ChinaDaily[980223-8]

[Chinese News]

China Daily

98 / 02 / 23 /

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1. Zeng refines beauty of guqin
2. Culture Notes (Page 9, Date: 02/23/98)
3. Rough hands shape fine work
4. What's on (Page 10, Date: 02/23/98)
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Zeng refines beauty of guqin
PERHAPS the best way to understand the thoughts of an ancient
Chinese scholar is to listen to the music of the guqin.
With seven strings, the zither-like instrument ranked highest
among the four skills a Chinese scholar was expected to master,
along with proficiency in weiqi (Chinese go), calligraphy and
painting.
For thousands of years, Chinese literati used the guqin to reach a
perfect harmony with nature.
Advancing towards a new millennium, we find ourselves caught up in
an eternal thirst for material and information needs. We have rid
ourselves of the once-abundant treasure called "leisure."
So it was quite refreshing to join about 300 people in attending a
guqin performance at the Beijing Concert Hall on an early spring
evening.
A stool and a small table stood in front of an unpainted wooden
screen on the otherwise empty stage.
The star of the night was a stout man wearing a long, grey gown
and old-styled black, cloth shoes.
At 39, Zeng Chengwei is a master of the Shu (ancient name for the
Sichuan Province) School.
Among the nine guqin schools in China, the Shu School is noted for
its use of a "thundering force," best expressed in the work "Liu
Shui (Flowing Water)."
For guqin amateurs, this piece represented a climax in the
performance. Starting with a few trickling drops, the melody flows
on like a growing body of water feeding into a river roaring
towards the ocean.
With his hands rapidly ascending and descending the scales , Zeng
successfully reproduced the tumbling waves of the Yangtze River
which had first inspired a former Chinese composer to create the
piece over 100 years ago.
In 1876, Zhang Kongshan, a Taoist in the late Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911), completed the "Tian Wen Ge (Mansion of Listening to
the Heaven) Music Scores," the work which laid the foundation for
the development of the Shu School.
It was Zhang who finalized the sixth part of "Flowing Water,"
which describes the roaring river. The piece became a standard for
later musicians.
The original "Flowing Water" appeared over 2,000 years ago, along
with another melody, "High Mountains."
According to Zeng Chengwei, "Flowing Water" used to describe a
gentle brook common in Southeast China before Zhang Kongshan added
the thundering chapter.
With 145 melodies, Zhang gathered in his book most of the pieces
played by Sichuan musicians since the Western Han Dynasty (206
BC-AD 24).
A well-documented story tells how Sima Xiangru, a famous scholar
of the Western Han, played a guqin to win the heart of Zhuo
Wenjun, a beautiful and talented woman.
Many pottery figurines of musicians playing the guqin have been
unearthed in Sichuan, proving that the popularity of this
instrument has lasted for at least 2,000 years.
Sichuan is also the centre of production of the guqin. During the
early Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), the Lei Family produced the best
kind of guqin --the "Leiqin." A Leiqin is still on display in the
Palace Museum of Beijing today.
It was not until the Qing Dynasty when the Shu School finally came
into being with the appearance of masters like Zhang Kongshan, who
created distinctive pieces and compiled music scores.
Zeng Chengwei is the sixth generation student of Zhang.
Born in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, Zeng had all the
necessary prerequisites to become a guqin artist.
His grandfather, Yu Shaoze, who made his fame during the 1930s,
organized several guqin sessions with his brother Yu Shaotang and
other great masters like Pei Tiexia and Hu Yingtang.
His home, although located within the city confines, was only a
short distance from the Yangtze River.
Zeng's music education did not start until he was 14 as China was
still suffering from the chaos of the "cultural revolution"
(1966-76), a period in which everyone was obligated to devote
themselves to politics. Any topic or activity related to the past
was considered to be "feudalistic" and was forbidden. The guqin
was no exception.
Zeng's grandfather was sent to a labour camp in the countryside. A
chronic illness caused him to return home and Zeng was awarded
with an opportunity to listen to the old man play the guqin.
"I was fascinated by the music and I thought how wonderful it
would be if my fingers could make the same sound," Zeng said.
"Little did I dream of performing for others at the time."
To avoid being discovered, Zeng waited until all his neighbours
were asleep, then he sneaked into a shed where firewood was stored
and played as quietly as possible.
Every Saturday, he walked over five kilometres to spend happy
weekends at his grandfather's home.
On those nights he rested in the same bed with his grandfather and
fell asleep hearing tales of the guqin and the old masters.
Zeng has become accustomed to getting up at 6 am to play all of
the tunes he knows for hours at a stretch.
Two decades of such practising has worn off half of the fingernail
on his left thumb.
In 1983, his performance at a national guqin seminar touched
everyone so deeply that the recording made at the time became a
repeat programme on the national broadcasting station.
During the 1980s, Zeng's teaching at the Folk Music Department of
the Sichuan Conservatory of Music attracted the institution's
first foreign students.
He toured several countries in the 1990s and touched off waves of
interest among the local people to learn about the guqin and the
Chinese culture.
HUGO Productions (HK) Ltd has made a CD of "Shu Qin Music" with
Zeng as the soloist.
After the performance at the Beijing Concert Hall, people flocked
to buy CDs signed by Zeng. Mary Sheehan, from Ireland, said that
the music touched her as being "spiritual, peaceful and calming."
After living in China for four years, Sheehan said she had
fostered a deep love for the country's ancient culture and longed
to hear more of such music.
Yang Jin, a guqin player with the Zhanyou Art Troupe, said Zeng
had demonstrated a professional accuracy of scale, while also
displaying the unique timbre of this ancient instrument.
"The guqin has the touch of stringed instruments like the pipa and
the guzheng; it is also gifted with a long, resounding effect,"
Yang said.
"If we compare the art of the pipa to a basin of water, then the
guzheng can be compared to a barrel, while the guqin must be a
deep pool," said Yang.
Wang Di of the Music Research Institute under the Academy of Arts
pointed out that while the guqin had a rich legacy of hundreds of
music scores, its development was limited.
"There are few guqin composers today; the two or three new pieces
which have appeared in movies and TV series are all simple
imitations of ancient works," she said.
Wang's teacher is Guan Pinghu, the virtuoso whose recording of
"Flowing Water" was carried to the universe by the unmanned US
spaceship "Voyager" in August, 1977.
During the selection of music works from the world, Guan's
rendition was the only one to be accepted unanimously, said Yang
Jin.
Wang worked hard to set up the first guqin courses in
conservatories all over China during the 1950s. She laments that
too many guqin graduates have left their profession because their
playing couldn't be adapted to playing other instruments easily.
Zeng said that currently there was a heated debate in music
circles as to whether folk music should be preserved as it was or
whether it should be reformed to suit modern times.
"I believe in change," Zeng said. He is trying to adapt skills
from the pipa and even the guitar in playing the guqin.
However, he still finds change difficult to cope with. With
several hundred music pieces having been passed on through the
centuries, Zeng is still busy learning the old songs before he has
time to produce new ones.
"I have only mastered over 40 pieces; I'm trying to learn one more
every year," he said.
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_Date: 02/23/98_
_Author: Liu Jun_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Culture Notes (Page 9, Date: 02/23/98)
Art festival
SHANGHAI -- Shanghai, China's largest commercial centre, will host
an international art festival from May 2 to June 2.
The biennial festival will provide a venue for a variety of
performances including ballet, symphonic music, modern drama,
traditional opera and mime shows. Artists from 12 countries and
regions, including the United States, France, Japan, Taiwan and
China's Hong Kong, will imbue the festival with an international
atmosphere.
During the one-month festival, eight exhibitions of art works will
also be held.
"We'll make the festival magnificent," said Ma Bomin,
secretary-general of the festival's organizing committee.
Mummy show
SHANGHAI -- The best preserved ancient mummy in China will be on
display in the Shanghai Museum this April.
The 1.8-metre-long body of a male was found during the excavation
of tombs dating back 1,800 years, located at Loulan, the site of
an ancient kingdom along the Silk Road in the northwestern
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Other items found during the excavation include glasses, wooden
bowls, copper ware and textiles. Researchers assume that these
artifacts once belonged to a nobleman.
The face of the man is covered by a mask. The long silk gown he is
wearing is considered a precious find as it is still intact and
deemed to be of a high quality.
The display also includes some 300 cultural relics such as silk
and fur goods, paintings, jade, pottery and food items.
Painting exhibition
LOVERS of ancient Chinese water and ink paintings will be able to
admire 140 of the best pieces in the Treasure Exhibition of
Chinese Paintings.
Collected by the Palace Museum and the China National Museum of
Fine Arts, these paintings are the works of great masters from the
14th century onwards. Some of these works have been auctioned for
tens of thousands of US dollars each on the international market.
This exhibition represents the first time that traditional Chinese
paintings will be displayed on such a large scale. Tight security
measures have been implemented due to the value of the works.
The most eye-catching works are from the Palace Museum in the
Forbidden City, the home of numerous precious relics collected
from various dynasties.
The display is part of the exhibition series of the '98 China Year
of International Fine Arts, which showcases Chinese and overseas
art works, said officials from the Ministry of Culture.
The officials said that although many precious Chinese paintings
are now stored abroad, Chinese museums remain the most important
repositories of oriental art.
TV documentary
SHANGHAI -- Shanghai Television Station is currently televising a
new documentary dealing with the youthful experiences in Europe of
a group of Chinese, including former leading figures such as Zhou
Enlai and Deng Xiaoping.
The documentary, "Great Footmarks," features photographs recording
the study and work experiences of high-ranking Chinese leaders
during their time abroad about 70 years ago.
The four-part documentary marks the first anniversary of Deng's
death and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Zhou Enlai.
Among some 1,900 Chinese young people who studied in France and
other countries during the 1920s were Zhou, Deng, Zhu De and Chen
Yi. A large number of the these students later became national
leaders, outstanding artists or scientists.
The production team, sponsored by the State Council's Office of
Overseas Chinese Affairs, Shanghai TV and a French newspaper,
spent three years gathering material in France, Belgium and the
Netherlands.
'National treasure'
CHINA'S most important painting depicting people's misery during
the Japanese invasion in the 1930s and 1940s was honoured as a
"national treasure" in Beijing last week.
The 26-metre-long, 2-metre-high painting titled "Refugees" was
finished by Jiang Zhaohe in 1943, but at that time was banned from
exhibition by Japanese officers.
It became a precious work after 1949 but was lost during the
chaotic times of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).
The traditional Chinese water-ink painting depicts about 100
Chinese refugees trying to evade Japanese bombers.
Jiang (1904-86), a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts,
successfully combined Western techniques and concepts with Chinese
tradition in his great works.
Officials from the Ministry of Culture said that this work is the
largest and most important painting to reflect the Chinese
people's real life in the 20th century.
The painting will be included in the collection of the China
National Museum of Fine Arts.
Ancient stone tools
NANNING -- A farmer in Yongning County in South China's Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region recently unearthed two stone tools shaped
like shovels when he was ploughing a hillside near the village of
Minzheng.
The villager, Chen Songrong, said that he found the two tools
under about 30 centimetres of earth. Local archaeologists said
that the two shovels belonged to the New Stone Age and were about
4,000 years old.
One of them, still in good condition, is 30.7 centimetres long, 16
centimetres wide and 1 centimetre thick. The other ancient tool,
which was incomplete, is 34.7 centimetres long, 15.7 centimetre
wide and 1.2 centimetres thick. (Xinhua)
_____________________________________________________________

_Date: 02/23/98_
_Author: _
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Rough hands shape fine work
HANDS-COVERED with cuts and bruises, thick calluses, and paint and
ink, fingers deformed from years of holding writing brushes and
engravers tools.
These are the hands that have created thousands of seals, Chinese
paintings and calligraphy works, and especially bamboo carvings --
the hands of Fan Jie'an, 80, a calligraphy and research fellow of
the Beijing Bureau of Culture and History.
Known as "the king of bamboo carvers" in artist circles, Fan has
mastered the skill of carving or, more correctly, incising
characters and pictures on the ribs of fans, the most challenging
skill for a bamboo carver.
Incising images on bamboo is a traditional Chinese art. It brings
incising, painting and calligraphy together and transforms bamboo
ware into an artform.
According to Fan, the earliest example of incised bamboo ware in
China is a carved spoon which was found in the Mawangdui Tomb of
the West Han Dynasty (206 BC-- AD 24).
Bamboo-carving enjoyed a boom in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing
(1644-1911) dynasties when incised bamboo ware was regarded as a
symbol of elegance and nobility. Such carving could be found on
many articles such as, pen containers, writing brushes, bamboo
flutes, bamboo scrolls and fans.
"Although we have electrical fans and air-conditioners, I think
nothing can replace the traditional fan in Chinese life," Fan
said.
"Imagine a hot summer day -- one can softly wave a folding fan,
enjoy the cooling flow of air, and savour the pictures and
characters painted on the covering and engraved on its ribs. It is
a genteel and practical pleasure the fan affords you."
From a rich family in Zhejiang Province, Fan was educated in
Beijing.
At the age of 10, he was placed under the tutelage of Xu Dungen, a
master seal carver.
Five years later, he apprenticed with Zhang Zhiyu, the founder of
the North China style of bamboo carving.
Following his teacher's words -- "a good bamboo-carver should
first be a good painter and calligrapher," Fan sought training
from master in these art forms.
"The key in incising bamboo is using engravers to replace the
writing brush," Fan said. "Carving is like painting but better."
"Because in carving, the artistic power depends on the strength of
the cuts, and the pictures embody both the prowess of painting and
carving."
Learning was hard. He cannot remember how many times he cut his
fingers with the engravers.
At that time, Zhang Zhiyu took opium, and he slept during the day
and worked at night. So Fan had to readjust his living patterns in
order to study at night. In addition to this, he did extra work
for his teacher during the day.
But he has no regrets. "From that time on, bamboo-carving has been
a part of my life," he said.
North China's special style of bamboo-carving has its unique
style, called "leaving green on sand," in which the carver leaves
some of the green skin of the bamboo and pricks the background of
the picture with the tip of the engraver to make it looks like
sand.
After polishing and waxing, the yellowish rough background forms a
sharp contrast with the light green smooth picture.
This style of bamboo carving is rare and is favoured by many
collectors.
Fan feels the weight of being the second generation successor to
the North China style of bamboo carving, which was created by
Zhang Zhiyu at the end of the last century.
Fan has about 50 students across China, but most of them seek him
out learn seal cutting. Only two of them, including his grandson,
Fan Dayong, love to do bamboo carving.
"Bamboo-carving will never be lost," Fan said. "Gas ovens didn't
stop the development of Chinese cooking and electronic keyboards
will never silence the Chinese lute (pipa).
"It occupies a proper place in Chinese traditional arts."
Fan's bamboo carvings are popular not only in China but also in
Japan, southeast Asia and western Europe. Collectors and traders
from abroad often ask to buy his creations but he always refuses
them.
"Each creation is the fruit of painstaking labour and is like my
own baby," he said.
Furthermore, he wants to leave enough works for the next
generations to study.
In recent years, he went to some mountain places in South China to
buy good-quality bamboo for carving.
Fan acknowledges that on the whole the engraving skills in China
are in decline.
Half a century ago, there were many masters of seal-cutting around
China, but today there are not many talented artists in the
seal-cutting trade.
Since 1935, Fan's bamboo and seal carvings have been regularly on
display in most of the antique stores on Luilichang Street in
Beijing.
He has since rendered some master painters' creations into bamboo
carvings.
"I suspect that God may help him in carving,"said Pu Xinyu, a late
master of Chinese traditional painting, after seeing Fan's carving
on the finger-thick shafts of writing brushes.
When New China was founded in 1949, Fan was asked to teach history
and literature courses in an art school in Beijing.
When he retired in 1979, he again indulged in his life-long hobby
of bamboo carving and has incised his creations on thousands of
folding fans.
His two published works -- "Collected Art Works of Fan Jie'an" and
"How to Engrave Seals" -- sum up his personal experience with
Chinese traditional arts.
Almost all rubbings of Fan's carved works have been made by his
wife, Yu Guirong.
"We have co-operated for about 60 years," Yu said.
Living in Beijing, they claim that there has never been a cross
word between them since they married in the 1930s.
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_Date: 02/23/98_
_Author: Wang Ying_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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What's on (Page 10, Date: 02/23/98)
EXHIBITIONS
Oil paintings show -- A joint oil paintings show is running at the
Wanfung Art Gallery.
The exhibition features more than 30 pieces of oil works done by
12 young artists.
The works reflect the artists' diversified painting styles and
their insightful observation and understanding of life, people and
the Nature.
Time: 9:30 am- 6 pm, through February 27.
Place: Wanfung Art Gallery, 136 Nanchizi Dajie, Dongcheng
District, Beijing.
Tel: 6512-7338.
Deng Xiaoping on show -- A photo show honouring the late Chinese
leader Deng Xiaoping is being held in Beijing.
The show is part of commemorative activities on the first
anniversary of his death on February 19, 1997.
The photos, selected from more than 1,000 taken by Deng Lin,
Deng's eldest daughter, show Deng not only from the perspective of
a great statesman but also from that of a husband, father, and
grandfather, from 1980 to 1993.
Time: 9 am-5 pm, through February 28
Place: China Military Museum, Fuxinglu, Haidian District
Tel: 6851-4401
Art treasures -- The precious ink paintings collected by the
Palace Museum and the China National Art Museum are being
displayed in Beijing as an event of the China Year of
International Fine Arts.
The exhibition features 140 works done by the master painters of
the Ming and Qing dynasties and the modern period. The exhibition
reflects the ups and downs of Chinese ink paintings since the Ming
Dynasty and provides valuable experience for the further
development of Chinese ink paintings in the next century.
One eye-catching ink painting on display is "Refugees" done by
Jiang Zhaohe (1904-86) and donated by Xiao Qiong, Jiang's widow,
to the China National Art Museum for permanent preservation.
Time: 9 am-5 pm, through February 28
Place: China National Art Museum, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng District
Tel: 6401-2252
Prints show -- Tianjin artist Wang Yunguo (Mo Fei) is displaying
his original "fire prints" in Beijing.
The new art form, which appears to involve using fire, are quite
different from traditional prints both in their appearance and
techniques used.
Wang, who works with the Tianjin Teachers Training College for
Professional Skills, is a self-taught artist.
During the early 1980s, Wang, then a soldier in the army, won
several awards for his artistic creations. Since 1986, he has
tried to explore new ways of print-making. Now he has matured his
skills in producing the "fire prints."
Time: 9 am-4 pm, through February 25
Place: National Museum of Chinese Revolution History, east of
Tian'anmen Square.
Tel: 6526-3355.
Acrylics & installations -- Artist Guan Wei has returned to
Beijing from Australia to conduct a solo exhibition, the first of
the new season's shows at Red Gate Gallery.
Guan's exhibition includes acrylics on canvases from the "Little
Toy" series of 1990-91 which are reminiscent of Guan Wei's style
before he went to Australia, a form that Beijingers will be
familiar with. These works are combined with his new
three-dimensional installation works from which the exhibition
draws its title of Internal Circulation.
Both series of works are characteristic of Guan Wei's humour and
wit, enticing the viewer to explore, discover and appreciate his
idiosyncratic view of the world.
Guan was educated at the Beijing Teacher's College and
subsequently worked as an artist in residence at many art
institutions across Australia. Recently Guan was among those
chosen to design and produce art for the 2,000 Sydney Olympics.
Time: 11 am-6 pm, February 21-March 11
Place: Red Gate Gallery, Level 3, China World Hotel, China World
Trade Centre, 1 Jianguomen Wai
Tel: 6505-2266 ext 6821/5729
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_Date: 02/23/98_
_Author: _
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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