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Introduction:
Today’s the last day at the language camp. It’s not an end, however, but a new beginning for the coming homestay in China. Our friends are taking a group photo and talking about each other’s plans in the coming days.
Download List：
1．readstory.swf (1.50 MB)
(Source: chineseculture.about.com)
“I was once asked how I could feed five chickens with only a handful of rice, and I asked, ‘Which one can I discard?’”
– Xiong Bingming
Xiong Bingming, a Chinese native who died in France in 2002, was such a versatile artist that it is impossible to put his talent into a single category. He was a poet, philosopher, sculptor, painter, calligrapher and art professor, gaining international renown in all of these areas. His outstanding contribution to sculpture, in particular, has made him a legend in art circles throughout the world.
Xiong received a degree in philosophy from United Southwest University in Kunming in 1944. In 1947 he was offered a state scholarship to go to France to work on his Ph.D. at the prestigious University of Paris. The following year, he left the program and transferred to the National Advanced College of Fine Arts to study sculpture in the Saubique Class. Soon after he moved again to Guimond Class, Academy Juhen.
When New China was founded in 1949, Xiong didn’t immediately return to the motherland like so many of his friends. “At that time, I had studied at Zadkine, Academie de la Grande Chaumiere for only a few months. I had studied abstract sculpture for merely one year and hadn’t finished my program. Even if I had gone
back to China, I couldn’t have contributed to the motherland. That’s why I chose to stay while my friends, like Wu Guanzhong (a renowned painter), made a resolute decision to go,” Xiong recalled 50 years later. Looking back over his life, it seems that his decision to stay in France gave him the opportunity to become a world-class artist.
In explaining why he gave up philosophy to learn sculpture, Xiong said: “It was painter Guimond who changed my destiny and the fathomless charm of sculptor Auguste Rodin that set me on the path to pursue the art of sculpture.”
（Source: chinaculture.org）
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Embraced by continuous mountains, the artificial Baofeng Lake (Treasure-Peak Lake) is located in the Suoxiyu Scenic Area in the south of Suoxiyu Town of Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. Originally known as Shijiayu Reservoir, the Baofeng Lake was later named after Baofeng Mountain (Treasure-Peak Mountain) and opened to tourists.
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Reputed as the abode of fairy mother goddess on earth, the Baofeng Lake is a rare high gorges lake and shaped by surrounding mountains into a narrow strip. It covers an area of 30 hectares and has a depth of 72 meters. Lying in mountains, the Baofeng Lake is filled by streams without pollution. The lake has a fascinating landscape with surrounding mountains and a mid-lake island.
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Some 20 sight-spots spread around the Baofeng Lake, including Baofeng Waterfall, One Line Gorge, plank road built along cliffs in clouds, Hawk Nest Village, and Nanhai. Located at the mouth of the Baofeng Lake, the Baofeng Waterfall pours down from midair of a hundred meters high with thunderous sound. Walking along the plank road built in the precipitous cliffs, one will find the Hawk Nest Village, a mountain that is 1,000 meters above sea level. A Kwan-yin Temple with antique flavors is built on the mountain and attracts many pious men and women who hope to get rid of worries and pray for blessings. The 680-meter Hawk Beak Peak stands to the northwest of the lake with steep cliffs and towering ancient trees. Due to its strategic location and difficult of access, it has been a perfect place entrenched in by gangsters in the past dynasties. Following the steps up to the top of the One Line Gorge and looking far into the distance, one will find the whole magnificent Wulingyuan landscape is right before one’s eyes.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
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