Archive for October 2nd, 2008

China Travel – Site of the Eighth Route Armys Office in Chongqing City

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Hongyan Village

The Site of the Eighth Route Army’s Office in Chongqing City consists of three parts, namely No.13 of Hongyan Village, No.50 of Zengjiayan, and Guiyuan Site. In 1958, the Hongyan Revolution Memorial was built in Hongyan Village. The memorial consists of the three sites mentioned above and the site of the Distribution Department of the Xinhua Daily.

Hongyan Village is located at Hualongqiao on the west bank of Jialing River in the city of Chongqing. The Central Communist Party’s Southern Area Bureau and the Eighth Route Army’s Office in Chongqing City were built there. In 1938, after the Japanese Army occupied Wuhan City, the Eighth Route Army set up the office in Chongqing City. In January 1939, the Chinese Communist Party established the Southern Area Bureau with Zhou Enlai as the secretary to direct the overall work of the Communist Party in the area dominated by Kuomintang. The office was destroyed in the air attack of the Japanese Army. A building at No.13 Hongyan Village was converted to be the office building. In August 1945, Mao Zedong once lived there when he went to Chongqing City to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek. In March 1947, when Kuomintang declared open the Civil War, all the staff in the office returned to Yan’an City.

The building at No. 50 of Zengjiayan is located at Zhongshan Silu (the fourth road) in Chongqing City. In 1938, when the Chinese Communist Party Delegation moved from Wuhan City to Chongqing City, Zhou Enlai rented the three-storeyed building in his own name. The so-called Zhougong Guan (the Mansion of the Zhous’) was the main place for handling official affairs. The Chinese Communist Party’s Delegation led by Zhou Enlai arrived in Nanjing City after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and the place was changed into the site of the Chinese Communist Party’s Committee of Sichuan Province.

Guiyuan used to be the residence of a member of Kuomintang, Zhang Zhizhong. It is a two-storeyed building about 200 meters away from No. 50 of Zengjiayan. During the Chongqing Negotiation period in 1945, Zhang Zhizhong, the negotiation delegate from the Kuomintang Party, vacated the main building to ensure the security of Mao Zedong and facilitate his office work. The reception hall downstairs was the place where Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai held negotiation with the delegates of Kuomintang and signed the agreement of the Chongqing Negotiation (the so-called Double Ten negotiation). The second floor was where Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai worked and rested.

(Source: chinaculture.org) 

Children Chinese – Cloisonné

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Cloisonné wares are the outstanding handicrafts in China. The production processes of cloisonné wares are painstaking and complicated. Cloisonné is an enamel ware, in which the colors of the design are kept apart by thin metal strips. Major work processes include: making the red-copper roughcast, forming patterns on the roughcast with thin copper strips, filling patterns with enamel of different colors, firing, and polishing. The making of Cloisonné integrates bronze and porcelain-working skills, traditional painting and etching. It is the pinnacle of traditional Chinese handicraft. 

It has several hundred years of history.   Beijing is where Cloisonné making originated. The earliest extant Cloisonné was made in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The best was made during the Xuande period (1426-1456) of the Ming dynasty. During the Jingtai period (1426-1456) of the Ming Dynasty, it became more popular, handicraftsmen found a dark-blue enamel which gave Cloisonné a gorgeous, solemn look, the technique turned to be quite mature. As the blue color was mostly used, so it is called Jingtai blue, and is still used today.

In Beijing as well as other cities, most shops in hotels as well as tourist stores sell Cloisonné articles, which can be as big as sacrificial utensils, screens tables and chairs, and as small as chopsticks, earrings, candy boxes, toothpicks and smoking tools. They are works of art as well as articles with use value. Handicraftsmen have of late developed a multi-coloring technique for the making of Cloisonné which has resulted in more refined and gorgeous products.

(Source: ancienthistory.mrdonn.org)

Chinese Conversation – lesson 217

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

在青年活动中心
阿丹:我小时候很喜欢爬树。
卡西:我都老老实实待在地上。
阿丹:所以你会合气道,而我会唱歌。
卡西:好,歌星,准备好握住我的绳子了吗?
阿丹:好了。慢慢爬。你可不想掉下来吧。
卡西:(爬到一半)还挺不赖。(她往下看)喔……啊……
阿丹:继续爬。你办得到的。
卡西:我觉得头晕。我想我要掉下去了。
阿丹:小心你的头!

At the Taipei Youth Activity Center
Dan: I used to love climbing trees when I was a kid.
Kathy: I just stayed close to the ground.
Dan: That’s why you do aikido and I sing songs.
Kathy: OK, singer, are you ready to hold my rope?
Dan: Oh, yeah. Climb slowly, now. You don’t want to fall.
Kathy: [Half way up] This isn’t so bad. [she looks down] Oh…uhnn…
Dan: Keep going. You can do it.
Kathy: I feel dizzy. I think I’m going to fall.
Dan: Watch your head!

(Source: wwenglish.com)