Welcome! VineOnline is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and events from ChinaVine team members
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 Sam Gehrke documenting noodle making with Mr. He ChinaVine emphasizes the importance of educating English-speaking children, youth, and adults about the material and intangible culture of China. Of equal importance are the first hand experiences associated with the researchers, such as Sam Gehrke, who gather ChinaVine’s impactful material.
For Gehrke, currently a senior Cinema Studies major at the University of Oregon, nothing could quite prepare him for what he experienced this past summer during the Beiijing-based ChinaVine field school, where he collected archival work through the lens of a video camera. Even though Gehrke was well traveled and familiar with Asian art prior to leaving for Beijing, there remained a stark contrast between Gehrke’s knowledge from books and films on China, and the actuality of his experience.
Gehrke was not shy to admit his initial bout of culture shock: “[Arriving] in Beijing I immediately felt overwhelmed; everything seemed to move so fast … it was hot and humid, there were gigantic buildings and crowds of people everywhere. I could not sleep the first night and felt very homesick,” he explained.
Surely, everything Gehrke was accustomed to was different: language, currency, food, landscape, social customs, traditions, morals and ethics. With guidance from Professors Doug Blandy and John Fenn, a little bit of time, and some KFC in his stomach, Gehrke’s waves of culture shock subsided, allowing for a complete change in perspective and an overall life-changing experience.
Gehrke chose to study and attend the Being-based field school because it offered a unique opportunity to learn beyond the traditional classroom setting. Breaking out of a traditional setting allowed Gehrke to explore comparative cultural practices that form community identity by working directly alongside artists in Chinese cultural districts.
“Though the field school allowed me to really get out there on my own, it was geared more towards experiencing a culture with a group of people, and everything associated with that culture by being immersed in that culture,” remarked Gehrke.
As videographer, Gehrke avidly filmed and documented experiences in the Jiangou Village and Song Zhuang. In particular, his filming focused on contemporary art and traditional culture found within these villages. Just the process of documentary style filmmaking itself presented new challenges to Gehrke.
“As a videographer, there is a lot to consider beyond absorbing the material being shared; you have to think about if the sound is right, if the framing is right…it’s as if you have another set of eyes and you are trying to capture it all.”
Moreover, Gehrke felt adamant in representing Americans respectably due to being a stranger in a foreign land.
“At times I felt hesitant about filming people. I didn’t want to appear as rude and disrespectful, but everyone was very eager for me to capture what they were sharing of their culture,” he explained.
Gehrke was able to capture everything from moments at The Great Wall to Tiananmen Square, to the various artists at work in the villages. The one thing Gerhke was prohibited to film? A video arcade in Joy City, a 12-story mall containing the worlds largest escalator and largest digital cinema in China. It is here Gehrke experienced sensory overload; “It was massive; everything you could think of and more could be found in Joy City,” he remarked (be sure to check out a video Gehrke produced of this sensory experience: Joy City).
Beyond the places he visited, Gehrke experienced a shift in perspective regarding the people of China. Gehrke’s prior readings on China geared his perceptions of Chinese people to be formal and impersonal. However, solely his interactions with the hostel family the ChinaVine team stayed with changed this outlook.
“The mother of the hostel noticed what I would eat and always bring more; especially apples. Everyone was very hospitable.”
Since returning from China, Gehrke’s fundamental views on culture have changed, specifically how he views cultural experiences here in Eugene.
“Before I went to China, I reached a point where everything in Eugene had become routine, ordinary, and boring. I now think about the cultural motivations behind certain things in Eugene, such as Saturday Market, food in general, and even skateboarding.”
 Gehrke with ChinaVine Team Gehrke has also learned the power of working collaboratively through his experience with ChinaVine. Though previously he would work solo on projects, through his time with the Beijing-based field school, Gehrke learned “the power of putting skillsets on the table. I am now much more open to being involved and part of a team.”
As Gehrke approaches graduation in the coming months, he still reflects upon his time in China: “Spending two weeks in a completely foreign country both working there and living there has made the idea of succeeding on this career path a lot easier because of the ways I have already challenged myself through my involvement with ChinaVine.”
For more on Gehrke’s work during his time in China, be sure to check out the following videos: Red & Yellow and Beautiful Wasteland
 Like a vine itself, our various social media outlets have allowed ChinaVine to extend and grow in many winding ways across the globe. ChinaVine member Nan Yang has been working diligently to build our presence among the Chinese social media networks, each week continuing to cultivate and expand upon our fan base in China. Recently, she was contacted by Li Hongyun, a folk artist of the Henan Province, who learned of ChinaVine through the Chinese version of Twitter, Sina Weibo. Hongyun generously shared her motivations behind crafting a South Henan Chinese Dui Xiu Nagamaki, an embroidered and painted cloth that incorporates colorful cottons, silk, and satin to depict cultural features and ethnic customs. This piece contains approximately 1396 characters, as it authentically captures the traditional Chinese New Year’s scenery in Huang village. Hongyun further explained to Yang that, “as the traditions surrounding the Chinese New Year is diminishing, the culture surrounding traditional folk art is becoming and even further away from us. I aim to create art pieces that preserve those traditional memories.” Li Hongyun reported back to us on her artistic journey in creating folk art that honors these Chinese New Year traditions. The following was written by Hongyun, as translated by Nan Yang:
Currently in China’s larger cities, traditional ways of celebrating the Chinese New Year are growing scarce. More and more people do not know how to spend their Chinese New Year. However, inside the suburban areas, traditional New Year culture is being preserved. Yet, even inside my own village, as our elder people pass away, the practice of New Years traditions are also going away. Many people of my village have come to think the New Year is a time to rest, so many adults usually just play Mahjong together, and teenagers remain glued to their computers.
The Chinese New Year is the largest and longest festival in China; our ancestors have passed down its legacies, and it is important to sustain New Years traditions. For this reason, I started to depict the traditional scenery surrounding the Chinese New Year in my art.
The process of celebrating the Chinese New Year begins of the 23rd of December of the Chinese calendar. People purchase New Years decorations, write Chinese poetry in the form of couplets, and clean their houses. On January
1st, the first day of the Chinese New Year, it is customary for people to visit the cemetery to remember their family members that have passed on. On Jan 2nd, people celebrate at their mother-in-law’s house; by the 5th day, people create traditional folk art using wicker, yarn, fiber and wood. It is in this way that the Chinese culture thrives upon heritage and traditions. 
The piece you see here took me three years and seven months to create. I want to let more people become aware of the customary Chinese New Year traditions, and understand our nation of spiritual wealth and cultural values.
QUESTIONS:
1.) What are some customary New Years traditions you have sustained that is representative of your culture?
2.) Compare and contrast the Chinese New Year traditions to the Americans New Years traditions; what is similar? What is different?
3.) How do you think Li Hongyun’s art can effectively preserve Chinese New Years customs and traditions?
An after-school class at the JSMA recently used ChinaVine resources to inspire and create their own kind of dough figures. Specifically, students examined the work of Liang Xiucai of Lang Village in the Shandong Province. To learn more on this process, check out information provided on our ChinaVine website here.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/32434468[/vimeo]
During a recent ChinaVine presentation by UO faculty Doug Blandy and Scott Huette, Huette discussed working among China’s Tai Chi masters at the White Cloud Taoist Temple and the Temple of Heaven park. He highlighted specifically on his experience interviewing Tai Chi Master Li, and pushing hands with one of his students, a provincial push hands champion. You can explore Huette’s presentation more in depth by clicking the link above.
Hello Everyone!
This is to remind you that you are invited to join AAD faculty members Doug Blandy and Scott Huette TOMORROW, Tuesday, November 8th from 12:30-1:30 PM for a brown-bag presentation about their recent trip to China in association with the ChinaVine initiative. “Maintaining Balance and Finding the Flow: Field Working for ChinaVine Among China’s Tai Chi Masters and Big Media Magnates”, will take place in the EMU Umpqua River Room. Doug will give an overview of Chinavine and some of the program developments and partnerships that arose from the trip. Scott will discuss their visit to the White Cloud Taoist Temple, Tai Chi practices in Temple of Heaven park, and his experience interviewing Tai Chi Master Li and pushing hands with one of his students, a provincial push hands champion. They will be sharing lots of images, video, stories, and research, and answering questions about their travels and the larger ChinaVine project. Doug Blandy is the Associate Dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts and Director of the Arts and Administration Program (on research leave 2011-12). Scott Huette is an adjunct faculty member in AAD and AAA and works with the Office of Professional Outreach and Development for Students (PODS).
 Professors John Fenn (left) and Doug Blandy (right) Last night, University of Oregon Professors Doug Blandy and John Fenn presented on this past summer’s Beijing based field school at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Blandy and Fenn spoke alongside other UO faculty, staff, and students at the JSMA whose presentations generally focused on UO study abroad programs in China.
The presentation covered information on this past summer’s Beijing based field school, and included three student participants from the program: Sam Gehrke, Megan Lallier-Barron, and Jo Guan.
Professors Blandy and Fenn discussed the unique nature of studying culture and heritage, in addition to their two week residency in Beijing. Though each of the student participants reported on very different aspects that enriched their time in China – everything from culture shock to change of focus in academic research to major shifts of perspective toward one’s own country – all acknowledged that the field school was a life changing experience.
Stay tuned to learn for in-depth information about field school participants and their personal stories.
Check out how the ChinaVine Field School compares cultures and artistic practices in this recent article featured on the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts website: ChinaVine Field School Compares Cultures, Artistic Practices
 OWLE During this past summer’s Beijing-based field school, the ChinaVine team traveled more freely and unencumbered than ever before. A glimpse in Professor John Fenn’s backpack reveals the secret to traveling so light: three Kodak HD Video cameras, two OWLE Bubo devices, two small microphones, a handful of SD cards, batteries, chargers, cables and a hard drive or two – an array of technologies known as “mini-media” devices. Instead of hauling full sized digital fieldwork equipment, faculty and students experimented with carrying as little equipment as possible. The team experimented by acknowledging what was already in their own pockets – namely smart phones and digital cameras. Thus, using a wide range of mini-media devices, ChinaVine members explored how to successfully document and capture new information and content.
“These devices are comfortable, familiar and overall ubiquitous in nature,” comments Professor John Fenn.
Furthermore, Fenn explains one of the goals for using “mini-media” is to “examine how far we can push these technologies for quality documentation with low investments.”
 iPhone with OWL lens These mini-media devices provide several advantages: they are much more portable and practical, they can easily be distributed, and most are quite efficient in capturing high quality material. Overall, they do more with less. Perhaps the best examples are those carrying iPhones with global communication access. With the iPhone, the CV team is able to record audio, take photographs, use geolocation, communicate via e-mail and text messages, and even take notes and sketches. Though not everyone has an iPhone, everyone has a sense of comfort in using their own tools, or in utilizing the simple, easy-to-use devices found in Fenn’s backpack.
In the past, the CV team would return with a hefty box of tapes. Instead, this summer’s CV team returned with pockets full of SD cards from which material will be easier and faster to archive. Nevertheless, there are some drawbacks to mini-media, as is often the case with technology: the generic batteries fail quickly and compatibility issues arise with different file formats being recorded. Looking forward, additional formats and file sizes when archiving the information may continue to expand. It also should be noted that what is shared from these media devices will be shown in a web environment; if shown in different environments, the quality may not be optimal. That said, what makes mini-media most effective is its discrete, portable, and flexible nature that becomes unavailable with larger equipment, such as the Canon XHA1 that ChinaVine has used in the past.
Though these very specific devices might be applied for future ChinaVine trips, Fenn remarks that this “multifaceted approach is sustainable in that these technological devices are not going anywhere; technology will change within time, but I would hope this approach will continue to be used in the Field School.”
And so, in recognizing what was in their own pockets, the ChinaVine team proved to be quite efficient in using what they were most accustomed to in an unaccustomed environment.
 Mini Media Devices
QUESTIONS:
1.) What form of “mini-media” do you prefer in documentation?
2.) What do you perceive as strengths and or weaknesses to this approach?
3.) Do you think this approach is sustainable?
Water calligraphy is a common way of practicing and creating Chinese calligraphy. Currently in China, artists such as Nicholas Hanna are creating new artistic forms of a traditional practice by combining cycling, water, and calligraphy. Watch an interview with the artist and out how Hanna is creating water calligraphy with his tricycle at http://www.danwei.com/tricycle-water-calligraphy/
Previously this month, ChinaVine member Tomas Valladares and I explored San Francisco’s Chinatown, the largest Chinatown outside of Asia (as well as the oldest Chinatown in North America). During our explorations, we posted our newest ChinaVine stickers throughout the city, featuring the ChinaVine QR Code (designed by Nan Yang) that links straight to chinavine.org. Check out our adventures:
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