October 2012 - Page 3 of 4

Flying Through Chengdu on Two Wheels

New Bicycle

After much deliberation, I committed to building a custom bicycle about one month ago after meeting (and interviewing) the proprietors of the Natooke Custom Bicycle Shop in Chengdu. The interview illuminated a lot of interesting points about bicycling in Chengdu which I hadn’t thought about previously, namely the advantages that this city offers to cyclists. Here are a couple.

Conditions Unique to Chengdu

Totally flat terrain which means multiple bicycle gears aren’t required, reducing bicycle weight and maintenance
Bicycle lanes along all major roads in the city which reduces the risk of being in an accident involving motor vehicles
Temperate weather which allows for year-round bicycle commuting, even in the winter
A resurgent and exploding community of cyclists in the city, upon the backdrop of a country that is famous for bicycles
An increasingly serious traffic situation, due to major construction along the city’s arterial highways

With these factors in mind, it wasn’t difficult to commit to the bicycle as a transportation platform. Although the longboard (skateboard) that I got over the summer has been a blast, it isn’t practical for traveling distances of more than a mile. My goal is to commute to and from my office by bicycle daily, which is a trip of about 30 kilometers (roughly 19 miles). It’s no small distance for someone like me who’s not experienced in long range bicycling, but I feel that for the first time in my life, I’m up to it. This isn’t just a bike, it is a lifestyle choice.

More Information

The brand of the bicycle is Flying Banana, created by a German woman living in Beijing
This bike is the first one out of the new Natooke shop in Chengdu, located down the street from my house
The frame of the bike is aluminum, it has front and rear brakes as well as front and rear lights (not pictured)
The entire bike is matte black with blue rims. I selected the color scheme and wanted just a dash of color
I spent over $100 on an imported lock from Germany that is serious business. I will be vigilant.

Here’s to a kind of health and enjoyment that I haven’t known before.

Palindrome Poetry Poster

I ran into a post on Reddit recently which brought attention to a poem which was created by Su Hui (??), a 4th century Chinese poet who became famous for creating a palindrome poem called Xuanjitu (???). Incredibly, it is a 29×29 character grid which can be read forward, backwards, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. The combination of these different arrangements makes for an astounding 2,849 different readings of the same poem. It’s like sudoku times 1,000 in Chinese poem form.

I’ve read and enjoyed a limited amount of poetry in Chinese, but much of it is inaccessible to non-native Chinese speakers due to the cryptic way in which it’s written. It’s like a non-native English speaker reading Shakespeare — it’s not easy, to say the least. One concession is that in this case I’ve opted for the simplified Chinese version which is dramatically easier on my classical Chinese skills than the significantly more complex traditional version.

A closeup look at the palindrome poetry poster created by SuHui in the 4th century, comprised of a 29 x 29 grid of Chinese characters that can be read 2,000 different ways

I saw the Wikipedia entry for the poem and my first thought was that it would make a really cool poster. So I made it into one by creating a high resolution version in Photoshop that’s color coded for easier reading. I will put this on my wall and try to read it as many ways as possible. You can download the 12mb copy which I made below for free, in JPG format. It’s print ready at 300dpi and the dimensions are 24 x 24 inches.

Download Link

This is a 24mb JPG file – I wouldn’t try to open it in your browser. Right click the button below and save the image to your hard drive.