Ceremonial Costumes of Qing-Dynasty Emperors

##正##The Qing Dynasty, the last feudal dynasty in China, is known for its most sophisticated system for imperial costumes. Emperor costumes     

Yuanmingyuan： Garden of Perfect Brightness

Yuanmingyuan, known in China as the garden of perfect brightness, is located in the western suburb of Beijing where there is rich water resources and green mountains and hills. During the reign of Qing Emperor Kangxi [1661-1722], the Everlasting Spring Garden was built on ruins of a Ming Dynasty garden and completed in 1690. The garden served as a summer palace where the emperor escaped the summer heat and handled court affairs.     

Folk Festivity Parade Brings Fun to Beijingers

Folk festivity parade （literally meaning ＂folk flower fair＂ in Chinese） dates back to hundreds of years in China. This miscellaneous form of folk performance is evolved from ＂bai-xi＂ （variety folk show] in the Han Dynasty and ＂she-huo＂ [festivity performance] in the Song-and-Yuan period when it featured walking on stilts, yangke dance, lion dance and land-boat dance. Since the Qing Dynasty, diverse forms of performance have been added and folk festivity parade has developed into a major folk arts form performed during temple fairs and other traditional festivals that integrates such diversified art expressions as dance, singing, drama, martial arts, acrobatics, ballad-singing and music.     

Ancient Tea Mountains in Xishuangbanna

Pu＇er tea became famous as early as in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Famous tea mountains producing Pu＇er tea are Ioacated in Xishuangbanna, a subtropical area in the southern part of Yunnan Province, including Yiwu, Yibang, Jinuo, Gedeng, Manzhuan and Mansa. The tea produced from these six tea plantations have been widely drunk by herdsmen living in plateau areas in Tibet, Qinghai and Mongolia since the Tang Dynasty. For example, the butter tea popular among Tibetan people is made with tea bricks or cakes processed from tea leaves growing in Yunnan. And the reads for the transport of tea by horse caravans are well known as ＂ancient tea routes＂.     

＂The Colors of Water＂： Miao Xiaolong＇s Modem Dance Concert

In China＇s dancing arena today where most dancers pursue hasty success, it is truly rare to prepare a dance concert for as long as seven years. And more amazingly,the whole production is planned and presented by merely one person who choreographs and directs the dance concert, designs all costumes, stage settings and lighting as well as dances its leading part. But Miao Xiaolong made it. Several months ago, this young talented teacher at the dancing department of the Music School of Shanghai Normal University presented his dance concert ＂The Colors of Water＂ in Shanghai.     

COLLECTION ＆ AUCTION

＂Sketch Painting of Rare Birds＂ Sold for 55.10 Million RMB Yuan
At the Poly Spring Auction, ＂Sketch Painting of Rare Birds＂ created by Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty was sold for 55.10 million RMB yuan, it is known that Emperor Huizong＇s extant creations total less than 20 and this painting work is the most complete one among all the extant works, There are 21 seal imprints by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty and 7 seal imprints by previous collectors.     

Building Upon History, Looking Forward to Future Prince Kung＇s Mansion Forum 2013

Reputed as the＂mansion with half of the history of the Qing Dynasty＂, Prince Kung＇s Mansion used to be the residence of Heshen; Things changed, however, in 1851, the mansion was resided by a new owner, Yixin, Prince Kung.The mansion was hence named after him.     

Fine Paper-Cut of Yueqing

The fine paper-cut, popular in Yueqing, Zhejiang Province, evolves from the paper cutting of the Yuan Dynasty applied to dragon boats and shoes. This folk art genre originated from the tradition of dragon boat lanterns.     

Liu Chenggan： A Library Culture Preserver in Modern China

Huzhou, a historical city in the southeast province of Zhejiang, was dubbed as the ＂hometown of book collection＂ by Wang Guowei, a great scholar living inthe late Qing Dynasty, The most famous private collection house in Huzhou is ＂Jia Ye Tang＂ built by a local millionaire named Liu Chenggan [1881-1963] in the first half of the 20th century,     

A Brief Review of Chinese Print

Chinese print can date back 1100 years. For example, carved bricks and stones in the Han Dynasty are actually ear, forms of woodprint. As a type of print art, wood board printing invented in the Tang Dynasty was closely related to life of ordinary people and helped to spread arts in ancient China. Buddhist sutra Vajracchedika printed in 868 AD is the important evidence testifying to the wood board printing of the Tang Dynasty and the world＇s earliest complete printed book still preserved today. Thus it is generally recognized as the peak of print art of the Tang Dynasty.     

Earthen Ceramics of Fuli

Fuli Village, located in Zaozhuang, eastern Shandong Province, is said to be the hometown of Fuxi, the first of the legendary Three Sovereigns of ancient China.This historic village is known for its long history of earthen ceramics making. Earthen ceramics crafted in this place are praised as ＂featuring designs of the Neolithic Age, charms of the Han Dynasty and styles of the Southern and Northern Dynasties＂. With unique designs and distinctive convex decorative patterns, Fuli＇s earthen ceramics combine cultural richness of Chinese traditions and characteristics of modern art and thus are described as ＂valuable and rare earthen treasures that have been ever handed down from ancestral generations＂：     

Dragon Boat Race at Mount Xisai

Mount Xisai, located at the south bank of the Yangtze River in the city of Huangshi, central Hubei Province, is known for its dragon boat race which is now included in the first national list of intangible cultural heritage, Taoshifu Village at the foot of Mount Xisai was a prosperous village during the Ming and Qing dynasties where salt granaries,     

KASHGAR： A Place as Beautiful as Jade

Kashgar means "a jade-like place" in the Uyghur language, because it is known for its vast reserve of beautiful jade stone. Human activities such as hunting and fishing existed here as early as 4000 years ago. About 2000 years ago, one of the 36 kingdoms in the West Region is located here. Shule Kingdom built its capital city in Kashgar during the West Han Dynasty of ancient China and it became one of the four most important towns in the West Region during the Tang Dynasty. Kashgar is no…     

Hardwood Painting Frames of Lingnan

Hanging painting frames originatedfrom the Renaissance Period in the West.Most of early painting frames were madeof wood and gilded with gold. Paintingframes embedded with glass appearedin the mid-18th century to protectpainting works from damage andpollution.Old painting frames in Lingnan weremostly made of hardwood. Guangdongis the earliest place in China in whichtrading with foreign countries wasallowed and western influence came. Bythe late Qing Dynasty, glass was appliedto home furnit…     

Sports Agent Industry Emerges in China

The agent profession is not new to Chinese. First appearing in the Western Zhou Dynasty, agents were called "Zhi Ren" then and "Ya Ren" from the Tang Dynasty onwards. In the Ming Dynasty, a certain amount of property and a license were required if one wanted to become an agent. In the late Qing Dynasty, Mai Ban (Chinese executives working in foreign firms), also a sort of agents, began to emerge in major cities of China.     

Old Beijing： Imperial City Impression

Ararely seen perspective on the Imperial City was unveiled in a just-concluded exhibition of images of old Peking from Western eyes at the time, As part of the 4th China Beijing International Cultural and Creative industry Expo, ＂Imperial City Impression： Old Peking Images in Western Prints＂ opened at Beijing World Art Museum, revealing valuable insights into the old city during the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911 ）.     

ORNAMENTAL DRAGON DANCE IN YUEQING

Qianhudai is a small village in Wengyang Township, Yueqing County, coastal province of Zhejiang, which is only less than 500m away from East China Sea. In the past local villagers mostly red themselves on fishing. From the first to sixteenth of the first lunar month during which Chinese celebrate their New Year, local people play ＂ornamental dragon＂ and ＂bench dragon＂ through village alleys as part of Spring Festival celebrations.     

Revamped Street Recreates the Past of Beijing

Qianmen Street is the most historical street in the ancient capital of Beijing, surviving the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties all the way to the contemporary area. Located in the city＇s axis line, it is know as the ＂Heavenly Street＂ or ＂Golden Street＂ in history,