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Three hundred ancient Chinese sex relics will be on show along
with sex-related products at Shanghai\’s fourth three-day sex expo
this weekend.

Visitors can listen to free lectures on sex history and health
care, said organizers in a news conference on Tuesday.

Liu Dalin, a renowned sex expert and founder of China\’s first
sex museum in Tongli, Jiangsu Province, will bring about 300
historic relics and talk about the history of sex and culture.

\”Sex is a part of being human and good sex is part of a quality
life. We want to guide the public to an appropriate and healthy
attitude towards sex through the show,\” Liu said. \”The show is
effective in helping the public to learn about Chinese culture and
promote Chinese history to the world.\”

All items have explanations in Chinese and English, added Liu.
He and executive curator Hu Hongxia will talk about the
exhibits.

\”Moreover, they will also give lectures with another three
experts from home and abroad to promote proper understanding on
sex, sex history and modern health care,\” said Gao Guoxing, an
official at the China Exhibition Center Group Corporation\’s
Shanghai branch. \”Since most experts have a medical background,
they can also give consultations on the spot.\”

The Fourth China International Adult Toys and Reproductive
Health Exhibition will run at Shanghai International Exhibition
Center in Hongqiao from Friday to Sunday. Entrance fees are 30 yuan
(US$3.9), and visitors must be over 18.

About 100 domestic and overseas companies that deal in
sex-related products will take part in the 6,000-square-meter expo.
Annual sales of sex products are more than 50 billion yuan in
China. The past three fairs attracted more than 70,000 visitors,
including 6,000 international buyers.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2007)

Tshatsha, a literal translation from a Sanskrit word which mean
\”copy\” in English, stands for small clay sculptures cut from a
mold, including mini-statues of Buddha, stupas or Buddhist
scriptures. Usually, they are put inside large stupas or special
shrines (tsha-kang). They can also be found on top of Mani stones
flanked by prayer flags along tracks, on the revered snow-peaks or
in sacred caves. The Tibetans carry them in small amulet boxes to
guard against evil.

Tshatshas are believed to have come from India together with
Buddhism. Although most tshatshas are made of clay, there are also
wooden or stone ones. The former are used to fill the stupas, with
some are placed on top of the Mani stones or in special shrines,
while most of the latter are placed in Buddhist shrines or
altars.

Tshatshas, whether ancient or modern, generally fall into two
categories in terms of their forms: relief sculptures, including
high and low reliefs, made with a one-sided mold; and round
sculptures that are made with a double- sided mold.

To make a tshatsha, first a mold, an indispensable item known as
tsha-shi-gong in Tibetan, has to be made. Most molds are made of
bronze or brass, and those made of porcelain, paper, or wood are
rare and hence especially precious.

Once the mold is made, one can begin to make a clay tshatsha, a
process that has been compared to working with the popular
children\’s toy of plasticene (named after the famous
trademark).

First step, a lump of clay is stuffed into the mold after being
rolled into a clay pie. Then, a pit is made within which several
grains of the highland barley (grown in Tibet and Qinghai in West
China) are placed. The process, known as filling the scripture
(Zhuangzang in Chinese), is believed to be able to give superhuman
strength to the clay sculptures. Next, the clay is pressed so that
its surface will be smooth and the design pattern clear. A pedestal
is modeled by hand in the third step.

When all the above is done, the moist clay tshatsha is taken out
from the mold and placed in sunshine to dry off, completing the
process. This is called the lost wax method, which was considered
the most advanced technique more than a millennium ago. It is still
in use today to make delicate modern sculptures and replicas of
antiques.

Since all the tshatshas are molded, they are not too large in
size, hence their name \”little statues of Buddha\”. By far, the
largest one of those excavated measures no more than an inch in
both width and height and the smallest one is no larger than a
thumbnail. In most cases, they are about 9 centimeters in width and
7 inches height.

Though small, tshatsha serves the same purposes as other Buddhist
forms, such as the mural painting and thangka. Buddhists recognize
them as symbols of Buddhist merits, and use them to express their
adoration and reverence for the Buddha, and their explanation of
and devotion to the Buddhist doctrines, as well as their aspiration
for riches and honor.

The tshatshas are colored with traditional Tibetan pigment,
which is in fact a kind of mineral paint traditionally made by
mixing different amounts of minerals so that they still retain
their bright original colors after hundreds of years.

Though made with the same techniques, tshatshas vary greatly
from place to place. Tshatshas found in the stupas in Jiama County,
dating back to over 600 years ago in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368
AD), feature three-dimensional patterns in high relief; details
like figures and background decorations are also emphasized.

The most distinctive aspect of these tshatshas is their large
size, as most of them are 10 centimeters high and 8 centimeters
wide, with the largest reaching as much as 26 centimeters in height
and 20 centimeters in width. These tshatshas are believed to be of
great value for the research on the Tibetan Buddhist art in the
Yuan Dynasty.

Compared with tshatshas found in other places, those found in
Xialu Temple are said to be unique and worthy of collection, as
they have the largest variety in terms of the ages, the patterns
and the styles as well as the colors.

Tshatshas also abound in Sajia Temple, and are famed for their
delicacy and exquisiteness. Most of them are burned into colors
such as red, gray or black. There are also tshatshas with two
colors, an uncommon feature.

In the Northern Sajia Temple, tshatshas with typical Indian or
Nepalese artistic features can be found, which were put in the
stupas when the temple was built nearly a thousand years ago.
Therefore, they are referred to as having matchless artistic and
historical value.

Due to its long history and unique artistic charm as well as the
mysterious cultural implications, tshatsha has grown into a special
category, arousing the interests of numerous experts, artists and
collectors. Over the years, tshatshas, with its rich implications,
various design patterns, long history and different artistic styles
have become a treasured collectible item.

(China Daily August 6, 2007)

The Exhibition \”Chinese and French Popular Prints,\” organized by
the Central Academy of Fine Arts and French Cultural Centre, was
opened recently at The Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts,
displaying collections of print works by Henri George and Wang
Shucun. The print works from two printmaking centers, Yangliuqing
in China and Epinal in France, document the ordinary lives of
people living in two widely different countries in the past
century.

Originally, Chinese prints were carved into stone. The
representative work is Wuruitu (Carvings of Five Auspicious Things,
171 B.C.) in Cheng County, Gansu Province. The printmaking
technique then was not complete because of limited papermaking
techniques. With the popularization of papermaking arts and woodcut
techniques, the handicraft workshop for creating \”menshen\” (a
door-god whose picture was often pasted on the front door against
evil spirits), and \”nianhua\” (Chinese New Year prints) developed
rapidly, and the woodblock prints came within reach of common
folks.

In France, printmaking appeared in the 14th century, focusing
mainly on religion and decoration. Popular printmaking in the 15th
century was intended to educate the illiterate rural population.
The print works in Epinal recorded the folk customs, religion,
history and even the popular novels at that time. Then blank
pictures were changed into more complicated ones combined with
words, decorations and lyrics.

Wang Shucun, born in Tianjin in 1923 and Henri George, born in
France in 1924, started to collect and study printmaking almost at
the same time in two different countries. For these two collectors,
the childhood years they spent in Yangliuqing and Epinal
respectively are closely related to their interests in popular
printmaking.

Printmaking in Epinal originated in the 17th century. In 1938,
the first Popular Printmaking Festival was held there and what
impressed Henri George most was the paper-made soldiers,
bombardiers, infantrymen and hussars, equal to the size of the real
people. However, a real war, WWII broke out in 1939, and George was
forced to go to Paris. After that, he began to study and collect
popular French print works, even when printmaking gradually lost
its popularity to newspapers, picture albums and cartoons. The
collectable print works were only seen in special stores and at
public auctions.

Yangliuqing, formerly known as Liukou, means the port for willow
trees. It is celebrated for a group of artists seeking refuge there
in Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Like Epinal, the printmaking
industry in Yangliuqing originated in the 17th century. Wang
Shucun, who lived in Tianjin in his childhood, spent many happy
hours in Yangliuqing. People went there to watch the traditional
operas and buy nianhua.

Among various folk handicrafts like clay figures and paper
cutting, the woodblock prints are Wang\’s favorite. With the
invasion by the Japanese, he was driven by the wish to protect
traditional heritage and went to study at the Tianjin Academy of
Fine Arts and Central Academy of Fine Arts later.

Now, Wang Shucun has published more than 50 books and more than
100 papers and he is also director of the China Folklore Society
and a researcher in the China Art Academy. George has contributed
to preserving popular French printmaking, especially those made in
Epinal.

The Kitchen God, Qing Dynasty(AD1644-1911),
Tianjin Yangliuqing, painted xylograph with process printing and
hand painting.

Compared with the mainstream arts, traditional folk art is also
deeply favored by the common people. As stated in the introduction
of the exhibition by Pan Gongkai, president of the Central Academy
of Fine Arts: \”It is due to the efforts of observant persons like
Wang Shucun and Henri George that we are able to see the
traditional arts today untainted by the clash between the east and
west, and to think about another possibility of developing our
tradition.\”

(Chinaculture.org July 25, 2007)

Sixteen world-acclaimed masterpieces of ancient Chinese painting
and calligraphy from the Palace Museum of Beijing are on
display in Hong Kong on Monday.

The exhibits are displayed in Phase II of the talk-of-the-town
exhibition \”The Pride of China: Masterpieces of Chinese Painting
and Calligraphy of the Jin, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties from the
Palace Museum\”, which will run until August 11.

Star exhibits include Wang Xun\’s \”Letter to Boyuan\” of the Jin
dynasty dated some 1,600 years ago, Yan Liben\’s \”Emperor Taizong
Receiving the Tibetan Envoy\” of the Tang dynasty, Dong Yuan\’s \”The
Xiao and Xiang Rivers\” of the Five Dynasties, Zhou Wenju\’s \”A
Literary Gathering\” of the Five Dynasties, Li Song\’s \”Puppet Play
of a Skeleton\” and Chen Rong\’s \”Ink Dragon\” of the Southern Song
dynasty.

Other highlights are calligraphy by Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of
the Northern Song dynasty, and the works of calligraphy by the four
masters Su Shui, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu and Cai Xiang. Replacing
Zhang Zeduan\’s \”Along the River During the Qingming Festival\” in
the first phase of the exhibition ending on Sunday, the copy by Qiu
Ying of Ming dynasty is the jewel of crown of the phase II
exhibition.

The original artistic masterpiece \”Along the River During the
Qingming Festival\” by the Northern Song painter Zhang Zeduan offers
glimpses of the institutions, economy, culture and customs in the
Song capital, Bianjing, the most prosperous metropolis in the world
more than a millennium ago.

Ever since Zhang Zeduan had produced the scroll, there have been
dozens of imitations. Of these, the one by Qiu Ying is considered
to be the best.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2007)

Inside a shoebox room, supposedly a clothing store, a row of
empty clothes hangers are visible. There is a dressing room, but it
doesn\’t matter, as there is no one there to try anything on, and
this store has nothing on sale. Instead, you can hear recordings of
people talking about their clothing.

This is CHAN store, an installation art project by Beijing-based
CHAN studio, participating in this year\’s Get It Louder
exhibition.

CHAN is among 130 or so artists from both China and abroad
demonstrating their creative works at the annual avant-garde art
exhibition, which opened in Shanghai on Saturday.

Artworks on show include installations, fashion designs, videos,
sound art and more.

The artists just wrapped up a tour of the southern city of
Guangzhou, and will hit Beijing on August 16 before traveling onto
the southwestern city of Chengdu on September 13.

But long before the exhibition kicked off, a series of
small-scale gatherings have been held in several Chinese cities
since March, where participating artists demonstrated their
artistic ideas to a small group of onlookers selected from online
submissions.

Homeshow, as the gathering is called, is a new feature of this
year\’s Get It Louder exhibition. Usually being held at an artist\’s
home or studio, each Homeshow tries to prove that people don\’t have
to \”wait for an art biennale to experience art,\” the exhibition\’s
website claims.

Since its inauguration in 2005, Get It Louder has been promoting
\”creative life\” and \”art in life,\” offering spectators a glimpse of
contemporary art, mainly by young Chinese artists.

For more information about the Get It Louder exhibition, go to
its website: www.getitlouder.com

The concept CHAN store at the Get It
Louder 2007 Guangzhou Stop.

(CRI.com July 23, 2007)

Pointing to a thangka — a kind of Tibetan scroll-banner
painting — hanging in an exhibition hall, Geleg Dainzin explained
to a group of visitors how rewarding it is to paint all the tiny,
intricate details on a Buddha.

The Tibetan painter uses an interpreter to convey his message
because he can only speak a few simple words in Mandarin.

But for Dainzin and other thangka painters in the Tibetan county
of Luhuo in southwest China\’s Sichuan Province, the language
obstacle at the local thangka exhibition is only a minor
frustration compared with the enormous task of revitalizing their
unique type of art.

Thangkas are a form of Tibetan painting art that date back more
than 1,000 years. Intended to serve as a guide for religious
contemplation, they mainly depict images from Tibetan Buddhism.
Thangka art reached its apogee in the works of the 17th century
thangka master Namka Gyai.

Known as the birthplace of Namka Gyai and \”the home of thangka
art\”, Luhuo is fighting to save its honor and its history, as
thangka art tries to adjust to the modern world and most local
artists struggle to make a living.

Ancient Glory and Modern Crisis

Nestled among mountains at an altitude of more than 3,000
meters, Luhuo saw its thangka art boom in the 17th century, when
Namka Gyai taught his skills to pupils there after gaining fame as
one of the best thangka painters of the time.

Combining Tibetan painting with Han nationality painting and
western art, the works of Namka Gyai have puzzled and amazed
experts, as the painter understood no foreign languages and was
unlikely to have had access to knowledge about western art, said
Yongda Lhamo, vice county head of Luhuo in charge of culture and
publicity.

\”Thangka art reached a high level of sophistication in ancient
times, but painters rarely received much payment, because most of
their works went to temples and artists wouldn\’t complain because
of their religious piety,\” said Geleg Dainzin.

\”Sometimes the painter was only paid three meals a day,\” he
said.

Graced by delicate renderings of religious images, recounting
legendary stories and featuring the use of precious mineral paint
such as gold, silver and carnelian, thangka demands painstaking and
time-consuming efforts in procedures like outlining and
coloring.

\”It took me nearly 20 years of study, from the age of 5, to
completely master the basic knowledge and skills,\” said 31-year-old
Geleg Dainzin, who is a sixth-generation pupil of Namka Gyai. \”A
good thangka may take me a whole year to finish.\”

There were once more than 100 thangka painters in Luhuo, but now
only 20 remain, said Yongda Lhamo.

\”Others have gone to cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where
they are hired by private businesses to make commercial thangkas
for a booming market,\” said Liu Lifu, a Luhuo government publicity
official.

Most of the painters in Luhuo live in tough conditions, as their
only customers are local residents and temples in Luhuo, which have
a small population of 40,000, said Liu.

Many of those who have left are making cheap, low-quality
thangkas, using synthetic paints instead of natural minerals. Back
in Luhuo, the overall quality of thangkas produced by local
painters has dropped because they simply do not earn enough money,
said Liu.

The low cost of digital reproduction of thangkas has also eroded
the market for hand-painted ones and threatens the survival of the
ancient skills, said Liu.

Market Exploration and
Industrial Trial

A distant descendant of Namka Gyai, Geleg Dainzin is one of the
few lucky thangka painters in Luhuo. He refused to reveal the price
of his works, but said he is usually paid 150 yuan per workday and
that the income can support his seven-member family.

However, most individual painters are unlikely to get enough
work to support themselves, let alone money to carry out research,
said Liu.

\”If we can develop a market, there\’ll be no need to worry about
earnings,\” said Yongda Lhamo.

The local government set up a thangka association this May in
the hope of creating a market and turning the art form into a small
cottage industry.

\”We did market research, which shows demand mainly comes from
believers in Tibetan Buddhism and collectors,\” said Yongda Lhamo.
\”Now we can look for customers and negotiate on behalf of the
painters, most of whom cannot speak Mandarin.\”

The overseas market is a future focus for the association, and
the county hopes to combine the appeal of thangka with the
development of tourism, said Liu, citing the warm welcome thangka
works received at an exhibition on Chinese intangible cultural
heritage held in Paris, France this April.

Another purpose of the association is to organize local artists
and pave the way for better transmission of the art form, said
Yongda Lhamo.Thangka masters have been invited to give lessons at
local primary and middle schools and are encouraged to take as many
pupils as possible, she said.

Geleg Dainzin told the reporter that he has taken on three
pupils, who are three, four and five years old respectively.

\”Learning thangka art is an arduous job. You have to start early
by learning the Tibetan language,\” said Geleg Dainzin, \”I would
like my own son to become a thangka painter.\”

China listed thangka art as a national intangible cultural
heritage last year so that the art form can be better protected,
but for thangka artists and the government in the remote county of
Luhuo, more needs to be done.

\”We are experimenting with combining the traditional art form
with modern content featuring the real lives of Tibetans, like a
thangka depicting a lama playing basketball,\” he said, calling such
works \”the new thangkas.\”

Last October, a collection of such \”new thangkas\” from Luhuo
were exhibited in Beijing and found more favor with collectors than
traditional works, with many of them being auctioned off for
5,000-10,000 yuan, according to Liu.

\”The only way to expand our market is to make more people, not
only religious believers, understand and appreciate thangkas,\” he
said. \”That\’s how the art form can gain a new lease of life.\”

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2007)

Visitors to the Shanghai Natural Wild Insect Kingdom on Tuesday
marveled at displays of batik painting, thanks to two Malaysian
artists\’ vivid demonstrations.

The artists painted a colorful world with tropical rain forests
and insects on fabric, the local Jiefang Daily reported.

They are scheduled to promote the art at the museum for two
weeks, and have invited local citizens to try their hand on
fabric.

Batik is an Indonesian-Malay word and refers to a generic
wax-resist dyeing technique used on fabric. It is most popular in
Malaysia and Indonesia.

A staff member (R) of the Shanghai Natural
Wild Insect Kingdom museum introduces a work of batik painting, on
Tuesday, July 17, 2007.

A Malaysian artist (R) works on a batik
painting at the Shanghai Natural Wild Insect Kingdom museum, on
Tuesday, July 17, 2007.

(CRI.cn July 18, 2007)

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that will send the airplane to go to China to meet ink citizen the 2009-05-04 13:45: 33 origins: The Chinese news net (Beijing) with pastes 3 handsets to look at news the core prompt: According to Agence France Presse news, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs local time on 4th said that will send the airplane to go to China to meet the Mexican citizen. All wants to return to Mexico’s people to be able to meet. Zhongxinwang on May 4 according to Agence France Presse news, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs local time on 4th said that will send the airplane to go to China to meet the Mexican citizen. said according to Mexico officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs that this airplane will fly to Beijing to meet the Mexican citizen. All wants to return to Mexico’s people to be able to meet.before the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson horse faces the rising sun, is discriminates on the Mexican officials about the Chinese side isolation ink citizen the procedure the opinion answered questions from reporters when indicated that the related measure aims at the Mexican citizen by no means that does not have the prejudice. This question is the pure health quarantine question.

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