Archive for February 19th, 2010

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

China Travel – Yalu River

Friday, February 19th, 2010

The Yalu River used to be called Ba Water, and was given the present name in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) for its crystal-clear water and winding its way in the shape of a duck head. It lies between China and North Korea as a boundary river, starting from Baitou Mountain, the highest peak of Changbai Mountains on the border of the two countries in the southeast of Jilin Province in China and running southwestward into the sea at Donggou County in Dandong City of Liaoning Province. It runs for 795 kilometers, and covers an area of about 400 square kilometers. Along its banks, there are five famous resorts, namely the Shuifeng Lake, the Taiping Bay, the Tiger Mountain, the Grand Bridge and the East Port. The Yalu River was selected to be a key national resort in 1988.

The Yalu River runs through the wet region of temperate zone. It receives precipitation of 870 mm annually, and the distribution increases as it flows downstream. Every year when ice starts thawing, there will be spring flood. It is cool and humid across the whole region. Major plants are maples, Korean pines, birches, and oaks especially in downstream. There are also many wild animals. The river does not have much sand so the water is very clear. The Yalu River freezes in the winter and there are many beaches and rapid waters in the upper and middle reaches so transportation is frustrated. However, below the Shuifeng Reservoir, transportation is available and the largest port is Dandong City.

The Yalu River features beautiful scenery. Green water winds through many islands and forest-covered mountains. Birds can be seen everywhere and historical relics can be found along both banks. The 940-meter iron bridge across the Yalu River linking Dandong City and Sinuiju in North Korea was built in 1937 and was renamed the Friendship Bridge of China and North Korea in October 1990 under an agreement of two countries. On the bridge, people can enjoy many famous scenes, including the two cities on both ends. The Yalu Bridge is an important pass between China and North Korea, and also a major scenic spot.

(Source: chinaculture.org)

Posted in China Travel, learn Chinese | No Comments »

Beijing Olympic – Yuja Wang Piano Recital

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts – Concert Hall
Dates: June 04, 2009    19:30
Price:  VIP    480    380    280    180    80 RMB

Programme Introduction

Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja began studying piano at age six. Under the guide of Gary Graffman, she graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2008. In 2006 Yuja received the Gilmore Young Artist Award.

Twenty-two year old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized for playing that combines the spontaneity and fearless imagination of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist. Regularly lauded for her controlled, prodigious technique, Yuja’s command of the piano has been described as “astounding” and “superhuman”, and she has been praised for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and graceful, charismatic stage presence. This past season The Washington Post called her Kennedy Center recital debut “jaw-dropping” and following her San Francisco recital debut The San Francisco Chronicle wrote “The arrival of Chinese-born pianist Yuja Wang on the musical scene is an exhilarating and unnerving development. To listen to her in action is to re-examine whatever assumptions you may have had about how well the piano can actually be played”.

In the few short years since her 2005 debut with the National Arts Center Orchestra led by Pinchas Zukerman, for which the Canadian press reported “a star is born”, Yuja has already performed with many of the world’s prestigious orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Chicago
Symphony, Houston Symphony, New World Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony, in the U.S., and abroad with the Tonhalle Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic and the NHK Symphony in Tokyo. In 2006 Yuja made her New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and performed with the orchestra the following season under Lorin Maazel during the Philharmonic’s Japan/Korea visit. That same season she performed in Leeds, U.K, and toured the Netherlands with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic led by Yuri Temirkanov, and most recently, in the spring of 2008, she toured the United States with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner. She has worked with many of the world’s esteemed conductors including Charles Dutoit, Robert Spano, Michael Stern, Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Osmo Vanska, and Pinchas Zuckerman.

Abroad, Yuja will make her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Tilson-Thomas and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra led by Claudio Abbado. She will also make her recital debut at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Yuja is an exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon.  For her debut recording, titled Sonatas & Etudes, to be released in the U.S. in the spring of 2009, she presents a program of sonatas including Chopin’s “Funeral March”, Liszt’s Sonata in B minor, and Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2, and etudes by Ligeti.

Programs
Scarlatti
Sonata for Piano in G Major, K.427
Sonata for Piano in b minor, K.87
Sonata for Piano in E Major, K.380
Sonata for Piano in G Major, K.455

Brahms
28 Variations on a Theme by Paganini in a minor, Op. 35

– Intermission –

Scriabin
Sonata No. 2 in G minor
Sonata No. 4 in F minor

Stravinsky
Petrouchka

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)

Posted in Beijing Olympic, China Travel | No Comments »

Chinese Culture – Interior Painting(2)

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Formation

Interior paintings of various shapes and patterns are made of glass, crystal, agate, etc, through carving and grinding. Using a special paintbrush, the artists paint the inside of a bottle through a narrow mouth, incorporating the whole process of composition, delineation, wrinkle removal and coloring. Unlike traditional painting techniques where the artist begins with the background and moves outwards, the interior-painting artist must paint the foreground first. Such talented artists must study for many years to become masters.

There is a legend about the formation of interior painting. In the late years of the Qinglong Period in the Qing Dynasty, a minor provincial official went to town on business. As an upright official, the man aspired to achieve his ends the honest way. However, due to the low efficiency of the state government and shortage of bribes to related officials, his business was delayed time and time again. Without money or food, the official used a tobacco pick to scrape the inside of his snuff bottle when his supply was running low, leaving many nicks and scratches on the inside of the bottle. His snuff bottle caught the eyes of a conscientious monk, who later painted the inside of snuff bottles using a bent and tipped bamboo pick and ink. And this is how this peculiar painting technique emerged.

In the early stages of interior bottle painting, since there were no transparent glass bottles and the inside walls were very sleek, only a few simple pictures could be painted, such as grasshoppers, cabbages, phoenixes and simple landscapes. Later on, craftsmen learned how to fill the bottle with water, iron sand and emery, making the inside walls like Xuan paper — delicate but not sleek. As a result, artists could paint the insides of bottles with great detail, and snuff bottles were later developed into a kind of artwork featuring a combination of poetry and painting.

（Source: chinaculture.org）

Posted in Chinese Culture, learn Chinese | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »