Archive for February 5th, 2010

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China Travel – Pearl River

Friday, February 5th, 2010

The Pearl River is the 3rd largest river in China, just next to the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The Pearl River originally meant the river segment from Guangzhou City of Guangdong Province to the Dongjiangkou Estuary, but the water system was subsequently called the Pearl River. The current so-called Pearl River valley includes the broad drainage area of Xijiang, Beijiang, Dongjiang and Pearl River Delta. The total length of the main trunk and branches is about 11,000 kilometers, with a total drainage area of 452,600 square kilometers. As the conditions of nature and human culture are more predominant, it can match other rivers in rich produces and prosperous economy. The Lingnan Culture (culture at the south of the five ridges, mainly Guangdong and Guangxi) gestated by the Pearl River plays a very important role in China’s culture system.

The Pearl River successively flows across six provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi. 94.5% of the Pearl River reaches are mountainous regions and hills. Lime rocks are distributed in some places in the reaches. Eroded by surface water and ground water for a long time, those lime rocks form the karst topography with different appearances. Some tall and straight stone peaks stand upright on the flat ground, while some stone peaks connect in groups and further form various strange shapes. The inner part of the water-eroded cave is just as the labyrinth, and the stalagmites and stalactites are in thousands of postures, making the natural sights of the areas along the Pearl River very attractive.

There are about 250 species of fishes in the water system of the Pearl River, including the special local fish (dace, anguilla marmorata, ratmouth barbell, etc.) and the common carp, golden carp, bream, herring, grass carp, silver carp, bighead and mandarin fish, etc. In addition, there are plenty of corb shells, blue crabs, sand shrimps and the manually cultured oysters at the downstream Estuary of the Pearl River Delta. This delta is a developed area of freshwater aquiculture in China. Moreover, the Pearl River abounds in hydraulic water resources.

(Source: chinaculture.org)

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Beijing Olympic – Dance Drama: Shaolin in Wind

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Presenter: Zhengzhou Opera and Dance Drama Theatre

Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts – Opera House
Dates: August 13-16, 2009    19:30
Price:  VIP    480    380    280    180    120 RMB

Programme Introduction

The dance drama Shaolin in Wind tells a legend of a Shaolin monk, a life-and-death struggle between justice and villainy, and a love tragedy with restrained Eastern beauty.

Tianyuan and Sushui are a long-married couple working in a theatrical troupe. They were forced to separate when run after by bandits. The badly wounded Tianyuan was rescued by an eminent monk named Hui Shan, who cured him with magic Shaolin medical skills. Later, the couple met each other again at Lantern Fair of Central Plains, but unfortunately they were found by bandits again, who hurt Tianyuan and caught Sushui. Tianyuan went back to Shaolin Temple. Yearning for Sushui and wishing to revenge, Tianyuan started to practice martial arts. Several years later, when bandits invaded Central Plains again, Tianyuan led a group of monks fighting back bravely…

The drama displays not only Shaolin martial arts and war scenes, but also sceneries of landscape and romantic love, presenting the audience with shocking spectacles and brand-new artistic experience.

Experts’ Comments
The Shaolin spirit expressed by the grand scenes in this drama is what today’s dance dramas lack and need, and the tentative combination of dance and martial arts in it is also valuable.
—-Yu Ping, Director, Fine Art Department of Ministry of Culture

This drama is well designed, produced and performed. It is inspiring and shocking.
—-Jia Zuoguang, Honorary President, Chinese Dancers Association

Once I watched this drama, I felt that dance drama has turned a new page.
—-Zhaoqing, Vice President, Chinese Dancers Association

It is even better than what I expected. Fantastic, touching and profound. The combination of dance and martial arts is creative. This drama is exceptional among Chinese dance dramas.
—-Xu Peidong, Secretary of Party Leadership Group of Chinese Musicians Association, Famous Composer

Prizes
2005-2006 Ten Quality Dramas of National Stage Art Quality Project
Key Drama, Art and Literature Quality Project, Publicity Department of Henan Provincial Party Committee
Gold Medal, 5th “Lotus Prize” of China
Excellent Work Prize, 10th “Five-One Project” of Ideological Progress, the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party
1st Stage Art Well-known Cultural Product of Henan Province

Playwright: Feng Shuangbai
Famous dance theorist, critic and playwright. He is now President of Chinese Dancers Association, Secretary of Party Leadership Group and PhD Supervisor at Academy of Arts of China.

“Shaolin, a magic name that spans ancient times and the contemporary age, a name imbued with a spirit that conquers mountains and rivers. Shaolin indicates numerous heroic stories of mercy and salvation. I would rather to be a messenger in wind, passing on poems of Shaolin…”

Composer: Tang Jianping
Famous composer, the first native PhD majoring in composition. He is now Director of Composition Department of Central Conservatory of Music, PhD Supervisor and Director of Creation Committee of National Orchestra Association.

“With hope, hope of realizing what was difficult to realize! Finally I have you! I am happy!”

Zhengzhou Opera and Dance Drama Theatre
Zhengzhou Opera and Dance Drama Theatre (Zhengzhou Zhongyuan Performance and Entertainment Co. Ltd) was established in March 2004. It is a professional company focusing on art production and performance following the trend of blooming culture industry. Based on the philosophy of “producing classics and creating beauty”, it aims to be the most active theatre headquartered in the former capital of ancient China and produce classic opera and dance drama rooted in the profound Chinese culture. It insists on creating quality plays and performances, cultivating distinguished talents and attempts to become a top art group. In recent years, it started with Shaolin Temple and developed quickly. The youth version of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival was one of its early achievements and Legend of the Luo River Goddess will be its turning point. Taking effort to be the “most active art group in China”, it inherits everlasting Chinese traditional culture and produces finest and the most updated arts.

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)

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Chinese Culture – Wang Jianhua: art with bronze wire(2)

Friday, February 5th, 2010

The key of working out a good bronze wire painting lies in the draft drawing. Due to the particularity of bronze wire painting, it is hard to make copies of existing works, which makes the draft drawing extremely difficult. To create an ideal painting, Wang usually starts by drawing a great many sketches, before selecting the one that can best represent his design concept. Then, he will make further and repetitive revisions to the drawing.

Having finished the draft drawing, Wang then sets out to carve grooves on the glass with an iron pen by placing the draft under the glass. Prior to this, the wires have to be processed in a special liquid medicine so that they will not rust. The next step is to place the bronze wires to the grooves, and then meticulously and painstakingly adhere them by glue.

The next important step is color spraying. To do this well, one has to control the thickness of the colors to spray over the right place. The size of a picture determines the type of spray pens to be used. Usually, a small one is used for a small picture. The preparation of pigments also counts, and the smaller the pigment particles, the better for color spraying.

Although strictly speaking, bronze wire paintings are done by replacing the lines of traditional Chinese realistic painting with bronze wires, there is a color limitation. Such paintings cannot be colored in the way they look like in real life because not only will that eliminate the three-dimensional and relivo-like effects of the bronze wire, but also cause additional difficulties to the spraying. Therefore, the colors of bronze wire paintings are not complex at all, as only five colors are used.

Any kind of folk artworks is characterized with a strong local and folk flavor, so is bronze wire painting. Though unique in their making techniques, the paintings invariably embody the environment and experience of the folk artists, whose works are inspired by the many of local customs and morals. The greatest feature of Wang Jianhua’ works, as he said himself, is the fact that he draws on many of the traditional aesthetic characteristics of Chinese folk arts, especially from New Year Pictures, and makes innovations on the way of expression in his creation of bronze wire paintings.

The success of bronze wire painting marks a new breakthrough in the world of folk arts. Though still very young, such unique folk customs are bound to gain further development with the enormous efforts of the devoted folk artists.

（Source: chinaculture.org）

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