ChinaDaily (970609-8)

[Big Jim]

China Daily

97 / 06 / 09 /

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1. Chinese ink artist works with warm Western hues
2. Notes (Page 9, Date: 06/09/97)
3. Complete classics published
4. Hainan skylark sings for islanders
5. What's on (Page 10, Date: 06/09/97)
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Chinese ink artist works with warm Western hues

SUYUE Lee's one-person show opened on Saturday at the China National
Art Museum and will run through June 15.

The show features dozens of Lee's latest ink-and-colour paintings
defined by her exuberant colours and minute realist images.

Lee grew up in Taiwan and began learning the arts in the early 1960s.
She went to the United States for further study in the late 1960s. She
studied art education, fashion design, sketch, oil painting and
sculpture in universities in Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania and
California.

In 1990, she went back to Taiwan again, and has remained an artist
ever since.

Most of Lee's paintings are based on silk: The images, mostly flowers,
birds and beauties, are first outlined with ink and then colours are
applied. Her art is therefore closely linked to the traditional gongbi
painting, heavy colouring and minutely wrought realist images. But
light effects are added to the images and there are no image-free
blanks or voids as in the traditional gongbi works. Less attention is
paid to brush techniques. "It is a kind of 'alienation' from the
tradition, but not very far," said Lang Shaojun, a renowned critic.

On the one hand, Lee is carrying out the tradition of Chinese
flower-and-bird painting. On the other, she paints these things with
her feminine sensitivities to beauty.

Her "White Orchids" and "Sun Bath," for example, depict flowers at
point-blank range, something allegorical looming faintly underneath.

She has experimented with various depictions of flowers. In "Spring
Flowers," highly realist blue flowers against the deep brown
background reminds one of a still-life of the 17th century
Netherlands, in critic Lang's view.

According to Lang, in Lee's paintings, Chinese and Western traditions
are sometimes alternately applied, sometimes merged and sometimes
remain independent from each other. "This shows the richness of her
art but also makes her artistic personality vague," Lang said.

"Her scope is wide and she herself as an artist is versatile. New
breakthroughs will be made if she becomes more profound," Lang said.

If style is the attitude and means of an artist with which he or she
understands and masters the world, then quality and taste of the
painting are a kind of realization of the attitude and means, in
Lang's view.

"People can say, though somewhat farfetched, styles cannot be judged
as low or high. But there are definitely paintings of superior
qualities and inferior qualities, refined tastes and vulgar tastes,"
Lang said.

The quality and taste reflect the values of the painter and his or her
personality through the prism of the style, art language and
techniques, in his view.

Although Lee lives in commercialized atmospheres, her pursuit of the
pure and refined is obvious, in Lang's opinion.

In addition to flower-and-bird painting, Lee is also good at figure
painting. "Since she has long been involved in sculpture, the
experience largely helps her master the shapes and postures of the
figures and also the underlying moods," said critic Huang Guangnan.

It is clear her figure painting is still at an experimental stage. But
one somehow senses from her paintings that something big is brewing,
in Huang's view. "Breakthroughs might come soon," he said.

In her paintings, Lee seems to raise questions for the viewer to
answer. At the same time, she remains a sobre observer, not a
passionate judge, in Huang's opinion.

Chinese painting is characterized by subtle and unspeakable moods and
tones, whereas Western painting is marked by total mastery of light
and shades of colours and also exploration of man's inner world,
according to critic Li Lan. But Lee incorporates the characteristics
of both in her painting and presents before the audience a world of
harmonious beauty, the critic said.

In talking about her own figure painting, Lee said: "What I'm after is
how to display the spirit of my contemporaries, while refraining from
separating myself from traditional Chinese figure painting."

All in all, it is hard to define her style, or talk of her art school.
She herself said of her aspirations: "I want to be a Chinese-fashion
expressionist."
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_Date: 06/09/97_
_Author: Hua Jia_

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Notes (Page 9, Date: 06/09/97)

Cold opening

SHANGHAI -- The Polar Museum opened recently in the China Polar
Research Institute in Pudong New Area.

The museum has a polar science exhibition hall, the South Pole stone
exhibition hall, a souvenir hall, a computer consultation room and
other installations.

The hall aims at offering young people more knowledge of the South
Pole, the so-called "ice storage" and "white desert" through photos,
samples, material objects, videotapes and films.

Shanghai is China's major base for sending investigation teams to the
South Pole. Chinese scientists' first trip to the South Pole was made
13 years ago.

Relics unearthed

SHIJIAZHUANG -- More than 500 items of stoneware, pottery, and bronze
were unearthed while archaeologists were checking a site prior to
construction work on a Sino-German power plant in North China's Hebei
Province.

Chinese archaeologists said the artifacts date back to the late Stone
Age and the early Shang Dynasty (c.1600-1100 BC), and will contribute
to the study of local prehistorical culture.

The neolithic remains include rubbish pits and a building site where a
large number of red clay pottery pieces and a few bone, stone and
painted pottery pieces were found.

The Shang relics, the bronze, pottery, stone and boneware were
unearthed in the remains of buildings, kilns, rubbish pits and
tunnels. The bronze pieces were knives, the stoneware consisted of
spades, sickles and axes, and the boneware included arrowheads,
needles, hairpins and oracle bones. (Xinhua)
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_Date: 06/09/97_
_Author: _

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Complete classics published

IT took more than 2,000 Chinese scholars across the country six years
to complete.

It comprises 280 million words, 123 volumes and exactly 1,000 stories.

The comprehensive "Collection of Time-Honoured Classics" has just been
published by the Hainan International Publication Centre.

A favourite for libraries and book collectors, the collection covers
philosophy, history, religion, literature, arts, science, technology,
military affairs, geography, medicine and linguistics.

It is printed in simplified Chinese characters, arranged in horizontal
lines instead of the traditional vertical style of the old classics.
All the articles are punctuated. Normally, there is no punctuation in
the original classics.

Editor-in-chief Ji Xianlin, a professor from Beijing University,
studied in Europe in the 1930s and is also well-versed in the ancient
civilization of India.

Ji was helped by a number of prestigious scholars, among whom are
Zhang Dainian, a famed scholar in Chinese philosophy history, Xu Fu,
head of the Chinese Exegetical Studies, Wang Liqi, specialist in
classics research and Qian Bocheng, a specialist in classics
publication.

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the "Complete Library in Four
Divisions," also known as the "Complete Collection in Four
Treasuries," was compiled under the orders of the Qing Emperor
Qianlong. At that time, it was the most comprehensive collection of
Chinese classics from remote antiquity. However, some novels and
fiction such as "A Dream of the Red Mansion," considered one of the
greatest Chinese classic novels, were not included in the collection
as at that time. Confucian orthodoxy considered such stories as merely
recreational "pastimes" for men of letters.

But now the fiction and the novels have been included in the new
edition.

The collection also breaks new ground in the number of classic books
on traditional Chinese medicine and science and technology: an
unprecedented 162.

Since the compiling of "the Complete Library in Four Divisions," many
new classics have come off the press. These include late 19th and 20th
century articles and books written by Yan Fu, Liang Qichao and Kang
Youwei. Some classics of remote antiquity buried underground have
literally been unearthed since the compiling of "the Complete Library
in Four Divisions." Now all of these are included in the new
collection.

Works of some contemporary scholars -- unpublished because of the
economic considerations of publishing houses, are also included in the
collection. For example, it took the scholars in the Classic Research
Institute of the East China Normal University 20 years to complete the
"General Study of Historical Documents," which addresses institutions
of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). It had been shelved for 10 years by a
publishing house. But now this book appears in the new collection of
classics.

"We have invested 100 million yuan ($12 million) in the project. What
we want is to create a famous brand of cultural undertaking. We
believe that people in publication and cultural circles need this
collection of classics," said a Chengcheng Enterprise Group spokesman.

The whole process of printing is computerized. As a by-product, all
the classics have been stored in computers, which makes it convenient
for future reference or publication.

The newly published "Collection of Time-Honoured Classics" is meant
for the Chinese families as well as libraries. As a result, paperback
copies and CD-ROMs of the collection will be published soon. (CD News)
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_Date: 06/09/97_
_Author: _

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Hainan skylark sings for islanders

SHE is not a Hainan native, but she is well-known on the island.

She is nicknamed the "skylark of Hainan" by many islanders for her
beautiful soprano singing.

She is Cao Shijuan, a leading member of the Hainan Provincial Song and
Dance Ensemble.

"I love the island -- its hardworking people, its dynamic life and its
promising economy," Cao said. "This is a land full of hopes and
opportunities."

Cao, a native of Hunan Province, came to Hainan in 1988, hoping to
carve out a career in the newly established -- and largest -- special
economic zone in the country. She was 22.

Born on September 1, 1966 into a Hengyang worker's family in Hunan,
Cao developed a keen interest in singing and dancing when she was a
child.

At 12, she joined an amateur xiangju opera troupe. In addition to her
high school study, she worked hard and played different roles in local
operas.

"During that period, I got my first stage experience," said Cao.

In 1985, she was admitted to Hunan Normal University majoring in vocal
music. After graduation, she taught in the Hengyang Art School for
Children. "The job was pretty good, but I was not good at teaching
others," Cao said. "'Perhaps I should spend my life on stage,' I
thought at the time."

She decided to go to Hainan. She believed that the newly established
special economic zone would bring her hope and opportunities.

"When I got there, I found living conditions were worse than I
thought," Cao said.

It was sweltering. The air was always damp and stuffy. There were too
many bloodthirsty mosquitoes.

And her studying was frequently interrupted by power failures at
night.

Teaching facilities were also poor, she said. Only two pianos were
available for voice training.

But she kept practising. "Because I wanted a new start here, I had to
keep going," she said.

Besides self-training, she drew inspiration from folk singers of the
island.

From 1992 to 1994, Cao was coached by senior professional vocalists
Luo Tianchan, Wang Bingrui and Guo Song while she attended a two-year
training programme at the China Central Conservatory of Music in
Beijing.

She made great progress during her stay in the conservatory and was
praised by her instructor. She was chosen to perform in Thailand and
Laos on behalf of the Ministry of Culture of China in 1993.

Finally, Cao rose to fame in Hainan by winning first prizes in four
annual provincial vocal contests. She did equally well in some
nationwide competitions, winning a silver medal in the China Central
Television (CCTV) Cup MTV Contest. She performed on an MTV programme
on CCTV-3 last year.

Cao often went to the villages to sing for the Li minority people and
to scattered islands in the South China Sea to sing for the navy
stationed there.

In 1991, she travelled twice to sing for the navy forces of the
islands.

The voyages sometimes were difficult. She was often seasick. Her skin
burnt under the scorching sun. The tasteless food made her sick.
However, she did not give up.

On the first day of 1995, she again went to the South China Sea. "To
win in a competition is not my ultimate goal," Cao explains. "I want
the majority of the people to recognize me and share the beauty of my
songs."

Making money is not her goal in life. Cao gave up many chances to make
money by singing in discotheques and dance halls.

She was honoured as winner of the "Hainan Youth May Fourth Awards,"
given for the first time this year.

Now she is busy preparing songs to be staged in a grand celebration of
Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

And she will tape her MTV show for 1998 to mark the 10th anniversary
of Hainan as the largest economic zone in China.

"It's an ode to the beautiful island, my second home," she said.

In October, Cao will go with a delegation from the Ministry of Culture
of China to sing in Japan and other Asian countries.
_________________________________________________________________

_Date: 06/09/97_
_Author: Huang Yiming_

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What's on (Page 10, Date: 06/09/97)

EXHIBITIONS

Rabin remembered -- A photo exhibition about the life of the late
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin will be held at the China History
Museum.

The exhibition consists of 30 photos depicing Rabin's life with an
emphasis on his contribution to the peace process in the Middle East.
A special part of the exhibition presents Rabin's historic visit to
China in October, 1993.

The exhibition is jointly organized by the Embassy of Israel in China
with the assistance and support of the Chinese Ministry of Culture.

Time: 8:30 am-4:30 pm, June 16-24

Location: China History Museum, east side of Tian'anmen Square

Telephone: 6512-8986

Key-chain show -- A key-chain show is being held at Zhihua Temple
through July 7. More than 1,700 foreign and Chinese key chains
collected by Xie Jinghua are on display at the show.

Xie has collected more than 5,000 key chains from 70 countries. Most
of them are gifts of large companies which cannot be bought at stores.

Time: 9 am-4:30 pm, through July 7

Location: Zhihua Temple, 5 Lumicang, Chaonei Nanxiaojie, Dongcheng
District

Telephone: 6513-5027

Automobile Show -- The '97 Beijing International Commercial Automobile
Exhibition will start on June 9.

With the rising domestic market, the exhibition plans to push the
development of the commercial automobile in China and to further trade
with Western countries.

On display are up-to-date domestic automobiles as well as imported
ones from Japan, the United States, Germany, France and Italy.

Time: 9 am-5 pm, June 9-13

Location: Beijing Exhibition Centre, 135 Xizhimenwai Dajie, Xicheng
District

Telephone: 6426-8335

Lantern festival -- A grand lantern festival will be held in
Yuanmingyuan Park from June 8-July 12 to add colour to the coming
historical event of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

There is a dolphin-shaped lantern greeting guests at the gate of the
park, and a 1997-metre-long dragon lantern inside.

Also on display in the park are thousands of pigeon-shaped lanterns
dotted around a giant globe, expressing Beijing people's wish for
peace and prosperity in Hong Kong and the rest of the world.

Time: 8 am-8 pm, June 8-July 14

Location: Yuanmingyuan Donglu, Haidian District

Telephone: 6256-8870, 6255-1488

DRAMA

New drama -- Beijing people's Art Theatre is said by critics to be one
of the best drama troupes in the country. Almost every drama it stages
becomes a hit. To mark its 45th anniversary, the theatre will present
"Antiques," a modern drama with Beijing flavour and strong cast. The
play describes Beijing early this century.

Around anecdotes of an antique shop in Liulichang, a 200-year-old
business street in the capital, the drama brings on stage a group of
characters with different occupations, reproducing scenes of old
Beijing 70 years ago.

Time: 5:15 pm, June 10-30

Location: Capital Theatre, 22 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District

Telephone: 6525-3677

Man's world -- The China Youth Art Theatre's new presentation "To Be a
Man" is a recent hit on the capital's stage.

Through the collapse of a family, the play reveals the conflicts and
dilemmas people encounter with the development of society. Traditions
are challenged, including attitudes towards social values, life,
marriage and family.

Time: 7 pm, through June 22

Location: Small theatre of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, 22
Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District

Telephone: 6525-0123

CONCERTS

Vocal solos -- Four singers including Wu Meimei and Song Xuewei will
sing Chinese and foreign songs like "Mahyila," "Ahlamuhan," excerpts
from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," "Habanera" from Bizet's
"Carmen," "O Lovely Moon" from Dvorak's "Rusalka" and pieces from
Verdi's "Rigoletto."

Time: 7:30 pm, June 10

Location: the Art Salon of Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, 48 Wangfujing
Dajie

Telephone: 6512-5063 or 6513-3388 ext 1209

Brazilian pianist -- Patricia Vanzella, a Brazilian pianist, is to
visit China and give a recital in Beijing.

Born in Sao Paulo, she learned to play piano at the age of six. She
graduated from the music department of the University of Sao Paulo in
1985, and has studied music in Budapest and in France.

She won first prize in many important Brazilian piano contests, and in
1995 she gave her first tour in China together with the Brasilia
String Quartet when she played at the Beijing Concert Hall.

She is now faculty member of the Music Department of Brasilia.

In this concert, she will play Bach's "Partita in C Minor," "Rondeaux"
and "Capriccio," Brahms' "Two Rhapsodies op 79," Scriabin's "Prelude
for the Left Hand op 9," "Etude op 8," Villa-Lobos' "Clown," "Dance of
the White Indian" and "Minstrel Impressions."

Time: 7:30 pm, June 12

Location: Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie

Telephone: 6605-5812, 6405-5510

Hong Kong's return -- A piano recital is to be held for the Chinese
participants in the International Piano Competition for Hong Kong's
Return.

Pianists Lu Nan and Tan Xiaotang will play Bach's "Chromatic
Fantasia," Chopin's sonatas, scherzos and some Chinese pieces.

Time: 7:30 pm, June 12

Location: the Art Salon of Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, 48 Wangfujing
Dajie

Telephone: 6512-5063 or 6513-3388 ext 1209
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_Date: 06/09/97_
_Author: _

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