About Truthworthy Paintings of Harem - ГАРЕМ


Если мы внимательно посмотрим на работы европейских художников изображающих гарем, то слаживается такое представление, что это такая отделенная территория, наполненная молодыми и красивыми девушками, которые бегают, танцуют и лежат вповалку на отдыхе в полуобнаженном виде.
Но мы забываем, что в гареме жили мать и тетки султана, которым было не все равно, какие нравы обитают на их территории, к тому же султану, думаю, было не безразлично, в каком духе воспитываются его дочери.
Поэтому правдоподобность этих изображений стоит под большим сомнением!
Да, климат там жаркий, но для обитательниц гарема предоставлялись различные шикарные одежды, выполненные из тканей, которые не были прозрачными, но пропускали воздух и в них было приятно и прохладно находиться. Даже спали девушки одетыми в шаровары, короткий жилет и легкий халат, правда часто без покрывала. Вообще мусульманские законы дают запрет как мужчинам, так и женщинам друг перед другом обнажать тело ниже шеи.
А какие бани изображают художники в гареме – одни обнаженные тела.
Хотя, как известно по традициям того времени, даже при купании на женщине должна была быть юбка хотя бы до колен!

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My March 8th Songs for the Loved Ones
Since some people are uploading their loved one(s) here, so there are my - Enjoy:
1. Mamy Blue by Pop Tops (So Funny Their Clothing !):




2. Again by Pop Tops: "Suzanne, Suzanne" (A Long-Forgotten One - And the Dancing of 70s !):




3. The Same "Mamy Blue", but by Dalida (!!!):




4. But Probably I Like This "Mama" by Dalida Most !!!:

Old and New Vietnamese Versions of Three-Word Sutra

- Photo of an ancient scholar writing VN Chinese-style old characters:


- Actually Three-Word Sutra was used for 1st-grade elementary teaching, but in old VN version which is now translated into the modern one, like these two:
Source: Văn thư lưu trữ mở Wikisource: http://vi.wikisource.org/wiki/Tam_T%E1%BB%B1_Kinh;
See also my VN blog in Yahoo 360Plus: "http://vn.360plus.yahoo.com/bquoc_khanh/article?new=1&mid=1109"

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Rita Hayworth in Salomea: Dance of the seven veils - Рита Хэйворт - Саломея. Танец семи покрывал

 

 

 

 

Wiki: "...The Dance of the Seven Veils is also thought to have originated with the myth of the goddess Ishtar and the god Tammuz of Assyrian and Babylonian lore. In this myth, Ishtar decides to visit her sister, Ereshkigal, in the underworld. When Ishtar approaches the gates of the underworld, the gatekeeper lets Ishtar pass through the seven gates, opening one gate at a time. At each gate, Ishtar has to shed an article of clothing. When she finally passes the seventh gate, she is naked. In a rage, Ishtar throws herself at Ereshkigal, goddess of the underworld; but Ereshkigal orders her servant Namtar to imprison Ishtar and unleash sixty diseases against her. After Ishtar descends to the underworld, all sexual activity ceases on earth. Papsukkal, the messenger-god, reports the situation to Ea, king of the gods. Ea creates a eunuch called Asu-shu-namir and sends him to Ereshkigal, telling him to invoke "the name of the great gods" against her and to ask for the bag containing the waters of life. Ereshkigal, having promised to grant Asu-shu-namir's wish, is enraged when she hears the demand, but she has to give him the water of life. Asu-shu-namir sprinkles Ishtar with this water, reviving her. Then Ishtar passes back through the seven gates, getting one article of clothing back at each gate, and is fully clothed as she exits the last gate. Her release is, however, granted only under the condition that she find someone to replace her in the underworld. Tammuz, Ishtar's husband, has been making merry while she has been dead, and so the goddess sends Tammuz to Ereshkigal.

The Oscar Wilde play Salomé, and Strauss' opera adaptation, both feature the dance of the seven veils. The dance remains unnamed except in the acting notes, but Salome's sexual fascination with John seems to motivate the request—though Herodias is portrayed as pleased. The most famous music for the "Dance of the Seven Veils" comes from near the climax of the opera. The visual content of that scene (about seven minutes in length with standard tempi) has varied greatly depending on the aesthetic notions of the stage director, choreographer, and soprano, and on the choreographic skills and body shape of that singer.

The 1953 film Salome features Rita Hayworth performing the dance of the seven veils as a strip dance in which she starts the dance wearing seven "veils" (most of which more closely resemble scarves) and removes six of them during the course of the dance, ending the routine wearing only a beige and gold dress, which is the seventh veil. The veils she removes, in order from first removed to last are: black and gold, blue and silver, purple, red, orange and pink, and finally yellow."

Missing Hanoi: Hoa Su'a, or Flower of Dalbergia tonkinensis Prain

As a song says: "Ha Noi this season is no rain..." - Actually no big rain, only the small n continous one which makes everything so wet... However this weather make the first flower of Hoa Su'a or Dalbergia tonkinensis Prain on its street, like some of these:


- Its flowers are small, a bit fragile and snowly white. They often fall on the soil and make it like a white bed cover:



- Since 2007 upto 2009 or so the Gov has a big headache to protect these threes in Hanoi against illegal trading to China of its precious aromatic wood !!!



- Do not mix it up with "Hoa Sữa", another famous on Hanoi streets, which flowers much later on, in May-June:



- And it's also fun time for young people to enjoy the flower and good weather...:

Top 30 Most Romantic Western Movies - 30 самых романтичных фильмов

Happy New Year of the Cat
Happy Lunar New Year of the Cat Everyone !!!


- Missing Hanoi Flower preparations for the New Year, even this year is unusally cold for the flowers:


- But it blossoms at last:


- Today is the last day for flower shopping - Try to have one at every house:


- Also try to buy some good wishes in old writings at "Writing Market":


- And, of course, the New Year special Food:


- Prepare Dinner Table for the NY Eve Midnight:


- Happy New Year of the Cat/Rabbit:

Modern Tango: Shall We Dance - by Jennifer Lopez n Richard Gere
- Good movie n good musics too, but I like mostly the way to make the boring life interesting again !!!

- Thanks to this post: "http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/1726655/post149585044"

Mysterious "Mahjong Game" by Canadian Chinese Painter Luu Yi/Lui Liu (Lu'u I'ch)

- Taken from Here: "http://hoithaoqtsc.blogspot.com/2009/04/lui-liu-va-nhung-buc-tranh-kho-hieu.html"
and VN_Explanation is from Here: "http://www.bbqt.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4009"

1. The Most Famous one is, of course, this "Beijing 2008", just before the Chinese Olympics: A 4-Party Mahjong Game between US-Japan-China and Russia, with Taiwan as Observer:


- More Detailed (There are 2 Almost Identical Paintings !):
Others are Here...

Famous VN Ladies, by VN-Canadian Painter Vi Vi etc.

- Taken from here: "http://hoithaoqtsc.blogspot.com/2009/05/vi-vi-trong-tinh-lang-tham-sau.html". More Similar Pics from Net: See here...

Nudes by Modern Chinese Painter Zhao Dalu
From here: "http://cuadernoderetazos.wordpress.com/pintura/zhao-dalu/"

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Lust: Caution (Sa'c gio?'i) - Chinese Erotic Movie - See Trailer here:

- or this one better (but cannot embed): "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noW2szO5cM0&feature=related"

A bit late now (should be 2 y ago), but still better than never, since I like their Kamasutra very much...

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Rare Chinese Erotic Paintings (Repost from Livejournal)

- Copied From: Livejournal, bquockhanh. March 4th, 2010

1. A husband and his 2 wives: Probably a couple, with a lady servant-assistant:



2. They imagined an orgy like this: 2 couples making an orgy, with a nude girl-servant and a boy. Note how pretty are the female legs!



3. Love boat: Both the scholar and his servant are enjoying themselves, plus a nude lady in front



4. One more love scene: I don't know what the wife is doing to help her husband?



5. Young boys-gays in-between their classtime:



- One more here:

Half-Viet n Half Czech Beauty Valaria

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Sexy Nguye^n Thi Huye^n - f Miss VN

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Passion Flower - Hoa La.c tie^n

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Unusual Plant and Flower: Sala, or Sorrowless, Shorea robusta

Here are some pics from the Emerald Temple in Bangkok, Thailand - My last trip there in 2009 (Also seen at Royale Palace in Phom Peng, Cambodia):

The tree (or parasite) has many strange dry branches, no leaves at all, and many buds, flowers and fruits loke this.



It not easy gives flower and is associated with Buddha: Either He was born or became Buddha under this tree (Along with the sacred "Bo de" tree !)

About the main female hero of "Jin Pin Mei": Phan Kim Lien
- To continue previous posts about this erotic fiction "Jin Pin Mei", as well as "Water Margins", here are some pics of Japanese actress Asami Kanno (Very busty, by that time, but so beautiful), so far best played her role in the movie - And I like this version amongs a dozen or so ones best !!!:

Movie Poster

- Wikipedia: Jin Ping Mei or The Plum in the Golden Vase (Chinese: 金瓶梅; pinyin: Jīn Píng Méi) (also The Golden Lotus) is a Chinese naturalistic novel composed in the vernacular (baihua) during the late Ming Dynasty. The author was Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (兰陵笑笑生), "The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling". Jin Ping Mei is sometimes considered to be the fifth classical novel after the Four Great Classical Novels. It is the first full-length Chinese fictional work to depict sexuality in a graphically explicit manner, and as such has a notoriety in China akin to Fanny Hill or Lady Chatterley's Lover in English. Jin Ping Mei takes its name from the three central female characters — Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮, whose name means "Golden Lotus"); Li Ping'er (李瓶兒, literally, "Little Vase"), a concubine of Ximen Qing; and Pang Chunmei (龐春梅, "Spring plum blossoms"), a young maid who rose to power within the family. Within Chinese societies, Jin Ping Mei is considered to be pornographic material, due to its contents.
The novel describes, in great detail, the downfall of the Ximen household during the years 1111–27 (during the Northern Song Dynasty). The story centres on Ximen Qing 西門慶, a corrupt social climber and lustful merchant who is wealthy enough to marry a consort of wives and concubines. A key episode of the novel, the seduction of the adulterous Pan Jinlian, occurs early in the book and is taken from an episode from Water Margin. After secretly murdering the husband of Pan, Ximen Qing marries her as one of his wives. The story follows the domestic sexual struggles of the women within his clan as they clamor for prestige and influence amidst the gradual decline of the Ximen clan. In the course of the novel, Ximen has 19 sexual partners, including his 6 wives. There are 72 detailed sexual episodes.



Asami Kanno as Phan Kim Lien



And the famous Trio: Kim-Binh-Mai, or Jin-Pin-Mei (The 2nd one looks better in recent "Sex and Chopsticks" !). However, this all iis just to introduce a new moviestar - Can Dinh Dinh - so young and inncent !, see here:

Orientalism in Painting

- Even though I've quite a number of post on this theme (Asia elsewhere, Middle East, Harem etc.), here is an useful and extensive website dedicated to it - "http://www.orientalism-in-art.org/the-collection.html":

Orientalism refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists. An "Orientalist" may be a person engaged in these activities, but it is also the traditional term for any scholar of Oriental studies. Orientalism was more widely used in art history referring mostly to the works of French artists in the 19th century, whose subject matter, color and style used elements from their travel to the Mediterranean countries of North Africa and the Near East (or western Asia).

These meanings were given a new twist by 20th century scholar Edward Said in his controversial book Orientalism, in which he uses the term to describe a Western tradition, both academic and artistic, of hostile and deprecatory views of the East, shaped by the attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. When used in this sense, Orientalism implies essentializing and prejudiced outsider interpretations of Eastern cultures and peoples. Said was critical of this scholarly tradition and also of certain modern scholars, particularly Bernard Lewis.

In contrast, some modern scholars have used the term to refer to writers of the Imperialist era who had pro-Eastern attitudes, as opposed to those who saw nothing of value in non-Western cultures.

e.g. Poppies The Oriental Woman, by Leon Francois Comerre

Where In the World Have I Been

From my FaceBook:
Where In the World Have I Been: A Total of 30 Countries in Asia, Oceania, Europe and North America. Not a Single one in Africa and South America, but not so bad.
(Cannot make How Many Cities Have I Been yet !)
Try yourself by "http://wherehaveibeen.info/"