An Interview with Niccolo

Photo: Wikimedia

One day, I met Niccolo in exile in Sant'Andrea in Percussina, he looked rugged and drunk. His sweet smile had disappeared into a sad face. A very different image of a person in an ambassador role he had before the Medici threw him in jail, tortured him and sent him into solitary exile at his country retreat.

He was a diplomat for 14 years in Italy's Florentine Republic during the Medici family's exile. When the Medici family returned to power in 1512, Niccolo was dismissed and jailed.

During his exile he wrote books, including The Prince which became his most renowned book.

I asked him straightforwardly:

“People say that nowadays you drink in the company of peasants, fought in villages and rail at your fate.  The solitary exile must have been hard for you, it is like a punishment worse than death for a man who found high-level politics as necessary as breathing.  Do you feel bitter about the treatment of the Medici to you?”

Niccolo:

“When evening comes, I go back home, and go to my study. On the threshold, I take off my work clothes, covered in mud and filth, and I put on the clothes an ambassador would wear. Decently dressed, I enter the ancient courts of rulers who have long since died. There, I am warmly welcomed, and I feed on the only food I find nourishing and was born to savour. I am not ashamed to talk to them and ask them to explain their actions and they, out of kindness, answer me. Four hours go by without my feeling any anxiety. I forget every worry. I am no longer afraid of poverty or frightened of death. I live entirely through them.”

I said:

“The Medici threw you in jail, tortured you with a rope hanged from your bound wrists, from the back, forcing your arms to bear your body's weight and dislocating your shoulders. However they  could find no evidence of your direct involvement in the conspiracy, and, under the general amnesty granted by the Pope you were released a few weeks later and they sent you into solitary exile here.

But despite the cruel treatment by the Medici, you dedicated your most renowned book “The Prince” to the Magnificence Lorenzo de Medici a prince of the Medici who tortured you. Why so?”

Niccolo citing the opening chapter of The Prince said:

“I want to present myself to his Magnificence with some testimony of my devotion towards him, the possession of mine that I love best and value most is my knowledge of the actions of great men—knowledge that I have acquired from long experience in contemporary affairs and from a continual study of antiquity. Having reflected on it long and hard, I now send it, digested into a little volume, to his Magnificence.

And if his Magnificence, from the mountain-top of his greatness will sometimes look down at this plain, he will see how little I deserve the wretched ill-fortune that continually pursues me”

I said:

“The word “Prince” in your book “The Prince” obviously does not refer to hereditary prince in aristocratic system but to a ruler of a country.”

 Niccolo citing Chapter 9 said:

“It is about a citizen who becomes the prince of his country not by wickedness or any intolerable violence, but by the favour of his fellow citizens. We can call this ‘civil principality’. Now, this kind of principality (princely state)—·this way of becoming a prince·—is obtained with the support of the common people or with the support of the nobles.

Someone who becomes prince with the help of the nobles will find it hard to maintain his position because he’ll be surrounded by men who regard themselves as his equals, which will inhibit him in giving orders and managing affairs. It is easier for a prince who got there with the help of popular favour: he’ll be able to exercise his principality single-handed, with few if any people unwilling to obey him.”

I said:

“Machiavellianism" is a widely used negative term to characterize unscrupulous politicians of the sort you described most famously in The Prince. You described immoral behavior, such as dishonesty and killing innocents, as being normal and effective in politics. “

Niccolo citing Chapter 15 said:

“I am not apologetic about this·: my aim is to write things that will be useful the reader who understands them; so I find it more appropriate to pursue the real truth of the matter than to repeat what people have imagined about it. Many writers have dreamed up republics and principalities such as have never been seen or known in the real world. ·And attending to them is dangerous·, because the gap between “how men live”  and “how they ought to live” is so wide that any prince who thinks in terms not of how people do behave but of how they ought to behave will destroy his power rather than maintaining it. A man who tries to act virtuously will soon come to grief at the hands of the unscrupulous people surrounding him. Thus, a prince who wants to keep his power must learn how to act immorally, using or not using this skill according to necessity.

As I said in Chapter 18, a prince is forced to know how to act like a beast, he must learn from the fox and the lion; because the lion is defenceless against traps and a fox is defenceless against wolves. So the prince needs to be a fox to discover the traps and a lion to scare off the wolves.”

I said :

“You seemed to endorse cruelty, violence and even murder in some situations, which  oppose the universal norms in our society.”

Niccolo citing Chapter 17 said:

“I say that every prince should want to be regarded as merciful and not cruel; but he should be careful not to mismanage his mercy! Cesare Borgia was considered cruel; yet his ‘cruelty’ restored order to Romagna, unified it, and restored it to peace and loyalty. When you come to think about it, you’ll see him as being much more ·truly· merciful than the Florentines who, to avoid a reputation for cruelty, allowed Pistoia to be destroyed.”

I said:

“This philosophy of "the end justifies the means" has often been associated with you, and so named Machiavellianism. The Prince became a handbook for ruler like Stalin, who starved the Ukranian people șo he could sell the grain from Ukraine to  the west so he could make the army stronger and to grow the indunstry.

The Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini saw himself as a modern-day Machiavellian and wrote an introduction to his honorary doctoral thesis for the University of Bologna—"Prelude to Machiavelli.”

In this thesis he quoted your Chapter 17 as evidence of your bitter pessimism in respect to human nature: “For we may say here in general that men are ungrateful, inconstant, deceiving, cowardly in the face of danger, greedy for gain: and as long as you do them favors they are loyal to you and ready to pledge you their blood, their property, their lives, their children — until, as I have said above, they no longer need you; but when that time arrives they are quick to desert you.”

Niccolo citing Chapter 8 said:

“Someone who is seizing a state should think hard about all the injuries he’ll have to inflict, and get them all over with at the outset, rather than having cruelty as a daily occurrence. By stopping cruelty very soon, the usurper will be able to reassure people and win them over to his side by generosity. Someone who doesn’t proceed in this way—whether from fear or on bad advice—will always have to have a knife in his hand; and he won’t be able to rely on his subjects, who will be alienated by his continued and repeated injuries....”

I said:

“Your book The Prince is actually a little book with a clear language, easy to understand. However the books of commentaries, reviews, critics and analysis about it are much longer than this little book. What do you say about it?"

Niccolo citing Chapter 1 said:

“Many writers decorate their work—choke their work—with smoothly sweeping sentences, pompous words, and other ‘attractions’ that are irrelevant to the matter in hand; but I haven’t done any of that, because I have wanted this work of mine to be given only such respect as it can get from the importance of its topic and the truth of what it says about it.”

I said:

“Yet this little book became very famous because of its controversy, Bertrand Russell called it a “handbook for gangsters”.  Leo Strauss called you a “teacher of evil” because of The Prince. Are you surprised about it?”

Nicollo said:

“The Prince is just one of my books, I also wrote “The Art of War”,  “Discourses on Livy”, and plays.

In “The Art of War”, Lord Fabrizio Colonna said that we should learn things similar to the ancients that honor and reward virtue, not to have contempt for poverty, to esteem the modes and orders of military discipline, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live without factions, to esteem less the private than the public good.

However, good institutions without the help of the military are not much differently disordered than the habitation of a superb and regal palace, which, even though adorned with jewels and gold, if it is not roofed over will not have anything to protect it from the rain.

In “Discourses on Livy” I quoted Livy saying that people are strong together, but weak when alone giving the example of the Roman plebs. Livy additionally feels that the multitude is wiser than the one prince. And in Chapter 30 I wrote about that truly powerful Republics and Princes buy friendships not with money, but with virtue and reputation of strength.

The book discusses the rulers of Rome and how a strong or weak Prince can maintain or destroy a kingdom. After a weak prince a kingdom could not remain strong with another weak prince. Luckily, the first three kings each had a certain strength, which aided the city. Romulus was fierce, Numa was religious, and Tullus was dedicated to war.”

I said:

“ So it seems your focus is that a Prince shall rely on his virtue and strength, rather than being a weak Prince, and relying on fortune.”

Nicollo said, with a nod:

“Yes, after all I am not so Machiavellian……”

This is an imaginary interview in memory of Niccolo Machiavelli.

Sources: Wikipedia, CliffsNotes

Florence, at Piazza del Duomo

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is the cathedral of Florence, Italy. The cathedral is commonly called the Duomo.

The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and the Bell Tower. These three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major attraction to tourists visiting Tuscany.

The basilica was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio with the dome by Filippo Brunelleschi. The bell tower was designed by Giotto.

 The outside of the Duomo  is decorated with marble panels in green and pink bordered by white. The construction began in 1296 and finished in 1469, except for the decoration. The facade (the main front) was decorated between 1876 and 1903. 

The dome of the Duomo,  designed by  Brunelleschi  is built of bricks in octagonal shape, it is the biggest brick dome in the world.   It is a masterpiece capable of withstanding lightning, earthquakes and the passage of time, it continues to enchant all those who observe it from afar. Brunelleschi's astonishingly innovative approach involved vaulting the dome space without any scaffolding by using a double shell with a space in between. The inner shell (with a thickness of more than two metres) is made of light bricks set in a herringbone pattern and is the self-supporting structural element while the outer dome simply serves as a heavier, wind-resistant covering.

 The dome is crowned by a lantern with a conical roof, designed by Brunelleschi but only built after his death in 1446, while the gilt copper sphere and cross on top of the lantern, containing holy relics, was designed by Andrea del Verrocchio and installed in 1466.

The Last Judgement fresco on the internal wall of the dome is made by Giorgio Vasari  flanked by Vincenzo Borghini, who worked to the iconographic subjects and added other themes taken from Dante‘s Divine Comedy.

Most of the splendid stained glass windows were made between 1434 and 1455 to the designs of famous artists like Donatello, Andrea del Castagno and Paolo Uccello. The wooden inlays on the Sacristy´s cupboards were designed by Brunelleschi and other artists, including Antonio del Pollaiolo.

The Baptistry in the Piazza del Duomo complex,  named Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistry of St. John)  is renowned for its three sets of artistically important bronze doors with relief sculptures. The south doors were created by Andrea Pisano and the north and east doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The east doors were dubbed by Michelangelo the Gates of Paradise.

It took Ghiberti 21 years to complete the Gates of Paradise. These gilded bronze doors consist of twenty-eight panels, with twenty panels depicting the life of Christ from the New Testament. The eight lower panels show the four evangelists and the Church Fathers Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory and Saint Augustine.

 Above the Gates of Paradise stood the Baptism of Christ by Andrea Sansovino.

The Italian poet Dante and many other notable Renaissance figures, including members of the Medici family, were baptized in this baptistery.

The Bell Tower designed by Giotto, is a slender structure is square in plan with 14.45 metre sides. It is 84.7 metres tall and has polygonal buttresses at each corner.  It is the most eloquent example of 14th century Gothic architecture in Florence.

Clad in white, pink and green marble like the Duomo adjacent to it, the majestic square bell tower, considered to be the most beautiful Bell Tower in Italy.

The rich decorative apparatus comprising hexagonal panels and lozenges embodies the concept of Universal Order and tells the story of the Redemption of Mankind.

Based on www.museumflorence.com and Wikipedia.org

Florence, along the Arno River

Dante in his poem about Arno river says:


And I: "Through midst of Tuscany there wanders

A streamlet that is born in Falterona,

And not a hundred miles of course suffice it;

From thereupon do I this body bring."

The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy.  It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. With a length of 241 kilometres, it flows from the Apennine Mountains to the Ligurian Sea, just 11 kilometres west of Pisa. Lush vineyards and olive groves line the river's scenic course to the west, out to sea.

The Arno river generally flows at its highest during spring and autumn of every year, when rainfall in the Apennines is at its greatest. However in 1557 and 1966  the peaceful river overflowed from its embankments invading large areas of the Casentino, the plains of Pisa and Empoli, and over the entire historical center of Florence, causing dozens of deaths and untold damage to the city’s monumental and artistic heritage.

After the flood in Florence the river’s banks were raised, and in 1984 the Bilancino Dam was built near Florence to protect the area from future flooding.

The Arno River crosses Florence, and passes below the Ponte Vecchio,  the Ponte alle Grazie and the Santa Trinita bridge.

The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"),  is a medieval stone arch bridge over the Arno River, still have shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. It has always hosted shops and merchants who displayed their goods on tables before their premises. The back shops (retrobotteghe) that can be seen from the river, were added in the seventeenth century.

In 1900, to honour and mark the fourth century of the birth of the great Florentine sculptor and master goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, the leading goldsmiths of the bridge commissioned the most renowned Florentine sculptor of the time Raffaello Romanelli to create a bronze bust of Cellini to stand atop a fountain in the middle of the Eastern side of the bridge, where it stands to this day.

A few steps from the Ponte Vecchio, stands the church of Santo Stefano, one of the oldest churches of Florence. The lower part of the facade retains Romanesque elements, while the upper part was rebuilt during the Gothic renewal. The interior was renovated during the Baroque period. It is full of stunning works of art and decoration, including the beautiful staircase by Buontalenti, with a marble balustrade, built in 1574. Numerous paintings also remain from the Renaissance period.

Santo Stefano is now deconsecrated church, and is now used as auditorium for music performances. The church’s atmosphere becomes incredibly magic in the night, when the lights turn down and the music fills the religious silence, and the audience immerse itself in the unforgettable experience of the union of Art, Architecture and Music.

Florence, view from Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo (Michelangelo Square) is a square with a panoramic view of Florence. This is the best place to watch over Florence anytime of the day, it is an iconic panoramic view of Florence. 

The view embraces the town centre of Florence from Forte Belvedere to Santa Croce, the Ponte Cecchio bridge and other bridges crossing the Arno, the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and other famous spots.

This Florentine piazza was designed by architect Giuseppe Poggi and built in 1869 on a hill just at the South bank of the Arno river. The square, dedicated to the Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo, has bronze replica of his famous David statue.  

David is the most iconic statue in Florence, and one of the most memorable.  Although many statues of David have been created before, this masterpiece by Michelangelo is unique.

 It is unique in particular in the way the stance David is standing in. Other artists show David slaying the giant Goliath, or standing over Goliath’s corpse, Michelangelo’s statue is different.

In this statue, David is just standing there, looking over his shoulder at the moment directly after challenging Goliath, at a moment prior to one of the most defining points in history.

David entered the battle with only five stones and a slingshot. David won this battle, and  punctuated the victory by slicing off Goliath’s head and showing it to his enemies. In time, he became king of Israel, bringing forth the most prosperous time in Israeli history.

After beating Goliath, David sang the Psalm 151:

I went out to attack the Philistine,

    who cursed me by his idols.

But after I uncovered his own sword,

        I cut off his head.

    So I removed the shame

    from the Israelites. 

Driving further 8 kilometres northeast of Florence, we arrive at Fiesole a town on a scenic height above Florence. Since the 14th century the city has always been considered a getaway for the upper class of Florence and up to this day Fiesole remains the richest municipality in the whole of Tuscany.

At centre of Fiesole, there is a square called Piazza Mino. The square is named after a Florentine sculptor Mino da Fiesole. Therefore this piazza has been used for expedition of art sculptures honouring Mino da Fiesole.

Further towards the west of Fiesole there is a monastery called St. Francis monastery, it is a Franciscan monastery. The facade of the church is Gothic in style with a gabled roof. The convent is located to the right of the church. The convent building is surrounded by three cloisters. 

  

Florence, City of Statues

Dante Alighieri in his Devine Comedia said (see previous blog about Dante):

“Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great,

That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings,”

Indeed Florence is a great city and one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its works of art and museums are acknowledged by Unesco. Besides its artistic and architectural greatness, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era and is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance.  

The square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio known as the Piazza della Signoria is packed with the work of famous sculptors such as: Giambologna, Baccio Bandinelli, Bartolomeo Ammannati, Benvenuto Cellini, and Michelangelo Buonarroti. All these artists were born in Florence or were resident of Florence.

Every statue tells its own story taken from Greek or Roman mythology. Effectively it is an open air gallery of renaissance art. Every statue is original, except the David statue is a replica.

Giambologna’s statue the “Rape of the Sabine Women” is based on a Roman mythology, in which the men of Rome, under Romulus, committed a mass abduction of young women from the other cities in the region. Giambologna sculpted a representation of this theme with three figures (a man lifting a woman into the air while a second man crouches), carved from a single block of marble. This sculpture is considered Giambologna's masterpiece.

“The Fountain of Neptune” situated beside Palazzo Vecchio is made of marble and bronze, the fountain was commissioned in 1565 and designed by Baccio Bandinelli. It is the work of the sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati with some elements created by collaborators.

Neptune is the god of freshwater and the sea in Roman religion. In the Greek tradition, Neptune is the brother of Jupiter and Pluto.

“Perseus with the head of Medusa”, is a bronze sculpture created by Benvenuto Cellini. It is considered a masterpiece and is one of the most famous statues in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria.

It depicts Perseus as he stands on Medusa’s body and holds her head up in the air. Medusa was a hideous woman-faced Gorgon whose hair was turned to snakes and anyone that looked at her was turned to stone.  

“The Rape of Polyxena” is a marble statue created by Pio Fedi. In this statue Polyxena is struggling to get away from Achiles while he easily contains her in one arm. The other arm is about to strike down her mother, Hecuba, with his mighty sword.

“Hercules and Cacus” is a white sculpture to the right of the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio. This work by the Florentine artist Baccio Bandinelli. Here, the demi-god Hercules, who killed the fire-belching monster Cacus during his tenth labor for stealing cattle, is the symbol of physical strength.

“David” is the most iconic statue in Florence, and one of the most recognizable. In this statue, David is just standing there, looking over his shoulder. Michelangelo sculpted David the moment directly after challenging Goliath, at a moment prior to one of the most defining points in history.

Photo by Guillaume Piolie - Wikimedia

The statue of Cosimo I de Medici  by Giambologna indicates the Medici's ambitions and is an portrait of the man who brought all of Tuscany under Medici military rule.  He was an Italian banker and politician, the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth as a banker, and he had a great appreciation of arts and architecture. 

Cosimo and his heirs rule from this place and from his office next door, which is now the Uffizi museum. 

It is said that Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus  to the right of the David statue was appropriated by the Medici to show their physical power after their return from exile. The Neptune statue by Ammannati celebrates the Medici's maritime ambitions. The statue of Perseo holding Medusa's head, by Benvenuto Cellini, is a stark reminder of what happened to those who crossed the Medici. 

                                                    

An Interview with Dante

Photo: Wikimedia

I saw Dante in Florence just before the Ponte Vecchio bridge crossing the Arno river.

He has a rather small stature, with big eyes and a prominently hooked nose. He looks more like a common man, a man on the street. 

I hesitated for a moment whether I could greet him as he looked deeply in thought looking across the river. Surprisingly he is quite a friendly person and didn’t mind to talk to a stranger.

Nervously and unprepared, I then arbitrarily asked him: 
“What does this city Florence mean to you?”

Dante then cited Canto 26 of Inferno:

“Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great,
That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings,
And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad!
Among the thieves five citizens of thine
Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me,
And thou thereby to no great honour risest."

Then I asked him:
“Despite its greatness, why did you say that your beloved city, Florence, is famous in Hell?”

Dante said:

“There are many prominent people of Florence living in Hell because of their sins.

Filippo Argenteni has hid horse shod with silver and has iron fists. He has a violent temper, one time he slapped me, and his brother took possession of of my confiscated property.

Farinata degli Uberti is a heretic, he believes that there is no soul and that everything dies with the body. He regarded the pleasures of life on earth as the highest goal for man.

Bocca degli Abati betrayed his Guelph countrymen at a decisive moment in the battle -as German mercenary troops attacked in support of the Tuscan Ghibellines- by cutting off the hand of the Guelph standard-bearer. Demoralized by Bocca's treachery and the loss of their flag, the Guelphs panicked and were roundly defeated.

Then there is my gluttonous friend Ciacco, the hog, spend his life gorging his appetites and living in excess.

There is also Francesca da Rimini, who was forced into a loveless political marriage with a guy called Gianciotto Malatesta.  However, she fell in love with her husband’s younger brother Paolo and had an affair with him. When Gianciotto discovered their adultery, he killed them both. Gianciotto is now in a deeper level of Hell, so did Francesca told me.”

I said:
“Some people think that you condemned people to be in Hell in your Inferno because you are bitter towards your enemies. You were once an influential and famous political figure and were then later exiled from Florence, with others from your political party, after you lost the political war. You were sentenced, together with four others, to a heavy fine and perpetual exclusion from office. Further, together with your two sons and others, you were condemned to be burned to death, should you ever come into the power of the Commune. You lost everything, your family, your properties, your way of life.”

Dante cited the opening of Inferno:

“Midway upon the journey of our life
  I found myself within a forest dark,
  For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
  What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
  Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more;
  But of the good to treat, which there I found,
  Speak will I of the other things I saw there.”

I said:

“Following your path in Purgatory Canto 30 you kind of confessed that you were unfaithful to Beatrice, the one you adore and love so much. You said you fell in love with her the first time you met her, and in Vita Nuova you wrote about her and declared “Behold, a deity stronger than I; who coming, shall rule over me”. 

It seems you are completely captivated by her after the first meeting, however at that time you were just nine and she was eight“.

Dante cited a sonnet from the book Vita Nuova (which means New Life) dedicated to Beatrice:

“In that book which is
My memory . . .
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words . . .
Here begins a new life” 

I said:
“Then the second meeting you met Beatrice was 9 years later, and she got married to a banker 4 years later and died 3 years later at the young age of 24, in 1290. How do you view Beatrice after her death in later part of your life?”

Dante cited what Beatrice told him in Canto 30 of Purgatory:

“Himself from me he took and gave to others.
When from the flesh to spirit I ascended,
And beauty and virtue were in me increased,
I was to him less dear and less delightful;
And into ways untrue he turned his steps,
Pursuing the false images of good,
That never any promises fulfill;
Nor prayer for inspiration me availed,
By means of which in dreams and otherwise
I called him back, so little did he heed them.
So low he fell, that all appliances
For his salvation were already short,
Save showing him the people of perdition.”

Then Dante cited Canto 31 of Purgatory:

"Turn, Beatrice, O turn thy holy eyes,"
Such was their song, "unto thy faithful one,
Who has to see thee ta'en so many steps.
In grace do us the grace that thou unveil
Thy face to him, so that he may discern
The second beauty which thou dost conceal."
O splendour of the living light eternal!”

I said:

“Back to Inferno Canto 26, you found Ulysses, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem, you found him in Hell. Yet during his lifetime this man had the approval of heaven. The goddess Athena, the daughter of the highest god aided his journey, and even ushered the bloody slaughter. The wind king Zeus the highest of gods is another reinforcement of his connection with heaven. On his journey, Ulysses also received favor from divine figures like Circe and Calypso, even as he received rancor from figures like Poseidon. 

Why is he now suffering in Hell, the place you said Inferno Canto 3 "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”, and where “Loathsome maggots and worms at the sinners' feet drink the putrid mixture of blood, pus, and tears that flows down their bodies.” Then why is this great hero condemned to Hell?”

Dante said citing Homer:

“Ulysses murdered all suitors of Penelope. Leodes pleaded for his life but was met with a sword blow, so that his head went down to mouth in dust. After murdering all suitors of Penelope, he directed the murder of Penelope’s handmaidens. But, before that the dead bodies of the suitors must be disposed first, and the handmaidens had to clean tables and chairs of blood of the suitors. He wanted to humiliate these handmaidens before he had them butchered,  let them see the dead body of their lovers with the full knowledge of their own impending doom. After the handmaidens cleaned the tables and chairs, scrubbed with sponges, rinsed and rinsed again the blood of the suitors, they were hacked with sword blades cutting the life out of them. Ulysses is undoubtedly the ringleader of atrocity.”

I said:

“Ulysses is known as a great warrior king and strategist. He cleverly discovered Achilles disguise and convinced him to clutch a weapon to join the war against the Trojans. Ulysses has been viewed as Achilles' antithesis in the Homer’s Iliad, while Achilles is consumed by anger of a self-destructive nature, Ulysses is frequently viewed as a man of the mean, a voice of reason, renowned for his self-restraint and diplomatic skills. Ulysses is not only tactical warrior, as evidenced by his idea for the Trojan Horse, but also a good speaker.  He is considered the most clever Greek hero, finding smart solutions to every problem. He is also a great warrior and very charismatic leader who often inspired his people.”

Dante said citing what Ulysses said to him in Inferno Canto 26:

‘Not tenderness for a son, nor filial duty
Toward my aged father, nor love I owed
Penelope that would have made her glad
Could overcome the fervor that was mine
To gain experience of the world
And learn about man’s vices, and his worth…
I and my shipmates had grown old and slow
By the time we reached the narrow strait
There Hercules marked off the limits,
Warning all men to go no farther.”

I said:

“It seems this way Ulysses is behaving like Adam, the first human on earth, whom despite his everlasting happiness living in paradise has the longing to search for more, for the forbidden knowledge. Likewise Ulysses whom despite his happiness found back home in Ithaca island, living in peace with his family  has the longing for more adventure, to conquer the world where “no one has seen”, which ended in the dashing to pieces of Ulysses ship and his death which represents the final separation from any divine connections.”

As the evening was getting dark, Dante concluded the conversation by saying he had to go somewhere and turn his back following the path along side the Arno river.

This an imaginary interview in memory of Dante Alighieri

Liu Sanjie Show at Li River

The Liu Sanjie show is an outdoor performance set in real mountains and rivers in Yangshuo. Yangshuo is a county at the end of the magnificent Li River tour (read my previous blog) from Guilin, in northeastern Guangxi, China. 

 The Liu Sanjie show is staged at the 2km stretch along Li River with 12 mountain peaks as the background. So unlike performances with traditional stage, here we get a show with natural background. This picturesque scenery with various mountain peaks, reflections in the clear water, misty rain, and bamboo forests along with the sound of animals in their natural environment are unique to the performance. 

The Liu Sanjie show is directed by the famous film director Zhang Yi Mou.  He is a Chinese film director, producer, writer and actor, and has won numerous awards and recognitions in international film festivals such as  Silver Lion and Golden Lion  at the Venice Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and the Golden Bear . Zhang also directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, which received international acclaim.

It took Zhang Yi  Mou three and half years to finish preparations for launching the Liu Sanjie show. The performance lasts for 70 minutes and more than 600 actors and actresses are involved. All the actors of the show are local  villagers and fishermen, particularly local minority groups as Zhuang and Yao, who have practiced meticulously. At March 20, 2004 the premiere of the Liu Sanjie lightshow was a huge outdoor performance with 1800, now there are about 3000 seats. Three shows daily, all fully booked during peak season.

Liu Sanjie is a story that originates from the Zhuang minority people (read my blog about Longji Rice Terraces). The story is about a legendary Zhuang woman singer called Liu Sanjie, which means “third sister”.  The legend tells the tale of Liu Sanjie who had a beautiful voice at very early age.  Her voice is so beautiful that attracted a gangster named Mo Huairen. The gangster falls in love with Liu Sanjie and wished to make her his concubine. As Liu Sanjie refuses, Mo Huairen attempts to kill her.

Liu Sanjie’s boyfriend, Li Xiaoniu,  and his friends in the village free her and the couple escape turning themselves in a pair of larks (a small bird with beautiful singing).

This Liu Sanjie show is also called Impression Show, as it is focused on impressions rather than the plot, characters. We can watch a bunch of impression, these impressions from the landscape and people's life, with the back ground of mountains on the river stage. The magnificent ligthing system, music and modern visual technology makes the show a magical impression of the Liu Sanjie story. Zhang Yimou uses the natural resources of Yangshuo to give his show a maximum effect. The usage of lights and water emphasizes the beauty of the Li River and the limestone mountains in a way never seen before.

At March 20, 2004 the premiere of the Liu Sanjie lightshow was a huge outdoor performance with 1800, now there are about 3000 seats. Three shows daily, all fully booked during peak season.

Liu Sanjie is divided into four main parts.

The first is called the Red show with long red silk flowing on the river, giving the impression of fisherman throwing out their nets and drawing them in again, as they balance precariously on bamboo rafts. It is an amazing act.

Then followed by the Green show which give the impression of the daily life of the people of the Li River. Smoke curling upwards from cooking pots, women washing, in the fields, fishing, all the everyday things in their lives.

Then followed by the Blue Impressions, love song of Liu Sanjie the bathing bride in the river, even the moon caught up in this love song. 

Knowing that Mo Huairen will surely get the magistrate’s support and attempt at Liu Sanjie’s life, the villagers urge her to keep herself from harm’s way for the time being. Liu Sanjie says goodbye to them and embarks on her journey with her lover Li Xiaoniu.

Lastly the Silver show, the grand finale, in gold and silver costume change,  giving impression of Liu Sanjie and Li Xiaoniu living happily ever after. .

That is the touching Liu Sanjie legend about Liu Sanjie, performed along the Li River with the background of mountains, enhanced by excellent sound and lighting system. It is a great combination of legend, nature, technology, singing, choreography, and the Zhuang culture. What a fantastic show it is ..! 

A Journey along Li River

What to say about Li River, it is just fantastic.  Li River is also called LiJiang in Chinese, as “jiang” is the Chinese word for “river”, so it is wrong to say Lijiang river as used on many articles in English.  However people ignore it as it is so famous, everybody knows. 

Touring  by boat for 4 hours along the river surrounded by mountains and mountains, is an endless journey in tranquillity. We can look around during the tour and we can see a 360 degree of scenic landscape.  

The Li River tour flows through Guilin and Yangshuo with a total length of 116 km. Tourist cruises in different boats,  varying from small rafts to larger, air-conditioned boats. It is the major attraction for tourists who come to Guilin. Millions of people each year come to its jade waters, cruising between peaks and islands in search of the landscape beauty.  During peak holidays there are so many boats required to carry the tourists, such that the boats are lined-up sailing behind each other like a train on water. 

The whole length of the Li River is guarded by green hills and the scenic karst mountains. It has been visited by a huge number of artists, writers and poets to admire the river. It is also the most written about river in China. The Li River gives an authentic picture of countryside China.  Written and painted by poets and artists, Li River gives a picture book of karst peaks, ancient villages and bamboo. 

In the Song Dynasty, Guilin had begun to be famous for its natural beauty and said to be the best  "Among all the mountains and waters”. Guilin is well-known for its unique mountains and beautiful rivers. There are about 157 rock hills (now under first-class or second-class state protection),  21 major karst caves and several hundred smaller ones.  

Among the hills and protruding rocks of Guilin, flows the tranquil Li River (Lijiang), which gives a very scenic sight. The Li River flows through Guilin and Yangshuo with a total length of 116 km. Tourist cruises the river in different boats,  varying from small bamboo rafts to larger, air-conditioned boats . Millions of people each year come to its jade waters, cruising between peaks and islands to see the landscape beauty. It is the major attraction for tourists who come to Guilin. 

The whole length of the Li River journey is guarded by green hills and scenic karst mountains. It has been visited by a huge number of artists, writers and poets to admire the river. It is also the most written about river in China. The Li River gives an authentic picture of countryside China.  Written and painted by poets and artists, Li River gives a picture book of karst peaks, ancient villages and bamboo. 

Just round the big turn that the river takes at Xingping is the most iconic stretch of the river known as The Yellow Cloth landscape, which features on the back of the Chinese 20 yuan money. The money shows a fisherman on the river with Yellow Cloth landscape behind it. 

The place's name comes from a yellow flagstone, long and wide, whose reflection spreads itself on the river like a yellow cloth. The seven hills on the bank of Yellow Cloth landscape have been likened to seven fairy maidens who came from heaven to play at the bank and were so amazed by the scenery that they would not leave. 

More than the river itself, the landscape is awesome: alluvial plains rippling with 300-million-year-old limestone formations. The geological term for these  mountain is karst sometimes with odd shapes that look like something in nature, like the Yellow Cloth landscape. The people used their imagination to name the odd shapes according to the shapes such as : Watching An Apple, Calligraphy Brush, Eight Immortals, Elephant Trunk Hill, Folded Brocade Mountain, etc. Many of these fanciful names are tied to a local legend.  This habit of naming of a scenery and tying it to a legend is quite common in China, we encounter it in other places in China as well. Actually, the Chinese people in that way is very imaginative and creative. 

Among all of the odd shapes, Nine Horse Hill is an important scene not to miss during the Li River tour. Nine Horse Hill is located 4km from Xinping. The cliff face has images of what appeared to be a group of horses. In variation of yellow and white, dark and light, the horses assume a variety of poses: some seem to be running, some just lying there and others playing. These images have been present on the mountain side for centuries. 

In the Xingping area there is a hill named as Camel Hill. This hill is named Camel Hill as its shape looks like a Camel.  In Guilin, Yangshuo and other places in China, there are other hills named as Camel Hill because of its shape. So it is misleading to think that Camel Hill is the one located along the Li River tour, because there are other Camel Hills in China. 

The wonderful 4 hours boat journey then ended in Yangshuo, leaving us with memorable images of the landscape along the Li River, attached by the given fancy names of the landscape. May be that is the purpose of naming them like that. 

The Singing Dong Tribe

The villages of the Dong people are located among the hills on the Hunan-Guichou-Guangxi borders, China.

The Dong people live in villages of 20-30 households located near the rivers. There are also large villages of 700 households.

The Dong people grow rice, wheat, maize and sweet potatoes for consumption and cultivate cotton, tobacco, soybeans and rapeseed as cash crops. They also sell timber and other forest products.

Their houses, built of fir wood, are usually two or three stories high. Generally, people live on the upper floors, and the ground floor is reserved for domestic animals and firewood. In the old days, the houses of landlords and rich peasants were big and had engraved beams and painted columns.

Pathways inside a village are paved with gravel, and there are fishponds in most villages. Dong people are mainly farmers. They are good at growing rice, raising fish in their rice fields. For domestic animals they raise mainly hens and pigs. They live in huge forest, the forests have special spiritual importance for the Dong people but also provides with a source of income. The Dong people grow enormous numbers of timber trees which are logged and sent to markets. Tong-oil and lacquer and oil-tea camellia trees are also grown for their edible oil and varnish.

They are also famous for their unique carpentry skills which are displayed in beautiful wooden covered bridges. These bridges are called "Wind and Rain Bridges" because there are pavilions built on the bridge that provide shelter to people from the wind and rain. On a raining day, the pavilions on the bridge provide locals an excellent place to meet, relax, socialize, exchange ideas, and even amuse.

Wood, stone arches, stone slabs and bamboo are all used in erecting bridges. Roofed with tiles engraved with flowers, it has on its sides five large pagoda-like, multi-tier pavilions beautifully decorated with carvings. It is a covered walkway with railings and benches for people to sit on and enjoy the scenes around.

A specialty of these bridges is that no nails were ever used in their construction. Rather, the Dong carpenters used groove joints in structural members of the bridge to hold them together and transmit the load to the pier.

Other specific feature of Dong villages are the drum towers. Meetings and celebrations are held in front of these towers, and the Dong people gather there to dance and make merry on festivals. The multi-storey drum tower, the symbol of a Dong village, is usually built in the flat or high grounds of the village center. A square is built in front of the drum tower, and provides a venue for the entire village to come together for meetings, festival celebrations, and other public activities.

 Songs and dances are important aspects of Dong community life. All the Dong people can sing their folk songs. The  songs called the "Grand Songs" are most popular among the Dong folk songs, especially in the southern part of the Dong villages. The male voice is forceful and vigorous as against the sweet melody of the female voice. Each troupe is composed of members ranging from three to a dozen.

The Grand Songs has become famous throughout China for polyphonic folk songs. While some of these folk songs are accompanied by a string instrument called pipa ( a four strings China music  instrument) , most are sung without any musical accompaniment. The Dong ethnic minority have no written language, so they use folk songs to narrate their daily life, express their feelings, and keep a record of their history. All of Dong culture is preserved in these magnificent folk songs.

In 2009, the UNESCO World Heritage Commission formally recognized the Grand Song of the Dong Ethnic Minority as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage.