挨: [ ái, āi ]  [ 国标码:B0A4 部首:扌 笔画:10 笔顺:1215431134 ] 1. lean to |
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(Source: dict.cn) |
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Archive for June 5th, 2008
Chinese Culture – Microscopic Carving
Thursday, June 5th, 2008|
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32 pictures on a sago seed |
The art of microscopic carving generally refers to the engraving of infinitesimal characters on ivory or human hair. The artist engaged in this unique craft, when he applies the graver, cannot see the work he is doing but has to depend on feel. The art is therefore sometimes described as “carving by one’s will”.
There are such sculptors of microscopic carving in many cities of China, who can engrave on small grains of ivory poems, paintings and miniature seal marks in no less than 10 different colors.
Microscopic carving on human hair is a new art developed only in recent years, being pioneered by Shen Weizhong, a member of the Suzhou Arts and Crafts Research Institute. On a hair several millimeters long and without the help of any magnifying apparatus, the artist can engrave poems or other texts by relying on the feel of his fingers. To achieve this, he needs an absolutely quiet environment, in which, holding his breath and controlling his pulse by meditative power, he plies his art with a cutting wire thinner than the hair. To read the surprisingly neat characters on the finished work, it is necessary to magnify them several dozen times with a microscope.
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7mm x 6mm |
Hair carving has been developed on the basis of fine-character carving, which has always been a Chinese tradition. Its rudiments may be traced back more than 2,000 years. On the fragments of oracle bones of the Western Zhou period (11th century BC – 256 BC), unearthed in Guyuan of Shaanxi Province, have been found small carved characters the size of rice grains with hair-thin strokes. Archaeologists have also found on the much earlier Yin oracle bones miniature engravings the size of millet, legible only under 5-fold magnification.
Artists of today with their assiduous study and experiment have given the age-old art a new luster.
（Source: chinaculture.org）
Beijing Olympic – Japanese city ready for Olympic torch relay
Thursday, June 5th, 2008NAGANO, Japan, April 25 (Xinhua) — As the Beijing Olympic flame is due to arrive in the Japanese city of Nagano for the 16th stop of its overseas torch relay, organizers, friendly Japanese people, and Japan-based Chinese students and emigrants said they are ready for a smooth and successful relay.
“I feel so lucky because I can watch the relay from my everyday position,” said a shop owner along the planned relay route, which covers most of the famous historical sites and modern landmarks of the central Japanese city.
“I don’t think anything will sabotage the event since Japan is quite safe and detailed preparations for order and security are underway,” she told Xinhua.
The flame was escorted to Nagano from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport Friday morning and will be passed consecutively by a total of 80 torchbearers along an 18.7 kilometer route in the city starting at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The entire relay is to last for about three hours.
According to Japanese organizers, every torchbearer and the two Chinese staff taking close care of the sacred flame are to be safeguarded by five sport-costumed Japanese riot police in a tight circle along the route, with nearly a hundred Japanese police forming two moving lines on both sides.
Senichi Hoshino, manager of the Japanese national baseball team, will be the first runner, organizers at the Nagano municipal government said.
However, details regarding the sequence of other torchbearers will not be released in advance for security reasons, organizers said, citing concerns over the possibility of too many spectators gathering at specific locations.
Japanese National Police Agency Commissioner General Hiroto Yoshimura has pledged to take all possible measures to ensure the smooth procession of the torch relay and the safety of the people related with it.
Among the torchbearers in Nagano will be famous table tennis star Ai Fukuhara, women’s marathon gold medalist in the Athens Olympics Mizuki Noguchi, and Japan’s “Breaststroke King” Kosuke Kitajima.
Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai and two other Japan-based Chinese, one representing students and the other representing emigrants, are the only three Chinese on the list of runners.
“Though the distance for each torchbearer will be as short as only about 200 meters, I fully understand the significance of the torch and will take every step wholeheartedly. I am to properly fulfill my mission and contribute to the success of the entire torch relay,” Cui said.
Zhang Bi, who will take part in the relay on behalf of 100,000 Chinese students in Japan, said he is proud to be a “civil ambassador” and is confident of exhibiting the healthy, active, and energetic image of Chinese youth to the world.
Friendly local civilians are waiting for the flame with great passion.
“My colleagues and I have made several hundred Chinese and Japanese flags by hand and plan to pass them out freely to spectators,” said Masayuki Fuse, secretary-general of the Nagano Prefectural Japan-China Friendship Association.
In Fuse’s office which is packed with all kinds of stuff to be useful on Saturday are samples of a traditional Japanese “red-and-white beancake.” “We usually eat the cake to celebrate. This time we have printed words cheering on the torch relay on the cake and will share our happiness by handing them out,” Fuse said.
Several thousand Chinese students are heading to Nagano via chartered buses early Saturday morning to witness the historical moment and to support the torch relay, said Li Guangzhe, chairman of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Japan.
“We will cheer on the event peacefully and leave the dealing of other matters to Japanese police,” Li told Xinhua.
“Although the torch relay encountered some unexpected disturbance in some western countries, I think most people in Nagano expect a smooth one in their own city,” said Shoichi Ide, vice-chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Association.
Neither as compact as Tokyo, nor as full of commercial atmosphere as Osaka, Nagano is a mid-sized Japanese city combining tradition and modernization. April is the city’s cherry-blossom season.
Nagano is one of only two Japanese cities to have hosted Olympic Games. Legacies of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games, including sports centers, museums, and memorial parks, can be seen all over the city.
(Source: en.beijing2008.cn)
