Zhang's Portfolio

Mengfu Zhang:Graphic Design

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Invisible Life / Poster / Mar 2009 / Richmond, VA

Nonlinear Life / Poster / Mar 2009 / Richmond, VANew Year Jeans / Poster / Mar 2009 / Richmond, VA

CCTV Is On Fire / Poster / Feb 2009 / Richmond, VA Type Crash II / Poster / Feb 2009 / Richmond, VA

Design By Accident / Poster / Jan 2009 / Richmond, VA I’m Open / Installation, Poster / Jan 2009 / Richmond, VA

Type Crash II / Poster / Jan 2009 / Richmond, VA Random Circles / Poster / Dec 2008 / Richmond, VA

Split / Booklet, Poster / Oct 2008 / Richmond, VADetract / Poster / Oct 2008 / Richmond, VA

Deconstructive “D” / Poster / Dec 2007 / Richmond, VA

Change / Poster / Nov 2008 / Richmond, VA

Beijing1271-by Yuan Dynasty

Bicycle1817- by Baron von Drais

Published by Murphy ZhangPublished by Murphy Zhang Spring 2008Spring 2008VCU in Richmond

In 1817 Baron von Drais invented a walking machine that would help him get around the royal gardens faster: two same-size in-line wheels, the front one steerable, mounted in a frame which you straddled. The device was propelled by pushing your feet against the ground, thus rolling yourself and the device forward in a sort of gliding walk. The machine became known as the Draisi-enne or hobby horse. It was made entirely of wood. This enjoyed a short lived popularity as a fad, not being practical for transportation in any other place than a well maintained pathway such as in a park or garden.

On August 2, 1368, Ming troops seized Dadu and re-named it Beiping (Northern Peace). Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), however, made Nanjing his first capital. Beginning in 1406, Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty spent 15 years constructing walls 12 meters high and 10 meters thick at their base around the city of Beiping. The construction of palace buildings and gardens began in 1417 and was completed in 1420. The following year, Emperor Yongle formally transferred the capital from Nanjing to Beiping and, for the first time, named the city Beijing (Northern Capital).as the Draisienne or hobby horse. It was made entirely of wood. This enjoyed a short lived popularity as a fad, not being practical for transportation in any other place than a well maintained pathway such as in a park or garden.

Beijing Bicycle

BicycleBeijing B2B2

The High Wheel Bicycle

In 1870 the first all metal machine appeared. (Previous to this metallurgy was not advanced enough to provide metal which was strong enough to make small, light parts out of.) The pedals were still atttached directly to the front wheel with no freewheeling mechanism. Solid rubber tires and the long spokes of the large front wheel provided a much smoother ride than its predecessor. The front wheels became larger and larger as makers realized that the larger the wheel, the farther you could

The Velocipede or Boneshaker

The next appearance of a two-wheeled riding machine was in 1865, when pedals were ap-plied directly to the front wheel. This machine was known as the velocipede (“fast foot”), but was popularly known as the bone shaker, since it was also made entirely of wood, then later with metal tires, and the combination of these with the cobblestone roads of the day made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. They also became a fad, and indoor riding academies, similar to roller rinks, could be found in large cities.

purchase a wheel as large as your leg length would allow. This machine was the first one to be called a bicycle (“two wheel”). These bicy-cles enjoyed a great popularity among young men of means (they cost an average worker six month’s pay), with the hey-day being the decade of the 1880s. Because the rider sat so high above the center of gravity, if the front wheel was stopped by a stone or rut in the road, or the sudden emergence of a dog, the entire apparatus rotated forward on its front axle, and the rider, with his legs trapped un-der the handlebars, was dropped unceremoni-ously on his head. Thus the term “taking a

header” came into being.

The further improvement of metallurgy sparked the next innovation, or rather return to previ-ous design. With metal that was now strong enough to make a fine chain and sprocket small and light enough for a human being to power, the next design was a return to the original configuration of two same-size wheels, only now, instead of just one wheel circumference for every pedal turn, you could, through the gear ratios, have a speed the same as the huge high-wheel. The bicycles still had the hard rubber tires,

long, shock-absorbing spokes, the ride they provided was much more uncomfortable than any of the high-wheel designs. Many of these bicycles of 100 years ago had front and/or rear suspensions. These designs competed with each other, your choice being the high-wheel’s comfort or the safety’s safety, but the next innovation tolled the death of the high-wheel design.

1817- by Baron von Drais

1817- by Baron von Drais

Within). In the Ming, it was renamed the For-bidden City (Zijincheng), and more recently it has come to be called the Palace Museum (Gu-gong Bowuyuan). Designed with thousands of halls and gates arranged symmetrically around a north south axis, its dimensions and luxuriance are a fitting symbol of the power and greatness of traditional China.

On August 2, 1368, Ming troops seized Dadu and renamed it Beiping (Northern Peace). Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), however, made Nanjing his first capital. Beginning in 1406, Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty spent 15 years constructing walls 12 meters high and 10 meters thick at their base around the city of Beiping. The construction of palace build-ings and gardens began in 1417 and was completed in 1420. The following year, Em-peror Yongle formally transferred the capital from Nanjing to Beiping and, for the first time, named the city Beijing (Northern Capital).

Extensive reconstruction work was carried out in Beijing during the first years of the Ming Dynasty. The northern city walls were shifted 2.5 kilometers to the south. Evidence of great advances in city planning is the district known as the Inner (Tartar) City. The Outer or Chinese City to the south was built during the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1522-1566), adding to the rectangular city a slightly wider “base” in the south.

When the Manchus founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644, they began to build suburban gar-dens, the most famous of which was Yuan

mingyuan. Construction over the course of an entire century, the imposing columned palaces and open-air pavilions blended with the seren-ity of well planned gardens to create a master-piece of garden architecture un rivaled in the history of China.

A city plan was first laid out in the Yuan Dy-nasty. Yet only after extensive reconstruction during the Ming and Qing (1644-1911), did the city emerge as an architectural master-piece fit to serve as the capital of the Chinese empire. A north-south axis bisects the city with

If ever there was a city made for the bicycle, Beijing is it.

LIFE HISTORY

BeijingBicycle 1860 --- 20081860 --- 2008 B3B3

Life is a circle.

History is a assembly of many circles.。

FOUNDATION CONTEXT

BicycleBeijing 1860s1860s B6

“1860, Beijing was occupied by British and French.”

Under the Qing dynasty of the Manchus (1644–1911), Beijing underwent substantial renovation and expansion although the basic character of the city during the Ming period was largely preserved. The last century of Manchu rule was a period of foreign encroachment from without and political instability within. The city of Beijing was captured by French and British forces during the second Opium War (1858–60), and the Summer Palaces were burned down. Foreign forces attacked the city during the Boxer Rebellion (1898–1900) at the turn of the twentieth century, destroying many of its artistic and historical treasures. Beijing

center of Chinese history following the 1911 revolution that ended Chinese imperial rule and placed the nationalist Kuomintang in pow er. At the conclusion of World War I (1914–18), it was the site of a historic dem-onstration in Tiananmen Square, opposing Chinese capitulation to the terms of the Ver-sailles Treaty (signed in 1919, the Versailles Treaty officially ended World War I).

Between the 1870s and the early 1890s, European and American expatriates, living in the so-called treaty ports; Shanghai and Tianjin, or in the Chinese capital Beijing, were practially the only cyclists in China. Members of these fast-growing multinational communities effectively transferred their materialistic western culture and life styles to the Far East. Like other western commodities, first introduced in the coastal cities, the bicycle came to China in the trunks of mis-sionaries, businessmen or colonial officers, and spread from there, rather slowly as we will see, to the hinterland.

B6

Beijing is a city planned for bicycle.

Beijing Bicycle / Documentary, Print / May 2008 / Richmond, VA

Beijing Bicycle 1980 -- 20081980 -- 2008 B12B12

MODERNIZING ROLLING

The move encouraging more residents and visitors to ride bicycles in Beijing has attracted much attention and dispute.“In order to help curb air pollution, Beijing will adopt adminis-trative measures to encourage people to ride bicycles” said a special plan on environmental protection in the Olympic Action Plan, which was issued earlier this month by the organizing committee of the 2008 Olympics. According to statistics issued by the Beijing Transport De-velopment Research Center, the rate of bicycle use continued to top all means of transport including cars and public transportation over the past five years.The numbers of bicycles in Beijing has continued to increase over the past few years, reaching 10 million by the end of last year. Bicycle lanes will continue to be drawn on city streets, said Chen Jinchuan, a researcher with the center, a think tank for the municipal government.

BeijingBicycle 1980 -- 20081980 -- 2008 B11B11

MODERNIZINGROLLING

Bicycle culture is one of the lucky things that hasn’t disappeared with modernizing.

EAST WEST

BeijingBicycle 1930s1930s B7B7

“High prices restricted the availability of the imported bicycle to a thin layer of the higher social strata. Cycling was a phenomenon of the western-oriented upper class. Democratization of cycling thus did not set in until the 1920s.”

EAST

BicycleBeijing 1930s1930s B8B8

Cultural and social changes in the pre-ceding decade, after the overthrow of the dynastic government in 1911.

The adoption of the western calendar and a regular six-day working week, formally in 1907 but first practiced by all urban enter-prises and governmental institutions in the 1920s, was felt especially on Sundays. Parks were constructed or opened to the public, and American movies were shown in the theatres of Beijing.

The growing urban middle class discovered the bicycle as a toy for their leisure time activities. In Beijing, with 2 million inhabit-ants, 9,800 bikes were counted in 1925. Their number rose to over 20,000 in 1930. The bicycle entered into many aspects of life, not only privately but also due to its use by public institutions. Many Chinese may first have been equipped with bicycles as postmen, soldiers, or as members of modern police squadrons. But also, on the other side of Chinese society, the usefulness of the bicycle, for the fast and flexible transport of goods, was highly appreciated when rice

In the 1930s, the Chinese cycle industry came into Being. By the mid-1930s, Chinese cycle history reached a stage comparable to that of Western Europe around the turn of the last century.

goods, was highly appreciated when rice was rationed in 1941/42. In the 1930s, the Chinese cycle industry came into being. Nearly synchronously, the three largest importers of bicycles Tongchang Chehang (Shanghai), Changcheng (Tianjin), and Daxing (Shenyang) established their produc-tion lines. Starting around 1929/1930, with the assembly of manufactured and imported cycle parts, the enterprises grew rapidly. The combined output of the Chinese bicycle industry reached 10,000 units annually between 1937 and 1945. By the mid-1930s, Chinese cycle history reached

WEST

that of Western Europe around the turn of the last century. A rapid increase in numbers of cyclists in the larger cities can be observed shortly after mass production was taken up. Prices now finally reached a level, which brought the bicycle within the reach of a wider population. The number of bike owners in Beijing (3.5 million inhabitants) constantly increased to 230,000 in the late 1940s. China-wide, there may have been half a million bicycles in 1949.

VCU Concerts / Web / Oct 2007 / Richmond, VAhttp://ramsites.net/~zhangm2/rennolds2/rennolds1001.htmlhttp://ramsites.net/~zhangm2/rennolds/rennolds1.html

Mario Bellini / Web / Dec 2007 / Richmond, VAhttp://ramsites.net/~zhangm2/bellini/index.html

Accidental Design / Blog / Dec 2008 / Richmond, VAhttp://zhang.gdesblogs.com/

Day Map / Print / Sep 2007 / Richmond, VA

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Recycle Life / Print / Mar 2008 / Richmond, VA Memories Map / Print / Jun 2006 / Beijing

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1984~2008

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