Mirroring Beijing’s Past Glory

If there is one place where you can get an idea of Beijing’s past and culture, it’s the ongoing exhibition of Beijing Cultural Treasures at the Capital Museum.

On display are 285 artifacts divided into 7 categories, namely, porcelain, Buddhist sculptures, jade, gold and silver objects, carvings, calligraphy and painting, and classical furniture. The exhibition opened on July 26, 2008 and has remained a regular exhibition at the Capital Museum ever since.

Porcelain

China boasts a long history of porcelain making. The Song Dynasty (960-1279) was a boom period following the Han (206 BC-220 AD) and the Tang (618-907) dynasties, when porcelain kilns were spread throughout the country and the top five kilns had different strong local flavors.

The exhibits in this part are exhaustive, including works from the top five kilns dating back to a thousand years ago, and will be a rare and beautiful sight for any porcelain lover. Porcelain from Jingdezhen, the hub of Chinese imperial porcelain during the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1644-1911) dynasties, is also available.

Silk and painting

Silk was once used as a main material for writing and painting. before being replaced by paper upon the latter`s invention. However. the tradition of painting on silk was kept. used not only for professional artistic works. but also as decorations on silk clothes.
A hand-painted colored gauze (thin. transparent silk fabric) was unearthed at the Mawangdui Relics Site of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). By the Tang Dynasty (618-907). more hand-painted silk appeared. such as those excavated from the Famen Temple in Fufeng County of Northwest China`s Shaanxi Province. and the Dunhuang Grottoes in Northwest China`s Gansu Province.
The largest excavation to date has been from the Tomb of Yelu Yu in the Liao Dynasty (916-1125). In addition. the unique flowing-style painting technique of the excavated silk is of very high artistic quality.

Shadow-play

As for the model and making of characters and scenes in shadow play, shadow play belongs to the folk fine arts, and its artistic style flies its own color in the art and literary circle of all ethnic groups. In order to adapt to the screen-shadow performance form, it combines abstract and realistic techniques, and apply boldly complanate, artistic, cartoon and opera features to characters and scenes in shadow play, synthesized all the above art forms. Patterns of the make-up and costume in it are vivid and visual, overdrawn and humorous, with some simple and bold, or others delicate and romantic. Plus, being smoothly carved, flamboyantly painted, physically transparent, the figures and scenes products in shadow play are really pleasing to the eye and mind, and make it hard for people to put them down. Products of leather-shadow puppets (shortened as shadow puppet) are not only being used in the performance of shadow play, but can be played with hands, as well as used as decorations inside placed in front of windows or on wall. Thanks to their unsophisticated and graceful model and rich ethnic flavors, they are highly praised for their artistic value for appreciation and collection value. So they have been collected in many museums, and by many collectors, artists and shadow play lovers. In the international association, there are some people present to international friends Chinese shadow play products as first-class gifts, too.

shadow play

Shadow play is one of the earliest operas. Its performance equipment is easy to carry around; with rich and beautiful music for voices, splendid and touching performance, it has gained the favor of the great mass hundreds of years, and has become very popular. And moreover, shadow play has made a certain contribution to the culture and art development both domestic and overseas. Many new genres of local opera are derived from the music of voices of the shadow play. The principle of performance on the screen and the artistic techniques of performance employed in Chinese shadow play, have acted as a forerunner to the invention of modern film and the development of modern animation film. From Goethe in 18th century to the later Chaplin and other famous men world culture in the west have ever praised highly to Chinese shadow play. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other leaders of China have entertained guests both home and abroad with shadow play many times. However，the condition of being on the brink of extinction has not been changed up to now, after shadow play suffered the severe damage in “the Great Proletarian Culture Revolution”.

Brief Introduction of Shadow-play

Piying” (leather-shadow puppet art) or shadow play is general term referring to shadow drama and shadow play character (including stage scene, properties, and setting). Chinese shadow play is a unique art, ingeniously combined Chinese folk fine art and traditional opera, and an indispensable, exquisite gem in Chinese art palace.
Shadow play is a kind of drama in which the artistic effect is achieved through the performance of plane puppet figures projected with light onto a transparent white screen, on which the audience watch the performance. The plane puppet figures, as well the stage scene, properties and setting are usually made of leather, curved and painted manually by folk craftsmen. Therefore it is called “piying” (leather-shadow puppet art)

Yao: Playing for China is a big honor

The longest 13 days in Yao Ming's 27 years of life ended on Wednesday after China lost to Lithuania. That the Chinese men's basketball team could not create an impact in Beijing re-ignited rumors over his retirement from the Olympics.
But the NBA star was not ready to answer that question with a straight yes or no.
China's Yao Ming (L) attempts to score against Lithuania during their basketball game at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 20, 2008. [Agencies]
"Playing for the country and competing in the Olympics is a big, big honor," he said in his trademark ambiguous tone. "I knew about the Olympics before I learned about the NBA ... playing in the Olympics was my childhood dream."
Yao was straightforward with his best wishes for Liu Xiang, though. The ace Chinese hurdler pulled out off the heats with an injured Achilles tendon. "Liu still has a long career before him," Yao said.
"He will strive to bring more honor to us. Please understand him Injury is part of our career it just happens sometimes."
The Chinese men's basketball team finished eighth, equaling its best Games record of two wins and four defeats, including a heartbreaking loss to Spain.
Everyone agrees the team has given an improved performance. For his part, Yao said he was "really, really proud" of his teammates, who "played with courage and (gave) all they could give".
"We're still not (among) the best few teams in the world our players (need) to become stronger, quicker and more experienced (but) it's always easy to say, of course," the 7-foot-6 giant said at a media briefing, organized in Beijing by Coca-Cola.
He is proud of the Beijing Games, he said, and thankful to those who devoted their seven years for its preparation. "All (this) shows how we love sport and how we love communicating with the entire world I hope we'll get more opportunities like this."
NBA superstar LeBron James, too, was present at the briefing, and presented an autographed, 2-m version of a "Unity Bottle" of Coke.
James applauded China's Games performance on home soil, saying the country had done "an excellent job".
Yao responded, in a lighter vein, though: "(More than) 40 golds may be surprising, but compare it with 1.3 billion people (in China) - I think it's pretty normal."

Olympic dream leads to greener lifestyle

we still love liuxiang

Name: Liu Xiang

Gender: Male

Birth Place: Shanghai, China

Birth Date:July 13 1983

Hight:1.89 m

Weight:74kg

Speciality:110m hurdles

Education: Huadong Normal University

Hobby: Singing, computer

Registered with: Shanghai

Personal best: 2006 Lausanne IAAF Super Grand Prix - Champion, 12"88

Sports career:

03/1999 Athlete, Shanghai Athletics Team

08/2000 National Youth Team


Career Highlights:

Fourth place of the men's 110m hurdles at 2000 World Junior Championships

110m hurdles gold medal at 2001 National Games, East Asian Games and World University Games

Broke the world youth and Asian record with a time of 13.12 at IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne in 2001.

110m hurdles gold medal at 2002 Asian Championships

110m hurdles gold medal at 2002 Asian Games

Bronze medal of men's 60m hurdles at 2003 IAAF World Indoor Champs, the first medal for China in 18 years.

Gold medal at National Grand Prix in April 2003, Silver medal at IAAF Grand Prix in Zagreb

Listed among top ten athletes of China in March, 2003

110m hurdles gold Medal Olympics at Athens, 2004

110m hurdles champion and new world recorld IAAF Super Grand Prix in Lausanne,2006
110m hurdles gold medal and new Asian Game record , Asian Game at Doha ,2006
110m hurdles gold medal ,Osaka IAAF World Athletics Championships,2007 (juni)

Olympic bulletin August 19

Liu hurdled by injury
Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang is out of competition due to injury.
The gold winning athlete left the Bird’s Nest on Monday morning before qualifying for his event.
Liu is said to have suffered injury to his Achilles tendon and after an initial false start by another athlete, he left the track with head down.
With Liu’s absence from the competition, Cuban sensation Dayron Robles looks like a shoo-in for the 110 men's hurdles gold medal.
Lord of the rings
Olympic gymnast Chen Yibing claimed his second gold, winning the Men’s Rings event.
His next-to-perfect performance won the hearts of judges and secured Chen's leading position with a score of 16.600.
The win marks the second Olympic gold in the event in China's gymnastic history.
It took China 24 years to make the achievement after Li Ning, who lit the Olympic torch on August 8, brought the first rings gold at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
A long jump to glory
The tiny country of Panama claimed its first Olympic gold last night in the Men’s Long Jump competition. Irving Saladino leapt a staggering 8.34 metres in the final at the Bird’s Nest and in doing so was declared a national hero. Before last night’s victory, Panama only had two bronze medals both won by Lloyd LaBeach in the men's 100m and 200m sprints in 1948. Saladino’s long leap was 10 centimetres ahead of indoor champion Khotso Mokoena of South Africa, who took silver, whilst Ibrahim Camejo of Cuba was third at 8.20 metres.

great beijing

Mascots for 2008 Olympics

Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Mascots for 2008 Olympics

Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Great Beijing

Olympic Games In Beijing

Opening ceremony draws 34.2m US viewers

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last Friday drew 34.2 million TV viewers in the US.
The show became the largest TV event in the US since the Super Bowl football game, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has said.NBC also cited statistics released by global provider of television audience measurement Nielsen Media Research, saying the show had the biggest audience ever for an Olympic opening ceremony not held in the US, and even eclipsed this year's Academy Awards and the finale of "American Idol."
Domestically, the ceremony on seven China Central Television channels and more than 30 provincial satellite TV channels averaged 842 million people, or 68.8 percent of China's total TV viewers, according to statistics released by CSM Media Research, a leading market research company in China.
More than 40 percent of Chinese viewers watched over two hours of the four-hour live broadcast, and nearly 10 percent watched the entire ceremony.
The Olympics in Athens four years ago averaged 25.4 million viewers for its first night, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The 2000 Sydney Games had 27.3 million viewers.
"It was a magical and memorable spectacle and a great way to start the Beijing Olympics," said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics.
Zhang Yimou, director in charge of the opening ceremony on Friday, has been highly praised.
Netizen Rao Jin believed the idea of producing 29 huge footprints by fireworks was "really stunning".
Yin Yanyan, a college student and a volunteer, said she has been through the previous three rehearsals, but still felt excited at the opening ceremony.
"The torch-lighting was a surprise," she said.
"It was really unexpected that Li Ning would run in the air around the stadium.
"And it was amazing that the main torch could be designed so beautifully with Chinese characteristics."
Many others were moved by the 9-year-old girl in a red dress who sang Singing a Song of Praise for the Motherland.
An overseas Chinese student in Australia, surnamed Li, said the song by the girl was so touching she could not hold back her tears when watching the opening ceremony on TV with friends.

silk produntion

Production
The advent of synthetic fibers such as nylon and polyester, which are stronger than silk and lower in price, but do not possess the same hand, or quality, has caused a tremendous reduction in silk production and consumption. World production in 1940 was 59 million kg (130 million lb). By 1950 it had dropped to 19 million kg (42 million lb), but by the mid-1980s had climbed to about 68 million kg (150 million lb).
In the U.S., silk is still used for clothing, including lightweight suits, coats and slacks, jackets, shirts and neckties, robes, loungewear, underwear, hosiery, and gloves. Silk is also used in lace, napery, draperies, linings, narrow fabrics, and handbags.

Silk

Silk, fiber produced as a cocoon covering by the silkworm, and valuable for its use in fine fabrics and textiles. The silkworm, in fact, is not a worm but a caterpillar. Although cocoon coverings of fiber are made by a large number of insects, only those of the mulberry silk moth, Bombyx mori, and a few other moths closely akin to it, are used by the silk industry. The silk of other insects, notably the spider, is used for certain manufacturing purposes, particularly for the cross hairs of telescopes and other optical instruments. For a description of the life and habits of the silk moth, see Silkworm.