想北京

Sometimes I miss Beijing, not often but I do.  I miss the Bookworm, I miss chuaner （串儿）, and I miss all the free time.  But most of the time, I am glad I moved to New Orleans, and I am certainly glad I married the greatest person on earth, 唐奇。

My mom never ages!

Classic Uncle Gary!

你好后海

From the street!

Classic Effie!

Keep your eyes closed during important photos.

她非常漂亮

I am a lucky man!

漂亮！

No caption needed!

#can'tdivorcemenow!

Married in Algiers! (not the capital of Algeria!)

Don't ask how much the tiki glasses cost!

＃balloonglow

Noble House

Cover from an old
edition

For the last month and a half, I have trudged through the task of reading James Clavell's Noble House.  The book is fantastic and that's quite possibly the understatement of the century.  I say "trudged" only because the book's length makes it a daunting task for any reader.  After a month and a half of reading, I am only on page 1010 out of 1400.  That makes it over 200 pages longer than Clavell's more famous behemoth, Shogun.  Even for an avid reader like myself, reading a book longer than many series can be a labor of love.

The book is a direct sequel to Clavell's Taipan, one of my favorite books from last year.  Set over the course of only one week in 1963, the book chronicles the intrigue surrounding Hong Kong's Noble House and its current enigmatic leader, Ian Dunross.  The excitement hasn't let up since the prologue where an illegal shipment of jet engines, bound for Red China, sinks in a storm at the very same moment Dunross is sworn in as the new Taipan (leader) of the Noble House.

From the TV miniseries, starring
Pierce Brosnon

Though no one will ever accuse me of sharing Clavell's belief in a benign China, buried by its Soviet neighbor, he writes about Chinese characters in a way no other waiguo author does, explaining cultural differences accurately and with an unflinching and unapologetic eye.  Today most would probably call his representations of Chinese characters as something less than PC.  However, I find them to be spot on, and I think he does a wonderful job of falling into the trap of a homogenous Asian continent.  Also the fact he is not Chinese eliminates the point most readers pounce on when reading Chinese books.  Many readers try to attribute baffling cultural differences or inconsistencies to translation errors, a point no one can make against Clavell.

I think the wonderful job Clavell does making the motivations and characteristics of Asian societies different from their "western" counterparts has certainly played an important role with how I have enjoyed his work.  I was unable to finish Shogun because I found it monotonous and boring, though comfortable and quaint.  The Japanese lust for power for the sake of status made the Japanese characters seem difficult to analyze.  They were just too different and difficult for me to relate to them.  However, I have loved both of Clavell's books that are set in Hong Kong for the very opposite reason.  My familiarity with Chinese culture has made the book interesting, funny, and tragic in ways that would have went over my head only a few years ago.

Despite my apprehensions about Shogun (that no one else seems to share), Clavell has proven himself to be a wonderful window onto Asia for the wider world.

Unintentional Propaganda and Chinese Films

Take a look and Chinese video streaming sites and you'll notice something about the international films.  Sites like Sohu and Youku feature many big budget Hollywood movies from the past several decades.  Nearly all of movies from foreign countries violate China's mysterious film code in some way, such as containing strong violence, nudity, or cursing.  So why do some films get passed the censors while others are kept out.  These films always convey a message that reinforces party doctrine or portray their respective country of origin in a negative light.  Basically they serve as unintentional propaganda.    

Many of the films, documentaries, and television shows produced in the United States and elsewhere get used in China as propaganda.  Some examine social and economic problems in the United States.  Shows like House of Cards have become very popular with the well-educated in China due to their high production value and their discussion of topics taboo in China.  Of course having a show in China that focused on lying and cheating by government officials would never see the light of day.  The effect of these shows/films is threefold.  They make US officials look corrupt and incompetent.  The films and shows make the United States seem unsafe.  And finally they make the US seem unstable.

The importation of these forms of entertainment due result in some uncomfortable questions for the CPC regarding why China censors its domestic entertainment so rigorously, but doesn't seem to care what's imported into the country.  A big controversy arose a few months ago when a drama set in the Forbidden City needed to have scenes of some cleavage removed.  That's right, they cut cleavage, but a foreign film with countless deaths will usually make it through the censors as long as the message fits the mold or part of the production is in some way linked to China.

People in China clamor over themselves to pack into movie theaters and see American blockbusters.  Most non-animated movies aren't translated, forcing the audiences to read subtitles.  Despite the subtitles, people still come in droves.  Of the 10 highest grossing films in China, 6 are American blockbusters released in the last 8 years.  After living here for two years, I can't blame Chinese audiences for flocking to foreign films, American films in particular.  American blockbuster, with their plethora of explosions, mean that audiences don't need to understand every word of the dialogue to follow the plot.

You have three main choices when choosing a Chinese television show or movie; fighting the Japanese, fighting the Nationalists, or a new retelling of Journey to the West.

  

  

Shanghai: Pearl of the Orient

Tang Qi on the Bund

Let me begin this post by paying Shanghai a very backhanded compliment.  Shanghai is the poor man's version of every great Asian city.  It doesn't have the important historical sites Beijing has, it isn't nearly as dynamic or exciting as Hong Kong, and it doesn't have the livability of Tokyo.  It does everything well and nothing great.

However Asia is a land of extremes, and while Shanghai might not score top marks in any of the above categories, it doesn't have their severe drawbacks either.  I love Shanghai because Shanghai loves itself.  It's proud of the fact its unique and not perfect.  Nor does waller in self pity like many Chinese cities.  I am talking to you Beijing, and your "civilize Chaoyang" posters.  Not quite Chinese, not quiet foreign, and not quite global, its at a sweat spot for budget travelers like myself.  If you can call Shanghai anything, it's gargantuan.

I am hiding my hat behind me

Shanghai's lack of tourist sites make it great for relaxing weekend getaways.  It was nice to visit an important Chinese city and not have a laundry list of historical sites to checkoff.  Lucky for you, its lack of sites will prevent me from going Rick Steves on my readers in this post.
We spent the majority of our time strolling down Shanghai's streets and enjoying the atmosphere.  The city encompasses many distinct neighborhoods, each with its own vibe, and provides a welcome contrast to the homogeneity of most Chinese cities.

Your average Shanghaier has a laid-back attitude.  Compared to Asia's more hectic cities, like Hong Kong, life moves at a slower pace.  This despite all the hype surrounding the city.  The only thing speeding you by are the motor bikes, and there are a lot of them.  Watch out!  Ducking down a side street can make the place seem a lot less oversized.  Outside the main shopping areas I thought Shanghai felt much less crowded than the streets of Beijing.  Not bad for a city of around 24 million and the largest city in China.

Balls of steel

If you are willing to forgo foreign food, Shanghai won't decimate your wallet the way some other cities are fond of doing.  Even with its relatively low cost compared to Asian money pits, such as Tokyo, the service quality in Shanghai puts other Chinese cities to shame.  It was nice to go to a restaurant or buy something at a store and not have the staff treat me like a criminal.  Also, people were much more receptive to speaking Chinese with me.  I even made it out of a Starbucks without the staff bombarding me with English.  An flat impossibility in Beijing.      

My girlfriend and I stayed in the old part of Shanghai.  The area east of the river boasts many European style buildings, built during the beginning of the last century.  The unique style of each building makes the narrow streets surprisingly easy to navigate.  Don't worry about getting lost.  With all the skyscrapers for landmarks you won't have to worry about getting disoriented.

The buildings of Shanghai's now iconic skyline lie across the river in the Pudong district.  I recommend visiting this side of the river, but be warned.  Expect a large amount of walking and not a lot to see.  There isn't anything except offices and the new Disney store.  The Pudong skyline is best admired from The Bund on the other side of the river.  

I had an entire train car to myself north of Nanjing to Beijing
on the way home....creepy but relaxing

The two distinct sides of the river give Shanghai a pleasant form of split personality disorder.  The west, old city resembles the streets of a European capital and the east, new city remind me of a Chinese caricature of New York or Chicago.  Shanghai proved itself as a great weekend destination, and you can pretty much do everything it has to offer in three days.  Not bad on a budget.        

European style clocktower

The "bottle opener" (l) and the world's second
tallest building (r)

The Boxer Rebellion

I remember learning about the Boxer Rebellion in my high school world history class. The only things I remember being told were, "1900.  Boxers thought they could catch bullets. Eight Power Alliance invades China."  I spent last month reading about this interesting historical event.

China's relationship with the Boxer Rebellion is much different, though no less complex, than its relationship with the Opium Wars.  Chinese governments have fallen in and out of love with the Boxers and their anti-foreign sentiments since the beginning of the movement in the late Qing Dynasty.  Even the Qing themselves didn't know whether to treat the Boxers as friend or foe, eventually siding with them in hopes they wouldn't turn their outrage against the Qing government.  

Today the Chinese Propaganda Machine treats the Boxer Rebellion like a cheaper, less entertaining sequel to the Opium Wars, letting it languish in historical memory.  It doesn't get near the amount of attention awarded to other "acts of foreign aggression", probably because Chinese history books look less kindly on the Qing Government of 1900 than of 1840.  Fanatical Boxers are a harder sell than inept Chinese crusaders against opium.  Also it's rather had to defend a movement which only accomplishment was killing defenseless missionaries and leading a genocide against Chinese Christians.

During the Cultural Revolution, Mao and other Chinese leaders praised the Boxers as patriots and leaders, sometimes painting them as proto-communists.  This isn't surprising considering the parallels between China during Cultural Revolution and China during the Boxer Rebellion.  Both movements attempted to rid China of negative, internal elements and expel all foreign influences.  Unlike China in the 1960's, China in 1900 still had a large contingent of foreigners, living, working, and preaching in China.  Sadly these foreigners proved an easy scapegoat for China's internal problems and many lost their lives during executions in villages and the sieges of the foreign legations in Beijing.  

As the smoke cleared and the siege lifted, the foreign armies, along with the general Chinese population, looted everything that wasn't nailed down.  Many Chinese treasures ended up in the hands of private collectors and European Museums.  Considering what happened to many historical relics during the Cultural Revolution, this has probably been a good thing for their preservation for future generations.  Despite Communist fervor for the cause of the Boxers during the Cultural Revolution, the extremism of the movement usually resulted in the opposite outcome of what the Boxers attempted to do in 1900.  The extremism of the Red Guards famously led to the decimation of traditional Chinese culture and the destruction of countless priceless artifacts.

     

China's Addiction to Remembering the Opium Wars

China's fixation on the Opium Wars are the cornerstone on which the foundation of the Communist Party of China's legitimacy rests.  When you go visit the gargantuan National Museum of China on the east edge of Tiananmen Square, the section on modern Chinese history begins with the first Opium War in the 1840's.  So began China's century of humiliation at the hands of foreign imperialist, ending after "liberation" by the communists at the end of the civil war.  At least this is how the story goes in China today.

Of course the two wars between Britain and China did happen, and yes they were fought over British efforts to import opium into China, this fact no one disputes.  China's historians historical narrative differs from the wider world's regarding why the Chinese military and state failed so spectacularly during the wars.  The principal differences between Chinese and non-Chinese historical writings about the war are Chinese historians' efforts to dance around several key issues; bureaucratic mishandling of resources, military discipline, and the loyalty of average Chinese subjects (or average Zhou's if you prefer).

I know it will sound terrible, but I found stories about imperial bumbling of the wars incredibly entertaining at least for the first Opium War.  All the Chinese commanders, including at one point a 15-year old boy, seem so preoccupied with not having their heads chopped off that they falsify dispatches of incredible victories for the emperor, all while while their junks are literally blown out of the water.  Yes even 175 years ago 差不多 accounts of personal accomplishments from Chinese males permeated the Chinese landscape.  Lovell's account of the second Opium War is considerably shorter, darker, and a much more decisive victory for the British and their allies French.

The last third of Lovell's book focuses on how the communists have used the Opium Wars to justify their rule since the party's inception, and how the party's interpretation is a complete facsimile of their adversaries who fled across the Taiwan Strait.  Note: Chairman Mao once served as the director of the Nationalist's propaganda department before a political purge.  Under successive dictatorships China's role in history went from China being its own worst enemy, to a backward nation colonized by all of the imperialist powers simultaneously.

The reason for this transition is simple.  The former meant focusing on systemic problems within Chinese society and how they exacerbated problems during the wars, turning them into debacles.  The latter just meant focusing on the idea of China as a backward country that needed a ruling force with a firm hand to guide it along the path to "development".  发展至上.  As a foreigner looking at China through my personal lens, the myth of the latter truly reigns supreme in government propaganda about the war.  

This month I finished both Lovell's impressive book The Opium War and Preston's less impressive The Boxer Rebellion.  Be on the lookout for a future post about Beijing's prominent role in the rebellion.               

The Rogue State's Gallery

It's a little known fact that the North Korean government runs an art gallery in Beijing's swanky 798 arts district.  It's become something of an urban legend, and the gallery is tucked away in a corner of the compound making it hard for the casual visitor to find.

A four mop salute

Outside the gallery stands a replica of a large statue from North Korea.  You can see it pictured here with a salute of mops standing against it.  My guess is that the Dear Leader might be a neat freak.  As I mentioned before, this place isn't easy to find.  I found it completely by chance while wondering around the 798.  I didn't even know it existed before I went.

The expiation on the side of the building about what it is

Though the gallery doesn't allow pictures, I managed to snap a few before the workers told me in English to stop.  I also observed that the gallery employees spoke to each other entirely in Chinese.

One of the pictures from inside the gallery features a whole wall of paintings including people on horseback and a female factory worker.  Another picture shows a painting of the North Korean Soccer team celebrating.  The art is eerily similar to the art you will find in the "modern" section of the National Museum of China, but unlike the NMoC, this North Korean gallery featured some art with contemporary subjects (after 1980).  This fact only highlighted for me the interesting corner the Chinese government has drawn itself into in recent decades.

A sampling of North Korean art

Turning its back on Marxist-Maoist ideology while still trying to justify the party's existence has made the topic of contemporary life taboo.  You see this in everything from television and movies to books.  It seems like the majority of television shows on CCTV are either about fighting the Nationalist or Japanese, dramas about the imperial court, or food.  It's for this reason that foreign entertainment has become so big in China, and why its popularity continues to grow at breakneck speed.  North Korea doesn't have shy away from the modern world.  Like China it controls the media, but it doesn't have to worry as much about information slipping in from the outside world.

The fact I saw a painting glorifying a soccer victory in Socialist-Realist style didn't come as a shock to me.  What shocked me was that I haven't seen it in China, because almost nothing in China after 1949 is ever discussed in art.  As discussed in my last post, almost none of the art in the 798 comes off as anything close to unique.  In a way the North Korean gallery highlighted what government-approved art looks like before the grip of the state loosens like it has in today's China.

The gallery sold souvenirs like North Korean postage stamps.  I didn't buy any because I made a conscience decision not to indirectly support the regime in the DPRK.  As my time in Beijing comes to a close I am beginning to wonder if I have somehow passively lent support to the CPC by living here.  The truth is that I probably have in a way, and frankly I feel guilty for this in a way.

Things like this only help me appreciate that I am an American.        

Did North Korea win World Cup '14 and no one tell me about it?

Note: A new movie about an elderly woman dealing with her experiences during the Cultural Revolution was released last week.  I am holding my breath hoping it doesn't get pulled before I can see it.  

798

Alfresco dinning

Beijing's 798 Arts District is notable for being in a former East German constructed factory complex.  The area continues to gain popularity as a tourist destination, particularly for domestic tourists from other parts of China and foreigners looking for a more laid back alternative to Gulou.  I'll be blunt about it.  If you only have a week in Beijing this place is a skip, but I have lived here two years and I am running out of things on my Beijing Bucket List at an alarming rate.  The focus at the 798 is less on the art and more "looking cool for the outside world", but even this gives a great opportunity to enjoy and examine the "face" Asia's favorite one party dictatorship puts on for the rest of the world.


Businesses in the complex range from surprisingly good restaurants to expensive art gallaries without much in between.  Either way, don't forget your wallet because you'll need to leave it at the 798 when you go home.

Steampunk before steampunk was steampunk

There's a lot of hype surrounding this place.  Some people even go as far as to call it Beijing's Soho, though I'd certainly call this an overestimation.  It took me nearly two years to get the motivation to visit the place.  Most casual visitors to the capital skip it because of its distance from other attractions.  No one will ever accuse it of being easy to get to the 798 because there isn't a decently close subway station.  In fact 7.98 hours is roughly the time it will take you to travel to this place from central Beijing if you take public transport.

Hello! Anyone Home?

Most of the galleries are on the high end of the price spectrem.  I also though the galleries themselves are few and far between in this massive compound.  That's sort of the problem with having such a big, sprawling space, if you don't have enough things to fill it up it just looks empty.  Many of the buildings I peaked into were completely empty.  However the 798 has an abundance of cafes, bars, restuarants and stores selling knick-knacks.

A few stores in the 798 specialize in selling cheaply made pieces of Americana.  These stores carry the same things that your local Cracker Barrel sells in the gift shop.  This might seem odd if you visit China for a short time.  I have come to expect this kinds of things here in the Middle Kingdom.  When I asked the woman working if the items were made "here" she told me yes.  Maybe she just meant made in China.

After two years I have begun to find China's embrace of everything culturally "non-Chinese" as troubling to say the least.  Especially as the Chinese government's pension for nationalism abroad surges unchecked.  As a result this post might come off as condescending.  Though most foreign news sources actually do a wonderful job of covering China (though the Chinese government would certainly say the opposite), I increasingly feel the need to highlight cultural things overlooked in favor of politics and economics.  

American culture and American art permeates the 798 for several reasons.  For one, its simply too controversial in China to prop the wing of a PLA Air Force plane in a public place.  Is it anti-military?  Is it anti-CPC?  There's simply too much ambiguity and symbolism.  Two, everyone knows its easier to steal than create.  And finally there frankly isn't a lot of contemporary culture unique to China.  It's a dark thing to say and probably a controversial statement, but after two years in Beijing and trips around China and to several of the China's neighbors, I frankly just have to admit this fact publicly.

Wing and a Prayer

The scars of the Cultural Revolution and Maoism unsurprisingly run deep.  Yes these catastrophic and important events might one day seep their way back into Chinese Culture and discourse, either when China begins to come to terms with its past or accept the things about the present it refuses to change.  Until this happens you'll still find commemorative license plates from the film Pearl Harbor that people try selling to you as "unique" works of Chinese art.  Either way the image of some party official's wife hanging a fake license plate with Ben Affleck's face on it and calling it art is simply too funny not to laugh about.        

Be on the look out for my next blog post about the 798's mysterious North Korean gallery.    

The Chinese love Michael Bay films in a way laowai
cannot understand

Rusty factory equipment permeates the Chinese countryside

Vague Sculpture

My friend Kofi and a tiger statue

Street with exposed piping.  That's how you know it's hip

Chinese Reads: Tai Pan

I am currently experiencing a Chinese phase of my life.  I live in China, I am learning Chinese (though unsuccessfully), and most of the books I read are about the Middle Kingdom.  Just last month I finished James Clavell's TaiPan, a story about a British trading firm during and after the first Opium War.  Unlike Clavell's other notable work, Shogun, I finished TaiPan and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Loyal readers may remember the blog post about me abandoning Shogun 800 pages into the book.  Despite Clavell writing TaiPan in the 60's, it reads like an allegory for today's China with its wonderful descriptions of cohongs and corruption.  The cohongs operated as middlemen between traders from Europe and America and the Chinese mainland.  All of the opium smugglers needed to partner with a cohong for the importation of opium to the Chinese mainland and the exportation of teas and silks.  Any sane person might ask I thought opium was illegal and the Europeans just forced it on the Chinese?  Yes opium was illegal, but the cohongs still oversaw the importation of the drug and made large sums of money from the practice.

The book highlighted two things in China that haven't changed in nearly 200 years.  Foreign enterprises still need to partner with Chinese middlemen when operating in the mainland.  The words the book using to describe this practice is "the squeeze".  Even back in the time of the emperors, China still placed lining the pockets of government ministers uber alles.  Today companies in certain industries, particularly anything relating to heavy manufacturing, must form a joint venture with a Chinese company, usually one of the state owned enterprises (SOE).  In industries that don't require many fixed costs or expertise, such as tech companies, foreign companies sometimes get locked out of China entirely.  Clavell's book shows this has been happening in China since before the "revolution".  

Not much different from
the cover of Shogun

The other harsh fact the book highlights is the absence of the rule of law.  China watchers might remember a few months back when every newspaper carried stories about President Xi's drive to foster the rule of law in China.  Then they realized this would be a bad thing of the party and the phrase "rule of law" disappeared about three weeks later.  Clavell uses the importation of opium to China to show us that the absence of the rule of law runs throughout Chinese history.  The Imperial Government made the importation of opium illegal and placed the Mandarins (government officials) in charge of enforcing the law.  Instead the Mandarins find a way to profit from importing the drug, regardless of the edicts from the emperor.

Though written decades ago, Clavell's novel reads like a tale of modern Chinese government and Chinese business practices.  He also does a wonderful job of showing why the tiny island of Hong Kong became so important for the Chinese people who went there for a better life.  As a teacher, I found the part about the cohong leader's efforts to have his son educated abroad particularly poignant.  Despite its nearly 800 page length, this book went by way to fast.  I recommend it for historical fiction buffs and anyone with an interest in China.     

Chinese Progaganda and Advertising

Communist China is famous for its propaganda. Despite efforts to keep many messages from the party a "domestic matter", it's always worth it to find out what these posters say. Some feature unintentionally funny messages and almost all boost poorly photoshopped images, a staple of Chinese propaganda since Windows 95. Images of the propaganda currently displayed in Beijing's public places is usually hard to come by on the internet, so I decided to take it upon myself to enlighten the world and dispel those nasty rumors spread by western media. Visitors usually don't break out the selfie stick for something they can't read, so I did it for you. Also western media outlets don't want to be locked out of the valuable Chinese market for pointing out some propagandist's efforts at passing off a poorly rendered, photoshopped version of Chicago as a model Chinese city. Enjoy these bits and pieces of the party's collective hive mind. Note: I once saw a propaganda poster with the White House on it in Tangshan, Hebei, but I was unable to snap a photo of it. I'll keep my eyes peeled.






This poster has appeared all over Beijing in the last few months. The writing says, "Promote ideological and moral construction for the children, create a healthy environment for the growth of children." The poster features many common themes in Chinese government propaganda including children laughing, greenery, and skyscrapers (both foreign and domestic).





This one says, "Maintain long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau， Work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations." Messages like this began appearing during the Hong Kong democracy protests last year. The reason this poster made it on this blog is because the photo is of mid-town Manhattan and not Hong Kong or Macau. If you look closely you can see the Chrysler Building and the Bank of America Tower.





Though I don't know for certain, I think this piece of propaganda from the Beijing Subway might be left over from the Beijing Olympics. Though this photo doesn't show it, the poster is extremely faded. It says, "Civilization forging industry brand，construct humanistic subway." No one said that these posters would translate well.






The ubiquitous, "Chinese Dream, Subway Dream," poster can be seen everywhere in Beijing. No one quite knows exactly what the Chinese Dream is, but I imagine its best dreamt during your 1:30 post lunch nap.






Sometimes the television screens in the Beijing Subway manfunction, and when this happens they display images from Windows XP. Not exactly propaganda, but it seems the Beijing Subway should ask the Microsoft paperclip for help.






I wasn't able to get this one translated, but it features the Sihui Bus Station. I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a picture of propaganda featuring a building while I was inside of the building.





Loyal readers of this blog might notice these buildings from "The Beijing Mysteries" series.
This poster is from the Sihui bus station in Beijing. Originally meant to be completed before the Beijing Olympics, the 40 story towers from the building in the posters stand topped out in central Beijing but have remained in development hell since 2008.
"Beijing spiritual practice , creating a hub success" The hub is a reference to the Dongzhimen
transport hub underneath the complex.







This poster from a bus stop is notable for its inclusion of the Seoul Tower from Seoul South Korea.
The poster says"Everywhere be safe"





This poster is from the backside of China Unicom's world headquarters on Chang'An. China Unicom is one of the "Big 3" Chinese state owned telecom companies. It features a poorly produced collage of buildings from around the world. "The leading digital media in Beijing"




This poster demonstrates the downside of using stock photos from the internet. Notice the World Trade Centers in the collage.




This one also features a much larger picture of New York city. The messages were placed next to two images, one of Macau and one of mid-town Manhattan. I assume they thought no one would notice, especially considering the poster of New York is in the middle of the display. The writing says, "Celebrate the 65th anniversary of the establishment of People's Republic of China"





The poster with this egg woman says "Chinese Dream MyDream" This poster is just one of many in a series featuring the "Chinese Dream" motif and porcelain figures.


The last propaganda poster of the post features the phrase, "Warm all the way , all the way clean, safe journey home." I don't know what it means either, but enjoy the photo of the countryside.