Archive for February 22nd, 2008

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China Travel – Shaoxing

Friday, February 22nd, 2008
East Lake

Located in the northern part of Zhejiang Province and south of the Hangzhou Bay, Shaoxing is a famous historical and cultural city with beautiful sceneries of rivers and lakes. The city has a long history which fostered many celebrities. Legend has it that as early as 4,000 years ago, Dayu of the Xia Dynasty went to Shaoxing personally for water-control projects. During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), Goujian, King of the Yue State, made Shaoxing the capital and named it Yuechi. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), it was renamed Shaoxing, which went down to the present. Shaoxing is the birthplace of many famous scholars, writers and artists, including Cai Yuanpei, a famous educator, late Premier Zhou Enlai, and Lu Xun, the novelist, as well as Qiu Jin, a heroine.

Shaoxing is world famous for the gorgeous scenes along its waters. The rivers, big and small, span 1,900 kilometers, running vertical and horizontal — just like streets in northern China — with various stone bridges as their crossroads. Shaoxing boasts 229 ancient bridges in various forms, which form a site rich in man-made landscape and wins the city the title of Hometown of Bridges. Residential houses in Shaoxing are of simple style, brilliant color, blue bricks, gray walls and black corridor poles, and typically keep the style of architecture in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Bathed in the bright sunshine, the whole architecture looks light and handy, simple and elegant.

Here in Shaoxing, there are many places worth visiting. You may climb Houshan, visit Dayu’s Mausoleum and Censer Hill and Qinwang Mountain in its outskirts, or the Ancestor Residence of Zhou Enlai, Memorial of Lu Xun, Former Residence of Cai Yuanpei, and so on.

The Dayu’s Mausoleum, a temple and mausoleum complex to honor the great-grandfather of China, Emperor Yu, took over a century to build. The East Lake is around 6km east of the city center, featuring beautiful, natural rock formations. The Lanting Pavilion, built in 1548, is considered one of Shaoxing’s “must see” spots.

(Source: chinaculture.org)

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Beijing Olympic – Beijing residents share stories with reporters

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

                          

 

Six residents living in the Asian Games Village became the protagonists in front of 30 reporters from China and abroad, sharing their stories about the Olympic Games with them.

The activity was organized by the Asian Games Village street activity center.

Yu Jichun, 67, a retired teacher, is living near the National Indoor Stadium. “I witnessed every change in the past years. I witnessed it from a single steel to a nest-shaped stadium.”

“The night view of the stadium is very beautiful, which makes me excited and proud.”

Zhang Tiezhuo is a worker with the Beijing Zoo. He is applying for his family to be a reception family during the Olympic Games. He said he is willing to share the joy of holding the Olympic Games with people from around the world.

Sun Baoqi is an Olympic volunteer and his 10-year-old son is making contributions to the Olympic Games. “During the summer and winter holidays, I usually pick garbage with him. My son is growing up with the Olympic Games.”

Wang Hui, deputy director of the BOCOG publicity department, said this kind of activity will be held in the future in an effort to have the world see Chinese people’s expectation and passion to welcome the Olympic Games.

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)

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Chinese Culture – Yangjiabu New Year Pictures

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

As the saying goes, “Yangjiabu came into being first. The kitchen god was born next.” It proves the long history of the block printing Yangjiabu New Year pictures.

The production of Yangjiabu New Year pictures began during the Ming Dynasty over 400 years ago. The ancestors of the Yang family in Yangjiabu moved to Weixian County from Sichuan Province during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty.

Yangjiabu New Year pictures are a kind of colourplate woodcut pictures. The first plate finishes black outlines. Then colour plates are used one after another. Deep colours are printed first on small sections of a picture at first. Light colours are printed on large sections of the picture at last. The main colours are red, yellow, purple, green, blue and black. With their sharp eyes and nimble fingers, the handicraftsmen can print four or five colours on the same sheet of paper without the slightest error.

Yangjiabu block printing New Year pictures are characterized by local flavor, artistic exaggeration and sharp contrast of colour. Take artistic exaggeration for example. A chubby child carries a fish in his hands. His head is bigger than his body. The fish is bigger than the child. It looks very nice.

The materials of Yangjiabu New Year pictures from the life of the local people. Their motifs cover flowers, birds, mountains, rivers, characters in traditional operas and fairy tales. The composition of pictures is vigorous, the depiction is exaggerative, the lines are simple and smooth and the colours are gorgeous. The bright red, bright green and bright purple colours give prominence to the rustic flavour. The pictures highlight the bold and unconstrained character of farmers in northern China.

  （Source: chinaculture.org）

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