高度。

美食建築師

Bompas & Parr - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bompas_%26_Parr‎

Bompas & Parr was founded June 2007 by Sam Bompas and Harry Parr and creates food art using gelatin desserts, colloquially called jellies. Named after the ...

Bompas & Parr出品鮮果或酒精的果凍（jelly）。它將建築學的精凖、精緻引入飲食，使用尖端科技，創造出惟妙惟肖的果凍建築，如西班牙Barajas機場、英國聖保羅大教堂等等。
果凍柔韌的觸感、晶瑩的質地、繽紛的色彩、百變的造型，給人強烈的視覺衝擊。Barbican藝術中心、英國現代藝術學會、倫敦建築節、諾基亞、倫敦大學、V&A博物館、Selfridges百貨商店等都喜迎過Bompas & Parr的果凍建築品。
Bompas & Parr的年輕創始人，被《獨立報》評為「十五位將定義英國藝術未來的人之一」。

Kew Gardens pond transformed into giant fruit salad by Bompas & Parr

'Architectural foodsmiths' Bompas & Parr inject a dose of fruity fun into Kew's summer festival of edible plants

Bromeliad bliss … Bompas & Parr's Pineapple Island at Kew Gardens. Photographs: RBG Kew

They have brought us a scratch'n'sniff cinema and a walk-in cocktail, installed mini-golf and rowing boats on the roof of Selfridges, and built a climbable mountain of chocolate. Now "architectural foodsmiths" Bompas & Parr have unleashed their bizarre brand of flavour experience on the unlikely bucolic setting of Kew Gardens.
As part of Kew's IncrEdibles summer festival, the duo have built a floating ziggurat, topped with a giant golden pineapple, in the ornamental pond in front of the 19th-century Palm House. Wrapped in lurid Hawaiian prints, featuring fruit from the Kew archive, and surrounded by a sea of rowing boats in tutti-frutti colours, it is an arresting vision – the kind you might have if you tasted the wrong specimen in the fungi house.
"We've always had a soft spot for Kew," says Harry Parr, sitting at the helm of our vessel, paddle in hand, as he passes me a pair of kaleidoscopic spectacles – whose role will shortly become clear. "All of our work deals with flavour, and most flavours come back to a plant originally."
Delving into the archive of botanical drawings, the pair discovered the exotic forms of the durian and tarap, bullock's heart and kalaw, which now adorn the fabric walls of their floating island – as well as the jazzy uniforms of the attendants, designed in collaboration with Kit Neale.
Why the pineapple?
"As London natives, we are obsessed with pineapples in architecture," says Sam Bompas. "Take a wander around the capital and you'll see that the triumphant pineapple is a city-wide architectural motif – from the pineapples of Lambeth bridge, to the finials of St Paul's Cathedral. It is the most lauded bromeliad, the king of fruits."
Banana nirvana … rowing into the banana grotto As we paddle around the lake – which has been dyed blue for the occasion (the swans, I am assured, will not take on the tinge) – we come to the entrance of the "banana grotto" at the base of the island, signified by a plastic banana chandelier, each fruit capped with an LED. Through the rainbow specs, it looks like the gateway to a banana nirvana.
And that's exactly what lies within: a thick cloud of mist, injected with banana scent, hangs beneath a roof of yet more twinkling lights, conjuring a surreal synaesthetic tunnel of sickly sweet bliss.
Above, the levels of the ziggurat are planted with foliage that has been wired up to electrodes to form an interactive soundscape. Simulating the way plants talk to each other, says Parr, visitors can "play the flower bed," touching the leaves to produce different digital sound effects. The botanists at Kew are no strangers to elaborate experiments, but this the first time their plants have been wired up as musical instruments.
Back on dry land, the Tutti Frutti boathouse serves up a range of exotic cocktails, along with a book that delves deeper into Bompas & Parr's quaint world of culinary alchemy – featuring contributions from the likes of Pippa Middleton and Martin Parr.
The project is a brilliantly brash and surreal addition to the rest of the gardens – and must be lauded for bringing rowing boats back to Kew for the first time since 1775. But is there a bigger picture? Are Bompas & Parr architects, artists, or just novelty caterers?
'Architectural foodsmiths' … Sam Bompas and Harry Parr They started out – Parr fresh from architecture school, Bompas from the world of property PR – with an ambition to have a stall at Borough Market selling a quirky take on traditional English jelly. The antique moulds proved too expensive, so they decided to make their own – in the shape of buildings. They started 3D-printing the forms and vacuum-forming the moulds in plastic, then launched the project with an architectural jelly banquet at the London Festival of Architecture in 2008.
They went on to flood the former Sierra Leone embassy on Portland Place in London with four tonnes of punch, and have since been courted by the Barbican and ICA, the Serpentine Gallery and V&A, to conjure equally outlandish stunts.
Their latest project for Selfridges, the Mercedes Drive Thru, featured the fastest cheese-trolley in the world, capable of going from 0-62 mph in 6.6 seconds. Their chocolate climbing wall for Alton Towers included a four-tonne chocolate waterfall, flowing at a rate of 70,000 litres an hour – in which Peter Andre was forced to dangle. They are currently working on their first permanent project, a multi-sensory visitor experience for the Guinness factory in Dublin, which they say is the most scientifically refined of their scent-scapes yet.
So what next?
"I suppose we're a bit like Disney," ponders Parr. "We've built all the rides – but we would love to make the whole theme park."

美食煉金術士

Alchemist Dreams - Handmade Liqueurs from Organic Spirit › Home

www.alchemistdreams.co.uk/‎

Custom liqueurs, handmade from pure organic grain spirit, slowly infused with the finest fruits, herbs and spices.

Alchemist Dreams提供手工製作的酒精飲料，以一系列激動人心的口味而出名。這些酒精飲料以純淨有機穀類酒為基底，溶以最上等的水果、草藥和香料，以精確、不斷 調試的配比，創造出最和諧、或最令人驚奇的味道。健康、跳躍、打破陳規——酒不再是老紳士昂貴的櫥中一成不變的單品，也不是狂歡的年輕人灌入腹中不知滋味 的助興必備。
顧客可以定制獨特的味道，目前被嘗試過的，有薰衣草、柏香、玫瑰、咖啡、綠豆蔻，甚至四川辣椒。煉金術士的妙手調製出奇妙酒味，帶人進入奇特的夢幻世界。
顧客甚至可以要求在酒內加入紅金雞納樹皮精華，使之對紫外線光敏，為聚會增添趣味。


美食寵物師

Cake Doggy Dog: Home

Cake Doggy Dog圍繞著狗狗寵物，製作蛋糕、杯子蛋糕、蛋糕棒棒糖。顧客把自家的寵物的照片或視頻發給店主，就可以放心等待定制的3D藝術蛋糕送上門來。
蛋糕師力求捕捉每只狗狗獨特的性格和魅力，靜中有動、生機暗藏，打破蛋糕固有的裝飾、花瓶形像。店主表示，狗狗蛋糕是如此栩栩如生，讓人擔憂它會忽然舔你一口、「汪汪」兩聲。你會猶豫著不願動口，但最後還是經不住香味的誘惑大快朵頤……


美食社會學者
 Stirring With Knives – a newsfeed by Caroline Hobkinson
Caroline Hobkinson的美食博客「用餐刀探尋」(Stirring with Knives)，展現出獨到的眼光，通過銳利的分析，探究食物背後的世界。
Caroline認為，食物是一種藝術的媒介；進食的儀式和舉動，反應社會和歷史的本質。人們對事物的 認知，要依靠記憶，也要依賴味覺之外的所有感官。譬如，每個人心中對生日蛋糕的印象，都是由一個不斷被強化的多感官經歷。一年一次、為你一人。昏暗的燈 光、舞動的燭光。生日歌響起，閉眼、許願。吹滅燭火——哦，一絲淡淡的煙熏的蠟燭味。切蛋糕、分享，終於嘗到了甜甜的滋味，你將它與期待、成長、幸福感一 起刻在腦中……
由此，藝術和科學，都可以通過人們的心理和感官，影響人們的進食過程，讓人們重新審視美食。
你對美食的印象，是否還停留在「味道如何」的傳統認知？快快探索倫敦的創意美食，體會美食實驗家對重新定義英國飲食界時尚的前衛嘗試。
(責編：鈴蘭)

倫敦奧運銅花瓣火炬塔設計爭議

倫敦奧運銅花瓣火炬塔設計被指抄襲

更新時間 2013年 6月 20日, 星期四 - 格林尼治標準時間11:31

倫敦奧運銅花瓣火炬塔設計被指抄襲。

著名設計師托馬斯·赫斯維克（Thomas Heatherwick）設計的銅花瓣火炬塔去年7月在倫敦奧運開幕式上曾引起全球觀眾的驚嘆，然而，在紐約設計工作室Atopia對此卻有一種別樣的震驚。

該工作室負責人之一簡·哈里森（Jane Harrison）向英國《衛報》表示，銅花瓣火炬看上去和Atopia在2007年向倫敦奧組委提交的設計完全一樣，但提交後卻從未接到倫敦奧組委的任何迴音。

相關内容

• 奧運銅花瓣火炬塔設計者談創意
• 女王聖誕致辭 倫敦奧運成亮點
• 倫敦奧運火炬盆獲「南岸藝術獎」

倫敦奧組委當初曾聯繫座右銘為「為未來凖備」的Atopia工作室，想請該工作室設計一個能體現倫敦奧運會可持續發展精神的建築——地球館。

驚人相似的花瓣

哈里森說，Atopia工作室拿出了一個高高的花莖上多重花瓣的設計；這些花瓣在賽前可分別送到各個參賽國隊伍，在開幕式上聚集一起，組成一個花的華蓋，奧運會結束後再重新分發給各個參賽國。
Atopia工作室的花瓣設計成收集雨水和使用太陽能發電，而不是用天然氣燃燒。除此之外，Atopia的設計草圖與赫斯維克的銅花瓣據稱非常相似。
最終由赫斯維克設計的熊熊火焰燃燒的花瓣也是按照順序用金屬碟代表205個參賽國，奧運會結束後再分別送回各參賽國的。他的這一設計廣受好評，贏得許多獎項，還為此獲英國女王授勛。
在Atopia工作室發表了二者的設計相似的評論之後，赫斯維克的工作室否認對Atopia的設計有任何抄襲或借鑒。
赫斯維克工作室的發言人對此表示「完全出乎意外」。
他說，他們以前從未見過Atopia的設計，倫敦奧組委也沒有向他們透露過Atopia的設計，銅花瓣的設想是赫斯維克在和丹尼·博伊爾（Danny Boyle）的一次談話中產生的。
Atopia工作室之所以到現在才出面聲稱赫斯維克的設計和Atopia的設計如出一轍，是因為自2007年到今年，一直受到一條保密協議的限制。
該協議限制所有公司不能利用為倫敦奧運會設計產品來為自己作宣傳，這一協議直到今年1月英國政府向英國奧林匹克協會支付了200萬英鎊後才被取消。

英雄所見略同

Atopia工作室的負責人之一哈里森說：「我們被告知，這是高水凖的保密的競爭，所以當發現我們的設計被別人使用後，我們倍感震驚。我們是一個小設計工作室，沒有能力打官司。」
倫敦奧組委已經解散，在奧組委負責設計的凱文·歐文斯（Kevin Owens）稱這一事件「很不幸」.
他說，Atopia工作室的設計師們的確很前衛，他們的設計被部分採用，可能是因為別的設計師也「英雄所見略同」吧。
在此之前，英國赫爾市的藝術家李·美林·珊德奧（Lee Merrill Sendall）曾聲稱，丹尼·博伊爾的倫敦奧運開幕式的設想是抄襲了他在2009年參加倫敦奧組委的一項活動時提交的設計。
倫敦奧組委否認珊德奧的指稱說，博伊爾的開幕式設計靈感來自非常著名的格拉斯頓伯里（Glastonbury）的小山地標和英國歷史，開幕式設計完全是博伊爾自己的原創。
對於包括Atopia和珊德奧在內的指稱，劍橋大學研究知識產權的專家萊昂內爾·本特利（Lionel Bently）教授說，這是一個絕對值得探討的問題。
（翻譯：嵇偉 責編：顧垠）

奧運銅花瓣火炬塔設計者談創意

英國謝菲爾德大學新聞碩士 張卓爾

更新時間 2012年 8月 27日, 星期一 - 格林尼治標準時間09:45

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• 分享
• 轉寄朋友
• 打印文稿

托馬斯說雖然這個火炬塔的設計已經「不存在」了，但它曾經存在過，並在某種意義上，一直存在著。

有「我們這個時代的達芬奇」之稱的英國設計師托馬斯·赫斯維克（Thomas Heatherwick）上周六（25日）做客愛丁堡國際書展，與現場觀眾分享了他幾個知名設計背後的故事。

這其中就包括倫敦奧運開幕式上由204個銅花瓣組成的火炬塔（Olympic cauldron），及上海世博會英國館」種子聖殿「（Seed Cathedral）的創意設計。

火炬塔設計代號「Betty狗」

相關内容

• 圖輯：托馬斯·赫斯維克作品展
• 「光速」秀拉開愛丁堡國際藝術節序幕
• 愛丁堡四大文化藝術節慶呼應倫敦奧運

在托馬斯向大家介紹他的火炬塔設計之前，大屏幕出現了一副小狗圖片。原來，這只叫做「Betty」的小狗就是奧運開幕式「絕密」點火方案的代號。
托馬斯介紹，他多年的設計經歷從來是和「場所」或「物件」打交道，卻從來沒有做有關「瞬間」（moment）的設計。
丹尼·鮑爾（Danny Boyle）被任命為開幕式導演不久，便找到他，希望他能做奧運火炬塔的設計。托馬斯說，北京奧運會開幕式做得太好，在預算如此有限的情況下，接過此「燙手山芋」，著實是該項目最具挑戰性的地方。

小而簡單，不求跟風

托馬斯說他們團隊曾經花了整個周末研究歷屆奧運的點火，「其實當問及大家對那些點火的印象，沒有人會提到火炬塔的設計，大家記得的只是弓箭手用弓箭將火炬塔點燃」。
而他也發現，點火儀式越來越脫離運動員和觀眾：「火炬塔在空中，聖火在空中點燃，這很讓人激動。其實幾 十年前的火炬台，比如我們看1948年的倫敦奧運會，它很小也很簡單，擺放在體育場中間。所以我們在思考，是跟風繼續把火炬塔做的大而繁複，還是將它簡單 的放在整個體育場的中央。」
托馬斯解釋道這其實是最有效聯繫各地方運動員的方法：「各國的運動員有多有少，就如一塊塊大小不一的蛋糕。開幕式上運動員散佈在體育場，大家圍著火炬塔，也成為火炬塔的一部分。」
「204個國家和地區的人因為奧運這場盛會，放下成見和不一致，走到了一起。兩周之後聖火熄滅，這種聯繫就消失了。我們希望，有一個東西，能夠將各個國家地區聯繫起來，又能在奧運之後，繼續保持這種聯繫。」
因此與歷屆奧運會不同的是，這刻有各參賽國家、地區名字的銅花瓣在奧運會結束後，交由各個代表團。主火炬雖然消失，這種聯繫卻依然存在。

「看不見」的火炬塔

托馬斯·赫斯維克在愛丁堡國際書展上為讀者簽名留念。

托馬斯透露，開幕式上，當希臘代表團運動員按慣例第一個入場，第一個「銅花瓣」亮相，各國的解說員也只是在半小時前被告知這個東西「很重要」，但是具體有何功用，他們並不知道。直到開幕式最後階段，解說員們才會收到另外一張「解密」的紙條。
開幕式前兩周，只有不到十人知曉的最高機密——「火炬塔點燃」開始彩排：「我們總在所有彩排完成清場後測試主火炬塔的點燃。當時許多參與運動員彩排的人都納悶火炬塔在哪呢，我當然不會告訴他們你們正踩在它上面呢！」
托馬斯說，即使開幕式進行當中，運動員是場上焦點，可能沒人會真正注意到體育場中央一塊地方地上大大小小的「黑洞」。因此這個火炬塔其實一直存在，只是直到最後一刻，大家才真正「看見」。
主持人通過大屏幕幫大家回顧了火炬塔點燃的片段，現場觀眾情不自禁掌聲四起，甚至有觀眾激動留下了眼淚。

為如今「不存在」的設計感到驕傲

與大家分享了他兩年前創新的倫敦雙層巴士設計，上海世博會英國館「種子聖殿」設計等創意和有趣故事後，托馬斯回答了現場觀眾的問題。
42歲的托馬斯談到自己的設計生涯，說他相信所有人都對新奇的事務、發明感興趣，並深信這個世界可以因為許多人做的努力、發現和設計不斷地進步和發展：「我非常感謝那些為我們人類生活的進步做出貢獻的人。」
與他的其他大小設計不同，奧運火炬塔猶如一個臨時建築，而它的搭建也是為了某一天的拆遷。托馬斯說雖然這個火炬塔的設計已經「不存在」了，但它曾經存在過，並在某種意義上，一直存在著。
「我為能參與到這個項目的設計感到驕傲。一直如此」。

British History Timeline

The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain Volum...

Britain has been shaped by turmoil between its nations, and tension between state and church. But centuries of conflict would forge the power at the heart of the largest empire the world has ever seen.
Discover more in the sections below.

collapse all

British History Timeline

Explore all of British history, from the Neolithic to the present day, with this easy-to-use interactive timeline.

Go to the British History Timeline

Norman Britain (1066 - 1154)

The story behind the Battle of Hastings, and the leaders who fought it out in 1066.

Go to Normans

Middle Ages (1154 - 1485)

Turmoil, crisis and the creation of a state, from Magna Carta to the horrors of the Black Death.

Go to Middle Ages

Tudors (1485 - 1603)

An era of change and triumph, from Henry VIII's Reformation to Elizabeth and the Armada.

Go to Tudors

Civil War and Revolution (1603 - 1714)

The Gunpowder Plot failed, but the English Civil War would later claim the life of a king.

Go to Civil War & Revolution

Empire and Sea Power (1714 - 1837)

War with France brought victory at Trafalgar and Waterloo, and gave Britain control of the seas.

Go to Empire & Sea Power

Special Section: Abolition of the Slave Trade

How the trade operated and the dramatic transatlantic campaign that led to its abolition.

Go to Abolition of the Slave Trade

Victorian Britain (1837 - 1901)

Industrial revolution powered Britain to global pre-eminence and initiated social reform.

Go to Victorians

Home Front: World War One (1901 - 1918)

Controversy and emancipation. Britain's costliest conflict had a far-reaching impact at home.

Go to Home Front: World War One

Home Front: World War Two (1918 - 1945)

Life on the Home Front, from the bombs of the Blitz to the preparations for invasion.

Go to Home Front: World War Two

The Making of Modern Britain (1945 - present)

London police send flowers to victims of crime

fob off, groat, travertine, arch,demise, bouquet, ...

《中英對照讀新聞》London police send flowers to victims of crime 倫敦警方送花給犯罪受害者

◎陳成良
Police are sending bouquets of flowers to victims of burglaries and muggings - crimes they often have difficulty solving.
倫敦警方正送花束給竊盜和搶劫案的受害者——這兩種犯罪經常難以破案。
They claim the gift helps "soften the blow", but it can also be accompanied by a note explaining that officers are closing the case for lack of evidence.
他們聲稱，這種禮物有助於「緩和打擊」，但也許還會附上一張紙條，解釋警方因缺少證據而準備結案。
The policy has divided opinion among victims – some saying they feel "fobbed off’ and others praising the "lovely thought".
受害人對這項政策意見不一——有人說他們覺得「被耍了」，有的人則稱讚「這個想法很可愛」。
London’s Metropolitan police regularly send bunches to victims of burglaries. But rates of detection can be as low as 12 percent in these areas.
倫敦警察廳的警察經常送花束給竊盜案的受害者。不過這些地區的破案率只有12%。
Met police officers have given out around 300 bouquets since the initiative began in November. Most have gone to elderly women living alone.
自從11月份開始執行此一作法以來，倫敦警察廳的警察已經分發出約300束花。大多數花束送給了獨居老年婦女。
Sarah Miller, 55, received a bunch of flowers from Met officers in Barnet following a burglary at her home.
55歲的莎拉‧米勒在家中發生了一起竊盜案後，從倫敦巴尼特的警官那裡收到了一束花。
Mrs Miller said： "It was nice to receive them, but the thought that went into that could have gone into solving the burglary, like putting pictures of the things that were stolen in the local paper in an effort to recover them.
米勒太太說：「收到花很開心，但是花在這上面的心思本來可以用在偵破竊盜案上，像是把遭竊物品的照片登在當地報紙上，以找回失物。」
"I’d rather they’d had sent a community support officer to comfort me after it happened rather than being fobbed off with flowers."
「我寧願他們在事發後派一名社區服務警察來安慰我，而不是用一束花把我打發了。」

Man charged over defaced Queen painting

The painting went on display last month in the abbey's Chapter House

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• New portrait of Queen is unveiled

A man arrested for defacing a painting of the Queen at Westminster Abbey has been charged.

Tim Haries, 41, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, will appear in custody at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
The electrician is charged with criminal damage over £5,000.
The oil painting on canvas by Ralph Heimans, which went on display in the Chapter House in May, was damaged with spray paint on Thursday.
It was completed last year for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and depicts the Queen in state dress.
The incident came nine days after the monarch and other members of the Royal Family attended a service at the abbey marking the 60th anniversary of her Coronation.
Palace sitting The oil painting, entitled The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has been taken off public display as a result of the damage.
The painting measures 9ft by 11ft and depicts the monarch in the Sacrarium of Westminster Abbey, also known as the Coronation Theatre.
It was shown publicly for the first time in September at Australia's National Portrait Gallery in Canberra before being moved to London.
The Australian-born artist, who is based in London, had a sitting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in March last year.
Police were called to the abbey just after midday on Thursday after security guards detained a man.
A spokesman for Mr Heimans said the artist was "aware of the incident" but would not be commenting further.

Britain Would Be Better Off Going It Alone ( Nigel Farage )

• OPINION EUROPE
• June 12, 2013, 3:31 p.m. ET

Britain Would Be Better Off Going It Alone

The U.K. would have more influence on the world stage outside the EU.

By NIGEL FARAGE

Speaking in Essex on Monday ahead of next week's G-8 summit in Belfast, British Prime Minister David Cameron did as he has done many times before: He argued for the U.K. to stay in the European Union.
Mr. Cameron again promised that sometime in the future, he will seek to begin negotiations on EU reform—but only if the Conservative Party gets a majority in the U.K. 2015 parliamentary election. After a "new settlement" is negotiated, the prime minister says, he will then offer the British public an in-or-out referendum on EU membership. Mr. Cameron has also made it crystal-clear that he will campaign for Britain to stay in the EU.
Of course, the prime minister has made and broken a promise of an EU referendum before, in 2009, so this game is nothing new. Meanwhile, other European governments have already said they will not play ball on renegotiating Britain's EU arrangements. That's no surprise, given the way the British government is already marginalized in EU decision-making.
I suggested to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee this week that the U.K. simply own up to its impotence in Brussels. The British government's defeats on the financial-transaction tax and bankers' bonuses illustrate the point. What is the point of belonging to a club in which we have so little influence?
That does not seem to discourage the prime minister. One of his key arguments on Monday in Essex was that the U.K.'s membership in the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, NATO, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the G-8, the G-20 and the EU, is not a matter of "national vanity—it is in our national interest."

Enlarge Image

Reuters

David Cameron speaking at the London Gateway container port on June 10.

It is hard to tell if the prime minister is being ignorant or dishonest when he claims that Britain is at the top table at the WTO. We are not. We are represented only through the EU and its trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht. Only if we left the EU could Britain be a true member of the WTO. Independence would mean greater, not lesser influence on the world stage.
Likewise, Mr. Cameron knows that Britain's membership in the Commonwealth, the G-8, the G-20 and NATO would be completely unaffected by leaving the EU. He also knows that our permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council is actually threatened by our continued membership of the EU, which wants a larger role for itself at the U.N.
It is in trade, however, where leaving the EU would offer the greatest benefits. Mr. Cameron talks about a global marketplace, yet he wishes to keep Britain shackled to the EU, which, as the current trade spat with China shows, is a byword for hyperregulation and protectionism. Britain needs to be free to set its own trade relationships. In the past two months, Iceland and Switzerland, both non-EU members, have set up free-trade deals with China. The EU hasn't.
Britain's trade with the rest of the world is growing, while its trade with the rest of the EU is contracting. Isn't it time Mr. Cameron took off his Brussels blinkers and embraced the future? The EU is a creature of the past—a 1970s solution to a 1950s problem.
As Victor Hugo once wrote, "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come." In a fast-changing, globalized world, the U.K. Independence Party's call for free trade and national democratic control is gaining currency. It is an idea whose time has come.
David Cameron did use his remarks in Essex to make one useful point. "Europe today," he said, echoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel's favorite observation, "accounts for just over 7% of the world's population, produces around 25% of global GDP, but it has to finance 50% of global welfare spending."
The EU has helped produce a continent in economic, demographic and democratic decline. Yet the prime minister wants Britain to stay in the EU under all circumstances. It is time for the British people to recognize this and vote accordingly.
Mr. Farage is leader of the U.K. Independence Party and a British member of the European Parliament.

Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Coordinates: 51°31′29″N 0°7′49″W

The David Vases, said to be two of the best-known Chinese porcelains in the world.

The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art is a collection of Chinese ceramics and related items in London, England. The Foundation's main purpose is to promote the study and teaching of Chinese art and culture. The Collection consists of some 1,700 pieces of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing porcelain from the 10th century to the 18th. It includes examples of the rare Ru and Guan wares and two important Yuan dynasty blue and white porcelain temple vases (the "David Vases") the oldest dated blue and white porcelain objects, from 1351.^[1] It also holds a large library of Western and East Asian books related to Chinese art. In 1950 the Collection was presented to the University of London by the collector and scholar Sir Percival David. Today, the collection is on permanent display in the British Museum in London.

倫敦大學舊地的中文簡介請參考Ken Yifertw (台語與佛典) -轉載的:陸揚： 〈倫敦零拾---兼紀 2005 IABS〉

 

The collection

Two flasks with dragons, 1403–24.

The collection dates back to 1927 when many of the items in the Forbidden City were being sold off by eunuchs and other members of the Imperial Household Department. The Dowager Empress is said to have used many items as collateral for loans from various Chinese banks in 1901. Sir Percival David convinced the officials to mount a display of many of the best items. When they started to come on the market, David managed to buy some forty pieces one way or the other and export them to the United States. In 1930, he again returned to China and helped with various exhibitions and produced a series of catalogues of the pieces. He also managed to acquire more items through various dealers in Beijing. This means that many pieces were once owned by the Qing Emperors and several pieces have inscriptions added by the orders of the Emperor Qianlong (1736–95).
In 1931, David's collection was displayed in the Dorchester Hotel in London. It remained there until it was evacuated to the countryside during World War II. Sir Percival David also created a Chair in Chinese Art and Architecture with the Courtauld Institute of Art, which is part of the University of London. Towards the end of his life he was determined to keep the collection together and to this end entered negotiations with the University of London. An agreement was reached to keep the collection and the library together in a Foundation attached to SOAS. The Chair that David had created was also moved to SOAS. Just before the opening of the Collection, the Foundation was also given a small collection of porcelain belonging to Mountstuart Elphinstone. The Collection was opened to the public on 10 June 1952 in a house in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury.

The former home of the Percival David Foundation in Gordon Square

The Foundation has been a generous lender to other countries. It lent many items of Yuan Dynasty porcelain to Venice's 700th-anniversary celebration of Marco Polo's expedition. It has also sent other items to places as far away as Japan and the United States.
The Library collection was a working library and as such was open to researchers from around the world.

Relocation

Room 95, British Museum.

Due to a funding crisis, the Gordon Square building housing the Foundation's collection closed at the end of 2007. The ceramics collection has been loaned on a long-term basis to the British Museum, where the whole collection, about 1,700 objects, is on permanent public display in a specially designed new gallery (Room 95, British Museum) opened in April 2009, thanks to the generosity of Sir Joseph Hotung.^[2] The public gallery is part of the Sir Joseph Hotung Centre for Ceramic Studies, which will include facilities to use the collection for teaching.^[3]
Chinese Ceramics: Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection, by Regina Krahl and Jessica Harrison-Hall, was published in April 2009 by the British Museum Press to coincide with the opening of the new display.

References

1. ^ British Museum Press release
2. ^ British Museum Press release.^[where?]
3. ^ Temporary suspension of access to the Percival David Collection of Chinese Ceramics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. UK. (Accessed 13/07/08.)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Room 95, British Museum

• British Museum, Room 95
• BBC audio file A History of the World in 100 Objects
• A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum of Art