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Last month when the epidemic still enveloped China, I went to Shangri-La, where two scenes were fresh in my memory and brought me a lot of thinking. The first one is that one evening, my friends and I went to a local temple in Shangri-La, where there is the world's most giant prayer wheel of Tibetan Buddhism, and many people circled the golden prayer wheel. Because in the culture of Tibetan Buddhism, such clockwise rotation is a kind of blessing and devotion to the Buddha. In addition to turning around the prayer wheel, Buddhist believers also hold a small prayer wheel in their hands. At the same time, they also turn the mountain, which is to go around a hill, which is also an undulating effect. At that time, some devout older adults were circling here, and some children were playing and running and turning around. All kinds of men, women, and children were all around him in a circular motion. I also joined them and circled with them. In the process of spinning, I looked at the people around me. Everyone smiled at each other and circled together. A sense of eternity of time rushed into my heart as if everything was still, and we walked in this circle. The second scene is that one morning, I was at the home of a local Tibetan grandmother to see her life and take a photo. She lives on a small prairie, has hundreds of sheep, a flock of chickens, and lives on the prairie alone. She got up at 5 o'clock that morning, and it was still dark. I dragged my tired body to her house. When I got up in the morning, she would milk the milk first, then feed the chickens after milking the milk, and then heat the milk and stir it constantly, layer the milk, and make cheese. In the process of making cheese, she turned the handle of the milk-making machine while humming the Buddhist scriptures. Her hands were spinning round and round, like the prayer wheel in her hand. I suddenly discovered that the reason why Tibetan Buddhists living on the grassland love circular motion so much maybe because they have some similarities with our lives. With the vast plateau and extremely high altitude, they can thrive in such a harsh natural environment for generations to come. Tibetan Buddhism has given them a deep sense of comfort and security, and accompany them in the mornings that are not light on every freezing day. Just start to work and enjoy it at the same time without getting bored. This infinite meaningless or boring circular motion may have many similarities with life itself, aren't we also rotating with the earth day after day. Nature has its life cycle along with the four seasons, so is it not for human beings. Life itself is a cycle, a circular motion. When you realize this, people seem to be much more reliable than before, recognize that the laws of human life are only part of the laws of nature, and acknowledge that humans are weak and fragile. Instead, choose to live strong, which is more durable than knowing nothing. So in my new normal project, I will take this alternative way of existence to life, this old way of living for thousands of years, brought me thinking as my starting point. The epidemic will bring me. When we stop when all narratives are interrupted, we have the time and opportunity to rethink the earth-shaking changes in human living conditions after modernization and what we have lost. I will use short films to try to visualize the circular motion of this life. The market is estimated to be one minute. I will use abstract language to present it with at least two models to highlight the cosmic law of circular motion. I want the artwork is inspiring, and bring some thoughts about whether we are too blind now, because human beings are so fragile in the face of the epidemic, whether human power is enough to extend to the universe, whether we can become the overlord of the world and lose our thinking about nature.

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I'm inspired by the pictures that our group provided. Some are informative, some provoking miserable atmosphere. The ideas in the ual video are useful. Especially mental health that one of the tutors said, its crucial for us at the moment. I'm doing pretty well now. And the epidemic situation in Beijing is getting better. I think I have been used to the new normal life: Reading, listening to music, study, eating at home. But if I get time, I would also come outside to take some pictures. This experience gives me more time to think at home and study more things, such as politics and knowledge about the virus. If only there had not been coronavirus, I would have worked very hard taking commercial photoshoot and haven't had time to reflect whether I did well or not, how to develop and what the purpose was. The epidemic gives me a chance to stop and think and set out again.
As far as im concerned, through this epidemic, something has changed and won't return anymore, and we will be accustomed to it subtly, which exactly is new normal for us. In the past, people didn't need to work, but with the development of modern industry, going to work is a common thing even if someone doesn't work, it will be strange. Working was new normal for people before the industrial revolution.
During the epidemic, everyone stayed at home, and the streets and alleys of the city were empty. This scene impressed me deeply. A variety of online tools emerged during the epidemic. Many parts of our work and life have shifted to online and at home. At the same time, this phenomenon may not change back after the epidemic is over, thus forming our oneness—new normal. The world is taking a step towards virtualization which reminds me of Roberto Aizenberg's paintings. The inhumane buildings surround us in our homes. Every window is the same size, and the urban street view is no longer for us. Importantly, our world is all shrunk in the small space of a home, facing the dark void. We have no body in this city, and the ground has been stretched without ups and downs, which is an eternal planet. The paintings also remind me of Aldo Rossi's architecture and fascist architecture. They used modern styles to try to create a sense of sublime order, which made people feel very scary. In the new normal project, I will try to make some of these models, and then create a scene in the city to the extremes during the epidemic.

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I went to Shangri-La last month and these photos were taken there. The grassland in the first picture is located on the periphery of Shangri-La City. There are several Tibetan villagers living here. Compared with the rapid changes in the city, they have been living on the grassland for thousands of years. They built their own houses with wood and raised hundreds of cattle and sheep, during the day, the cattle and sheep will go to the mountains behind to graze. The air here is very fresh and the sun is very abundant. The altitude is more than 3,500 meters.
The reason for choosing this photo is first because it explained a background for the next photo, and second because the beauty here makes me feel nostalgia. People who live in the city have not returned the nature for a long time. But every time we get close to nature like this, we feel extra comfortable. Perhaps this is something that has been engraved in our genes when we picked stocks. The third is that compared to the entire atmosphere shrouded by the epidemic in the city, this place looks like Not affected at all. With the development of modern industry, we have lost our reverence for nature. We treat nature with an aggressive attitude. Compared with the epidemic that is ravaging the world today, the living conditions here may give us some inspiration.
The second photo was taken at the house of a Tibetan villager. It was the photo taken in the wooden house in the first picture. The time was five o'clock in the morning. The old Tibetan lady lived here alone, and all his children went to the city. Every day when it’s dark, she gets up, starts milking the cow, and then cooks the milk to make cheese. He will sing while he is boiling the milk. The Buddhist scriptures of Tibetan Buddhism accompany her through every morning before dawn.
The third photo was taken when I was about to leave Shangri-La. Many people in the city could not go on vacation to avoid the epidemic. Then they discovered this pure land. They rode motorcycles, drove RVs, ,take the barbecue grill and the dog, came here, held parties here, sang and danced, breaking the tranquillity of the night here.
I want to compare this photo with the first photo. The first one is the tranquillity of the whole village after the sun comes out in the early morning, and this one is the noise from the city when night falls. Perhaps these photos can bring some thoughts to our modernization and urbanization, as well as the destruction of the environment and nature.

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In today's class, I showed some pictures which you can find attached shot by Chinese fashion photographer Xin Fan for Harper's Bazaar May issue cover. Fanxin is a very talented photographer in China who cooperates with many famous fashion magazines and celebrities. These pictures touch me a lot and remind me of Chen Gu's poetry, which is also a famous Chinese poet.

Let me show you in English,

The grass is seeding.

The wind is waving its leaves.

We stand, without saying anything.

Everything is fine

As you know, in Chinese culture, people would like to restrain their emotions rather than express them straightly and enthusiastically, which reflected Chinese aesthetic. Fashion photography came from a western country, and we don't have our Chinese language in this area for a long time. From my point of view, Xin Fan combined Chinese aesthetics with fashion photography very well. She doesn't cite Chinese symbols like a most western artist do but create a Chinese artistic conception which can arouse audiences' feeling more.

I don't think I presented very well today as I was nervous. I'm a shy girl and afraid of speaking in front of the public. But with a patient, you and lovely classmates' help, I believe I can be brave and do better next time. I love my classmates. They did very well in class and encouraged me a lot.

In my opinion, the cultural mix is a historical necessity. Whether you like it or not, it will happen. The result will all kinds of culture take each other's essence and discard the dross.

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Seminar 2 was stimulating for me. It was beyond my expectation that we would have a formal examination in the first month. But I think I had adequate preparation for the seminar. Before it, I have carried out a good deal of research about advertising. At first, I took a lot of notes about how to describe a picture. There were many good phrases and language I found which were very useful during the seminar. And then, I prepared a lot of questions about advertising to answer. Although we didn’t meet these questions, the practice also helped a lot. As far as I’m concerned, I did an excellent job at the seminar. I spoke fluently and had a rich vocabulary. But sometimes, there were some tense problems in my sentences. And whenever I felt nervous, I stuttered. Next time I should improve my psychology ability and become more confident. And I also need to practice more about the language you gave us. Sometimes I thought I knew that phrase, so I don’t practice it more, but when I was talking in the seminar, it was difficult to use it because I was not familiar with it enough. Practise makes perfect. I will practice more from now.

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We did a great job in the second seminar.

We all had an excellent network connection, and everyone was active. We talked a lot about the ad we chose, which was a McDonald’s soda drinking advertisement. We described it very detailed. In the end, everyone brainstormed and gave answers to the questions, which inspired me. All of my group mates spoke English fluently and had a wide range of vocabulary. I was appreciated to team up with them.

And we also had some shortcomings. Sometimes it was challenging to organize sentences perfectly when you were thinking about your opinion hard. Maybe it was because we were not familiar with the language very much. Next time, we must do better! We also need to interact with each other more next time and use the sentence the teacher has given us.

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When I first heard about this project, I found it was quite difficult to do an artwork with these ingredients. I've classified these ingredients and divided them into two categories. Bowls, chopsticks, and spoons can be thought of as a metaphor of appetite, toilet paper, socks maybe I can add underpants can be thought of as a metaphor of sex. Both of these things are primitive human nature and primitive desire. Desire is the original force of human survival. If a person has no desire, he also loses hope or MAY even commit suicide. But many religions promote abstinence so that human beings can be closer to the divine state. In my opinion, it's too idealistic to do that.

I liked my concept very much but found it too abstract to make a plan to visualize it. I became confused in this process, as I couldn't find a good way to tell this story graphically. Eventually, I gave up. I should have found more references. It was however very stimulating and inspiring to do some research on that but I did not. Next time, I would like to improve my practice ability and perseverance.

When I was wondering how should I finish it in another way, I saw my friend baby's building blocks. They were so colorful and fun. Why don't I do a project with them? I started again.
These interesting building blocks reminded me of Mondrian’s abstract paintings which are composed of colorful lines and planes. Children's toys are always full of color, but when we grow up, we rarely play with these toys anymore. We engage ourselves in practical activities with little regard for color and simple pleasures. How reflective! So I changed my mind and used building blocks and a colorful blanket to do my artwork instead. After that, everything my became on track. I was pushed to make a perfect artwork and found this project challenging, enjoyable, and compelled me to gain and develop my problem-solving ability.

If I look at it now, after I saw my classmates’ artwork, I don't feel I fully transferred my original visualization into a finished image, and feel it can't reflect the theme very well. All of their works are creative and touching. I should be more creative in the combination of building blocks to highlight my theme, rather than simply putting them together to make a good looking image.  

Finally, reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of my project will, I believe, really help me to improve the next one. YES!