Archive for May 10th, 2009

Beijing Olympic – MEX, CUB, BRA and USA win places for the Olympic Games

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

At the Continental Qualifier for the Americas in El Salvador the dices have been thrown. For the women’s event it is be two Mexican and one US athletes while in the men’s event it is one Mexican, one Cuban and one Brazilian to win new Olympic places for their countries.

Women’s Event

Janeth Garcia (MEX) beat Karen Scavotto (USA) 109-107 to win the first place in the women’s category. Another Mexican, Aida Roman, won the third position after beating Venezuela’s Leydis Brito 108-95. Venezuela had the first standby position in Leipzig, Germany and is now suffering the same ordeal.

Men’s Event

Juan Rene Serrano, the second qualified archer for Dubai, shot very solidly all along the tournament, and gave Mexico their third Olympic spot of the day. He defeated Cuban veteran Juan Carlos Stevens 110-109 for the first place. Brazil won the remaining Olympic spot by means of Luiz Trainini, winner of his third place match versus Mexico’s Jorge Pablo Chapoy.

17 athletes from the Americas have obtained places for Beijing: United States (3 Men, 2 Women), Mexico (2 men, 2 women), Canada (3 men), Colombia (3 women), Cuba (1 man) and Brazil (1 man).

There are still two possibilities left for the countries that have not obtained places. One is by obtaining an invitation place from the IOC and the second by obtaining a place at the final world qualifier in Boé, France in June next year.

(Source: en.beijing2008.cn)

Cri – Lesson 319

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

画龙点睛Huà Lóng Diǎn Jīng
Add eyeballs to the picture of a dragon to bring it to life — Put the finishing touches to something

Shanshan: Legend has it that during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, about 1,500 years ago, there was a famous painter named Zhang.

He was good at painting people, animals, landscapes and the Buddha. His paintings were vivid and true to life. People said that the animals he drew could come out of the picture as soon as he gave them the finishing touches. To make sure, a large group of people gathered in a temple one day to see Zhang paint dragons.
Zhang painted four dragons on the wall. All of them were lifelike but didn’t have eyes. The watchers were puzzled and asked him why.
“If I draw the eyes, the dragons will fly off the wall.” Zhang replied.
“He’s just talking big!” some people thought.

Half believing and half doubting, the onlookers insisted that he add eyes to the dragons.

Urged on by the crowd, Zhang added eyeballs to two of the dragons.
In the twinkling of an eye, it turned dark and began raining hard. (Thunder) Accompanied by thunder and lightning, the two dragons started to move and soon flew into the sky. The two other dragons without eyes remained on the wall.

(Source:english.cri.cn)

China Travel – Two Mausoleums of Southern Tang

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

The Two Mausoleums of the Southern Tang Dynasty (907-960) — including the Qinling Mausoleum of Li Bian, Emperor of the early Southern Tang Dynasty and his queen, and the Shunling Mausoleum of Li Jing, Emperor of the mid Southern Tang Dynasty and his wife — are located in Wangjiafen Village south of Gaoshan Mountain of Dongshanqiao Village, Jiangning County (southwest of Zutang Mountain outside Zhonghua Gate of Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province). The two mausoleums — Qinling Mausoleum in the east and Shunling Mausoleum in the west — are located 100 meters away from each other, and were excavated in 1950-1951.

With a round mound on top, the Qinling Mausoleum is 21.48 meters long, 10.45 meters wide and 5.3 meters high. Its passageway is 19 meters long and four meters wide. The coffin chamber has three main rooms and 10 side rooms, including brick front and the middle chamber rooms and a stone back room. The chamber gate and the room walls are engraved with pillars adorned with lotus, peony and cloud patterns. The roof of the back chamber was painted with astronomical phenomena; the floor was paved with black stone plates representing the sky and earth. All four sides of the coffin display paintings of dragons with three claws and rows of flowers. The gate lintel was painted with two dragons playing with pearls.
The Shunling Mausoleum of Li Jing is 21.9 meters long, 10.12 meters wide and 5.42 meters high. There are also three main rooms and eight side rooms, all made of brick. The mausoleum’s construction is similar to that of the Qingling Mausoleum, only smaller. The colored paintings on the pillars and walls were eroded by rainwater and silt.
Over 600 antiques were unearthed at the two mausoleums, including a jade memorial record with gold inlays. As the most valuable relic, it records memorial speeches given by emperors. It is an important factor in determining the social status of the mausoleum owners.

(Source: chinaculture.org)