Shanghai Museum

Shanghai Museum was founded in 1952 and originally housed in the former horseracing club in Nanjing West Road. In 1996, the museum moved into the current site in People＇s Square in the heart of the city and reopened to public. The unique architectural form of the new building, featuring a round top and a square foundation and symbolizing the traditional Chinese philosophical concept that the square earth is under the round sky, is an outstanding combination of tradition and modernity and presents an extraordinary visual effect.     

Facelift of Ningbo＇s Bund

“Bund” derives from an Anglo-Indian word for an embankment along a muddy waterfront. In the late 19^th century after Shanghai was forced to open to Western colonists, the Bund became the site of some of the earliest foreign settlements and now is known as one of the most recognizable architectural symbols of Shanghai. But the Bund is not a feature exclusive to Shanghai. Similar styles of architecture also appear in other coastal or river cities in China, such as Wuhan,Guangzhou, Chengdu and Fuzhou.     

Reform of China’s Cultural Undertakings

CHINA’S reform of culturalundertakings started in 1979,when the Communist Partyof China(CPC)proposed a generalreform and opening to the outsideworld and began China’s economicrestructuring.The key and difficultreform was in the operation of per-forming troupes.The reform under-went four stages.     

Facelift of Ningbo''''s Bund

"Bund" derives from an Anglo-Indian word for an embankment along a muddy waterfront. In the late 19th century after Shanghai was forced to open to Western colonists, the Bund became the site of some of the earliest foreign settlements and now is known as one of the most recognizable architectural symbols of Shanghai. But the Bund is not a feature exclusive to Shanghai. Similar styles of architecture also appear in other coastal or river cities in China, such as Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Fuzhou. And few people know that Ningbo Bund even enjoys a much longer history than Shanghai Bund. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Ningbo was a starting point of the Silk Road on the sea and one of the three major foreign trade ports; the other two were Yangzhou and Guangzhou. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Ningbo, Guangzhou and Quanzhou were the     

Yongle Palace： a Taoist Temple with Amazing Murals

Yongle Palace, located in Ruicheng County, northern Shanxi Province, is China＇s most well-preserved Yuan-Dynasty architecture. The scale and artistic achievement of its mural paintings are known as the top best among all existing mural paintings of the same subject. But many may not know that this magnificent Taoist temple structure was entirelv moved from its former site in Yongle Town to Ruicheng County between 1959 and 1964. UNESCO＇s nomination process stipulates that moved historical buildings are not qualified for the World Heritage nomination, but Yongle Palace was included on the tentative World Cultural Heritage list in 1998. According to the senior expert from the World Heritage Center who visited Yongle Palace in 2005, the whole movement project was well-designed and conducted with superb skills, which retained integrity and authenticity of this historical building to the largest possible extent. Thus, it can be included on the tentative list as an exception.     

National Library of China

The forerunner of the National Library of China was the Capital Library, built in 1909 in the Guanghua Temple. It was later moved to Wenjin Street and became what was then the largest and most modern library in the country. Over the years a number of prominent scholars served as its     

The Portland Classical Chinese Garden

The Portland Classical Chinese Garden, or called ＂Lan Su Yuan＂ in Chinese, was located in the downtown area of Portland,USA, It used to be China Town, but now has become the city＇s famous tourist site, The garden offers busy city dwellers not only an ideal retreat away from tense working life and annoying traffic buzzing, but also a completely different landscape and culture from the east. That is why a tour to ＂Lan Su Yuan＂ is viewed as the easiest and best way to experience Chinese culture,     

Beijing ANCIENT OBSERVATORY

The Ancient Observatory, a key cultural heritage site under national-level protection, is situated at the southeast corner of the city proper of Beijing, Its east side was originally connected with the city wall of Beijing which was demolished in 1957 to give way to the city expansion,     

TEMPLES OF MATSU IN GUIZHOU

Matsu, or the Goddess of Sea is widely worshipped in coastal areas of China and temples are built in these areas to enshrine statues of Matsu or Heavenly Queen. But it is quite interesting that there are quite a few Matsu temples in the inland province of Guizhou. Among these temples, the Heavenly Queen temple in Zhenyuan County is the largest, best-preserved and finest-built one and proclaimed as a site under the province-level protection.     

Louguan Resorts Refurbished to Promote Taoist Culture

2500 years ago,ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Zi wrote"Tao Te Ching",a Taoist canon reflecting wisdom of Oriental philosophy,in Louguan Terrace at the foot of the Qinling Mountain Range.Since then,Louguan Terrace has been admired as a Mecca for all who practice Taoism.In order to promote Taoist traditions, Xi’an Qujiang New Area and Zhouzhi County Government made joint investments to re-develop this historic heritage site.On March 2,2012,Louguan Taoist Resorts was completed and opened     

Fujian＇s Folk Arts of Spring Festival Displayed in Macao

In the Spring Festival 2005 in Macao, an exhibition on Fujian and Jiangsu‘s folk arts of spring festival was held in the art museum next to Golden Lotus Square which was built to celebrate Macao‘s return to the motherland. At the exhibition entrance which was decorated in typical south China‘s green tiles and gray walls, a pair of red spring festival couplet immediately brought visitors into Chinese new year.     

Li Xiaojie：A Popular Flute Performer in the Army

Li Xiaojie is a young Chinese flute performer and now serves as the Chinese flute solo performer in the Song and Dance ! Ensemble of the General Political Department of People＇s Liberation Army. She was born in Inner Mongolia and had followed her father Li Zhen, a famous Chinese flute performer to learn flute performance since her childhood. In 1983, she was admitted to the middle school affiliated to China Conservatory of Music and received an all-round training of sldlls and styles of northern schools of Chinese flute from Prof. Ma Baoshan. In 1986. Li and her schoolmate Zeng Zhaobin performed a flute duet at the Fourth North China Music Festival, which was known as the first ever bamboo flute performance by female performers in China and widely recognized by the professional circle.     

The Currently-Preserved Oldest Railway Station in China

Railway played an important role in the modernization of China＇s transportation network. The first railway in China was the 20-kilometer-long narrow-gauge railway between Shanghai and Wusongkou, invested and built by a British trade company in 1876. But due to the strong opposition of the Qjng imperial government, the railway was bought and then demolished.     

Farmer Print Painting of Qijiang County

Farmer printing first appeared in Qijiang County, Chongqing Municipality in the 1960s and 70s when the first print works, ＂The Party Branch＇s Secretary＂, was created by artists from Sichuan Artists Association, based on their experience in the county and characterized by the mix of revolutionary realism and romanticism. During the Cultural Revolution （ 1966 - 1976）, while traditional culture and classical Western culture were both labeled as ＂poisoned and collapsed＂, only print painting was encouraged by the communist government as it depicted realistic subjects of the time. Print exhibitions and workshops were launched in Qijiang＇s villages, which helped to give rise to indigenous print in the decades to come. Farmer printing of Qijiang County embraced heydays in the 1980s when the reform and opening policies were exercised nationwide, as a result of the influence by the print style of Jinshan.     

Chinese Spring Festival Celebrated in Thailand

From January 23 to February 4, ＂Cultural Series in Celebration of Chinese Spring Festival＂ was launched in Thailand, coorganized by Chinese Cultural Ministry, Chinese Embassy in Thailand and departments of the Thai Government concerned. It was the fifth session of the event and the largest Spring Festival celebration that China held overseas in 2009.     

Lin Fengmian： Life Dedicated to Art

Lin Fengmian [1900 - 1991 ] is a master artist whose life was dedicated to the development of fine arts of modern China. Lin went to France for the study of art in 1919. He was enrolled in Dijon Academy of Fine Arts in 1921 and later transferred to Paris State Higher School of Fine Arts. During his study in France, he began to develop the concept of ＂creation based on reflections on life＂.     

Tibet： a Holy Land at the Roof of the Earth （Part II）

Revival of Buddhism： from the second half of the 10th century to the 13,h century
After Langdarma was assassinated, the ruling group of Tibet was torn by internal strife. Tibet was again under the state of separation and Buddhism declined. In the late period of the 10th century, with the constant efforts by Buddhist monks and the support of Guge Kingdom, Buddhism began to revive in Tibet.     

Art Achievements of Ink Painter Fu Yiyao

Fu Yiyao is well known among the Chinese fine artists who live in Japan, She was born in 1947. As tine daughter of Fu Baoshi, a world-renowned Chinese fine arts master, shereceived good education from her father, In 1979, she traveled to Japan furthering her study on arts, and 1981 witnessed her success in that country where the artist competed for an international quality and a sense of eastern aesthetics,     

The Matriarchal Society at Lugu Lake

Our journey to Lugu Lake, a beautiful resort in the northwest tip of Yunnan Province, was full of steep mountains and bumpy roads. But the landscape on the way was extraordinary： yellow rape blossoms flourished along roads; the plateau grassland was dotted with many anonymous flowers -- red, purple or yellow; high mountains were permeated by clouds and mists, springs and streams ran down from top of mountains; and goats and yaks grazed leisurelv on mountain slopes in the distance. All those testified to the truth of a popular proverb -- ＂Beautiful landscape is always on the way＂.     

My Second Hometown Langde Village

I was born in Gouliang Village, Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, which is dubbed as the ＂First Miao People Village of Western Hunan＂. But I have been more fascinated by my second hometown, Langde Village in Leishan County, Guizhou Province, which is known as the hometown of folk arts of China and one of the 100 most unique museums of China. The village was proclaimed as a key heritage site under state-level protection in 2001, included in the candidate list for World Cultural Heritage nomination in 2006, awarded the title of ＂China Landscape Village＂ in 2007 and hosted Olympic torch relay in 2008. Over the past 25 years, I visited this beautiful village for more than 100 times.