Grace Zhou's blog

last one is not clear, I make the mosaic on my own photo and put different eyes, mouth and hands from various "people" into one face.

    I used to think that a city is a friend who I am so familiar with, but when I play in a city, as a bystander and explorer, I find that the city is more like a stranger to the civilians who “seem” to connect with it tightly. In fact, they are never bothered by the “serendipity”, because they actually only care the information benefits and interests them and neglect the surroundings automatically.

I love playing. Playing makes me happy, relaxed and imaginative. Even if the playing is too dangerous, it still owns advantages. But, different kind of games maybe can lead to various results. I really can’t recall some experience about playing time when I was little but I know the playing is completely different now. Like it said in “Taking play seriously”, many kids nowadays are addicted to computer games and other games only needed the fingers to move. I never liked playing the video games. It is exhausting for me to sit on the chair and stare at the screen whole time. I think it’s true that video game is not a playing benefited to people. People are not evolved in the game by just moving their fingers. Also, playing the video games is more dangerous, for it’s unrealistic and violent sometimes. Playing is a natural process, no matter it’s beneficial to the brain development or not, it is people’s right to follow their instinct and explore the real world during participating.

Chengdu, with more than 2300 years old, builds a strong culture affecting every generation. We live and enjoy like people did before. I want to show you an image with history, people, nature and development.

At front of image, you can see the vendors peddling their homemade cookies, vegetables and elegant pendants on the sides of narrow roads, with the rickshaw pullers carefully rush around; you can see the people with different ages sitting beside the river, enjoying some tea, and shaking the fans softly.  You can see tea, mahjong and hotpot everywhere. People see tranquility in tea culture, happiness and excitement in mahjong, and comfort in hotpot to adjust the mild weather in Chengdu. Still, You don’t want to miss hundreds of condiments made from various chilies and flower pepper in the market. They are so hot, red and exciting. Also, you can see the adorable pandas sitting in their house and enjoying “delicious” bamboo. You can see the history here. This image has a city which invented the first paper money in world, owned the residence of the poet Dufu from Tang dynasty, got the earliest water conservancy program in the world.

Choosing this avatar really reminds me where I am from- Sichuan, China, a place famous for pandas and spicy cuisine. Like what we have done when entering the college, I want to tell you where I'm from. I'm from the bell rings of the rickshas in the narrow and  long alleys; I'm from adorable pandas, from hot-pot and from numerous antiques in history; I'm from brilliant and beautiful poems and literatures thousands years ago. It is the place I was born and grew make me nowadays. Because of the eating habit, I act in a piquant way. Because of the long history, I obey various tradition. Because of the relaxing atmosphere in my city, I like sitting besides the rivers, drinking  tea, and reading some fictions or playing cards with my friends. There's no need to think, no need to worry. No matter where I am going, I know I'm from there, and I am always there. It's rooted in my heritage, my blood, my value, even in my free-well, my soul and future.