Second day: Dinner and Friends

On our first night we went to visit Wei's friends, Wang Ping and Zhang Li, who have a film production office in Shenzhen, and then to dinner with them at their favorite restaurant. The food was wonderful. It was an outdoor seafood place in a part of the city known as the "Eating Street'. Just one food spot after another, all filled with young people enjoying themselves. We had shrimp and duck and scallops and a wonderful soft deep-fried tofu, and a nice fresh green with a good sauce. And lots of beer. We went home early and just crashed like falling logs.

The next day we tried to man our booth at the exhibition, but it had been ravaged by the crowds and the noise was SO deafening we fled after seeing as much of the other shows as possible.

Wei presented his talk on 'Making it in the Art World', in a room filled with spill-over sound from the exhibition that must have reached 100 decibels. No one could hear to think, let alone what he was saying, so blessedly our talks, which had been scheduled for the next day, were either going to be moved to a new venue or cancelled.

That evening we were invited to Wei's brother's 49th birthday party, which was quite an honor. I guess in China they don't celebrate the big ones, like 50, because they don't want to talk about it, so they instead have a big party for 49. We joined Wei's extended family and friends in a swank hotel in downtown Shenzhen, in our own private dining room, that in typical Chinese fashion was lit like an operating room. But the company was wonderful and the food was glorious. Course after course just kept coming, seafood, soup pots, duck, greens and lots of mysterious but delicious things. Wei produced a beautiful slide show of family photos from all through his brother's life, and I felt a pull at my heart from the images that flashed by that I knew had been taken during the Cultural Revolution, a period when Wei's family, along with millions of others, had beeen torn apart. But today they are together and have an inspiring joy for life.

I find the people here are irony-free, direct, open and earnest in a most attactive way. I especially love the spirit of Chinese women. Just strong and fresh and full of energy to give life a go.