Tiger crab
(L-R: Tiger pyramid, seafood restaurant, both on Li Gong Di: Suzhou, China)
Exploring the lakeside with Susan a couple of weeks ago, she led me to Li Gong Di, a thin causeway of developed land spanning a section of Jinji lake, as if trimming a large pond off from the main body of the lake. It houses mainly restaurants and bars, some shops, beauty salons, galleries and shops in which no item has a price tag. Usually in China that means there is room for haggling, but in this case I fear the old adage rings true; if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it.
The red pyramid is a decoration for Chinese New Year (often referred to as CNY), complete with cheery but oddly unsettling cartoon tiger. The Chinese seem to call CNY ‘Spring Festival’, whereas foreigners appear to use the CNY approach. To the right of the tiger there are some golden shapes stacked in deceasing size, I was told these symbolise gold bars, and therefore prosperity. The red for luck, the star could have been plucked from the Chinese flag, perhaps and the tiger is there to welcome in the new year of the Tiger.
As for the crab, well, I wanted to include it here as it is just around the corner from the magnificent red pyramid and because it addresses the extreme nature of contemporary Chinese décor. For instance, the aforementioned tiger pyramid to which a comparison must be drawn to Christmas trees, but also an enormous red bean bun with spoon we saw on Nanjing road, Shanghai. The painted fibreglass bun on the front of a food shop was as big as a car and the spoon must have been as long as a minivan. The crab wins in my eyes because of the sheer detail and comic aspect – for those in the restaurant window seats, it must be a fine view.
Since I only remembered to tell my mum the other day, Ying and I are not going to be in China for Spring Festival. We had our flights confirmed only recently and we will fly to Singapore for six days on Friday night in time for the celebratory family dinner on Saturday evening. I have never visited Ying’s home country so for me it will be extra exciting. Expect more news on that from the weekend.
