yesterday i was doing pretty well at the booth, engaging visitors and practicing my mandarin (when applicable). it didn’t last though, because later in the afternoon i crashed HARD. sounds improbable, but this is exhausting work. by no means am i complaining, but smiling and talking to strangers for eight hours straight can do a number on you. right now there’s a persistent — but enthusiastic — guy showing photos of his jade collection to us (he said, “they don’t have to respect me, but respect my culture”). we’ve been getting a stream of dealers and collectors who want to display their mediocre goods in the museum. sigh. this is when our diplomacy skills get put to the test.

we’ve also met passionate connoisseurs who truly know their stuff. it’s inspiring and sweet, reminiscent of experts at comic conventions who can recite, say, the entire history of green lantern. one couple at our booth pointed out that our jade catalogue, a scholarly contribution to the field, had caused quite a stir in the community (don’t you love that there’s a community?), and questioned how we had came to some of the conclusions outlined in the book. they discussed things like “tool marks” and the resilience and adaptability of fakers, etc. good natured and fun. this spirited, convivial atmosphere is so energizing!

ANYWAY…

breakfast at harbour kitchen, the cha can ting located inside the convention and expo centre. the menu is expansive. this is congee with minced pork and preserved egg, shanghai style green onion bun, and milk tea. the meal exceeded my expectations. the congee had a nice meaty stock essence, and the bun was AWESOME (slightly toasted on top, then soft, airy, warm inside)

our board member brought us pineapple buns, lao po bing, egg tarts, and confections (peanut brittle, sesame bites, etc) from supposedly the best bakery in HK, in lyndhurt terrace. what a special treat! this was exactly what i had woken up that morning craving

this was a great sight to behold: people really digging our library of museum catalogues and pulling up a chair to get into them. many folks have wanted to buy them, but unfortunately we aren’t set up to do business

both our director and senior curator of chinese art gave brief lectures yesterday. here’s the former holding court with his audience after the talk

one side of the fair has some contemporary art. nothing earth shattering, but some eyecatching pieces:

i really liked this korean painting – thick and luminous, you had to see it in person

stephen chow!

artist li huayi has a semi-retrospective at the fair put on by the ink society (in celebration of his 60th). it’s right across from our booth. he is a beautiful man with warm eyes and a real artist’s flair. i’ll post a better picture of him later. the museum presented an exhibition of his haunting paintings about five years ago

generous treat #2 from our board member: assortment of cakes from the mandarin oriental

right now the man behind this fair is giving a talk on chinese antique furniture. looks like all the seats are full.
we’re situated in prime real estate, across from the ink society’s li huayi show and in front of the lecture room. is this considered “live blogging”? jay, our director, asked me to think carefully about our presence at the fair and share with him my thoughts — since i’m the one who’s stationed here the most. hopefully i can call on these posts when i return to work to refresh my memory.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 10:25 pm and is filed under arts, asia, culture, food, travel, work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.