Blue cipher

I took this photo on January 31st in Zeng Cuo An. Stenciling in public space is still quite rare in China, but I have seen some nice examples, often with a political message, such as the portraits of activists Ai Wei Wei and Chen Guang Cheng (the blind lawyer who sought refuge in the USA).
This pink litte egret, which is the official bird of Xiamen, and a common sight at the coast (although not in pink, but in white), caught my eye as a particular nice example of stenciling. In some way, it reminds me of a traditional Chinese paper cutting, maybe because these elegant birds are often chosen as a subject.
The words 鷺島 are traditional Chinese characters, as still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In simplified Chinese, it reads 鹭岛 (Lù dǎo), and it means Egret Island, which is a pet name for Xiamen Island.

Today I got a notification message from flickr, that my photo had received a comment from flickr user blue.cipher. The comment read: "嘿  iam bluecipher".
So finally I got to meet the maker of this nice piece, as yet in the virtual domain. I sent him (or her) a message. Maybe one day we will meet IRL.