A woman rides past a Motorola shop in downtown Ho Chi Minh City
2008年10月29日 星期三
高円寺
三茶de大道芸と高円寺阿波踊り
編集部の押久保です。
先々週の週末に、三軒茶屋で「三茶de大道芸」というイベントをやっていたので、友人とともに三軒茶屋をぶらぶらしていました。
なぜ、三茶で大道芸か？という疑問はさておき、いろいろな大道芸を生で見ることができるので、なかなかすばらしい取り組みだなぁと思いつつ、大道芸 をぼ～っと見ていたわけですが、ふと、学生の時に高円寺を題材に卒論を書いたことを思い出しました。（私は社会学を専攻していました。）
私がちょうど学生のときに、「中央線ブーム」みたいな現象がボツボツと起きまして、いろいろな雑誌で中央線沿線である中野、高円寺、吉祥寺といった街にスポットを当てた特集をしていました。
しかし当時、高円寺の漫画喫茶でアルバイトをしていた私にとっては、なぜそんなに高円寺が注目されるのかが理解できず、メディアが作りあげる高円寺像と、実際に私が感じる高円寺像のギャップがなぜ生まれるのか、というテーマを卒論の題材にしてみました。
また、漫画喫茶で働いていたときに、もちろんいろいろなお客さんが来るのですが、どうにも変人が多く（笑）、そういう人たちがなぜ高円寺に集まるのか、というのも気になってました。
フィールドワークを行い四苦八苦しながら、卒論を書き上げたわけですが、高円寺を読み解く中で、私が結論を導くフィルターとして利用したのが「高円寺阿波踊り」でした。
隣街の阿佐ヶ谷で開催されていた「七夕祭り」が多くの人を集めていたので、高円寺でも何かできないかと、当時の青年部の方々が考えはじめたのが、高円寺に阿波踊りが持ち込まれたきっかけのひとつだったと記憶しています。
高円寺が阿波踊りを選んだ理由はいろいろあるのですが、大きな理由のひとつは、高円寺の土地にあります。
高円寺のような道の狭い土地では、例えば神輿をかついで歩きまわるというのは、物理的に無理なので、身軽な格好で商店街を練り歩く阿波踊りがぴったりでした。
阿波踊りが定着したことで、高円寺に人を呼ぶ→商店街に人を流す→商店街の商品が売れるという循環ができたわけです（と、当時の商店街理事長にうかがった記憶があります）
「三茶de大道芸」にも人を集めて街を活性化させる、という目的があると思うので、もっと大きなイベントに成長してほしいなぁと個人的に感じました。
ちなみに、「三茶de大道芸」は2日で17万人ですが、高円寺阿波踊りは2日で120万人を動員しています。当時の青年部の方はすごい目利きですね。
高円寺（こうえんじ）は、東京都杉並区にある曹洞宗の寺院の名「宿鳳山高円寺」、及びそれに由来する同寺周辺の地名である。現在の住居表示では高円寺北（こうえんじきた）一丁目から四丁目、高円寺南（こうえんじみなみ）一丁目から五丁目まで存在する。高円寺駅は環状七号線西側・桃園川北側に位置する。
目次[非表示] |
[編集] 地理
当地は駅周辺以外は閑静な住宅街である。戸建住居と共に学生向けのアパートやワンルームマンションなども多く、一人暮らしの若者に人気がある。
駅近辺は商店街が多く、若者向けの衣料品（古着屋）・雑貨店や安価な献立の飲食店・古書店・小さなライブハウスなどが目立ち、休日になると多くの若者でにぎわう。大規模小売店舗がなく多数の小規模店舗が林立して商店街が発展していることが特徴である。
新しい店の新陳代謝は激しいものの、戦前からの老舗や古くからの名店も多い。1923年（大正12年）創業の天名家総本店の漉し餡入りの大きめのみたらし団子「お狩場もち」は三代将軍徳川家光が鷹狩の途中に「宿鳳山高円寺」へ立ち寄ったという故事を由来にしている。1960年（昭和35 年）創業の喫茶店「トリアノン」や、東京の「沖縄料理の老舗」の一つと言っても違和感がないほど連日客の絶えない「抱瓶」、またエスニックブームが到来す る以前から存在するインド東南アジア雑貨店「元祖仲屋むげん堂」、東京におけるカフェ文化の先駆けとも言える「Yonchome Cafe」など文化的特徴のある店が存在している。
一方で東京メトロ丸ノ内線東高円寺駅近くには光塩女子学院と高円寺カトリック教会があり、赤レンガの建物とあいまって町並みはどこかしら洋風な気風も感じさせる。
杉並区の人口統計によると、人口に占める20代・30代の若者の比率は、若者が多いとされる杉並区内の中でも高円寺周辺が際立って高くなっており、杉並区内139街区中、高円寺南二丁目が1位、高円寺北三丁目が3位である。
ねじめ正一の「高円寺純情商店街」は当地の雰囲気を綴った小説で、実際に同名の商店街が高円寺駅北口に存在する。ただし商店街がこの名前になったのは同小説刊行後で、それ以前は「高円寺銀座」という名前だった。
[編集] 歴史
[編集] 高円寺
現在の高円寺はJR高円寺駅を中心に、住居表示上は高円寺北と高円寺南があるが、これは戦後の町名変更に基づくもので、それ以前の高円寺は、宿鳳山高円寺（曹洞宗）を中心に駅の南北共に「高円寺」（旧高円寺村）だった。高円寺と阿佐谷の間には馬橋（旧馬橋村）があり、馬橋が町域変更によって高円寺及び阿佐ヶ谷に併合された際、南北に町名が分かれた。馬橋三丁目には小林多喜二が1931（昭和6）年に移り住み、母や弟と共に暮らした。馬橋は小学校名や神社の名前として残っている。
[編集] 神社
高円寺駅南口にある氷川神社境内に日本で唯一の気象神社がある。1938年（昭和13年）に現高円寺北4丁目（旧馬橋4丁目）に設立された、旧陸軍気象部（陸軍気象第三連隊等在駐）の構内に1944年（昭和19年）4月10日に造営、奉祀された。翌1945年（昭和20年）4月13日に空襲で焼失そして終戦直後に再建されたが、終戦後「神道指令」により廃棄されるはずのものを、旧陸軍気象部だった人たちが中心となって、連合軍宗教調査局に申請し払い下げをうけて現在の場所に移設されたもの。戦時中は陸軍気象予報担当者が予報が当たるよう毎日お参りをしたらしい。旧陸軍気象部はその後気象庁気象研究所となり、現在は茨城県つくば市に移転し、跡地は馬橋公園となっている。
[編集] 高円寺阿波踊り
8月下旬（最終の土曜日曜）に、JR高円寺駅前の通りを舞台に、「高円寺阿波踊り」が開催される。開催年を経るごとに知名度が上がり、現在では阿波踊りの本場である徳島県からも集団参加が見られるなど、遠方からの参加者も多い。見物客は本場徳島の阿波踊りを超える120万人以上とされ、東京の夏の新名物として定着している。
[編集] 主な商店街
- 高円寺純情商店街
- 高円寺パル商店街
- 高円寺ルック商店街
- 高円寺あづま通り商店街
- 高円寺庚申通り商店街振興組合
- 高円寺中通り商店街
- 高円寺北中通り商店街
[編集] 交通
鉄道
道路
- 青梅街道（都道4号）
- 早稲田通り（都道25号）
- 環七通り（都道318号）
- 五日市街道（東京都道7号杉並あきる野線）
[編集] 高円寺が舞台となっている作品
作中では高円寺と明言されていない（単なるロケ地である等）ものを含む。
- テレビ
- 「セクシーボイス アンド ロボ」（2007年）
- 小説
- ゲームソフト
- 「ぼくらのかぞく」（プレイステーション2用ソフト）ミレニアムキッチン
- 「高円寺女子サッカー」（プレイステーション2用ソフト） 2006年4月13日発売 スターフィッシュ・エスディ
- 「高円寺女子サッカー2 ～恋はネバギバ高円寺～」（ニンテンドーDS用ソフト） 2007年10月22日発売 スターフィッシュ・エスディ
- 映画
- 「アイデン&ティティ」（2003年）
- 「誰も知らない」（2004年）
- 「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:序」（2007年）
[編集] 外部リンク
2008年10月26日 星期日
El Escorial
維基百科，自由的百科全書
埃斯科里亞爾修道院（西班牙語：Monasterio de El Escorial，全稱El Real Sitio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial「埃 斯科里亞爾聖洛倫索王家修道院」），位於西班牙馬德里市西北約50 公里處的瓜達拉馬山南坡。該建築名為修道院，實為修道院、宮殿、陵墓、教堂、圖書館、慈善堂、神學院、學校八位一體的龐大建築群，氣勢磅礴，雄偉壯觀，並 珍藏歐洲各藝術大師的名作，有「世界第八大奇跡」之稱。
該修道院由西班牙國王菲利普二世下令修建，于1563 年動工，1584 年竣工，歷時21 年。整個建築平面呈長方形，長207 米，寬161 米。修道院被一座用灰色花崗岩建成的4 層樓房所環繞。長方形的四角上，各聳立了一座55 米高、尖頂上豎立著一個金屬球體的7 層角樓。據說這種灰色長方體的整體外觀，不僅增加了莊嚴肅穆之感，而且還有紀念基督教徒聖洛倫索的象徵意義。因為當年基督教徒是被羅馬國王裝入一個灰色長 方形鐵罐，用熊熊的炭火活活烤死的。
修道院是一個封閉而整齊的巨大建築群體，長方形建築群體的4 個正面牆上共有2600 扇窗戶，內有15 個迴廊、16 個庭院、88 個噴泉.6 座階梯、1200 扇門以及9 座塔樓。正門上方立著聖洛倫索的雕像，其臉部和手部都用白色大理石雕成。
教堂是該修道院內的主體建築，位於整個建築群的中央，是一座50 米邊長的方形建築。屋頂上方聳立著一個直徑為19 米的圓形塔樓，塔樓圓形的屋頂上還有高高的尖頂。全塔總高為92 米，是修道院建築群中的最高點。與此高聳的圓形屋頂相呼應的是左右兩側的兩座72 米高、帶有圓形屋頂的方柱形鐘樓。教堂內部十字交叉的圓形穹窿頂架由4 根粗大的柱子支撐。另有8 根較細的柱子分別支撐著24 個拱頂支架。圓形穹窿的天花板上有各種反映聖母和耶穌宗教生活的壁畫。地面是用灰白兩色相間的大理石鋪砌。
教堂內最大的祭壇有15 米寬，26 米高，祭壇分4 層，分別用碧玉、縞瑪瑙或紅大理石的柱支撐。4 層擱板上共有15 座銅製雕像，最高一層是基督和聖母的雕像，旁邊是聖彼德和聖保羅的雕像。在大祭壇的兩側有兩組銅鑄雕像群，這是義大利米蘭的藝術家們創作的藝術精品，一組 是卡洛斯五世國王和他家人的雕像，另一組是菲利普二世國王與他的3 位妻子和一個兒子的雕像。
祭壇周圍掛滿了著名繪畫大師繪製的聖像、宗教畫或各種精美的雕飾。主座堂的樓底下是先王祠，那裡埋葬了從16 世紀中期至20 世紀初期（即從卡洛斯五世到阿方索十三世）大多數國王的遺骨。教堂南面有國王行宮，最引人注目的菲利普二世的房間里有16 世紀的陳設和國王的個人物品。查理四世的宮殿里有西班牙宮廷畫家戈雅設計的掛毯等名貴工藝美術品。
教堂北面的修士大廳和聖器室里藏有佛蘭德斯畫家范·德· 韋伊登的《耶穌釘死在十字架上》以及名家大師的珍品。圖書館中藏有4000 份手稿和4 萬冊書籍，其中有些為稀世珍本。最古老的一本是1500 年前的拉丁文《聖經》手抄本，最珍貴的一冊為用金紙刻字貼成的金書，重50 公斤。
2008年10月16日 星期四
Winemaking - changing Moldova’s image
Wikipedia article "Moldova"
Inside Europe | 18.10.2008 | 07:05
Winemaking - changing Moldova’s image
When foreigners read about Moldova it’s invariably in association with corruption, human trafficking or wide scale poverty. Moldovans, though, would like their country’s image to be based on one of its potential assets – winemaking.
After all, Moldovan wines are exported to around 60 countries and the locals will tell you that Moldova is even shaped like a bunch of grapes.
The country’s oenological heritage is a distinguished one: Moldova’s vineyards have won prestigious foreign awards and back in the nineteenth century, their wines were drunk by the British royal family. But the industry needs a higher profile and more markets abroad.
Reporter: Helen Seeney (Moldova)摩爾多瓦人與羅馬尼亞人同宗同文，都是達契亞人的子孫。13世紀至14世紀，蒙古韃靼人和匈牙利人入侵，達契亞人逐漸分為三支：摩爾多瓦人、瓦拉幾亞人、川西凡尼亞人。古代的摩爾多瓦的國名為達契亞－圖拉真國，它後來又形成了羅馬尼亞、摩爾多瓦和川西凡尼亞三國。1359年波格丹一世創立了獨立的封建公國。1487年後淪為奧斯曼帝國附庸。1600年至1601年，摩爾多瓦、瓦拉幾亞和川西凡尼亞三個公國曾短暫統一。1812年俄國將摩領土（比薩拉比亞）划入其版圖。1859年1月摩爾多瓦和瓦拉幾亞合併，稱羅馬尼亞。1878年，比薩拉比亞再次隸屬俄羅斯。1918年1月摩宣布獨立，3月與羅馬尼亞合併。1940年6月，蘇聯將比薩拉比亞再次划入其版圖，並將比薩拉比亞大部分領土與德涅斯特河左岸的摩爾達維亞自治共和國合併，成立摩爾達維亞蘇維埃社會主義共和國，成為蘇聯15個加盟共和國之一，比薩拉比亞南、北部的部分地區被划入烏克蘭。1941年德國入侵蘇聯，羅馬尼亞為德國盟友。德國將比薩拉比亞劃歸羅馬尼亞。1944年9月，蘇羅停戰協定規定恢復1940年的蘇羅邊界。1990年6月改國名為摩爾多瓦蘇維埃社會主義共和國。1991年5月23日改國名為摩爾多瓦共和國，8月27日宣布獨立。
[編輯] 政治
1994年7月通過的憲法規定，摩爾多瓦是一個主權、獨立、統一和不可分割的國家，堅持政治多元化條件下的民主，實行總統制、三權分立，公有和私有制並存；摩永遠為中立國家，不允許在其領土駐紮外國軍隊。議會實行一院制，共有議席101個。2000年7月通過的憲法修正案規定，摩爾多瓦由原來的半議會制共和國改為議會制共和國，將總統的產生方式由全民普選改為議會投票選舉，總統在國家事務中的權力被削弱。摩議會實行一院制，任期四年。 2001年，摩爾多瓦共產黨人黨在議會選舉中獲勝，成為當今世界上僅有的兩個通過議會民主方式取得政權的共產黨之一。摩爾多瓦共產黨人黨主席弗拉迪米爾·沃羅寧當選為總統。2005年3月，摩共再次在議會選舉中獲勝。沃羅寧再次當選為摩總統。
[編輯] 行政區劃
[編輯] 地理
[編輯] 人口
總人口428.4萬。其中摩爾多瓦人占65%，烏克蘭人占13%，俄羅斯人占13%。
[編輯] 文化
[編輯] 其他主題
2008年10月12日 星期日
Iceland Looks Back To The Sea
冰島又要捕魚為生？
Getty Images
在冰島等待出口的鮮魚
戴
維森(Kristjan Davidsson)在16歲時即出海在漁船上做了水手。在水產學院就讀時，他就夢想能成為一名船長。20年中，他一直賣魚和出售水產加工設備。他的父親30年來的謀生方式也幾乎同這個偏遠小漁村的所有人一樣：到海裡捕魚。
戴維森
在全球金融危機的沖擊下，冰島政府周二接管了戴維森工作的銀行Glitnir Bank hf。周三，他到辦公室參加了一個員工緊急會議。政府指定的Glitnir接收大員對他們發表了講話。戴維森說，我聽到的主要意思是：出去再找份工作吧。
多少世紀以來，漁業一直是冰島的主要經濟支柱。但就在六年前，冰島人發現可以從金融業獲取巨額財富。他們帶著以往在海上時的所有熱忱和無畏投身到這個新行業中，憑借狂熱的投機欲望從海外大量借貸。這些銀行的規模也迅速讓擁有30萬人口的冰島國內經濟相形見絀。
幾 年內，冰島的三大銀行──Kaupthing Bank hf、Landsbanki Islands hf和Glitnir──就債台高築，同如今其它陷入困境的銀行一樣。這些銀行的資產達到了1,000億歐元，幾乎是該國去年國內生產總值的10倍，它們 的海外儲戶也遠遠超過了冰島的人口。
戴維森說，冰島人都愛冒險。當銀行私有化時，所有的能量一下釋放出來。我們喜歡速戰速決。
如今，冰島龐大的銀行業轟然倒塌。短短幾天內，整個銀行體系實際上都已被政府接管。該國最大的銀行Kaupthing Bank周四被接管，股市交易將停牌到下周一。冰島克朗在境外已經失去了貨幣功能。
通貨膨脹率飆升，外債大幅增加，這個嚴重依賴進口的國家的貿易也受到沉重打擊。英國和荷蘭正在起訴凍結他們本國公民存款的做法，而冰島政府正在尋求從海外獲取更多貸款，以讓國家免遭破產的厄運。
冰 島的崩潰是全球信貸危機帶來的最為嚴重的後果，這也形象揭示了此次危機是如何摧毀一個一度欣欣向榮的經濟體的。其他國家紛紛出台了巨額救市舉措：愛爾蘭為 其銀行存款提供擔保的計劃可能會讓受保証數額達到年度經濟產值的兩倍。全球第五大經濟體英國的方案幾乎相當於其GDP。
但投資者擔心，冰島弱小的國庫無法承擔銀行的負債，冰島可能拖欠主權債券。這會給其它債務負擔沉重的小國以及本國的投資者帶來連帶效應，從而讓冰島在這場席卷全球的金融風暴中具有了超乎其規模的重要意義。
盡管他所在的銀行已經倒閉，但47歲的戴維森還是穿著一套細條紋西服。他還在等待有關他未來命運的判決。不過他相信一件事情：他的未來將在海產品行業。
而直到幾天前，冰島人還認為他們能夠靠銀行為生。
戴維森是在2001年開始尋找新職業的。當時銀行正在被私有化，將成為後來的Glitnir的這家銀行希望找到漁業專家，幫助將業務擴大到國外，在全球各地做交易。
戴維森應聘進入該行，主要負責提供並購建議，安排全球各地漁業公司的融資。他的足跡遠遠超出了冰島，有一次曾幫助一家秘魯公司找到了融資，並安排這家公司在奧斯陸上市。
與此同時，高檔餐館開始大量出現在新的金融中心、首都雷克雅未克的城區。主要購物大街兩旁盡是高檔專賣店，出售前衛的時裝和精美的炊具。冰島克朗走勢堅挺。這打擊了該國的出口（海產品是冰島最大的出口類別），貿易逆差大幅上升，這是一個令人擔憂的跡象。
然而冰島人對此卻不太在意。他們驚喜地發現自己已然躋身全球最富有人士的行列。許多人成了百萬富翁，還有的成了億萬富翁。人們享受著高標準生活，進口的外國奢侈品賣得很便宜。他們用日圓、瑞朗的低息貸款購買了高檔汽車，使得冰島各類外幣債務的規模節節攀升。
銀行業也令戴維森得到了實惠。他和家人在雷克雅維克過得舒舒服服，還能到國外渡假。他說，我是個有錢人，退休金也有保障。
前幾天，戴維森回到家鄉，參加一年一度的圈羊活動。當地村民春天時把羊趕到草原散養，入秋再圈回各家。戴維森給一位現在務農的同學搭了把手，駕著自己配備了真皮座椅的豐田運動型多用途車(SUV)幫他把羊趕攏到一起。
對 這些冰島銀行來說，發展壯大是件很容易的事。它們可以從全球各地以很便宜的價格借貸，然後搖身一變，自己當起了放貸人，在幾乎沒有監管的情況下把錢投到自 己看好的行業或企業中，無論它們是在英國、丹麥、還是美國。這些銀行的資產隨著時間的流逝而不停地膨脹，而它們當中大部分都是借貸來的。
金錢在鬧轟轟地滾動著：冰島的銀行借錢、放貸，然後再借更多錢。當然，他們是必須要還債的，但那時還錢不成問題，因為反正還有地方能借到更多的錢償還舊債。
信貸危機在去年冬天時爆發了。到了今年夏天，已經沒有銀行願意借錢給別的銀行，特別是給冰島的所有銀行，因為它們的債務規模實在太龐大了。
雖然投資者相信美國和歐洲大國能在需要時籌來現金拯救它們的銀行，但在冰島這個僅有20億歐元外匯儲備的彈丸之地，擁有1,000億歐元資產的銀行有麻煩時該如何是好？
印制更多的鈔票──美國這麼幹可以，對冰島就沒多大意義了，因為冰島的負債多是外幣。發行更多的冰島克朗只會壓低匯率。正是出於這種擔心，投資者開始拋售克朗，其匯價今年已經累計暴跌了四成多。
對於除了魚之外幾乎一切都要靠進口的冰島來說，克朗重挫造成汽車、食品、家具等商品價格飛漲。最近的通脹率已經達到了14%。人們紛紛收緊開支。冰島家庭負債在過去五年間翻了一番，因為許多人都買了新房和高配置SUV，雷克雅未克的街頭滿是這種車。
AFP/Getty Images
冰島最大銀行Kaupthing的總部大樓
雷克雅未克港口負責人吉斯利﹒吉斯拉森(Gisli Gislason)擁有一間可以俯瞰碼頭的辦公室，貨船向這裡運來建材和汽車，捕撈船則出海去捕魚。吉斯拉森看到金融風暴已經醞釀了幾個月，當時進口開始下滑，出口則開始回暖。
吉斯拉森說，就在一夜之間，改變的重點就從銀行業轉向了實體產品：魚和鋁材。
那些當初沒有一頭紮進金融業的漁民日子要好過一些。霍德爾﹒萊弗森(Halldor Leifson)從事漁業已有15年之久，從漁民做起的他後來變成了漁場主管。大約一年半以前他認為自己應該去找個輕鬆一點的工作。
身著白色工作服、頭戴藍色發網的萊弗森在雷克雅未克港口的一家漁類加工廠接受採訪時表示，我手下的人都轉到銀行業了，他們總是問我，你還要做漁業啊？
萊 弗森曾仔細考慮過做銀行咨詢師的工作，但想到要離開這個全家人一直賴以為生的行業他還是放棄了。他說，真是感謝上帝。在他身後是碼得高高的方形大盆，捕來 的魚要在裡面用粗鹽腌制三周。萊弗森說，真正的經濟需要有產品來賣的，銀行業交易的也就是些紙幣，只有這些紙什麼也做不了。
那些從事紙幣營生的“貴族們”多年來一直輕視又臟又枯燥的漁業，現在他們可能要改改看法了。萊弗森說，在小漁村裡長大的人身體裡還流著親近大海的血液。我覺得只是回來重操舊業的問題。
冰島首相上周向國民發表講話，說他們可能必須回頭向土地和大海要資源。漁民們相信政府會提高鱈魚捕撈配額來推動經濟。本周冰島將其三大銀行收歸國有。首相說，冰島銀行業神話已經破滅。
Charles Forelle
Iceland Looks Back To The Sea
Kristjan Davidsson went to sea as a deckhand at 16. At fisheries college he aspired to be a boat captain. For two decades, he sold fish and fish-processing equipment. For 30 years his father earned his living the way practically everyone in this remote village ever has: pulling fish from the ocean.
But in 2001 Mr. Davidsson got bored. He joined one of Iceland's newly privatized banks. He got rich. Now, he says, it looks like it's back to fish. That may be true for this nation's fortunes as a whole.
On Tuesday, Iceland's government seized Glitnir Bank hf, Mr. Davidsson's employer, caught up in the unfolding global financial crisis. On Wednesday, he came to the office for an emergency staff meeting. Glitnir's government-appointed receiver addressed the troops. 'The basic message I heard was, 'Go find another job,'' says Mr. Davidsson.
Fishing sustained the rugged and remote island of Iceland for centuries. But just a half-dozen years ago, Icelanders discovered that vast fortunes could be made in high finance. They took to the new business with all the zeal and fearlessness of their seagoing past, lending abroad with speculative fervor. The banks quickly swelled to a size that dwarfed the economy of some 300,000 Icelanders back home.
Within a few years, Iceland's three big banks -- Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki Islands hf and Glitnir became highly leveraged, like other now-troubled banks. The banks' assets reached 100 billion euros, about 10 times the country's gross domestic product last year, and their foreign depositors have come to far outnumber the island's population.
Icelanders are risk-takers, Mr. Davidsson says. 'All this energy was released when the banks were privatized. We like to do things fast.'
Today, Iceland's swollen banks are ruined. In the space of a few days, practically the entire banking system has been seized by the government. The largest bank of all, Kaupthing Bank, was seized Thursday, and trading was suspended on the stock exchange until Monday. The krona has ceased functioning as a currency outside Iceland.
Inflation and debt payments are soaring, and trade has been crippled in a country heavily dependent on imports. The U.K. and Netherlands are suing over frozen deposits held by their citizens, while the government is trying to arrange more foreign loans to help stave off national bankruptcy.
The collapse is the most dramatic washout from the global credit crunch, a pyrotechnic demonstration of how the crisis can demolish a once-booming economy. Other countries have mounted giant bailouts: Ireland's plan to guarantee its banks' deposits potentially puts it on the line for a sum twice its annual economic output. The U.K.'s package is roughly equivalent to its GDP, the world's fifth-largest.
But investors fear that Iceland's tiny treasury can't back its banks' obligations and that the country might default on its sovereign debt. That could have a cascading effect on other small, debt-ridden countries -- and on the country's investors -- giving the island outsized importance amid the financial pain circling the globe.
Mr. Davidsson, 47 years old, who wears a wide grin and a pinstriped suit despite the collapse of his bank, still awaits word on his future. But he's convinced of one thing: 'It's going to be the seafood industry for me.'
Up until a few days ago, Icelanders thought they could live on banks.
It was 2001 when Mr. Davidsson looked for a new vocation. Banks were being privatized, and the bank that would become Glitnir was eager for fishing experts to help it expand beyond Iceland and do deals around the world.
Mr. Davidsson signed on, advising on mergers and lining up financing for fishing companies world-wide. He strayed far from Iceland, once finding financing for a Peruvian company and engineering its listing in Oslo.
Meanwhile swank restaurants crammed downtown Reykjavik, the capital and new financial center. The main shopping street filled up with pricey boutiques selling avant-garde fashions and design cookware. The krona was strong. That damped exports -- fish is the island's biggest -- and the trade deficit ballooned, a worrying sign.
Icelanders, however, didn't much mind. To their surprise, they became some of the wealthiest individuals on the planet. Many became millionaires, a few billionaires. The standard of living was high and foreign luxuries could be imported cheaply. They bought expensive cars with loans in yen and Swiss francs with attractively low interest rates, racking up high debts exposed to the vagaries of currency exchange.
Banking has been good to Mr. Davidsson, too. He has built a comfortable life in Reykjavik with his family. They vacation abroad. 'I am well off,' he says, 'I have my pension.'
Earlier this month, Mr. Davidsson went home for the annual sheep herding, when villagers bring back sheep loosed into hilly pastures the spring before. He lent a hand to a farmer schoolmate, rounding up animals in his leather-interior Toyota SUV.
For the banks, growing was easy. They could borrow at low cost from all over the globe, then turn around and with little oversight lend that money to businesses and entrepreneurs wherever they wanted -- in the U.K., Denmark and the U.S. Over time, the banks' assets -- largely these loans they made -- grew and grew.
The money rode a carousel: Iceland banks borrowed, made loans, borrowed some more. They had to pay their own lenders, of course, but that wasn't a problem -- there was always someplace to borrow more money with which to make the payments.
Then, last winter, the credit crunch struck. By this summer, no one wanted to lend to anyone, really, least of all Icelandic banks. That was because they had gotten so large.
While investors figure the U.S. and large European countries could come up with cash to bail out their banks if need be, what could tiny Iceland, with 2 billion euros in foreign-exchange reserves, do if its banks with 100 billion euros in assets got in trouble?
Just printing more money -- something the U.S. can do -- wouldn't help the Iceland banks much, since their debts were largely in foreign currencies. The creation of more Icelandic krona would just push down the exchange rate. Fearing this, investors began shunning the krona. It tumbled more than 40% against the euro this year.
Just about everything but fish is imported here, so the plummeting krona has caused prices of cars and food and furniture to rise rapidly. Inflation hit 14% recently. Families are squeezed. In the past five years, household debt doubled as people bought new homes and the tricked-out sport-utility vehicles that chug through Reykjavik's streets.
Most loans are inflation-linked, meaning payments rise with inflation, or in foreign currency, which means payments rise with the sinking krona. Today, both are calamities.
Gisli Gislason, the director of the Reykjavik port, has an office that looks over the harbor where cargo ships haul in building materials and cars, and trawlers send out fish. He saw the storm brewing a couple of months ago, when imports started to fall off. Exporters began to recover.
'Overnight, the change of emphasis is going from banking over to solid products, and that is fish and aluminum,' he said.
Those fisherman who didn't plunge into banking are breathing easier. Halldor Leifson had worked in the industry for a decade and a half, in jobs from seaman to plant supervisor. A year and a half ago he thought he'd bail for cushier employment.
'Every one of my fellows worked in the banks,' said Mr. Leifson, dressed in a white smock coat and a blue hair net, standing on the floor of a fish plant in Reykjavik's harbor. 'The guys had been saying, 'You're still working in fish?''
Mr. Leifson mulled a job as a consultant to banks, but in the end he got cold feet about leaving an industry that had long been his family's livelihood. 'Thanks to God,' he says. Behind him rise rectangular tubs stacked 10 high. Fish spend three weeks inside, curing in pebbly salt. A real economy needs products to sell, Mr. Leifson says. Banking is 'paper money. You can't do anything with paper money.'
After years of scorning fishing as dirty and boring, the paper-money princes may have second thoughts. 'Those especially who have been raised in small villages close to the sea, they still have it in their blood,' says Mr. Leifson. 'I think it is just a question of moving back.'
In an address last week, Iceland's prime minister told his countrymen that they would have to fall back on the resources of land and sea. Fishermen say they believe the government will raise cod quotas to goose the business. This week, Iceland nationalized the three banks. The prime minister said the 'fairy tale' of banking was over.
Charles Forelle
But in 2001 Mr. Davidsson got bored. He joined one of Iceland's newly privatized banks. He got rich. Now, he says, it looks like it's back to fish. That may be true for this nation's fortunes as a whole.
On Tuesday, Iceland's government seized Glitnir Bank hf, Mr. Davidsson's employer, caught up in the unfolding global financial crisis. On Wednesday, he came to the office for an emergency staff meeting. Glitnir's government-appointed receiver addressed the troops. 'The basic message I heard was, 'Go find another job,'' says Mr. Davidsson.
Fishing sustained the rugged and remote island of Iceland for centuries. But just a half-dozen years ago, Icelanders discovered that vast fortunes could be made in high finance. They took to the new business with all the zeal and fearlessness of their seagoing past, lending abroad with speculative fervor. The banks quickly swelled to a size that dwarfed the economy of some 300,000 Icelanders back home.
Within a few years, Iceland's three big banks -- Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki Islands hf and Glitnir became highly leveraged, like other now-troubled banks. The banks' assets reached 100 billion euros, about 10 times the country's gross domestic product last year, and their foreign depositors have come to far outnumber the island's population.
Icelanders are risk-takers, Mr. Davidsson says. 'All this energy was released when the banks were privatized. We like to do things fast.'
Today, Iceland's swollen banks are ruined. In the space of a few days, practically the entire banking system has been seized by the government. The largest bank of all, Kaupthing Bank, was seized Thursday, and trading was suspended on the stock exchange until Monday. The krona has ceased functioning as a currency outside Iceland.
Inflation and debt payments are soaring, and trade has been crippled in a country heavily dependent on imports. The U.K. and Netherlands are suing over frozen deposits held by their citizens, while the government is trying to arrange more foreign loans to help stave off national bankruptcy.
The collapse is the most dramatic washout from the global credit crunch, a pyrotechnic demonstration of how the crisis can demolish a once-booming economy. Other countries have mounted giant bailouts: Ireland's plan to guarantee its banks' deposits potentially puts it on the line for a sum twice its annual economic output. The U.K.'s package is roughly equivalent to its GDP, the world's fifth-largest.
But investors fear that Iceland's tiny treasury can't back its banks' obligations and that the country might default on its sovereign debt. That could have a cascading effect on other small, debt-ridden countries -- and on the country's investors -- giving the island outsized importance amid the financial pain circling the globe.
Mr. Davidsson, 47 years old, who wears a wide grin and a pinstriped suit despite the collapse of his bank, still awaits word on his future. But he's convinced of one thing: 'It's going to be the seafood industry for me.'
Up until a few days ago, Icelanders thought they could live on banks.
It was 2001 when Mr. Davidsson looked for a new vocation. Banks were being privatized, and the bank that would become Glitnir was eager for fishing experts to help it expand beyond Iceland and do deals around the world.
Mr. Davidsson signed on, advising on mergers and lining up financing for fishing companies world-wide. He strayed far from Iceland, once finding financing for a Peruvian company and engineering its listing in Oslo.
Meanwhile swank restaurants crammed downtown Reykjavik, the capital and new financial center. The main shopping street filled up with pricey boutiques selling avant-garde fashions and design cookware. The krona was strong. That damped exports -- fish is the island's biggest -- and the trade deficit ballooned, a worrying sign.
Icelanders, however, didn't much mind. To their surprise, they became some of the wealthiest individuals on the planet. Many became millionaires, a few billionaires. The standard of living was high and foreign luxuries could be imported cheaply. They bought expensive cars with loans in yen and Swiss francs with attractively low interest rates, racking up high debts exposed to the vagaries of currency exchange.
Banking has been good to Mr. Davidsson, too. He has built a comfortable life in Reykjavik with his family. They vacation abroad. 'I am well off,' he says, 'I have my pension.'
Earlier this month, Mr. Davidsson went home for the annual sheep herding, when villagers bring back sheep loosed into hilly pastures the spring before. He lent a hand to a farmer schoolmate, rounding up animals in his leather-interior Toyota SUV.
For the banks, growing was easy. They could borrow at low cost from all over the globe, then turn around and with little oversight lend that money to businesses and entrepreneurs wherever they wanted -- in the U.K., Denmark and the U.S. Over time, the banks' assets -- largely these loans they made -- grew and grew.
The money rode a carousel: Iceland banks borrowed, made loans, borrowed some more. They had to pay their own lenders, of course, but that wasn't a problem -- there was always someplace to borrow more money with which to make the payments.
Then, last winter, the credit crunch struck. By this summer, no one wanted to lend to anyone, really, least of all Icelandic banks. That was because they had gotten so large.
While investors figure the U.S. and large European countries could come up with cash to bail out their banks if need be, what could tiny Iceland, with 2 billion euros in foreign-exchange reserves, do if its banks with 100 billion euros in assets got in trouble?
Just printing more money -- something the U.S. can do -- wouldn't help the Iceland banks much, since their debts were largely in foreign currencies. The creation of more Icelandic krona would just push down the exchange rate. Fearing this, investors began shunning the krona. It tumbled more than 40% against the euro this year.
Just about everything but fish is imported here, so the plummeting krona has caused prices of cars and food and furniture to rise rapidly. Inflation hit 14% recently. Families are squeezed. In the past five years, household debt doubled as people bought new homes and the tricked-out sport-utility vehicles that chug through Reykjavik's streets.
Most loans are inflation-linked, meaning payments rise with inflation, or in foreign currency, which means payments rise with the sinking krona. Today, both are calamities.
Gisli Gislason, the director of the Reykjavik port, has an office that looks over the harbor where cargo ships haul in building materials and cars, and trawlers send out fish. He saw the storm brewing a couple of months ago, when imports started to fall off. Exporters began to recover.
'Overnight, the change of emphasis is going from banking over to solid products, and that is fish and aluminum,' he said.
Those fisherman who didn't plunge into banking are breathing easier. Halldor Leifson had worked in the industry for a decade and a half, in jobs from seaman to plant supervisor. A year and a half ago he thought he'd bail for cushier employment.
'Every one of my fellows worked in the banks,' said Mr. Leifson, dressed in a white smock coat and a blue hair net, standing on the floor of a fish plant in Reykjavik's harbor. 'The guys had been saying, 'You're still working in fish?''
Mr. Leifson mulled a job as a consultant to banks, but in the end he got cold feet about leaving an industry that had long been his family's livelihood. 'Thanks to God,' he says. Behind him rise rectangular tubs stacked 10 high. Fish spend three weeks inside, curing in pebbly salt. A real economy needs products to sell, Mr. Leifson says. Banking is 'paper money. You can't do anything with paper money.'
After years of scorning fishing as dirty and boring, the paper-money princes may have second thoughts. 'Those especially who have been raised in small villages close to the sea, they still have it in their blood,' says Mr. Leifson. 'I think it is just a question of moving back.'
In an address last week, Iceland's prime minister told his countrymen that they would have to fall back on the resources of land and sea. Fishermen say they believe the government will raise cod quotas to goose the business. This week, Iceland nationalized the three banks. The prime minister said the 'fairy tale' of banking was over.
Charles Forelle
2008年10月10日 星期五
The Monastic Island of Reichenau
English
賴興瑙島怡人的氣候因斯布魯克帶來的還有度假的遊客，在島的最西端有一座野營地，為了保護環境，賴興瑙島對旅遊業的開發相對保守。賴興瑙島是德國林蔭大道之路（Deutsche Alleenstraße）的終點。德國林蔭大道之路起始於德國北部梅克倫堡-前波莫瑞州波羅的海上的呂根島（Rügen），一直到德國南部博登湖畔的賴興瑙島，貫穿德國南北，沿途長滿了有著數百年樹齡的古樹，其中以菩提樹、橡樹、楓樹和栗子樹居多，由此得名，整條路線總長2500千米，是德國最長的一條度假路線。
賴興瑙島上保留著一座建於724年的本篤會修道院，即賴興瑙修道院（Kloster Reichenau），它結合了精神、智慧和藝術感染力。聖瑪利亞和聖馬爾庫斯教堂、聖彼得和聖保羅教堂（巴西利卡）（St. Peter und Paul）、聖喬治教堂（Georgskirche）等建於9世紀至11世紀，展現了中世紀早期歐洲中部修道院建築的全貌，其壁畫見證了傑出的藝術創作過程。
赖歇瑙岛的修道院
「修道院之島賴興瑙島」在2000年入選世界文化遺產。聯合國教科文組織認為，賴興瑙修道院是一座偉大的本篤會修道院，是中世紀早期宗教和文化的傑出代表；賴興瑙島上現存的眾多修道院建築保留著了歷史不同階段的重要建築元素，是9世紀至11世紀歐洲中部修道院建築發展歷程的集中體現；賴興瑙修道院是10世紀和11世紀歐洲一個非常重要的藝術中心，在藝術史上具有重大的意義，修道院內恢宏的壁畫和燈飾是其中最突出的表現。Insight | 11.10.2008 | 04:30
UNESCO World Heritage Sites: The Monastic Island of Reichenau
Reichenau was put onto the Unesco World Heritage List in 2000.
The island of Reichenau on Lake Constance preserves the traces of the Benedictine monastery, founded in 724, which exercised remarkable spiritual, intellectual and artistic influence.
The churches of St. Mary and Marcus, St. Peter and Paul, and St. George , mainly built between the 9th and 11th centuries, provide a panorama of early medieval monastic architecture in central Europe. Their wall paintings bear witness to impressive artistic activity. .
Report: Geoff Rodoreda
2008年10月3日 星期五
深圳－中国的“红灯”首都
德语媒体 | 2008.10.03
深圳－中国的“红灯”首都
“这个大都市的历史不足三十年，过去它被视为资本主义初期苦工的炼狱。但今天看来，这个城市惊人的干净利落。”这是“日报”记者对中国改革先锋城市深圳的第一眼印象。但他进一步发现：
“今天的深圳不仅是中国最现代、最富有的城市，也是卖淫业的首都。十万名男性与二十万名女性性工作者在这里生活和工作。对于一个1200万 人口的城市来说，这一数字乍看起来似乎并不大。但从绝对数字看，这么多的性工作者在市内已比比皆是。在德国，他们的总数等于一个大城市的人口。
过去二十年内，这个南方都市形成了一个全世界无可比拟的新行业。妓院以夜总会或卡拉OK的形式出现，按摩院中按摩的并非只是颈部、脊背或小腿。在这 里走进理发厅，如果除了一名女理发师外，还看见三个年轻女人在关心大多是男性顾客的舒适与否，不必大惊小怪。甚至商场中挂着衣服的架子之间，也有女人友 好、主动地提供‘服务’。红灯区已不像其它城市只占一两条街道。上沙区因住着所谓的小老婆或长期包养的女人，被当地人称为‘二奶村’。
中国官方禁止卖淫，其它城市的警察一再进行大搜查、封闭俱乐部，但深圳数千家这样的场所多年来却平安无事。广为流行的纳妾现象本来就很难取缔，甚至 许多党员都把包二奶视为身份的象征。此外，卖淫是重要的经济支柱，在深圳受到省市当局的容忍。九十年代末，党的一名高级干部甚至想征收高额的妓女收入税， 中央政府制止了这一动议，理由是对正式禁止的行业不能征税。”