2010, Ce Jian, Andrew James Art, Shanghai, 2010, 52 p., softcover, 21 x 14 cm

Artist’s book and exhibition catalog for the solo show Marco Polo – A Travel Guide at Andrew James Art in Shanghai, realized during an artist residency at JIA Shanghai in 2010.
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The Marco Polo travel guide series is especially popular among German tourists and has become a symbol of their curiosity about foreign places and cultures. For my Shanghai project, I took this guidebook as a manual and strictly followed each sightseeing recommendation like a good tourist, while learning about my own country of origin through foreign eyes.
The photos and materials collected along the way resulted in a large number of paintings, drawings and collages, part of which were used to create this new Marco Polo guidebook – a fragmentary and ironic recount of my personal “Shanghai experience”.

CONTENTS

I. Bund
1. The Shanghai Club
2. Old Lady On the Bank
3. Custom House
4. Peace Hotel
5. Chaplin Was Here (1-2)
6. Bank of China
7. Shanghai Mansions

II. The Old Town
8. The Old Town
9. My Itinerary
10. Chinese Garden (1)
11. Chinese Garden (2)

III. French Concession
12. Tricolore
13. Sun Yatsen Lived Here
14. Arts and Crafts Museum
15. Morris Estate
16. Fuxing Park (1-3)

IV. Pudong
17. High Buildings
18. View From Above
19. Pudong As Seen From Cheng Huang Miao
20. View From the Pearl Tower
21. Skyline

V. Culture
I – Natural History
22. Where They Come From
23. How They Lived
24. How It Was (1)
25. How It Was (2)
26. New Species (2)
27. New Species (3)
28. Chinese Birds (1)
29. Chinese Birds (2)
30. Chinese Birds (3)

II – Culture and Habits
31. Family Life (1)
32. Family Life (2)
33. Their Galleries (ShanghART)
34. Their Galleries (M50)
35. Their Religion
36. Their Women

III – Cuisine
37. Their Food (1)
38. Their Food (2)
39. Their Food (3)
40. Their Food (4)
41. Dessert (1)
42. Dessert (2)

VI. General Advice for Travellers
43. Don’t Eat
44. Never Buy Bootlegs
45. Never Get Into a Taxi Without an Address
46. Never Underestimate the Traffic