12.10.2008

10 - "Walang naninira sa bakal kundi sariling kalawang"

This saying really hits me because i feel like it talks about this country. "Walang naninira sa bakal kundi sariling kalawang." We are the problem. We don't stand up for our country. People from other countries discriminate our country and we dont even do anything about it. This makes me so jealous of other countries.
Moving along, other countries has been so advanced and literally, they left us. Like what I said, i am jealous of other countries because they have done so many great things. Like China. An Asian country where the 2008 Beijing Olympics was held. Can the Olympics be held in the Philippines too?
Going back, What makes Bird’s Nest so unique is not the size but its Chinese identity. The Bird’s Nest is a Chinese soup delicacy, which costs at least $30 a cup. It is created by a certain species of bird that creates a nest with its saliva. What is amazing is HOW FAR and HOW GRAND the Chinese can attach meaning to something as ordinary as soup. Kumbaga sa Pilipinas, it’s like creating a stadium and then call it “Sapin-sapin” or “Burong Talangka.” But no brilliant Pinoy architect has ever risen to promote our indigenous culture and express it NOT with barriotic-ness, but with a jaw-dropping, state-of-the-art facility like the Bird’s Nest.
The names of our stadiums are bereft of meaning and creativity: ULTRA, AMORANTO, ARANETA… Our theatres, convention centers are also meaningless: CCP, MERALCO, METROPOLITAN, FOLK ARTS, PICC. There is one theatre named in Tagalog, Lisa Makuha’s ALIW theatre. But just the same, no national identity. Just cute names.
I am reminded of Singapore’s Esplanade whose design was taken from a popular fruit among the Singaporeans—with the best varieties, in fact, being grown in the Philippines: the odorous Durian. In the Philippines, Durian is the mabahong fruit that only the probinsyanos eat (consider me then a probinsyano because my mouth waters at the sight of opened Durian—I actually think its fragrance smells yummy). But to Singapore, Durian is an icon of culture, progress, civilization. Same with Bird’s Nest, it is so symbolic of Chinese culture.
Another cultural icon today of China is their new airport, the Dragon Airport, which is so far the largest covered building in the whole world and expects to cater to 90 million passengers by 2012. Why call it Dragon, and not Mao Zedong airport or Zhou Enlai? The Eastern Dragon, apparently is an auspicious character. The Chinese Dragon is a symbol of RULERSHIP and IMPERIAL POWER. Whoa. And the Chinese have well thought of themselves for centuries, as “the descendants of the dragon.” They even have a proverb that goes, “Hoping one’s son will become a dragon.” So why call their airport Dragon?
I have high hopes for our country. We are the change. Let us be the change.The Bird's Nest, Beijing, China

The Water Cube, Beijing, China
The Esplanade, Singapore
The Dragon Airport, Beijing, China
CCP Theatre, Manila, Philippines

[ITEM 10 - STRUCTURES]

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