Sunday, November 8, 2009

Amazon Warriors in Vietnam!!

One of my favorite historical novels when growing up was James Clavell's Shogun. Of course, it was about a westerner's experience in feudal Japan and not from an Asian's viewpoint. Since then I can't think of another Asian-based historical novel that has caught my attention but after touring China and Vietnam I have run into several historical personalities who each deserve their own historical novel.





When I was in Nha Trang Vietnam I walked into town along a lovely white sand beach passing a war Memorial to the Vietnamese hero Tran Hung Dao.



Here are some photos of the monument and the bas reliefs depicting his victories over the invading Mongol Armies of Kublai Khan.



There was also a Vietnamese inscription, I am awaiting a translation.



Like many great heros, he was a man of many talents unwillingly called to serve his nation. He was a poet as well as a student of Chinese literature and was very familiar with Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". His treatises on military strategy were consulted in succeeding wars against the Chinese, French and Americans. He was born during an imperial dynastic transition in Thang Long (Hanoi) with all the attendant bitter intrigues.


 French Interpretation of Queen Trung Trac

Vietnam heros are not limited to men. There are also the famous Truong Sisters, as well as Lady Trieu who led successful but short-lived rebellions against the oppressive Chinese during their four lengthy periods of domination.

The North Vietnamese sisters Trung Trac and Trung Nhj began a rebellion against the occupying Chinese armies and raised an army of woman warriors, capturing over 65 Vietnamese cities and destroying bridges along the norther frontier with Han Dynasty China. They ruled an independent Vietnam for three years until Emperor Gwangwu ordered an irresistible army to reclaim the lost territories. Facing final defeat the sisters committed suicide (How Cleopatra like!). They are still revered, especially in northern Vietnam. An intriguing observation in wikipedia reads: The stories of the Trưng sisters and of another famous woman warrior, Triệu Thị Trinh, are cited by some historians as hints that Vietnamese society before Chinese influence was a matriarchal one, where there are no obstacles for women in assuming leadership roles. What we need here is an asian Chris Gortner to tell these triumphant but ultimately tragic stories of these heroic women.



The fine arts community in Saigon is alive and well with many galleries of stunning paintings. This is a quick snapshot of a painting by a Vietnamese artist that I am pretending is Lady Trieu

China also has its share of heroes but one in particular caught my attention. I have always been interested in the purple twilight of the Byzantine imperial enclave at Trebizond and China has an analogue in the fading years of the Ming Dynasty in the fortress island of Xiamen. 



The above photo is of a heroic statue of Koxinga that stands on a promontory of Gulang Yu island a five minute ferry ride from Xiamen.

Zheng Chenggong, known by the more popular epithet Koxinga (or Koxingua) was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Chinese Father. He grew up in the fading Ming imperial court, attending the imperial University in Nanking, studying under the scholar Qian Qianyi. He was torn from his studies to lead a heroic resistance movement supporting a series of Ming emperors who had retreated to Southern China. From his fortified island of Xiamen he dealt the Manchus of the invading Qing dynasty defeats on land and sea before capturing Taiwan from the Dutch. He fortified Taiwan and used the island's resources to harry the Manchus until his untimely death at age 37 of Malaria. His son Zheng Jing succeeded him as the King of Taiwan.

There may already be historical novels already written about these fascinating people caught in the firestorm of war and rebellion -- so, if you know author and title please leave the information in the comments. Also, if you know of a novel that is untranslated maybe there is a way to bring these riveting stories to western audiences.

Sailing on a Sea of Glass

Right now I am sailing down the Taiwan strait between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China on the MS Volendam which is a medium sized ship in the Holland America fleet. We had some rough seas when we passed through a gale on the way to Xiamen, China so this eerie calm that fades into a featureless horizon is quite welcome. Though, I imagine that for sailboats it would be worrisome without a puff of wind to fill their sails. One of the things I have missed in the China sea is the dearth of pleasure boats that you see all over the Mediteranean, Carribean and east and west coasts of the U.S. What you see here is fleets and fleets of fishing boats as well as container ships and in the river systems a veritable traffic jam of working barges of all sizes and colors.



Back to the Sea of Glass, I have a recording with me of Giles Reaves "Sea of Glass" and his music perfectly captures the mystery and the haunting beauty of this seascape. Giles Reaves is a composer of music that would be classified as contemporary classical by some and New Age by others. You can find his music on his website and I think you can still order some of his CD's from the "Hearts of Space" site.

In one of the stairwells of the ship I found some painting by one of the earlier captains of the MS Volendam, Stephen J. Card. I would like to share them with you as his technique as a maritime artist is both accomplished and intriguing. He has managed to capture the history of each of the iterations of the MS Volendam (We are currently cruising on the Volendam III) and acquaints the viewers with the proud heritage of this venerable line of cruising vessels. Mr. Card, a British citizen, currently lives and paints in Bermuda



MS Volendam II on a Calm Sea


SS Nieuw Amsterdam Passing the Volendam I


View of the Third Statendam


The 1938 Noordam Passing the Binnendijk


The MS Volendam III Cruising off the Coast


MS Volendam I in the Norweigian fjords

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Raising Your Consciousness with Music

I made friends with one of the performers who was booked for the past two legs of the cruise I am on -- internationally acclaimed flutist Bettine Clemen. She has played with many international orchestras including the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg. Being an amateur flutist myself I was dazzled at her command of technique (she has a gold flute and the tone is amazing - rich and warm) and also her amazing stamina -- twice doing two shows in one day of solo and accompanied flute. I'm always exhausted after a serious hour of practice.



But even more interesting were her stories she told. She has been all over the world to raise awareness of animal rights. Part of her multimedia show has film of her playing music for animals and their fascination with the music she plays. They seem mesmerized. One sequence has an exotic parrot keeping time with his head bobbing and another has an australian wallaby gazing at her with fascination finally reaching out with one of its hands to caress her flute. But the segment that caught my attention was her playing for Jonathan, a two hundred and twenty year old tortoise on St. Helena. This tortoise was alive and wandering about the island when Napoleon was imprisoned there! Now if Jonathan could just find a ghost writer to take down his memoirs…

Bettine, when she was just a child, had a chance to play with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra just before the start of the Cultural Revolution. She befriended and learned from the principal flutist who was an extremely accomplished musician. Sadly, in the purge of all things western he was taken to a reeducation camp where they broke his wrist and jaw to make sure he would never play again. Bettine was able to track him down this trip to Shanghai and while he cannot play the flute he is a respected member of the Shanghai music community and appreciated for his vast musical knowledge. It was a joy to her to finally renew their friendship.

I constructed the montage of Bettine from photos I took during her classical program that she preformed just before docking at Hong Kong.