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The temple building in which Kuixing God, the god of academicsis enshrined, is reopened at the Confucius Temple after five months of renovations.[Xinhua/Reuters Photo]

 

Two culture exhibitions will be held at the newly renovated Shanghai Confucian Temple near Yuyuan Garden on September 27 to commemorate the birthday of Confucius.

Confucius, one of China\’s greatest thinkers and the founder of Confucian culture, was born 2,559 years ago.

\”A feast of Confucian culture will be open to the public,\” said official Wang Aizhen.

The exhibitions will feature Chinese characters on horizontal inscribed boards written by \”Zhuang Yuan\” – people who were the number one scholars in the highest imperial examinations. Craftsmen carved words on the rectangular wooden boards before the boards were hung in the temple in ancient times. Various other calligraphy works will also be shown.

The temple was established in 1294 as an imperial construction to worship Confucius. The current site was chosen in 1855.

Elaborately designed with pagodas, small bridges, flowing water and lush greenery, the temple was also known as the school palace, the highest learning institution in Shanghai, in ancient times.

Some of the most famous constructions of the temple have only just been opened to public after undergoing months of renovation.

The city\’s first public library \”Cangshulou\” – which means building for book collection – has been painted. Four new horizontal inscribed boards and an antithetical couplet – two phrases or sentences written as calligraphy on vertical red banners typically placed on either side of a door or in a large hall – has been added.

\”A majority of horizontal inscribed boards and antithetical couplets are derived from the Confucian Temple in Qufu City, Shandong Province, which was the hometown of Confucius,\” said Wang. http://www.marconimedical.com

\”Urban Sketch\” by Gu Zheng

The details, ironies, the grittiness and incidental moments of urban life have inspired photographers worldwide. But in China, it was only in the past two decades that ordinary life became a valid subject for photography.

Before then, it was landscapes, landscapes and landscapes.

\”Trace: Urban Photography in Shanghai\” displays the start of the urban photography movement in 1986 and its continuing influence on young photographers today.

The exhibition at the 1933 creative hub runs through April 4.

The movement started with an informal group of photographers who called themselves \”The Northern Stream Collective\” based in Beijing. These photography students and teachers were brought together by their shared boredom with mainstream taste for sweeping landscape photography.

Landscapes were the usual candidates for photography prizes. Chinese landscape photography has often been linked with traditional Chinese landscape painting.

They were also disillusioned with the limitations photojournalism, and proud of being unaffiliated to the media.

\”In the 1980s, Chinese photography was about taking photos, but we tried to find expressions of feelings with the camera,\” says Gu Zheng, one of the best-known members of the collective.

Against the backdrop of rapid urban development and intellectual ferment, the photographers found plenty of material. But they broke new ground not by addressing the big issues of the day, but by capturing the meaning of everyday life in its countless, transient moments.

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The life of He Zizhen, the second wife of Mao Zedong, the founder
of New China, has been commemorated with the opening of a memorial
in the eastern Jiangxi Province.

The two-storey structure, with a floor area of 11,617 square
meters, in Yongxin county, where He Zizhen was born in 1910, was
free to visitors, said county Party chief Huang Shaofeng.

\”The memorial is a new attraction along the \’red tourism\’ route
in Jiangxi Province, a cradle of the Chinese revolution,\” he
said.

On the first floor of the memorial is an exhibition hall
displaying photos, waxworks, documents and personal belongings that
provide a record of her life.

Historic scenes, including her experience in the Long March, the
12,000-km trek by the Red Army from 1934 to 1936 that is recognized
as a turning point in China\’s revolution, have been recreated in
videos.

The second floor of the memorial contains photos and historical
documents of 41 Yongxin-born generals, who were considered to have
made significant contributions to China\’s revolutions that led to
the founding of New China in 1949.

File photo of Mao Zedong and He Zizhen in Yan\’an, Shaanxi Province, 1937

He Zizhen married Mao in 1928, a year after she led a coup of
peasants in Jinggangshan, in the far interior of the province. She
accompanied Mao, nearly 17 years older than herself, throughout his
guerilla war.

The couple had six children, two of whom died shortly after
birth and three were given away before or during the Long March.
The only child that really stayed with them was Li Min, who is
now71.

Li Min attended the memorial\’s inauguration ceremony on Sunday,
in her first visit to her mother\’s birth place.

He Zizhen suffered 17 injuries during the Long March, while
trying to protect a wounded official from a bomb. She was in poor
health after that, and was sent to the Soviet Union in 1937 for
medical treatment.

She returned to China in 1947 and after New China was founded,
He served at the women\’s federation in Hangzhou, in the eastern
Zhejiang Province, and was a member of the top political advisory
body, the Chinese People\’s Political Consultative Conference.

She died of illness in 1984, at the age of 75.

In 1938, Mao married Jiang Qing, an actress who later became a
leader of the notorious \”Gang of Four\” during the Cultural
Revolution (1966-1976).

The Yongxin county government spent more than eight million yuan
(106,000 U.S. dollars) in constructing the memorial.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)

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American Paralympian Gregory Burns is holding a solo art show in Beijing, in support of the Olympics and Paralympics.

On show are a dozen abstract paintings and collages depicting athletes competing on sports grounds. Chinese icons like the Temple of Heaven and Bird\’s Nest are also prominent in his work.

The child of US Foreign Service parents, Burns contracted polio as an infant while living in Jerusalem in 1958 and has walked ever since with the help of crutches and leg braces.

Having learned to swim when he was just three, Burns became a top disabled swimmer by 18. At the 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Paralympics, he set four world records and captured half a dozen medals.

After taking home medals in three Paralympics, Burns retired from professional sport to concentrate in his second love, the fine arts. He now travels around the world painting, writing and acting as a motivational speaker.

He says Beijing now feels very different from his first visit here in the 1980s, when buildings seemed to be styled after square Lego blocks and gray or blue Mao-style suits were worn everywhere.

\”Before, bicycles and buses ruled. Now there are cars,\” he says.

\”The art I found in the small antique shops included inexpensive Chinese brush paintings or calligraphy scrolls. Today, we find contemporary oil paintings and installations in trendy boutique galleries where if you have to ask the price, you cannot afford it.\”

Having watched many events at the Beijing Paralympics, Burns is deeply impressed by the athletes and spectators from around the world.

\”These Games have gone very well for everybody involved,\” he says. \”Many world records were broken and the public now realizes that people with disabilities have strong bodies and spirits.\”

Burns will continue with his Athletes in Action painting series and use some of his sketches from both Beijing events as reference material.

He hopes to open an art studio in Songzhuang, suburban Beijing, late this year.

10 am-5 pm, until Sept 22

Creation Art Gallery, Ritan Donglu, Chaoyang District

8561-7570

(China Daily September 19, 2008)

http://www.cne.cc

During a long photographic visit through several of China\’s northeastern cities, Ian Teh, a longtime member of the VU\’ Agency, a photographers\’ agency, took many pictures. His subsequent series Dark Cloud illustrates the daily lives of the people he encountered.

Wearing coarse linen suits, the subjects in the Dark Cloud series are miners who reside around China\’s coal production bases – places where the sky is always blanketed in a dismal gray fog. To highlight his interest in the miners, Teh zoomed in on city streets, battered factories (including their bathrooms) in order to clearly portray the simple, stark lives of these people. \”With the workers it was always about understanding not just their circumstance but their feelings towards what they do. It always amazes me how well they handle themselves despite the difficulties they often face,\” Teh said.

Inside his pictures miners worked, talked or played billiards against a gray and dark silhouetted backdrop – murky colors wafting everywhere from smoking chimneys and workshops. Teh explained that he wanted to dig out real stories about coal and workers, two crucial factors behind China\’s speedy economic growth. \”A working class life is more about simple pleasures. In contrast, for the wealthy, gratification is a delayed concept with the idea that by consolidating it the rewards will be greater in the future. But none of this really matters if we as a nation destroy our environment. For those concerned with simple survival, like these workers who work and live in industrial environments, this is their last priority. But for those with wealth and power, I feel that they must take responsibility to care for the land and their fellow man,\” Teh said.

In addition to Dark Cloud, the Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery also exhibited Merging Boundaries, another series by Teh. Christian Caujolle, a member from VU\’ Agency, explained that Teh is a storyteller who organically threads together images of integrative colors. He creates storylines based on real events that are alive with nuances. Teh’s sensitive and exact vision portrays his subjects with an elegant, refined, touching palette.

Exhibition Time: from April 26 to June 10, 2008
Venue: Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery II
Address: 798 Art District, No.4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing

(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, May 8, 2008)

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Two ceramists from China\’s cradle of chinaware exhibit strikingly different works – one gives a modern twist to traditional themes of birds and flowers, while the other turns ceramic plate into a canvas of nudes.

The 60 works on display in \”Origin\” at Shanghai Art Salon Club not only harken back to the origins of Chinese ceramics but also explore its possibilities.

Ceramists Yu Donghua and Zhang Jinhui were both trained in Jingdezhen, the capital of China\’s porcelain, and use traditional techniques in unusual ways.

\”That\’s the intriguing part of this exhibition,\” says Chen Haibo, head of art appraisal of cultural market development of the Ministry of Culture Shanghai office.

\”One focuses on traditional arrangement and profundity in Chinese ceramics with superb technique, while the other pursues a modern Western aesthetic taste fused with a dazzling background and nudes,\” he explains.

Yu\’s ceramics of blue, white and red on vases and jars seem more \”conventional,\” but he exaggerates the stereotypical fruits and flowers, giving them a new look and modern decorative aura.

Zhang\’s ceramic plates are more unusual, especially because nudes were never the subject of traditional ceramic painting.

When viewed from a distance, the plates seem to be a canvas with multiple layers and textures. Zhang abandons the vessel shape, focusing instead on content.

His ceramic series \”Dream\” combines female nudes, animals and natural scenery in somewhat ethereal scenes.

\”Certainly I had concerns at the very beginning about depicting female nudes,\” says Zhang. \”People are used to seeing flowers or birds, landscapes or ancient figures painted on ceramics. Could they accept female nudes? That question haunted me. Moreover, it is not an easy subject, as it might look vulgar or in low taste if rendered improperly.\”

However, Western masterpieces featuring nudes convinced him.

\”Especially in the Western art, female curves are an eternal inspiration for the artists, though they vary in form,\” Zhang explains. \”Why couldn\’t I use the same subject in an ancient medium like ceramics? The collision of the two might produce something unexpected.\”

Sometimes a nude figure floats above the earthly scenery, in one work she lies against a horse, suggesting nature and humanity in harmony.

\”Many people say my ceramics are like works on canvas,\” says Zhang. \”Yes and no. Actually the art of firing really brings surprise and wonder.\”

Following traditional practice, Zhang draws his first version on a ceramic plate, and then fires it. When he retrieves it, background colors appear. Then he draws a second version.

\”It\’s like a magician\’s game, because you can never predict what color the kiln will produce,\” he says. \”Each time there is joy and sometimes regret that works do not turn out as I had imagined.\”

\”For a long time, Chinese contemporary ceramics have been ignored by the art market,\” says Chen, from the Ministry of Culture. \”While canvas, sculpture and ink-wash paintings have been coveted by collectors, many seem to forget that China has a long history in making its own chinaware.\” http://www.minamik.com

The Denmark Pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo will showcase a fairy tale world with the Little Mermaid, the country\’s symbol, set to make her first visit to Shanghai in 2010.

The Little Mermaid Statue sitting on a rock in Copenhagen harbor in Denmark is one of the country\’s major tourist attractions. [File Photo]

But Danes won\’t miss their mermaid too much – her stay in Shanghai will be filmed and screened back in Denmark.

The Little Mermaid statue is one of Denmark\’s major tourist attractions and sits on a rock in Copenhagen harbor. The winning team behind the design of the pavilion hopes to bring it to Shanghai.

Carsten Boyer Thogersen, Denmark\’s Shanghai consul general, yesterday said he is confident that the statue will make the journey to Shanghai.

\”We are applying for approval from the Danish government, and it is almost certain that the copper statue will sit on a piece of marble to welcome visitors to the pavilion during the Shanghai Expo,\” Thogersen said.

The idea of the statue came to Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, after he became fascinated by a ballet about the fairy tale. Sculptor Edward Eriksen then created the statue, which was unveiled in 1913.

The Denmark Pavilion consists of an outdoor and an indoor area which are united in one circle. The pavilion aims to give visitors the chance to savor the best aspects of Danish urban life.

The pavilion, called \”Welfairytales\” – a blend of the words \”welfare\” and \”fairy tales\” – will also feature a salt water pool filled with water from the Danish harbor. The mermaid is expected to make its Chinese debut at the pool.

Thogersen said the harbor suffered industrial pollution 20 years ago, but had been purified and now local people even swim at the sea, which is a \”good showcase of Denmark\’s style of sustainability.\”

Meanwhile, Chinese artists have been invited to submit outstanding sculptures for public display during the six-month Expo event. http://www.minamik.com

Balkans-born sculptor Drago Marin Cherina is inspired by
yin and yang to create abstract wooden sculpture
pairs. He calls them \”Onona\” from the southern Slavonic words on
and ona.

With eyes, we can see, with hands, we can touch. But with
imagination, we can see and touch anything whether it exists or
not. Art is the guide to the imagination.

Balkans-born Drago Marin Cherina, now a well-known Australian
sculptor, will share his world of the imagination through a free
one-year educational exhibition of his \”Onona\” – around 200 wooden
sculptures – at Shanghai\’s JenSen Museum.

At the opening next Wednesday, Cherina will be available to talk
with visitors about his work.

The sculptures in pairs are in abstract shapes about the size of
the pair. Cherina says the concept of \”Onona,\” a combination of on
and ona, is like that of yin and yang but taken from the language
of the ancient Balkans.

Cherina, who comes from Croatia, has created more than 50
psychological portraits in sculpture of figures such as Picasso,
Henry Moore and Dali. He used to work as Moore\’s assistant at
Moore\’s estate residence, studio and special sculpture park in Much
Haddam, England. This is where Cherina first created his \”Onona\”
sculptures.

Cherina considers himself fortunate as an artist to have been
exposed to two great cultures when he was young – Italian and
Chinese.

He was born in Kocula, a small island in the north of Croatia on
the Venetian Dalmation coast. Some historians say Marco Polo was
born there, though his birthplace is generally believed to be
Venice.

\”It was Marco Polo who brought glorious Chinese culture home,\”
says Cherina. \”You\’ll find that Croatia used to be ruled by the
Roman Empire for hundreds of years. Italian culture took root
there. Both the two cultures have great influence on me.\”

The \”Onona\” sculptures, according to Cherina, are inspired by
the traditional Chinese philosophy of yin and yang, the twin
origins of the universe, with contrary/complementary
characteristics. The \”Onona\” sculptures are also in pairs, on
meaning \”he\” and ona meaning \”she\” in the language of the southern
Balkans, says Cherina who compares them with yin and yang.

Many of the original wood sculptures have been enlarged and cast
in bronze. The \”Onona\” sculptures also make us think of past and
future, the balance between man and nature and they carry a warning
about environmental destruction.

\”I hope that my works can help people open their minds and see
things differently with their imagination,\” says Cherina. \”You have
to pay nothing for it, but your smile.\”

Date: October 17, 3:30pm (opening); October 17, 2007-October 17,
2008

Venue: JenSen Museum, 1568 Huqingping Highway, Qingpu
District

(Shanghai Daily October 12, 2007)

http://www.lersus.com

The gorgeous hues, unbridled brush lines and sober compositions of woman artist Li Dongxia\’s works brighten the National Art Museum of China\’s exhibition hall.

One painting features a cloud-covered black cup, which rests quietly on a table. Inside the cup, scattered tealeaves languidly float on the brown watper\’s surface.

Another picture, mountains pile upon one another against the subdued backdrop of a blue sky. Thin white lines delineate the cottages in the foreground and separate the layers of the remote mountains.

One of the more striking paintings has the dim moonlight of midnight spilling through a window into a fishbowl. Everything is clad with ultramarine except for two small fish, which appear in black silhouette.

Li paints what she sees in real life according to intuition, using delicate strokes. Because her works are devoid of mood and personal emotion, they reflect a nave and simple character unique to her.

\”It seems that painting is routine in Li Dongxia\’s life,\” says Fan Di\’an, director of the National Art Museum of China.

\”This ensures the artist expresses herself freely and intuitively.\”

Renowned art critic Jia Fangzhou says: \”Li\’s paintings can create a kind of pure and natural experience, which could be associated to the Buddhist term \’pure land\’\”.

The simple and honest style of Li\’s paintings is even more honed in her farmland depictions.

In the work Midday, Li employs fully saturated colors and strong brushstrokes.

Under the scorching sunshine of midsummer, a farmer leads an ox through a field.

The tableau is dominated by the vast yellow land, which extends into a distance of dazzling light. Dark-black pigment is used for the mountains on the horizon, the only tree – tucked in the corner – and the shadows the farmer, ox and tree cast upon the ground. White appears on the ox\’s body and in the remote sky, creating a strong contrastive effect representative of the season.

In other works depicting farmland, including Motionless Mountains and Enjoy the Cool Under the Shade of a Tree, realistic perspectives are expressed surrealistically.

9 am-5pm, today

National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district

6401-7076

(China Daily January 4, 2009)

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