Shenzhen City Hall and Civic Center

At first glance you might think it looks weird for a city hall/civic center to be shaped like that, but staring at it further and looking at it closely I could understand the city's attempt to create such an iconic landmark blending modern touches with the sweeping classic Chinese architecture.

With a 91 thousand square meter footprint (979,524 square feet) and 210 thousand square meters of floorspace (2,260,440 square feet), this is a big building.

The roc is Shenzhen's symbol and the Shenzhen's Civic Centre's soaring roofline is meant to be evocative of the roc's mythical wingspan.

Many feel that Shenzhen's Civic Centre architecture also hearkens to Tang dynasty architecture (618-907 AD ... with a brief break from 690-705 when Wu Zetian seized the throne to briefly usher in the Second Zhou Dynasty... China's only official female leader, but I digress).

Shenzhen's Civic Centre's architect was Li Mingyi and it was built by the Shenzhen QiXin Construction Group Co., Ltd. (see their website archive here for more images of it...) and finished in 2004. : http://e-cuneiform.blogspot.com/2009/03/shenzhen-museum-of-history-in-shenzhen.html

Shenzhen Window of the World : Replicating China

(Photo above is a replica of Eiffel Tower found in Window of the World Shenzhen China taken last October 25.)

One thing you would admire about China and Chinese in totality is their ability to replicate most things in short period of time and at a lower production cost. But ok, well, lets set aside those issues about poor quality, (yes oftenly neglected in China). Here we have a very perfect example! The Shenzhen Window of the World, a replica of almost all of the worlds landmarks!

China has the worlds longest and richest and the most authentic culture and history. History tells us that ancient Chinese invented some of worlds innovations like fireworks, kites, papers, silks, etc. and was able to conquer remarkable feat like of course The Great Wall o China, the only structure visible from the moon. Their cultural ingenuity is remarkable, fantastic and beyond description. Still China's decades of closed country policy prisoned much of it and was left behind from the minds of the world ideals in embracing constant modernism.

Today China's image maybe tainted with some negative marks e.g. pirated/fake products, substandard products milk e.g. etc. but no one could deny the country now held its throne along with the worlds economic juggernaut. With its rapid development I do hope China wouldn't compromise much important aspects, quality, safety and environment protection. Better hopes for China.

Birth of Blogging

Today marked  birth of this blog. Often, I am not a man of many words. I am not a writer. I prefer being visual. I present projects in a visual manner employing mostly heavy graphic techniques. One time, during a presentation meeting, my boss just sneered at me and complained the images are big and I should have been more emphatic on the explanation. Those sharp words tattooed my mind completely. Simple words but often enough for the wise to contemplate and rethink. (no Im absolutely not a wise man lol!) Im not good at writing anything poems, songs or something or explaining how things works blah blah my life, that life this and that etcetera. But oftentimes I try facing the wall and ask myself should I bury myself in that defeat. Most of the brave would try to even go "up against a wall". 

They say having a blog will constantly upgrade and practice your writing. Well I have blog elsewhere here and there before but its nothing serious! Like a kid playing around and out of curiosity "hey this is blog", but few days after completely forgetting about it! I started my serious flickr page ---> http://flickr.com/photos/jalvaran several weeks ago and I found it very helpful, enticing, encouraging me to know more and better about photography. (still I am an amatuer among amateurs lol) It gave me a real grasp about photography seeing photos taken by pros and knowledgeable one and taking most of their comments. But hey its all practically straight forward photography and defintely cheesy to write something like this and that,  so I began contemplating, how about a serious life blog?

Well I hope, not only will it encourage me to write but as I grow older and older each day I could reflect things passing from day to day. 

So a blessed blogging days ahead. Cheers!