Chinese explanation/Spiegazione in cinese/中文说明

Our blog’s subject is Wet and Dry. It’s made by Alessio, Cristina and Yuan. We expand it from advertising, architecture, proverb, movies, music, philosophy, and various angles. I hope it never rains but it pours.

About this there is something special in Chinese culture that the ancient scholars like the mood of listening to the rain in a small building. Now I’m ending with a famous poem of LI Qingzhao from Song Dynasty.

昨夜雨疏风骤，

浓睡不消残酒，

试问卷帘人，

却道海棠依旧

知否，知否

应是绿肥红瘦。

It was a bad weather last night, I Slept by drinking.

The maid told me that the begonia that were still there.

Don't you see, don’t you see

The red is thin as the green is fat.

Stockfish/Stoccafisso/柴魚

Stockfish [ˈstɒkˌfɪʃ]

n pl -fish, -fishes

(Cookery) fish, such as cod or haddock, cured by splitting and drying in the air

[of uncertain origin. Perhaps from stock (in the sense: stem, tree trunk) because it was dried on wooden racks. Compare Middle Dutch stocvisch].

 

Collins English Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003.

 Stockfish up for drying

 

Dried fish

  

Matera/马泰拉

 

Matera

 Map of Matera - Giambatista Albrizzi - 1761

I Sassi rappresentano la parte antica della città di Matera. Sviluppatisi intorno alla Civita, costituiscono una intera città scavata nella roccia calcarenitica, chiamata localmente “tufo”, un sistema abitativo articolato, abbarbicato lungo i pendii di un profondo vallone dalle caratteristiche naturali singolari e sorprendenti: la Gravina. Strutture edificate, eleganti ed articolate si alternano a labirinti sotterranei e a meandri cavernosi, creando un unicum paesaggistico di grande effetto.

The Stones are the oldest part of the city of Matera. Have developed around the Civita, constitute an entire city carved into the rock calcarenitic, locally called "tufa", a housing system articulate, clinging to the slopes of a deep valley from the unique and surprising natural features: the Gravina. Structures built, elegant and articulate alternate underground labyrinths and the cavernous depths, creating a unique landscape to great effect.


Links: Stones of Matera, Municipality of Matera


 

 

Japanese rock garden/Giardino Zen/枯山水

 

The Japanese rock gardens (枯山水, karesansui) or "dry landscape" gardens (often called "Zen gardens" and waterless stream gardens) are typically associated with Zen Buddhism, and often found in the front or rear gardens at the residences (houjou 方丈) of Zen abbots. The main elements of karesansui are rocks and sand, with the sea symbolized not by water but by sand raked in patterns that suggest rippling water. Representative examples are the gardens of Ryoanji Temple and Daitokuji Temple, both in Kyoto. Plants are much less important (and sometimes nonexistent) in many karesansui gardens. Karesansui gardens are often, but not always, meant to be viewed from a single, seated perspective, and the rocks are often associated with and named after various Chinese mountains. The first-ever Zen landscape garden in Japan is credited to Kenchoji Temple in Kamakura. Founded in 1251, this temple was the chief monastery for the five great Zen monasteries that thrived during the Kamakura era (1185-1333). It became the center of Zen Buddhism thanks to strong state patronage.

 

 

The Rolling Bench

  Sungwoo Park - 2008

 

Paint Or Die But Love Me

 

 John Nouanesing - 2008

Humidifier Design/ Umidificatore Design/ 加湿器设计

Humidifier Ver.3

It is designed by Naoto Fukasawa (深澤直人), a Japanese industrial designer, born in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1956.

The humidifier is like a drop of water.

Naoto Fukasawa Website