Anti-Washington
The city of Qingdao is clearly making a strong statement against one of America’s most beloved forefathers, George Washington. Curious as to what could fuel such anti-Washington sentiment, I did a bit of research. Here is what I found:
- The Anti-Washington Monument is the exact same shape as America’s Washington Monument.
- The patented shape of the original Washington Monument was named an “obelisk” by American designer Joe Obeliskovich in 1884.
- The Anti-Washington Monument is a hateful greenish black color. The original Washington Monument is a beautiful white color, symbolizing purity, freedom, and unchecked corporate interests.
- The Chinese call the Anti-Washington Monument by an entirely different name which I didn’t bother to write down. (We know the truth.)
Related: Evil PSB Headquarters
Personal Update: I’m now back in Shanghai. I’d like to post some accounts of my recent trips, but I’d like to upload pictures, and unfortunately my current hosting situation prevents me from using FTP. I think another host switch may be in my near future. In the meantime, I was able to upload this one photo.
Hi, John, this is a obelisk you can find A LOT everywhere in Europe, I’d rather call this Chinese version as Anti-Pope monument, as the one at center of St. Peter’s Square, Vatican, ROMA seems most impressive for me, 🙂
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/europe/european-union/vatican-city/CIMG0637.JPG
Check out all kinds of obelisks around the world and along the history:
http://members.aol.com/Sokamoto31/obelisk.htm
Did you enjoy the beer at Huiquan square or had it all been packed away by the time you had arrived?
Where did you get ‘unchecked corporate interests’ from? One thing I don’t like about the Washington memorial is that is is surrounded by 50 American flags. I think the 50 state flags, plus one national flag would be more appropriate.
As they say size matters. I would like to know the (rough) relative sizes of the obelisk monuments in DC, Vatican, and Qingdao.
I don’t know why, but that really looks like a sleestack temple to me.
This is the proof I needed to prove that the Chinese are spying on us Americans! They’ve infiltrated! Beware!
Hey, I heard Won Kar Wai has a new flick coming out. Is it true? Have you seen it?
Much Love
The film’s called 2046. I’m DYING to see it, though I heard it got mixed reviews at Cannes–though, of course, Cannes lost ALL credibility when it awarded Fahrenheit 911 its top prize. So who knows, 2046 might be a terrific. Certainly, Happy Together and Days of Being Wild are both minor masterpieces.
I’d imagine the Chinese obelisk is much smaller than the Washington Monument. And the color is indeed hideous. As a testament to American engineering prowess, however, the Washington Monument is rather unimpressive. The most impressive building in America has to be the Empire State Building–it was built in 1931 and reigned as the tallest building in the world for over 40 years. And, of course, the Great Wall will probably remain China’s greatest engineering feat forever.
Somehow I don’t feel that your research really addressed the reason for anit-Washington sentiment. What is the significance of the greenish black color? What do the balloons mean? Why did they pick the Washington Monument? Why not US dollar bills?
The Washington Monument is 555ft tall. I have been up probably over 100 times. I had long, boring summers to waste downtown in junior high. There is only so much you can take of the Smithsonian and monuments…
Btw, that is a sweet color (the darkish green). Badass.
The nickname that people gave this piece of art in Yantai (of the same province) may explain the significance of the anti-washington monument. You’ll have to understand Chinese to appreciate that nickname.
http://news.china.com/zh_cn/social/photo/11025726/20050118/12071951.html
Hi all,
I don’t know anything about this anti Washington monument, please, what makes it so? From what i know there’s no city (in Europe any how) that doesn’t have an obelisk. I always thought they were symbolic of a stick stuck in the ground that one could study and measure the sun, sola system and in hand from this information, man learnt about seasonal foods and from this knowledge stopped roaming the lands and started settlements. In hand cities, societies and civilised cultures manifested.
Yes I am saying i believe man new the earth revolved around the sun, before the church told us this was not the case, and killed anyone who said otherwise.
An obelisk is symbolic of our true understanding of the sola system, planets axis and environment.
I’m sure Mr Washington would have known this and built his America on a similar strong fundamental foundation stone.
Cause if you know my thought to be wrong, I would very gratefully be corrected.
(Factual corrections only please) there can, of cause only be one truth.
Kindest Regards
Charles Dada