Archive for January 17th, 2008

Chinese Conversation – Talking With Friends

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

241. Hi, Joe, is it really you? 乔,你好,真是你吗?
242. Hi, Ann. Nice to see you again. 安,你好。真高兴再次见到你。
243. It’s been a whole year since I last saw you. 我整整一年没见你了。
244. Yes, but you look as pretty now, as you did then. 但你看起来还是那么漂
亮。
245. Oh, thank you. How have you been these days? 欧,谢谢。这段时间你好吗?
246. Not too bad. 不太糟。
247. But you sound so sad. 但听起来你很悲伤。
248. Yes, I lost my pet cat yesterday. 是啊,昨天我的宠物猫丢了。
249. Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. 听到这消息我很遗憾。
250. That’s all right. 没事儿。
251. Have you seen Kate lately? 最近你看见凯特了吗?
252. No, I have no contact with her. 没有。我和她没有一点儿联系。
253. I heard she got married last week. 我听说她上星期结婚了。
254. Oh, how nice. Sorry, I’ve got to go now. 那真好。对不起,我必须得走了。
255. So do I. See you later. Keep in touch. 我也是,再见。记得联系哦。

Source: wwenglish.com

Chinese Culture-Art on Coal

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

The first China Coal Carving Artworks Exhibition was launched in Liupanshui city in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province on July 30. It is the first large-scale coal carvings exhibition in China and the world to feature several innovative characteristics — its grand scale, new contents and unique materials.

A “first” in history

The exhibition boasts a 280-meter-long, 2.5-meter-high relief, and more than 20 large sculptures featuring original themes and bold, rough styles, attracting hundreds of visitors.

In addition, there are hundreds of artworks by famous coal sculptors or coal craftwork companies, such as “Mineworkers”, “Deep Feeling Between Father and Son”, “Harmony,” and so on, which reflect the lives of mineworkers and minority cultures and customs.

“Harmony” depicts scenes of Miao, Yi and Buyei ethnic-minority women, dressed in splendid costumes, playing the zither and beating drums. The joyful and harmonious images take visitors back to the age-old mountainous villages with verdant bamboo forests, gurgling fountains, melodious tweedle and bright drumbeats.

Raw materials

Coal carving handiworks always use jet – a hard black mineral obtained from coal seam that can be polished brightly — as their basic material. It is black and shining, solid and wearable. With its light quality and high density, jet has been buried deep in the layers of the earth for hundreds of millions of years.

However, excessive mining has made jet scarce. The coal carvings in this exhibition are, based on modern carving art concepts and technology, made from a combination of jet powder and fiberglass.

There are three different ways to make large-scale coal carvings:
1. Using coke or lump coal to make art shapes directly;
2. Using head coal and sand carving technology to make various shapes, then spraying them with pastern;
3. Adding head coal to fiberglass proportionately, then making various shapes according to the pre-designed model.

The coal carvings can be divided into polished and unpolished handiworks. The former include black porcelain with glazed and exquisite surfaces, while the latter works feature rough lines.

History of coal carving

The history of the coal carving can be traced back 6,000-7,000 years. The jet adornments that were unearthed in the cultural stratum at the Xinle ruins in Shenyang, capital city of Northern China’s Liaoning Province, comprise the embryo of coal carving. The jet-carved circlet and lumps sculpted in coal, which were unearthed in a Western Zhou Dynasty (1100-771BC) grave in Northern China’s Shanxi Province, confirm the long history of coal carving.

Records of coal carving are rare. In the Book of Diverse Crafts, the oldest known work on the arts and crafts, coal carving was regarded as the integration of timeliness, materials and technology. However, nobody knows the concrete origin of coal carving. Historical records say that no delicate coal-carved handiworks have been unearthed.

Fortunately, Zhao Kunsheng, a wood carving handicraftsman, reopened the door to coal carving. When burning coal one cold winter, he discovered a kind of jet black and solid coal fit for sculpting. Zhao then sculpted a pair of balls with a woodcarving tool, and, hence, the first neoteric jet-carved handiwork was born.

In 1970s, an old man from Datong in Shanxi Province sculpted the face of Chairman Mao Zedong in coal as a token of respect. But this was a folk art associated with a particular feeling that did not spread far and wide.

In the 1980s, three workers at the Yungang Grottoes — a collection of early Chinese Buddhist cave art — wanted to make coal carving handiworks imitating the grottoes with coal gangue in Datong to promote tourism in Yungang.

The works were then launched on the market. With the accelerated development of the tour in Yungang, coal-carved handiworks became a hit with both Chinese and foreign tourists. However, the technology at that time was fairly primitive compared to modern technology.

Shi Yuping, who lives in Yungang, believes that making coal-carved handiworks requires delicate care. With his high achievements in sculpting figures, Shi began to make coal carvings using high carving technology. He only used high-quality materials and went to distant places to seek for good coal gangues. Shi even made breakthroughs in tools as well as in expressionism, paying more attention to the contrast between light and dark to make the carvings more vivid.

In the First Yungang Tour Festival, the Datong government promoted coal carving in a grand fashion and introduced it in various exhibitions.

Consequently, coal carving, which has existed for thousands of years but was only known by a few, had made a comeback. When various images emerge from coal, the vitality of this art form shows it true colors, attracting many enthusiasts.

Nowadays, coal carving has been introduced to the international market and is collected by tourists from many different countries.

Apart from the large coal-carved handiworks at the exhibition, small coal-carved handiworks are also well known in Fushun and Datong of China, Vietnam and some other countries.

Coal Capital

Reputed as “the coal capital south of the Yangtze River” and “the sea of coal in southwestern China”, Liupanshui is an important new industrial city in Guizhou Province, which has accumulated a vast coal culture over several hundred years of coal mining and development. The coal reserves in the city hit 36 billion tons. There are about 36 minorities living in the city, which provides abundant themes for the unique art form.

However, the outside world still knows very little about the accelerated development of Lipanshui as an investment. Therefore, Liupanshui takes advantage of the large-scale coal carving art form to establish its own cultural brand names to attract foreign capital, which is also an effective way to enrich the quality of people’s cultural lives.

(Source: chinaculture.org)

Learn Chinese Podcast – Happy China 17

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

                   Click to Watch Video Podcast

      (8月28日播出)

  韩佳: 真不错!

  It’s amazing!

  王渊源:这不是剪纸嘛?

  Isn’t this a paper-cut?

  韩佳: 对啊。怎么样?好看吗?

  Yes. What do you think?

  Is it beautiful?

  王渊源:是挺好看的。

  It is, indeed.

  不过你从哪儿找来的这个啊?

  But where did you find this?

  韩佳: 就是昨天在医巫闾山的时候,

  Yesterday when we were at

  the Yiwulu Mountain,

  我中午抽空

  I made time around noon

  到山脚下的小店去买来的。

  to buy it at a little shop at the

  foot of the mountain.

  王渊源:怪不得吃饭那会儿我没看见你。

  No wonder I didn’t see you

  at lunch.

  不过,抽空?

  But, “chou kong”?

  韩佳: “抽空”就是指

  ”Chou kong” means

  从忙碌中挤出时间来干别的事情。

  to make time for something.

  比如说,

  For instance,

  我还抽空给你买了一件礼物哪。

  I also made time to buy a present

  for you.

  王渊源:谢谢。谢谢,谢谢。

  Thanks. Many thanks.

  “抽空”意思是

  ”Chou kong” means

  从忙碌中挤出时间来干别的事情。

  to make time for something.

  你不说我还真猜不出来

  But for your explanation, I wouldn’t

  这个词是什么意思呢。

  figure out what it really means.

  画外音:各位注意了。

  Attention, please.

  车队准备出发。

  Get your vehicles ready to start off.

  王渊源:OK。我们马上就走。

  Okay. We’re leaving right away.

  韩佳: 到锦州的第一天,

  The first day we arrived in Jinzhou,

  就有人告诉我们

  someone told us that

  这里的民间艺术十分繁荣。

  the folk arts here are very prosperous.

  其中的剪纸、木偶、高跷和二人转,

  Among them, paper-cutting, puppetry,

  stilt dancing and comic cross-talk

  还被评为国家级的非物质文化遗产。

  have been designated as national-level

  intangible cultural heritage.

  像这么有价值的东西当然不能错过啦。

  Such valuable stuff certainly

  should not be missed.

  所以我们现在就要去拜访一下

  Therefore, we’re going to visit

  民间剪纸艺人,

  a folk paper-cutting artist

  请他们来给我们

  and let them

  展示一下锦州剪纸的魅力。

  show us the charm of Jinzhou

  paper-cutting.

  好多剪纸啊,这里面!

  There are so many paper-cuts

  in here!

  王渊源:是啊。多好看啊!

  Yeah. How beautiful they are!

  韩佳: 剪得真精致!

  All cut exquisitely!

  老师,这些都是你们剪的呀?

  Sir, are these all your works?

  嘉宾: 是啊。

  Yes, they are.

  韩佳: 那能教我们学学吗?

  Can you teach me?

  嘉宾: 当然了。

  Sure.

  韩佳: 好啊,好啊。

  That’s great. That’s great.

  王渊源:她学不好。

  I’m sure she can’t learn it.

  嘉宾: 一定能学好。

  Yes, she can learn it.

  王渊源:是吗?

  Really?

  韩佳: 尽力,尽力。

  I’ll do my best.

  王渊源:能学到这个程度吗?

  Can she learn to be as skillful as you?

  嘉宾: 当然。

  Of course, she can.

  韩佳: 那我们现在就

  Now let’s learn paper-cutting

  一边听老师讲,一边来学剪纸。

  as we listen to the teacher.

  王渊源:“一边听老师讲,一边来学剪纸”意思是

  Saying “yi bian ting lao shi jiang,

  yi bian lai xue jian zhi” means that

  “听老师讲”和“学剪纸”两个动作

  the two actions-listening to the

  teacher and cutting paper

  同时发生。

  happen at the same time.

  韩佳: 这种句式我们在平时经常会用到。

  This is a commonly used

  sentence structure.

  那我再说一个句子。

  Let me give you another example.

  Wǒ xǐhuan yì biān sànbù yì biān tīng yīnyuè

  我 喜欢 一 边 散步 一 边 听 音乐。

  I like to listen to music while I go for walks.

  那老师,

  Mr. Teacher,

  我要该怎么开始剪啊?

  how should I start cutting?

  你看我剪得

  Look, why did I cut out

  怎么这儿还有小刺儿啊?

  such little pricks in there?

  嘉宾: 所以说需要练。

  That’s why you need practicing.

  韩佳: 我觉得我的手都在抖。

  I feel my hand trembling.

  老师,你看我这个怎么样?

  What do you think about this one, sir?

  嘉宾: 非常的漂亮!

  Very beautiful!

  韩佳: 是吗?渊源,你完成了吗?

  Really? Yuanyuan, have you

  finished yours?

  王渊源:快完了。最后一道。

  Almost. I’m doing the last step.

  韩佳: 我们来给大家展示一下。

  Let’s show them to our audience.

  怎么样?

  What do you think?

  您看,观众朋友们,

  Look, audience friends,

  明显我这个比你好看啊。

  obviously mine is better than his.

  嘉宾: 我还有一件礼物送给你们。

  I’ve got a present for you.

  韩佳: 是吗?

  Really?

  嘉宾: 看一看!

  Look!

  韩佳: 哇!

  Wow!

  万里海疆行!

  Happy Journey across China!

  太谢谢您了,老师。

  Thank you, sir.

  您能猜到

  Can you guess

  这是用什么材料剪出的图案吗?

  what stuff he used for this cut design?

  告诉您吧,是树叶。

  Let me tell you they are leaves.

  让我们也学学吧。

  Let’s also learn it.

  嘉宾: 这个,再剪一剪

  Another cut.

  就是又一片叶子。

  And it’s another leaf.

  韩佳: 这个是分开的吗?

  Are they separate?

  嘉宾: 这是分开的。

  Yes, they are.

  韩佳: 看了这么多剪纸作品,

  Having seen so many paper-cuts,

  现在啊

  now let’s summarize

  我们就来总结总结锦州剪纸的特点吧。

  the characteristics of Jinzhou

  paper-cuts.

  你们看,

  Look,

  它们虽然表现手法不同,

  despite their different methods

  of expression,

  但画面构图都十分严谨。

  all the images are illustrated

  very strictly.

  人物造型也简洁生动。

  Figure portrayals are simple but vivid.

  怎么样,您是不是也能从这些剪纸中

  Do you also get a feel from

  these paper-cuts

  感受到锦州人的质朴和豪放呢?

  for the plain and forthright character

  of Jinzhou people?

  王渊源:和老师们告别之后,

  After bidding goodbye to the teacher,

  韩佳说要带我去看看

  Han Jia said she would take me

  锦州民间艺术的另外一绝。

  to see another unique folk

  art of Jinzhou.

  还说这是剪纸的兄弟。

  She said it’s the brother of

  paper-cutting.

  我就想不明白,

  But I don’t understand

  剪纸的兄弟究竟是什么呢。

  what the brother of paper-cutting is.

  不过不管怎么样,

  Anyway,

  一会儿就能知道答案了。

  we’ll find out in a moment.

  韩佳: 渊源,你来看。

  Yuanyuan, come and look.

  王渊源:哇,这字写得真好啊!

  Wow, what a beautiful handwriting!

  韩佳: 写得真好?再仔细看看。

  Beautiful handwriting? Take

  a close look.

  王渊源:是,写得特别漂亮。

  Yes, the handwriting is

  really beautiful.

  韩佳: 到底是不是写的,

  Whether it’s handwritten or not,

  我还是请它的作者徐老师来告诉你吧。

  let’s invite its author,

  Mr. Xu, to tell us.

  徐老师…

  Mr. Xu …

  王渊源:徐老师,

  Mr. Xu,

  这字是您写的吧?

  did you write these characters?

  嘉宾: 这个是我用手撕的。

  I created them with paper I tore.

  王渊源:撕的呀?

  With paper you tore?

  嘉宾: 对,对,对。

  Yes, that’s right.

  我给你们撕几个字

  Let me create a few characters

  using the tearing technique

  你们看看呗。

  for you to see.

  韩佳: 太好了!

  That’s great!

  嘉宾: 这是“说”字,

  This is the character “shuo”

  学说的“说”。

  as in “xue shuo” (learn to say).

  韩佳: 渊源,

  Yuanyuan,

  你刚才以为那是写的。

  Just now you thought it was

  written by hand.

  其实是撕的吧?

  Now you understand it’s created

  with torn paper?

  王渊源:好像是撕的呀。

  Yeah, I think so probably.

  韩佳: 这个“以为”是一个动词,

  The word “yiwei” is a verb,

  表示对某种事物的一种看法。

  used to express a view about

  omething.

  但这种看法往往不符合实际情况,

  But this view often does not

  tally with reality

  需要用另外一个句子

  and needs another sentence

  来说明事实的真相。

  to explain the true fact.

  比如说,

  For instance,

  Wǒ yǐwéi sī zhǐ hěn jiǎndān qíshí yě tǐng nán de

  我 以为 撕 纸 很 简单, 其实 也 挺 难 的。

  I thought that “si zhi” would be easy.

  Actually,it’s quite difficult.

  那因为今天我们还要继续赶路,

  As today we have to continue

  with our journey,

  所以就不能多停留了。

  we can’t stay here for long.

  您要是还没有看够的话呢,

  If you still want to see some more,

  没关系。

  it doesn’t matter.

  在接下来的赏心悦目中啊,

  In the following Feast for the Eyes,

  您可以继续欣赏

  you can continue to appreciate

  锦州的撕纸和剪纸艺术作品。

  some paper-tearing and paper-cutting

  works of Jinzhou.

  赏心悦目:

  锦州的民间艺术丰富多彩

  The city of Jinzhou abounds

  with folk arts.

  各种艺术形式在这里交相辉映

  Various art forms add radiance

  and beauty to each other.

  艺人们把艺术融入生活

  Artists draw their inspiration from life.

  每一处细节都是作者对日常生活的诠释

  Every detail of their works is an

  interpretation of daily lives.

  每一件作品都是对寻常事物的提炼和升华

  Every work is the distillation of

  ordinary matters.

  这些风格质朴的艺术作品

  These plain-style art works

  表达着锦州人对生活真切的热爱

  display local people’s strong

  love of life.

  王渊源:韩佳,你刚才放车上是什么东西啊?

  Han Jia, what did you put in

  the car just now?

  韩佳: 这都让你发现了。

  You did notice that.

  告诉你吧

  Let me tell you

  是徐老师送给咱们栏目组的礼物。

  it’s the present Mr. Xu gave

  to our team.

  王渊源:什么礼物啊?

  What present?

  拿出来给我们看看吧?

  Can you take it out and show it to us?

  韩佳: 可以是可以。

  Sure, of course.

  不过啊

  But

  你要先给大家出今天的有奖问答题。

  you have to set the award-winning question

  for our audience today.

  王渊源:那没问题。

  No problem.

  (问题部分略)

  韩佳: 那又到了跟您说再见的时候了。

  It’s time again to say goodbye to you.

  明天还是在锦州,

  Tomorrow still in Jinzhou,

  丰富多彩的内容肯定还能

  this fascinating program will definitely

  让您度过一个愉快的十分钟。

  accompany you through another

  pleasant ten minutes.

  王渊源:韩佳,

  Han Jia,

  现在总该把这个拿出来给我们看看吧。

  anyway, it should be time for you

  to take this out and show it to us.

  韩佳: 好好好。瞧你着急的。来。

  All right. Look, how anxious you are.

  Come on.

  合: 学说中国话,朋友遍天下。

  Learn Chinese and make friends everywhere!

       (Source: cctv.com)