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China Daily

97 / 10 / 15 /

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1. Painter Bai captures landscapes' beauty
2. Notes (Page 9, Date: 10/15/97)
3. Internet creates miracle for baby
4. Qianjiang intoxicates drinkers worldwide
5. Beverage giant wins wide fame
6. Zhonghua beer builds success
7. [INLINE]
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Painter Bai captures landscapes' beauty
ARTIST Bai Xueshi captivates the audience with his poetically
beautiful landscapes while many others are trying to be
masculinely expressive and powerful.
"A painting must first of all be pleasing to the eye and the mind,
in my opinion," said the 83-year-old painter, who was a professor
at the Central Academy of Arts and Design before his retirement
and was doing super huge pieces that decorate the walls of
reception halls in Zhongnanhai, headquarters of the Chinese
Communist Party, and the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse just three
years ago.
"This may have something to do with my characters and
temperament," said the painter, who is never self-assertive by
nature. "So I never try to find my own artistic ego in wild
strokes and casual composition like free-hand painters."
Instead, each piece of his is based on meticulously worked out
compositional scheme and each stroke and application of colour are
carefully executed.
Ancient master poet Du Fu (AD 712-770) once said that he would
never be at peace with himself if he failed to come up with
startling lines, expressing his determination to hone his writing
skills and polish his verses. Now, painter Bai Xueshi is trying
equally hard, honing his artistic language.
What impresses the viewer most, at first glance, is the bluish
green colour that is predominant in Bai's work. With it, Bai
captures the quintessence of the beauty of the landscapes along
the Lijiang River in Guilin, South China's Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region.
"The rivers and peaks in Guilin don't actually look bluish green.
But I feel somehow only bluish green can express the spirit or
underlying mood of the landscapes there," Bai said.
Enveloped in this tint, the parts of the whole -- the bamboo-shoot
peaks rising abruptly from the earth's surface, the mist spreading
around the waists of the hills, the mirror-like surface of the
limpid Lijiang River, the canals crisscrossing the paddy fields,
the shuttling fishing boats, the farm cottages hidden amid bamboo
groves -- combine to create a romantic and poetic world. In this
way, Bai forges the "spirit," or "tone," or "mood" of his own
work.
"In Chinese painting, special emphasis has always been laid on the
artwork's underlying spirit, tone and mood, which often become a
criterion to gauge the superiority or inferiority of a piece. They
can trigger the viewer's associations with beauty and send
aesthetics-oriented thrills throughout the viewer. In this way, a
kind of pleasing aesthetic experience is acquired," said critic Zi
Yang.
Bai, in his youth, used to organize the images on paper based on
the dictates of his own artistic intuition and draw inspiration
from classic poems that sang odes to the beauty of nature. But
this source of inspiration was bound to dry up one day. And it
did. So Bai went out to nature to "make sketches of all the unique
mountains as raw materials for his art," in the words of the late
master painter Li Keran.
He travelled to the scenic Guilin four times in the 12 years
between his 58th and 70th birthdays, climbed up Mount Huangshan
when he was 69 years old and scaled Mount Taishan when he was 74
years old, making sketches all the while.
As a result, the images that continue to flow from his brush are
strikingly fresh and vivid, brimming with vitality and energy,
according to Singapore-based critic Huang Shuling.
"When I stand before his landscapes, I often have a feeling that
he has cut off a section of the beautiful Lijiang River and
presented it before the audience," critic Zi Yang said of his
impression of one of Bai's pieces. "The hills stand out. The river
keeps flowing. The mist rises slowly up the peaks, winds around
the hill waists, spreads to the depth of the painting until
everything becomes misty in the background."
Many of Bai's works stand 2 to 3 metres high and stretch 7 or 8
metres wide, and are not dwarfed when hung on the walls of grand
halls. This could make the design susceptible to disorder. But Bai
manages to be the master of his super huge pieces. The bristling
mountains and peaks in various postures are well arranged and
juxtaposed, echoing each other in compositional beauty, and large
areas of mist and water surface help organize various localities
into an organic whole, according to Zi Yang.
Many have the impression that Bai's works have "depth," or convey
a strong sense of space, unlike the two-dimensional traditional
Chinese painting. "In his huge pieces, for example, there are
generally a dozen 'planes in depth' -- images in the foreground,
in the middle ground, in the further middle ground, in the
background -- until everything becomes blurred in the distant
background," Zi said. "This creates a feeling that there are
mountains beyond mountains and rivers beyond rivers, which helps
exten
d the vision of the viewer to the remote distance and present a
scene of boundless variety."
In addition, Bai's work is richly changeable. "In one piece, the
image-laden areas and image-sparse spaces, the finely and ruggedly
wrought strokes, the dark and the bright, the heavy colours and
the light colours, the meticulously executed lines and areas of
ink splash, the angular shapes and round shapes, the clear-cut
images in the foreground and the vague images in the background
all complement each other and set off each other," Zi said.
Now at the age of 83, Bai is still considering how to "come up
with something new" in his words.
"I'll do more free-hand pieces, partly because I want to explore
new horizons in this regard and partly because my advanced age
will allow me do less minutely realist works," he said.
Bai was born in Beijing in 1915. When he was very young, he began
to learn flower-and-bird painting from artist Zhao Menzhu and
later learned landscape painting from painter Liang Shunian. In
the 1950s and 1960s, he was a lecturer at the Beijing Art Normal
College and later a professor at the Central Academy of Arts and
Design.
Bai remembers that he grew keenly interested in painting as early
as when he was only eight or nine years old. While other kids were
catching crickets or running wild in play outdoors, he shut
himself up in the study, carefully copying the paintings from
printed books. This moved his father, a modestly well-off
merchant. The father took the son to art exhibitions and managed
to have the son become art apprentice to some well known artists,
among whom were Liang and Zhao.
In 1941, Bai held his first one-man show in Beijing, which drew
wide attention from the artistic circles and marked his debut in
art.
Many of his pieces have entered public and private collections in
Japan, the United States, Southeast Asian countries and China.
Some of his huge pieces loom in the background while top Chinese
leaders discuss important matters with visiting foreign
dignitaries in the foreground.
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_Date: 10/15/97_
_Author: Hua Jia_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Notes (Page 9, Date: 10/15/97)
Sungari auctions
SUNGARI '97 Chinese Contemporary Art and Western Modern Masters'
Works Auctions are slated to open on November 2 in Beijing's
Yanhuang Art Museum.
The works by Chinese painters such as Fang Lijun, Sun Liang and
Sui Jianguo, who have gained increasing acceptance both in China
and overseas, are expected to go under the gavel.
In addition, a number of prints by such European masters as
Picasso, Renoir and Chagall will be auctioned as well.
A pre-auction exhibition of the works to go under gavel is to be
held between October 21 and November 2 at the Yanhuang Art Museum.
Cross talk contest
THE final phase of the Second Golden Lion Cross Talk Contest,
which is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of
Radio, Film and Television, is being held in Beijing. Thirty-two
of the 60 participating cross talk works have entered final stage
of competition for the top, second and third prizes.
Cross talk, a kind of talk show in China, is very popular in the
country and enjoys audiences in the millions because of its
humour, wit and scathing satire on irregularities and wrong
doings. The 32 pieces that have entered the finals cover a wide
range of hot topics of the day. They include life of the mortal
beings, friendship between people today, advocacy of thrift and
stingy on extravagance and so on.
The contest is financially aided by the Beijing Chaohai Garment
Co.
Government helps
THE Guangzhou Municipal Government has decided to earmark 30
million yuan ($3.61 million) to upgrade the 13 cinemas and
theatres that are under municipal jurisdiction. The majority of
the cinemas and theatres in the city are out of date, with archaic
equipment and fire-fighting facilities. Efforts have already been
made to revamp these cinemas and theatres. However, thoroughly
upgrading them calls for a large amount of money, which is beyond
the means of the authorities of the cultural circles. So the
municipal government has decided to see to the matter.
Yin's solo show
YIN Mo's solo show of experimental ink and wash paintings opened
yesterday at China National Art Museum in Beijing.
Yin, an artist from Cangzhou, Hebei Province, and a member of the
Chinese Artists' Association, is in his 50s but he said he is
still young at heart and has been exploring new possibilities of
creating traditional Chinese landscape and flower-and-bird
paintings. (CD News)
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_Date: 10/15/97_
_Author: _
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Internet creates miracle for baby
THE Internet created a miracle for Wang Haikou and Li Ming, a
young couple from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and built a friendly
bond between the Wangs and the Weichands, an American couple
living in New Jersey.
When Li Ming gave birth to her son, Wang Yineng, on August 15,
1996, the 3.5-kilogram baby was a boon to the family.
Soon, Li Ming found something had gone wrong with her baby.
When young Wang was three months old, Li Ming noticed that the
boy's fingers and lips turned purple sometimes. His weight
increased to 7 kilograms.
When he was eight months old, his weight was still 7 kilograms and
the boy often exhausted himself by crying for three or four hours
before falling asleep, leaving his parents wide awake with worry
all night.
They took their baby to Nanjing Children's Hospital. After a
series of tests, the doctors there told the Wangs that their baby
was born with a serious heart disease.
The boy would not live to be one year old, said Hu Baozhen, a
cardiologist from Nanjing Children's Hospital.
The Wangs then took the baby to Fuwai Hospital in Beijing, which
is known for its expertise in heart surgeries.
However, examinations showed that the boy had no pulmonary artery.
He had to depend on a narrow vessel for the blood supply to his
lungs. The narrow vessel should have shut down at birth.
Doctor Liu Yinglong told the parents that the Fuwai Hospital was
able to do a correction surgery on the baby but he felt the narrow
vessel might bear up for a period of time.
He'd prefer that the surgery be done when the baby was a little
bigger, while warning that the surgery may be risky to the baby's
life.
But the father, Wang Haikou, an associate professor with Nanjing
Agriculture University who had been abroad twice, decided to turn
to the Internet for help last June.
It wasn't long before his unremitting efforts were paid off.
On June 9, Wang received an E-mail from Gloria Weichand, who lives
in Jefferson, New Jersey, telling the couple that the Deborah
Heart and Lung Centre of New Jersey could perform operations to
save Yineng.
In the next three months, Wang and Weichand exchanged information
on the network, and built up the friendship between the two
families.
Parents of three grown-up children, the Weichands went through an
ordeal similar to the Wangs' when their second son was afflicted
with the same ailment.
While waiting for the response from the centre, the Weichands
drove to 20-plus hospitals and institutions, consulting experts
and gathering information.
Good news came on August 2.
The centre, which is a charity institution, faxed the couple that
day, agreeing to provide free treatment for Yineng.
Help also came from around China.
Nanjing Public Security Bureau readied the families' passports
within three days. Air China provided $6,000 worth of free return
tickets for the family.
"I don't know how to thank those who showed their love to us,"
Wang Haikou said.
The Wangs boarded Air China CA Flight 981 in the afternoon on
August 22 from the Hongkou Airport in Shanghai, and arrived at JFK
Airport, New York, at 7 pm local time.
Not only the Weichands, but also Fan Guoliang, manager of Air
China's New York branch, greeted the family at the airport.
At the Weichand household, which was about two and a half hours'
drive from the airport, the Wangs were surprised by the
meticulously prepared room that awaited them.
The Weichands had even prepared a beautiful cot for Yineng.
The Wangs were members of the family, Mrs Weichand said on their
arrival, and their exclusive task was to take good care of the
baby.
On August 27, Yineng was driven by the Weichands to the Deborah
Heart and Lung Centre, about two and a half hours' ride from the
Weichand house.
The results of a comprehensive examination came two days later,
indicating that Yineng was in critical condition.
An operation was arranged immediately.
Dr Marshall Jacobs, an accomplished US children's cardiologist,
operated on Yineng on August 29, the same day on which the results
of the examination came out.
An artificial vessel was implanted between Yineng's aorta and
lungs for temporary blood transportation.
Before the operation, the whole little community where the
Weichands live prayed for the boy.
During the course of the operation, nurses informed the couple of
the progress every 15 minutes.
The chairperson of the centre called the Wangs, assuring them of
the first-class skill of the doctors.
Above all, Mrs Weichand, who was at home when the news of the
operation broke, rushed to the centre and stayed with the couple
in the hospital throughout the operation.
Twenty minutes after the operation, the parents were allowed to
visit their boy in the intensive care ward. Miraculously, the boy
had already regained some colour.
During his stay at the centre till September 11, Yineng was
subject to constant attention.
Dr Jacobs didn't leave his baby patient until the afternoon,
though the operation concluded successfully at noon. Afterwards,
it became his routine to visit the boy twice every day.
The nurse in the intensive care ward looked after Yineng for 30
hours without any rest.
Twenty-six days later, as Yineng boarded the plane home, he also
embarked on the way to a rapid recovery.
"Yineng has gained 0.6 kilograms since his operation," said Li
Ming, barely able to conceal her joy at the remarkable
improvement.
The boy also sleeps well now.
"He goes to sleep at nine o'clock every night and after a milk
break at six in the morning, he can continue to sleep until about
nine," said Li Ming.
Wang Yineng will receive another operation in six months which is
expected to ensure his full recovery.
_____________________________________________________________

_Date: 10/15/97_
_Author: Shao Zongwei_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Qianjiang intoxicates drinkers worldwide
"OUR goal is by no means to sell several more bottles of beer
only, but to spread a kind of spirit -- the spirit of Chinese
Nationality -- throughout the world and establish a new image
about a modern Chinese enterprise," said Huang Weicheng, president
of the Qianjiang Beer Group Co Ltd in East China's Zhejiang
Province.
Huang's words embody the ambition which encourages the company to
continue pursuing its development boom with its brand name
product, Zhonghua Beer (China in Chinese).
Founded in 1979 under the name of Qianjiang Beer (Group) Co Ltd,
the company now has total assets of 1 billion yuan ($120.48
million) and 14 self-funded companies, 28 shareholding companies
and long and stable, co-operative relations with more than 40
companies.
A large-scale beer production group company, it combines industry,
trade, science and technology, agriculture, commerce and
comprehensive exploitation in its daily workings.
One of the "Top 500 Enterprises with Largest Operation Scale and
Best Economic Output Value," the company has maintained the top
position for 16 consecutive years in Zhejiang Province and the
Yangtze Delta, with the most production, profit and export volume.
In 1996, it finished with a pre-tax profit of 130 million yuan
($15.7 million) and a profit of 32.53 million yuan ($3.92
million), with a total beer production of 244,000 tons.
Facing fierce market competition, leaders at all levels in the
Qianjiang Beer Co Ltd use their common sense to make every effort
to raise their products' quality using advanced technology and
equipment. Thus they launched their technological renovation
during the past five years.
Dozens of high-quality key equipment for beer production,
including the beer bottle filling system, kieselgure filter, PVPP
filter, fully automatic beer analyzer, micro-brewery for
laboratory production and waste water treatment, have been
imported from Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France.
Approved by the Zhejiang Export and Import Commodities Inspection
Bureau in 1992, the quality inspection centre of the company was
set up to examine the beer quality throughout the province.
Besides importing advanced foreign technology and apparatus, the
company encourages its staff members to launch technological
renovation projects. Over the years, some 60 quality control teams
were set up to work on 160 projects. Their efforts paid off with
four awards from the Ministry of Agriculture and nine awards from
Hangzhou City. Their invention, 20 outdoor fermenters each with a
capacity of 145 tons, has filled a national vacuum in this field.
And the 400-ton conical fermenter, also the fruit of their wisdom,
has been put into use as a breakthrough for China's large-scale
beer production.
The company has also strengthens its scientific management
administration to upgrade beer quality. The awareness of the
importance of quality has become deeply rooted among staff members
involved in each step of the production procedure, from design,
exploitation, raw materials selection and production to after-sale
service.
Its brand-name beers, Zhonghua and Qianjiang, are sold far and
wide, including to the United States, Canada, Italy, France,
Spain, Switzerland, Argentina, Russia, Malaysia, Japan and Hong
Kong.
"Zhonghua Beer is and will be the pride of China," said President
Huang, who added, "though we still have a long way to go."
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_Date: 10/15/97_
_Author: Chang Jun_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Beverage giant wins wide fame
NEAR one of the most attractive cities in China -- Hangzhou, the
so-called "paradise on earth" -- Qiantang people now have another
point of pride besides the world-famed Qiantang Tide: Zhonghua and
Qianjiang brands beer.
Despite the fierce competition among foreign beer brands entering
Chinese market, the Qianjiang Beer Group Co Ltd carries out its
own "famous-brand project" to further develop its line of
products. The brands "Qianjiang" and "Zhonghua" have long won high
praise both in foreign and domestic markets for years.
The group now holds more than 60 subordinates and share-holding
companies with total assets worth more than 1 billion yuan
($120.48million). The whole group, including its affiliated
companies in Fujian, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces and Jiaxing city
in Zhejiang Province, together produce 244,000 tons of beer, with
a sales income of 525 million yuan ($63.25 million). The group is
now on its rapid way to earning more profits with a tax profit of
130 million yuan ($15.7 million) in 1996.
The group was listed in the list of the "Top 500 Enterprises with
Large Economic Scale and Eminent Profit Income" and the "China 100
Beverage Giants" for six successive years. Meanwhile the group has
kept its dominant position in the beer export market and among
Zhejiang Province's top tax profit-makers.
Its location between the historical cultural city of Shaoxing and
Hangzhou places the group at a fairly convenient transportation
hub of railways, waterways and communications.
_____________________________________________________________

_Date: 10/15/97_
_Author: _
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Zhonghua beer builds success
AGAINST the tide of buying foreign brand names and franchises,
Qianjiang Beer Group Co Ltd in Zhejiang Province blazes a new
trail in developing nationalist industry and breaking into the
world market.
Last year, Qianjiang Beer Group Co Ltd realized pre-tax profits of
130 million yuan ($15.7 million). Its major product, Zhonghua
Beer, has been sold in more than 10 provinces and even broken into
the markets of a dozen foreign countries and regions like the
United States, Italy and France, among others. Its quality has won
universal recognition, so much so that Zhonghua Beer is now a
chosen drink of State banquets.
The long string of glittering achievements did not come easily.
The world beer market is nearing the saturation point and foreign
producers increasingly look towards China as the last big slice of
the pie. One after another China's beer producers are buying
license rights to make foreign brand beers.
This has brought enormous pressure to bear upon Qianjiang Beer
Group Co Ltd. The choices facing the group was critical: Give up
its brand and follow the general trend, or swim against the tide
and retain its name, and most importantly, its market share.
President Huang Weicheng is a sort of maverick in the industry,
and he favoured the latter approach. His decision was not just
audacious; it was based on careful study and scientific reasoning.
Huang believed that the technical level and management capacity of
many of China's breweries had been raised to match those of
western beer producers. He also favoured the idea of foreign
investment in his group.
But he proposes three principles for accepting foreign capital:
The brand name Zhonghua, which means China, cannot be waived. The
larger share must be in the hands of his group. In reciprocity the
group also enjoys the right to sell beer in the source country of
the capital. Several famous beer producers in the United States,
France and Japan approached Huang and offered handsome money for
the purchase of Qianjiang Beer Group. Huang was not tempted.
Far from being xenophobic, Huang always keeps an eye on the latest
developments on the international beer market. New technology and
equipment are avidly sought after, from abroad, if necessary. As a
result, Zhonghua Beer also finds ready acceptance in foreign
markets. A sure foothold in foreign markets has been secured by
registering the trademark in the US, Italy and France among
others.
The prime importance of the quality is indisputable. But a proper
marketing plan and projecting a good image are of equal
importance. At the beginning of the 1990s, Huang did a lot of
on-the-spot investigation and gathered market information
firsthand around China. Trips took him as far as the Northeast and
Southwest of China. Solid facts and figures helped the group make
the right decisions at the right time.
When Shanghai's Jinjiang Hotel was inaugurated, Huang decided to
sponsor a party, to which a lot of dignitaries from home and
abroad were invited. Zhonghua Beer's debut was met with acclaims
from all the guests present.
Thus an access to Shanghai's market was obtained. Another time,
Huang initiated an arts exhibition in Chengdu, a very important
city in Southwest China. Through the exhibition, the name of
Zhonghua was etched onto the minds of Chengdu people.
Huang also takes bold initiatives to co-operate with brewers in
other provinces to boost Zhonghua's market share. Some are
purchased, some are merged into it, others are jointly invested.
Now Qianjiang Beer Group Co Ltd owns six beer breweries in
Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian and the Autonomous Region of
Inner Mongolia.
Technical qualifications and moral values of staff members are
given close attention by the top management of Qianjiang Beer
Group Co Ltd. Technical training has been a constant part of life
for Qianjiang staff. Up to now more than 600 people from the group
have obtained technical qualifications of different levels.
A fifth of the staff now are members of the Science and Technology
Club of Qianjiang Beer Group Co Ltd. Qianjiang Beer Workers
Newspaper, a wind instrument orchestra and drum performance
troupe, among others, have served to enliven the workers' lives
and enhance their moral standards.
Ambitious goals have been set for the end of the Ninth Five-Year
Plan Period (1996-2000). By then the group's aggregate assets will
increase to 3 billion yuan ($361 million), and its annual output
of beer will be 800,000 tons.
_____________________________________________________________

_Date: 10/15/97_
_Author: Zhu Changyong_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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[INLINE]
[INLINE]

Updated on September 24, 1997

[INLINE]

[INLINE]

_[1]The 15th Party Congress_

_[2]Sep. 12 - Sep.18, 1997_

[INLINE]

[3][LINK] _[4]General Secretary Jiang Zemin's
Report to the 15th Party Congress_
[5][LINK] _[6]New Party Leadership elected,
Top Leaders' Profiles_
[7][LINK] _[8]Communique of 15th CPC Central
Committee's First Plenum_

[INLINE]

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References

1. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtg124.html
2. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtg124.html
3. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/report.html
4. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/report.html
5. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb46.html
6. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb46.html
7. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb09.html
8. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb09.html
9. mailto:cd...@chinadaily.net

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