Float parade, Amoy magic
By Dr Bill Brown
Photos by Yao Fan

厦门的花车巡游虽然才举办了两届, 但在潘维廉的眼中, 丝毫不亚于家乡--美国加利福尼亚州已拥有百年历史的玫瑰花车巡游. 他还希望能建立相关的英文网站. 如此, 不仅可以提升厦门花车的知名度, 还能让更多的国际游客进一步领略厦门这座城市的魅力.



After our family moved to Xiamen from Pasadena, California in 1988, I was amused to read that in 1920 Paul Hutchinson wrote that Gulangyu Islet had more wealthy people than anywhere on earth except for Pasadena, California!

It took Xiamen decades to fully recover from the devastation of the wars, but today Xiamen is once again one of the planet's most beautiful cities, and has even received international honors such as a gold medal from Nations in Bloom. And like Pasadena, Xiamen now has its own annual Float Parade. (Which amazes me, because just 15 years ago we would have been happy to have wide, paved streets, much less a parade!)



In 1890, Pasadena residents decorated bicycles and carriages with flowers and paraded down the main street before 2,000 spectators. On January 1st, 2005, millions of spectators watched the 116th annual Rose Parade's 50 floats. Xiamen's annual parade, by contrast, only had 26 floats but what a success for a city with only two years'experience!

Xiamen's 2nd Annual Float Parade had 26 colorful floats from Xiamen, as well as from cities around Fujian and other provinces. The flowery rooster was a crowd-pleaser, as were the floats from Yangzhou and Wuyi mountain, but I liked the cartoon-style float presented by Xiamen's quality starred hotels, and the Gulangyu Island float with a grand piano in a
miniature Bagua Building.



The 19 performances included singers and dancers from around Fujian, as well as a troupe from Brazil, but because I lived in Taiwan during the mid 70s, I especially enjoyed the Taiwanese performers, who came from such exotic locales as Ali Mountain and Orchid Island.
Given the number and quality of the floats, the variety of performances, and the enthusiasm of the spectators, it was hard to believe this was only Xiamen's 2nd parade! In a few more years, Xiamen's Annual Float Parade may draw crowds from all over China, but I hope the organizers set their sites higher than that.

Like Pasadena's Rose Parade, Xiamen could attract crowds from around the world, but only if we develop foreign language promotional materials (and do it now not a month before the next parade). An English website, for example, would cost little to design and keep online year-round, and help us promote not only the parade but also the beautiful city hosting it.
Xiamen's second float parade attracted thousands of spectators.

本栏目特约协办
厦门市旅游局
Xiamen Tourism Bureau
Tel:0592-5310570
Http://www.xmtravel.com.cn
地址: 厦门市湖滨北路78号兴业大厦六楼

 

 

Gucci's eternal fashion
Collected by Yuan Yuan
Photos collected by Aggie



尽管时装牌子令人眼花缭乱, Gucci(古琦)的风格却一向被商界人士垂青, 时尚之余不失高雅;尽管这个意大利牌子的服饰一直以简单设计为主, Gucci品牌时装却以高档, 豪华, 性感而闻名于世, 以“身份与财富之象征”品牌形象成为富有的上流社会的消费宠儿.



Luxury, elegance, fashion-that's Gucci.

For almost 100 years the Gucci name has been synonymous with high society, from A-list celebrities to top models, pop singers to writers and big business bosses to sports stars from all over the world.

Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in 1920 as a leather goods and saddlery shop in Florence. Guccio developed a taste for beauty and elegance as a young man while working in London. With the shortage of raw materials during the war, he discovered the distinctive potential of hemp, linen, jute and the signature bamboo, and in 1947, the famous bamboo-handled handbag was introduced, later becoming a great hit.



During the 1950s, most of the now-classic designs such as unique ties, the trademark striped webbing and even the moccasin made Gucci a well-known name. The company adopted the overlapping GG as its trademark in the fashion world in the 60s; and with the opening of stores in several major cities of the world, Gucci had embraced global fashion.

At this time Tom Ford, Creative Director of Gucci's entire product range from 1994-2004, overhauled Gucci's staid image by injecting decadence and sensuality into the label. Velvet hipster trousers expressed the 90s ambivalent ethic of sexual containment; metallic leather stilettos sharpened our image, giving us an aggressive stance while bruising our feet. And nothing, apparently, is sexier than money: Ford's leather thongs embedded with scarlet-sequined "G"s over the hip bone came with a hefty 2000-franc price tag.



In mid 2004, three fresh new faces, Alessandra Facchinetti, John Ray and Frida Giannini, were promoted to lead the Gucci name into the future.

As one of the world's leading multi-brand luxury goods companies, the Gucci collections cover high-quality products including ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, timepieces, jewelry, ties and scarves, eyewear, perfume, cosmetics and skincare products.



This year Gucci has brought forth its new eyewear collection, which is distinguished by highly innovative models in terms of both stylistic and creative contents as well as from a technological, qualitative point of view. The new collection's emphasis is on the logo, presented on the forefront of all models. The less elaborate frames have Gucci heat-stamped or etched into the acetate, whereas metal models celebrate a new logo: a double G embraced by a small but elegant oval. Classic lines bear the famous G monogram-rectangular and stylized-on the temple corners; in metal or dotted with tiny strass in the same colour as the lens.

Vocabulary
synonymous 同义的
saddlery 马具, 鞍具
hemp 大麻
staid 四平八稳的
hipster 行家
stiletto 匕首

 

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