Beijing, Beijing

 

Today my friend Albert sent me this video of Beijing, and I would like to share it with you:

Beijing, where I lived for many years, has been such a special place for me. Many years ago when I was working at Canadian Television Beijing Bureau, Jacques, producer from CBC Radio Canada and I had a special project of video graphing  the city life in the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, etc around Beijing. It was right before the Chinese Spring Festival, and we were lucky to find fireworks scenes in the Beijing suburb – it was spectacular. But when I watch this video of Beijing, seeing all the places I have been many times, old memories come back to me.

On August 8thI was photographing a wedding at Palo Alto Four Seasons. My friend Christine called me when I was on the job and could not believe that I wasn’t watching the opening. The stage director for the opening, Zhang Yimou, 张艺谋 (Director of Movie “Hero” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) is one of my favorite directors in the world. In 1998, he stage directed Puccini’s opera Turandot. As an opera singer for many years, Puccini’s Turandot has an irreplaceable place in my heart, and Zhang made this opera glorious in the history.

In case you haven’t seen the opening (like me), you can order the DVD from here.