[asieaparis]
The Dragon parade starting from the main City Hall, then leading toward the 3rd district
Mayor's hall.
[G@ttoGiallo]
The Belleville community of the 11th district, welcomes the Year of the Dragon
on January 29/2012.
... Illegal, yet so real :
It is a pretty wild and mobile market, generally displaying between the Ménilmontant
and the Belleville subway stations but, sometimes, it can unexpectedly spread until
the Place du Colonel Fabien.
Several hundred residents - exasperated by the noise, and the dirt that devastate the
boulevard when hawkers leave the ground - marched on May 21, between the subway's
stations of Couronnes and Belleville, to denounce the illegal market that plagues the
neighborhood.
Every day, a large number of hawkers settle on the pavement, deploying an incredible
array of items - recoverd from the trash as well as stolen - like secondhand shoes and
clothes, old transistors, pots and broken appliances, cell phones and computers...
and so on.
The City Council and the police headquarters didn't seem, for now, to have found a
solution to put an end, once for all, to the illegal occupation of the public space.
I wanted to test a Sony H55, so I made a ride in Belleville...
[rue Dénoyez, aka 'Graffiti street']
For once during this rotten summer, there was the sun ... although it kept me from seeing
through the screen what I was shooting, never mind! The atmosphere of the neighborhood
is there and if I can make you feel it, my goal will be achieved.
[the 'Chinatown' area].
[Boulevard de Belleville].
[Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud - a curious look exchange]
The 'Cannibale Café', on my way back to Oberkampf.
___
This Sunday, at the initiative of the collective of Asian associations in France,
several thousand people marched in Paris, from the place de la République
to the place de la Nation, to protest against violence and require more security.
Apparently, no concrete solution has been found or desired
since last year when, for the first time, the Chinese community
organized a demonstration to denounce the intolerable
situation which has lasted for fifteen years, asking authorities
to protect people from any aggressive behaviour and violence.
For some reasons, the protest had turned to ethnic clash...
because of subsequent aggression on a Chinese woman.
To understand the basis of this wrath that could jeopardize the art of 'living together' which
has long characterized a multicultural neighborhood of Paris like Belleville, I suggest you to
listen to this France-Culture podcast: 
- China from the edge: "Belleville, Chronicle of a Yellow Anger" - an audio documentary
by Alexander Héraud and Nathalie Salles about how and why all this first started on June 2010
and still hurts one year later.
___
[Happy listening ... However, if you are familiar with French].
新年好！
1927, 1939, 1951, 1963,
1975, 1987, 1999, 2011.
Chinese community's traditional parades in Paris on February 6/2011
Places and departure time:
- 1:30 pm, Paris 20, Belleville/M° Couronnes
- 1:30 pm, Paris 13, 44 avenue d'Ivry
- 3:00 pm, Paris 4, City Hall
Despite his departure from China almost a year ago, Google proudly
displays its special logo for the Chinese New Year's Eve under the
Rabbit sign. It also features the Chinese character 福 (fu), [Happiness]
upside down, whicht is auspicious, according to Chinese tradition.
This logo visible on the Google homepage search engine google.com.hk represents a rabbit
in the traditional Chinese paper cut style. 
A rabbit statue in porcelain, 8.20 meter high and 9.6 wide, has been built
in the city of Jingdezhen, China's Jiangxi Province, to celebrate the Chinese
Year of the Rabbit.
The giant statue, - mounted on People's Square - has a metal frame
covered with plates of 30 000 blue and white porcelain.
Since the Song Dynasty, 1700 years ago, Jingdezhen is known as the
"porcelain city".
[mickydroog]
This year, a New Year-themed cartoon posted on a popular Chinese website seems to have
rankled officials. Censors have deleted the video, in an apparent reaction to its biting political
satire. The message for many is clear: pushed too hard, the Chinese people may one day rise
up and overthrow their Communist leaders.
___
The first night-time trail through the streets of Paris and its contemporary-art scene
