Theme: A step into China

China is a immensely diverse and vast country. It spans millennia of diverse cultures. At the same time it is moving fast, old and new at the same time. To discover those differences, we tried to balance the historical with the glass & steel, the simple with the ostentatious and the unmistakable remnants of the terrible past with the glamour of the the years of splendor.

The Program:

Starting off the first day with a Tour through the historic French quarter of Shanghai, we experience first hand not only how the architecture in the city changed year on year to accommodate the rapid growth of the city in the early 20th century, but also how the early infrastructure has remained unchanged for many people until today. We learn what the cultural revolution did to the city, how it was hidden and how their traces peak through the peeling paint of later days. We will also visit a private art collection that not only helps us to see the world with different eyes and teach us how our view might be altered, hindered or enhanced by our environment, but again also show us how the visual representation of people and their thoughts changed through the centuries. Also here, in the arts, the cultural revolution has left its mark, be it as a destructive or creative force. Further we make an attempt to experience the regions of China through culinary excursions, be it in Sichuan or Hunan (the former home of Mao) with their extensive use of string spices or back here in Shanghai where the fine tastes of cold appetizers and delicate sauces prove again to us that China is not a single country in itself but much rather a different world.