It was not an easy week, and the coronavirus is casting a shadow over the country. The number of confirmed cases has risen to 5,974 while More than 100 people are known to have died from the virus. The coronavirus has not only disrupted the way many Chinese people are celebrating the new year, it has also reshaped our traditional greetings. Though the mood is dark, people are trying to make light of the tension. A trending joke says that the best way to celebrate this holiday is to stay at home; the easiest way to make contribution to the nation is be a coach potato; the greatest way to exercise is taking walks from the bedroom to the kitchen.
I’m worrying about my cousin who lives in Wuhan and locking myself at home with my parents as the government suggests. The fact is that we do not feel bored at all – except following the real-time news on TV, we’ve had a lot of family activities like playing Heads Up, baking cake, making dumplings, etc. Meanwhile, I’ve finally started to get back on track with my reading habits (I read very little throughout December), which is a massive relief.
During the holiday, I’m finishing up Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, which I started earlier this month. I really enjoy Sheryl’s writing – her words are strong and true, delivered in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner. Those arguments introduced by her personal experiences are supported by specific research or detailed information, which is easy to understand and convincing. Gender equality isn’t anything new, but what is rather new is that after several generations, women are still fighting with this issue and struggling with balancing work and family life. Some stereotypes may be easy to be pointed out but hard to break. After entering the workplace, I gradually realise that working is not as fun as I expected and it is not easy to keep the balance between work and life, especially for designers. Through her book, I can feel that Sheryl is sensitive to how difficult it can be to raise children while working hard and she writes about that subject with sophistication and thoughtful reflection on her first-hand experience. However, mostly this book is not so much about the balancing act of parenting versus working as it is about the challenges women face in trying to get ahead. Most people must work for living, but most women have to take charge of their own careers and push forward at a time when gender bias is more alive and well than most of us may want to admit.
When it comes to TV, movies and books, I think basically there are two types of people: those who will happily re-read/re-watch their favourites, and those who prefer to seek out something new. I’m definitely the former. I watch my favourite movies and TV shows on a never-ending loop (that's another story for another time). And I also like to dip back into some books every year or two to build up some connections.
After finishing the book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (also known as GEB) by Douglas Hofstadter, I reread other three books - Yuanye (园冶) by Ji Cheng, Toward an Architecture by Le Corbusier, and Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan by Rem Koolhaas. In Yuanye, Ji Cheng analogizes the evaluation criteria for gardening as ‘sky’, that is, ‘nature’. The basic principle and artifice on landscaping is "artful following and borrowing, refining on appropriate body", that means it is necessary to not only analogize but also respect the original and to associate with the original. Toward an Architecture likens buildings to machines - ocean ships, airplanes, and cars. He prophesied that architecture will become into a living machine. Delirious New York compares New York's cities and buildings to the state of human insanity. From those conclusions above, it is clear that all three books are written by analogy. Reference objects range from gardens to buildings to cities, while analogies range from "nature" to "machines" to "human brains". Moving back to GEB, the book argues that "human thinking is analogy-making", “Analogy is the core of human cognition”, which is the core logic used by other three writers. Smart and interesting.
Wish my people can have their normal life back ASAP.
