China Daily - Sunday, Tygodniki, prasa, magazyny

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
GETTING A HANDLE ON ARCHITECTURE: BUILDINGS AS HANDBAGS, P13 >>
sunday
>>
CHINA
DAILY
FEBRUARY 24, 2013
chinadaily.com.cn
RMB
¥ 1.5
GO AHEAD,
TROUBLE MAKERS?
LINK BETWEEN
VIDEO GAMES
AND VIOLENCE
DEBATED. P9
TAKE A BIG BITE
HONG KONG KICKS OFF
RESTAURANT WEEK. STORY, P14
‘
‘
sunday
talk
STITCHES FROM TIME
Embroidery is part of the Chinese cultural fabric, and there are many schools with unique stitches, designs
and characteristics from various regions. One of the most long-lived is Han embroidery, from the central
plains, which dates back to beyond 2,000 years.
Wang Ru
talks to a guardian of the ancient art.
“Any trade without such
a certi cate can be iden-
ti ed as illegal.”
JIN YU,
Chinese researcher,
noting that a new information-
control system makes tracking
of ivory trading in China more
stringent than international
standards
“African countries will
be unable to gain a voice
in international politics
unless they are uni ed.”
LI BEIFEN,
China’s former am-
bassador to Benin and Tunisia
“Seven of the 10 fastest-
growing countries are on
the African continent.
And China, under-
standing that, is already
investing more than we
do there.”
W
hen Red Guards broke into
his home during the “cul-
tural revolution” (1966-
76), they destroyed more
than 200 pieces of embroi-
dery that Ren Benrong
had in his collection. He stood aside and watched.
As Ren, now 78, witnessed them burn the centuries-
old elegant handcra ed work that he had inherited
from his father and grandfather, he could not hold
back his tears of anguish, but he also felt relieved of
a heavy burden. “Most the embroideries were from
theatrical costumes of plays about emperors and im-
perial families, all in the deeply-hated category of
‘feudalism’s evil legacy’ then,” Ren explains.
Decades later, he is sitting in his new embroidery studio in a
cultural heritage community in Wuhan, capital of Central China’s
Hubei province, where he had moved to in August last year. He is
master of more than 200 apprentices, all here to learn the ancient
art of Han embroidery.
It is a style that originated in the ancient state of Chu during
the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC), in what is now central
China, along the hinterlands of the Yangtze River.
Han embroidery is known for its rich colors, bold designs and
ne techniques. Many samples of Han embroidery were discov-
ered in excavated tombs dating
from 2,000 years ago.
Legends surround the art,
some from the
Romance of the
ree Kingdoms
, a collection
of stories from the late Han
periods.
It is said that Liu Bei, the
warlord of late Eastern Han
Dynasty (AD 25-220) was
about to face his nemesis Cao
Cao, a powerful enemy from
the north who intended to
invade with a mighty army.
Liu ordered all the women
in his city to make brightly
embroidered battle ags that
would line the city walls.
Awed by the display, Cao
suspected an ambush and withdrew his forces. Thus was the
embroidery needle proved mightier than the battle-axe.
Back to modern times, Ren, our Han embroidery master, was
born and raised on a 400-year old “Embroidery Street” in Hankou,
Wuhan, where thousands of embroidery specialists used to prac-
tice their art in about 40 or so shops run by merchant families.
eir work was exported all over China then.
Ren comes from a family of expert designers on the street.
While the actual embroidery was mostly done by women, the
designs were only cra ed by men, who traditionally passed on
their knowledge only to sons, not daughters.
A quali ed Han embroidery designer needed to master not
only the complicated needlework techniques of Han embroidery,
but also the design and tailoring styles of royal costumes from
di erent dynasties, and they needed knowledge of folk culture,
Taoism and painting skills.
At the peak of its popularity, the War of Resistance against
Japanese Aggression broke out in 1937 and lasted till 1945, and
American bombers razed the whole street, which was near a
Japanese arsenal in occupied Hankou.
“ e business was destroyed overnight. Most shop owners and
workers ed to the countryside,” Ren remembers.
But genes would tell, and Ren could not abandon the family
heritage.
Ren had been primed in all the knowledge of embroidery
design since he was a child. At 12, he was apprenticed for three
years, followed by one year as an assistant designer and another
ve years learning from an embroidery master.
“Embroidery requires great patience. It takes two months
to nish a piece, and it involves complex processes of design-
ing, the matching of colors, and the execution of millions of
stitches. An exquisite work may take more than half a year to
complete.”
SEE
“DETAILS”
PA G E 3
New US Secretary of State
JOHN KERRY,
urging American
citizens to support more spend-
ing for diplomacy
“Russia-China relations
have a huge impact on
world peace and devel-
opment.”
‘
‘
I gave my life
to embroidery
because I respect
my ancestors, the
tradition and the
history. It is in every
stitch of my work.”
REN BENRONG
HAN EMBROIDERY MASTER
Russian President
VLADIMIR
PUTIN,
calling the upcoming
visit of China’s top leader
Xi Jinping “a major event”
“Buy a shotgun.”
US Vice-President
JOE BIDEN,
telling Americans worried about
home defense that they don’t
need an assault riﬂ e to repel
intruders
In this issue
DIGEST............................................2
PEOPLE..............................................4
EXPAT..............................................5
IMAGE...............................................6
SPORTS..........................................7-8
LIFE / THE NEW YORK TIMES........9-12
FOOD...............................................14
KALEIDOSCOPE..............................15
TRAVEL.............................................16
Contacts
News:
(86-10) 6491-8366
Subscription:
(86) 400-699-0203
Advertisement:
(86-10) 6491-8631
E-mail:
editor@chinadaily.com.cn
i
Phone app:
chinadaily.com.cn/iphone
A member of
the Asia News
Network
© 2013 China Daily All Rights
Reserved Vol. S4 — No.
130
ݓଽ๤၂щݼ
:CN11-0091
ݓ࠽ѓሙщݼ
:ISSN0253-9543
Ⴏؿսݼ
:1-3
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Ren Benrong works on embroidery designs in his studio. One of his works, Yellow Crane Tower, or Huanghelou (above)
features a historic landmark in his hometown of Wuhan.
2
sunday
digest
CHINA DAILY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2013
Abe courts Obama support
around china
BEIJING
CPC Central Committee to meet
e Second Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing from Feb
26 to 28, according to a decision by members of the Politi-
cal Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Saturday.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Commit-
tee, presided over the meeting. Restructuring of the State
Council and e orts to achieve simpler and decentralized
administration were discussed. Also on the agenda: the list
of candidates for the country’s next administration, which
will be recommended to the upcoming “two sessions” meet-
ings in March.
China deploys uranium centrifuge
China’s largest atomic-energy developer on Friday
announced the successful installation of a domestically
produced uranium enrichment centrifuge for industrial
use. e centrifuge was built in a uranium-enrichment
plant in Northwest China’s city of Lanzhou, according to
the China National Nuclear Corporation. Uranium centri-
fuges are necessary to obtain concentrated U-235, which is
used as fuel for nuclear power plants. e installation of the
centrifuge marks a strategic accomplishment in terms of
safeguarding the sustainable development of China’s nuclear
power industry, the statement said.
Liquor giants ﬁ ned for price ﬁ xing
China’s top two liquor makers, Kweichew Moutai and
Wu liangye, were ned a total of 449 million yuan ($71.41
million) for price xing, according to local price regulators.
e Guizhou-based Moutai and Sichuan-based Wuliangye
were ordered to pay 247 million and 202 million yuan in
nes, respectively — the harshest nes since the implemen-
tation of China’s anti-monopoly laws in 2008. e punish-
ment added to the plight of the two liquor giants, as a recent
government frugality campaign is expected to have a sizable
impact on sales of their products, which mainly target high-
end consumers. e penalties follow similar nes levied on
Samsung, LG and four Taiwan-based LED makers in Janu-
ary.
353 held for online train-ticket scalping
Police have arrested 353 suspected ticket scalpers during
an ongoing crackdown on the illegal use of China’s online
train-ticket booking system. e suspects were found to
have used unauthorized web browser plug-ins that allowed
them to book excessive amounts of tickets and resell them
for pro t, according to a Friday statement from the railway
police headquarters. Police said they have cracked 1,155
related cases and con scated over 80,000 tickets and ID
cards so far.
ZHEJIANG
Fire kills 8 in East China city
A re that broke out on early Saturday morning in Wenling
city, Zhejiang province, has killed eight people, including
two children. Five of the six adults who died were migrant
workers from outside the province. Fire o cials said the
blaze burned across an area of 129 square meters in three
residential houses in Zeguo township. e re was even-
tually contained at 4 am. Fire ghters rescued 17 people,
including one with severe injuries. e cause of the re is
not yet known.
TAIWAN
Former leader sentenced to 20 years
Former leader of Taiwan Chen Shui-bian on Friday was
sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison for a list of crimes
he committed. Taiwan’s High Court on ursday also
announced a combined 20-year sentence for Chen’s wife,
Wu Shu-chen. In addition to the jail term, the court ned
Chen 250 million New Taiwan dollars ($8.4 million) and
Wu $NT200 million. e couple had been convicted of
embezzlement, bribery and money-laundering in relation
to mergers and acquisitions for some nancial institutions.
Chen has been held in custody since November 2008. Wu
has not been imprisoned due to her poor health.
NEWS WATCH
Milk powder limits to start on March 1
New measures to restrict the amount of milk powder a trav-
eler can take out of Hong Kong will take e ect next month,
the health minister of the SAR says. Beginning March 1,
people leaving Hong Kong will be limited to two cans, or
1.8 kg, of infant formula, Food and Health Bureau Secretary
Ko Wing-man said on Friday, a er the amendment to the
import and export law was gazetted. Under the new law,
travelers with the milk powder must be at least 16 years old
and must not have le the city in the previous 24 hours.
O enders face up to two years in prison and a ne of up to
HK$500,000 ($64,467).
By CHEN WEIHUA
in Washington
and
ZHANG YUNBI
in Beijing
Washington was cautious
in its responses at a US-Japan
summit as leaders discussed
China-related issues, includ-
ing the Diaoyu Islands dispute,
during Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe’s meeting with US
President Barack Obama.
Abe landed in Washington
on ursday and met Obama
and other officials on Friday,
seeking a clear statement of
support from US leaders in the
territorial dispute in the East
China Sea.
While meeting the press
after discussing a range of
security issues with Abe in the
Oval Office on Friday morn-
ing, Obama did not even men-
tion China or the tension over
the disputed islands. Instead, he
only expressed the importance
of a US-Japanese alliance.
“Japan is one of our closest
allies and the US-Japan alliance
is the central foundation for our
regional security and for much
what we do in the Asia-Paci c
region,” Obama said.
A er Abe, the h Japanese
prime minister in o ce since
Obama became president in
2009, answered the question
from a Japanese reporter about
the islands, Obama declined
to elaborate on the issue but
signaled an end to the press
brie ng.
Zhou Yongsheng, a professor
of Japanese studies at China
Foreign Affairs University in
Beijing, said Abe “has not har-
vested” what he had wanted
from the meeting.
“Washington is still in a
holding pattern and sitting
tight in this regard, and its call
for Tokyo to calmly respond to
the islands situation has shown
its desire not to further escalate
the feud,” Zhou said.
The joint statement by the
US and Japan, released by
the White House, only men-
tioned the issue of Japan’s par-
ticipation in the Trans-Paci c
Partnership, a free-trade pact
JEWEL SAMAD / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
US President Barack Obama (right) converses with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after their formal meeting on security
and economic issues at the White House on Friday.
Tokyo would like to join.
Japan’s Kyodo News Agen-
cy, describing the gist of the
Obama-Abe talks, said only
that Abe and Obama agreed to
“seek peace, stability in the East
China Sea”.
e US-Japan summit came
a day after China expressed
strong dissatisfaction over Abe’s
remarks on China, made in an
interview with the Washington
Post before he embarked on the
US trip. Japanese o cials said
later that the Post story, in which
Abe was quoted as saying that
the Chinese Communist Party
had a “deeply ingrained” need
to spar with Japan and other
Asian neighbors over territory,
was “misleading” and misun-
derstood.
Tao Wenzhao, a senior expert
on US studies at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences,
said Tokyo is now apparently
seeking more support from
Washington in regard to the
Diaoyu Islands dispute as the
stando with Beijing lingers.
However, “the US has shown
a self-contradictory stance on
the dispute,” Tao said. Wash-
ington has said it does not take
a position on the dispute while
also saying the islands fall with-
in the scope of a 1960 US-Japan
mutual security treaty, he noted.
e Obama administration
has been careful over official
statements after the Chinese
government protested a state-
ment last month by then-Sec-
retary of State Hillary Clinton
when she expressed opposi-
tion to “any unilateral actions
that would seek to undermine
Japanese administration” over
the islands.
Jonathan Pollack, a senior
fellow and director of the John
L. ornton China Center at
Brookings Institution, said he
does not think that Obama
wants to do anything to aggra-
vate the situation.
“He (Obama) understands
what he said will be followed
very closely not just by China,
but by others as well,” said Pol-
lack.
“He wants to reaffirm his
interest to see tension reduced,
nd a way the two sides can deal
with each other face-to-face in a
realistic way. I don’t think he is
trying to intervene in this. e
last thing the US wants or needs
is a new confrontation or con-
ict there,” he said.
Abe said he told Obama that
Tokyo would handle the islands
issue “in a calm manner”.
While giving a speech “Japan
Is Back” at the Center for Stra-
tegic and International Stud-
ies Friday a ernoon, Abe said:
“No nation should make any
miscalculation about rmness
of our resolve. No one should
ever doubt the robustness of the
Japan-US alliance.”
However, Abe added that he
has absolutely no intention to
deepen the dispute.
While their talks focused
on security and the alliance,
Obama and Abe also discussed
economic and trade issues,
including the potential for Japan
to join the Trans-Paci c Part-
nership, a free-trade agreement
that does not include China and
India.
Japan’s intention to join TPP
has been strongly opposed by
its politically powerful farmers,
especially rice producers, who
believe removing tariffs will
destroy their industry.
Meanwhile, many US man-
ufacturers, such as the auto
industry, continue to push for
Japan to open its market further
and refrain from weakening the
yen, an important element of
the so-called “Abenomics”, a set
of economic policies put for-
ward by Abe.
Relations between the US
and Japan were strained under
the previous Japanese Demo-
cratic Party government amid a
row over the relocation of a US
military base at Okinawa.
Abe initially requested a visit
to the United States in January,
but was rejected by the White
House, citing Obama’s busy
agenda with the inauguration
and the State of the Union
address. The trip was later
scheduled for February.
Contact the writers at
chenweihua@chinadailyusa.
com and zhangyunbi
@chinadaily.com.cn.
world briefs
IRAQ
Provincial governor
escapes blast
e governor of Iraq’s eastern
province of Diyala on Saturday
escaped unharmed a suicide
car bomb attack on his house,
which killed a guard and
wounded seven people, pro-
vincial police said.
VATICAN CITY
Church blasts
media for ‘gossip’
e Vatican on Saturday con-
demned Italian media reports
of intrigue, corruption and
blackmail among senior prel-
ates, saying these could be a
form of pressure to sway vot-
ing in next month’s conclave
to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s
successor. A Vatican spokes-
man dismissed as “gossip,
disinformation and sometimes
calumny” the reports, which
are linked to an investigation of
leaked papal documents.
TURKMENISTAN
Leader eager to
plant 3 million trees
President Gurbanguly Berdy-
mukhamedov of Turkmeni-
stan announced on Saturday a
new campaign to plant 3 mil-
lion tree saplings this year with
the aim of transforming the
desert Central Asian nation.
FRANCE
Drug contaminant
found in horsemeat
Several horse carcasses con-
taining the drug Phenylbu-
tazone have probably ended
up in the human food chain,
France’s agriculture ministry
said on Saturday. Phenylbuta-
zone is an anti-in ammatory
treatment for horses. A minis-
try o cial said that there was
only a “minor” health risk.
NEWS WATCH
Envoy says Iran
meets obligations
Iran said on Saturday it will
not go beyond its obligations
nor accept anything outside its
rights under the non-prolifer-
ation treaty, ahead of talks this
week with major powers over
its disputed nuclear drive. “Iran
has ful lled its NPT obliga-
tions as an active and commit-
ted member,” said Iran’s top
nuclear negotiator.
AHMAD SIDIQUE / XINHUA
PAKISTAN
Police say at least 19 dead in crash
Pakistani o cials say a bus carrying a wedding party has
veered o a narrow road and plunged into a canal in the
country’s northwest, killing at least 19, including nine women
and ve children. Police said on Saturday that at least 45 peo-
ple were on board and many were still missing a er Friday’s
accident near Peshawar. e victims were relatives of the
bride, killed when the bus ran o a road slippery with rain.
XINHUA — CHINA DAILY
XINHUA — REUTERS — AFP
SUN - MON
FEB 24-25
weather
Ulaanbaatar
CHINA
CHINA
C
Cloudy
D
Drizzle
Du
Dust
F
Fog
O
Overcast
R
Rain
Sh
Shower
S
Sunny
Sn
Snow
St
Urumqi
- 5 /-19
- 5 /-16
Beijing
9 /- 2
O
3 /- 3
R/Sn
Shanghai
12 / 5
C
12 / 8
C
Changchun - 7 /-19
S
- 7 /-18
S
Shenyang
1 /-14
S
- 2 /-12
S
2 /- 9
- 1 /-10
Changsha
17 / 7
S
19 / 11
C
Shenzhen
22 / 14
C
23 / 15
O
Pyongyang
Chongqing
17 / 7
O
18 / 10
C
Shijiazhuang 10 / 0
C
7 / 0
O
Beijing
Dalian
4 /- 3
S
0 /- 3
S
Suzhou
13 / 4
C
13 / 6
O
9 /- 2
3 /- 3
Seoul
Xining
Fuzhou
15 / 10
O
17 / 11
O
Taipei
20 / 16
D
22 / 18 D
TRAVELER’S FORECAST
0 /- 3
3 /- 3
SUNDAY
MONDAY
To k y o
Guangzhou 22 / 11
C
24 / 16 C
Taiyuan
11 /- 6
C
9 /- 3
O
LOW/HIGH TEMPERATURES, IN DEGREES CELSIUS,
AND EXPECTED CONDITIONS
Guilin
18 / 7
C
22 / 11
C
Tianjin
9 /- 2
C
4 /- 3
O
8 / 0
9 / 0
Storm
Lhasa
Kathmandu
17 / 7
18 / 8
Shanghai
Guiyang
11 / 5
O
13 / 7
C
Urumqi
2 /- 9
Sn
- 1 /-10
Sn
T
Thunderstorms
New
Delhi
Chengdu
Haikou
21 / 19
C
23 / 20 C
Wuhan
16 / 2
C
16 / 4
C
12 / 5
12 / 8
ASIA-PACIFIC-MIDDLE EAST
AMERICAS
Hangzhou
14 / 5
C
15 / 6
C
Xiamen
19 / 12
C
21 / 14
C
Thimphu
24 / 13
23 / 12
Abu Dhabi
29 / 13 S
30 / 15 S
BuenosAires
28 / 17
O
25 / 18 R
Guangzhou
Harbin
-11 /-23
S
-10 /-23 S
Xi’an
15 / 3
C
16 / 4
C
20 / 16
22 / 18
Taipei
Bangkok
31 / 23 D
30 / 23 O
Chicago
- 2 /- 4
Sn
0 /- 7
S
22 / 11
24 / 16
Hefei
15 / 4
S
17 / 5
C
Xining
12 /- 7
S
15 /- 7
S
Colombo
32 / 22 C
30 / 22 O
Caracas
29 / 24 D
28 / 24 D
Hohhot
4 /- 9
S
5 /- 8
S
Yantai
6 /- 1
C
5 / 0
C
36 / 24
38 / 22
Dubai
30 / 17 S
29 / 17 S
Houston
18 / 7
S
20 / 6 O
Hong
Kong
25 / 15
25 / 17
Hongkong
25 / 15
C
25 / 17
C
Yinchuan
11 /- 4
C
13 /- 2
C
Yangon
Hanoi
Hanoi
22 / 16 S
21 / 18 O
Las Vegas
14 / 5
S
8 / 4
S
Jinan
11 / 1
S
12 / 3
C
Zhengzhou
13 / 3
C
13 / 3
C
Islamabad
17 / 6
S
19 / 9
C
Los Angeles
16 / 7
S
16 / 7
S
Kunming
22 / 8
O
22 / 8
C
Zhuhai
23 / 14
C
23 / 16 C
Jakarta
32 / 25 D
32 / 26 D
Mexico City
26 / 10 S
24 / 9
S
31 / 23
30 / 23
Macao
Lanzhou
13 /- 1
S
16 / 0
S
Manila
New York
6 /- 3
D
5 / 3
D
Karachi
30 / 19 S
29 / 15 S
Bangkok
Vientiane
Lhasa
13 /- 3
C
11 /- 3
C
Kuala Lumpur 30 / 24 D
28 / 25 D
Ottawa
- 1 /-10
Sn
0 /- 4
Sn
Lijiang
18 / 2
S
18 / 4
S
32 / 23
32 / 24
32 / 24
32 / 24
EUROPE
Rio De Janeiro 25 / 23 D
28 / 23 D
25 / 18
27 / 19
Manila
32 / 24 C
32 / 24 C
Macao
25 / 15
C
25 / 17
O
Athens
18 / 10
S
18 / 13 D
Mumbai
32 / 18 C
31 / 17
O
San Francisco 12 / 9
S
11 / 5
S
Nanchang
15 / 8
S
16 / 10
C
Bandar Seri
Begawan
Sao Paulo
22 / 19 D
25 / 18 C
Berlin
2 /- 4
D
2 / 0
D
New Delhi
24 / 13
D
23 / 12 D
Nanjing
15 / 4
S
15 / 6
O
30 / 24
28 / 25
Brussels
0 /- 5
R/Sn
1 /- 1
R/Sn
Pyongyang
3 /- 8
S
1 /- 9
O
Vancouver
6 / 2
D
4 / 1
D
Nanning
19 / 14
C
20 / 16 C
Washington
10 /- 2
O
7 / 3
S
Kuala Lumpur
Geneva
- 2 /- 6
Sn
- 2 /- 4 Sn
Riyadh
29 / 14 S
27 / 15 S
Qingdao
7 / 2
S
6 / 3
C
Istanbul
11 / 8
D
15 / 8 O
Seoul
0 /- 3
S
3 /- 3
O
Sanya
28 / 22
C
29 / 22 C
29 / 24
29 / 24
AFRICA
London
3 / 0
C
3 / 0
D
Singapore
29 / 24 C
29 / 24 C
Singapore
Cairo
21 / 14 S
24 / 12 S
Madrid
4 / 0
S
5 /- 3 O
Sydney
23 / 21
D
27 / 21 O
CapeTown
27 / 18 S
28 / 17 S
Moscow
- 3 /-11
O
- 2 /-13 S
Teheran
8 / 2
D
13 / 3
D
32 / 25
32 / 26
Johannesburg 24 / 10 C
25 / 10 S
Paris
0 /- 4
R/Sn
2 /- 2 D
Tokyo
8 / 0
S
9 / 0
S
Jakarta
Lagos
33 / 26 S
32 / 26 D
Rome
13 / 9
D
9 / 7
D
Wellington
19 / 14
S
19 / 13 S
Nairobi
30 / 13 S
30 / 12 O
Vienna
- 4 /- 8
Sn
- 4 /- 7 Sn
Yangon
36 / 24 S
38 / 22 O
sunday
special
3
CHINA DAILY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2013
TAPESTRIES OF HISTORY
Details:
Persistence
and hard
work pays
o at last
T
he art of embroidery was an im-
portant part of a woman’s educa-
tion in China, at least until a few
generations ago. Embroidered
items also had a crucial role in
rites and rituals, with carefully
designed patterns that indicated rank and impor-
tance in the imperial courts, and di ering degrees
of respect for deities in religious ceremonies. In the
courts, the embroidered panel in front of an o cial’s
robe would immediately identify his rank. Elabo-
rate altar cloths in shrines and temples were a re-
ection of the congregation’s devotion, and wealth.
A daughter would be trained to sew, and embroider,
as soon as she was old enough to hold a needle. Her
embroidery would start with handkerchiefs, towels
and pillowcases and expand to sheets, tablecloths,
underwear and outer jackets that would slowly ac-
cumulate into an impressive dowry. Embroidery
was also appreciated as an art, and various regions
in China soon developed their unique styles, o en
as far back as earliest dynasties. Apart from Han
embroidery, there were four other major styles from
Suzhou, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hunan.
FROM PAGE 1
For years, Ren worked 18
hours a day to perfect his cra ,
hands and ears o en frozen in
the harsh winter. In 1957, he
le Hankou for Beijing to study
at the new Central Academy of
Cra Art.
In his two years in Beijing,
Ren soaked up knowledge of
traditional Chinese folk cus-
toms and deepened his under-
standing of culture theories. He
also did research on imperial
costumes in the Forbidden City.
When he returned to Wuhan,
he started work with a company
that produced theatrical cos-
tumes and one of the works he
helped produce
i
eight embroi-
dery pieces of
places of interests
in Hubei
i
were
selected for display at the Great
Hall of the People in Beijing.
But in the 10-year chaos of
the “cultural revolution”, his
company closed down, and Ren
became a boiler worker, shovel-
ing coals into furnaces.
Even then, Ren did not give
up his art and secretly kept
in practice under the cover
of night. He also took a risk
and went back home, raking
through the pile of the ashes
left by the Red Guards and
salvaging what he could of the
destroyed embroidery.
When that dark era finally
ended, Ren returned to work
at another theatrical costumes
company, and slowly realized
that there might still be a bright
future ahead for Han embroi-
dery.
He kept this vision even a er
he retired in 1990, and started
his quest across Hubei, collect-
ing more than 2,000 samples of
Han embroidery, some of which
were faded fragments.
Ren then invested his life sav-
ings to buy the silks and threads
from Suzhou, Jiangsu province
and started restoring the most
traditional skills of Han embroi-
dery. His works are now collect-
ed at the Wuhan Museum and
are o en given as cultural gi s
from the State to distinguished
foreign visitors.
In 2008, Han embroidery was
listed as a National Intangible
Cultural Heritage of China and
Ren was acknowledged as a liv-
ing inheritor of the traditional
art. In August last year, with
the full support from the local
government, Ren was allocated
a large rent-free studio to con-
tinue his work.
Ren hopes to establish a Han
embroidery museum, and pub-
lish a book that summarizes the
skills and knowledge so more
people will understand the
ancient art.
“I gave my life to embroidery
because I respect my ancestors,
the tradition and the history, it
is in every stitch of my work,” he
says. But there is one thing that
places him apart from past mas-
ters. Ren has decided to pass on
his skills to his daughters and
granddaughters.
Contact the writer at
wangru@chinadaily.com.cn.
Inside
See more,
page 15
produced by Suzhou and its
neighboring cities of Wuxi and
Nantong, although embroi-
dery produced in Suzhou still
commands a higher price
because of its perceived better
value.
Yue embroidery
(Yuexiu)
Among all the embroidery
styles of China, the Guang-
dong style (Yue is the short
term for Guangdong) may not
be the best, but it is certainly
the most special.
It originated from the Li, an
ethnic group that lives in the
area, and the needlework is
traditionally done by men.
Apart from its use of
silk and floss, Guangdong
embroidery is also known
for its creative use of special
materials such as peacock
feathers and horsehair.
The earliest records of
Guangdong embroidery can
be traced back to the Tang
Dynasty (AD 618-907) and
it certainly flourished in the
Ming Dynasty.
The largest piece of old
Guangdong embroidery
found by far is from the Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911), which
measured 4.2 meters long and
2.8 meters wide.
Compared to Suzhou-style
embroidery which was heavily
in uenced by literati’s love of
shanshui
, or the paintings of
mountains and rivers, Guang-
dong embroidery is more on
the people’s hope for pros-
perity and peace, hence the
popularity of emblems such as
the dragon and phoenix, bats,
peaches and other auspicious
symbols. In the same vein, the
colors are brighter and the pal-
ette more varied.
It is said that this style was
one of the rst to travel over-
By HAN BINGBIN
hanbingbin@chinadaily.com.cn
Su embroidery
(Suxiu)
Known as the home of
China’s silk culture, Suzhou
has always had a signi cantly
developed silkworm farming
culture thanks to its fertile
land and mild climate — both
forming a conducive environ-
ment for the growth of its own
embroidered arts.
The earliest piece of Su
embroidery was unearthed
under the Ruiguang (Blessed
Light) and Huqiu (Tiger Hill)
towers built during the North-
ern Song Dynasty (AD 960-
1127).
Historical records had it that
Su embroidery was already
widely applied on clothes dur-
ing the Spring and Autumn
Period (770-476 BC). By the
Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-
1644), raising silkworms and
doing embroidery were com-
mon among “almost every
country household”.
Suzhou-style embroidery
was also helped by the city’s
famous literati of the time,
especially the Wu School of
Painting, which offered pat-
tern makers an inexhaustible
source of inspiration.
Because of the cultured
in uences, Su embroidery has
a refinement that is seldom
found in embroidered works
elsewhere.
Su embroidery enjoyed its
heyday as the imperial courts
showed continuous partiality
toward its vivid style, particu-
larly its depth and Su embroi-
dery appeared on everyday
items such as bedcovers, sachet,
and bags for the scholar’s fans.
At the present, the defini-
tion of Su embroidery has
expanded to include works
Su embroidery
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Xiang embroidery
Yue embroidery
Shu embroidery
poet Yang Xiong became the
rst to sing praises of Sichuan
embroidery (Shu is the short
term for Sichuan).
By the Jin Dynasty (AD 265-
420), local chronicles showed
that embroidery was already
considered a “treasure of Sich-
uan”.
Just like in Suzhou, amiable
natural conditions were the
major reason for Sichuan’s
booming silkworm breeding
industry.
With huge productions of
silk and satin, Chengdu, the
capital and one of the most
prosperous cities in ancient
China, was the starting point
of the Southern Silk Road.
The Shu Kingdom traded
its embroidery for warhors-
es, and by the Tang Dynasty,
Sichuan embroidery and its
workers were the major targets
of plundering when enemies
invaded.
In 1903, the Qing Dynasty
government established a
bureau for the promotion of
handwork in Chengdu, with
the embroidery o ce as a key
component. e bureau hired
masters to design patterns and
did considerable research on
embroidering skills.
By the 1970s, the country-
side of west Sichuan had as
many as 5,000 embroiderers
and these grassroots cra smen
produced bed linen and table-
cloths, and also embroidered
parlor screens for export.
Like Guangdong, Sichuan
embroidery was also once
known for its male needle
workers, although women
have largely taken over and
now few men are in the trade.
Xiang embroidery
(Xiangxiu)
Xiang embroidery is a
general reference to works
originating from Hunan and
neighboring Hubei province
(Xiang is the short term for
Hunan).
Old samplers unearthed
from Changsha’s Chu King-
dom tomb showed that Xiang
embroidery was already well
developed as early as the
Spring and Autumn Period.
Some 40 embroidery pieces
found in 1972 at Changsha’s
Mawangdui, a Western Han
Dynasty tomb, are further
proof that the skills of Xiang
embroidery pieces were at a
peak during that period.
It’s said that Xiang embroi-
dery had its humble origins in
the money purses and tobacco
pouches made by the country-
side women.
Later, local artists became
involved in the design of the
patterns and introduced ele-
ments of Chinese painting into
the embroidery, making Xiang
embroidery what it is today.
By the end of the Ming
Dynasty, professional embroi-
dery workshops were already
common in the city of Chang-
sha.
It is said that Su embroidery
is famous for its cats while
Xiang embroidery is noted for
its tigers.
At the end of the Qing
Dynasty, the vivid styles of
Xiang embroidery actually
outshone the more delicate
Su-style. Today, though, it has
a relatively low market share,
although it is striving to redis-
cover its past glory.
seas, when in 1514, during the
Ming Dynasty, Portuguese
merchants brought back some
pieces as a tribute to their king.
Since then, Guangdong
embroidery slowly accumu-
lated an unexpected fan base
overseas, mostly from the
European courts, which began
collecting the pieces.
During the Qing Dynasty,
some British businessmen
brought their clothes to
Guangdong and had them
embroidered, starting a trend
in which local embroider-
ers started to incorporate
Western-style designs into
their pattern books. Exports
boomed.
By the time of the Qing
emperors Yongzheng and
Qianlong from the mid-17th
century to the late 18th century,
there were workshops catering
speci cally to the export mar-
kets of Europe and the Middle
East.
Shu embroidery
(Shuxiu)
As early as the Western Han
Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), the
Her mighty needle sets her apart, with style
works are Han embroidery.
Yang was born into a rich
family and her grandmother
was a skilled embroiderer
who taught Yang how to sew
when she was a child. She
studied law and had excellent
prospects with a law firm,
but Yang le because she was
looking for something else
— a peace she found in her
embroidery.
She went to Suzhou where
she studied from masters of
Su embroidery for a year.
In 2001, she set up her own
embroidery studio.
One of her works, depicting
a gathering of all the ethnic
groups in China, took her
a year to finish. Someone
offered to buy it for 1 mil-
lion yuan ($160,000), but she
declined.
“In olden times, most wom-
en in Hubei could embroi-
der, but now few of the local
young can use the needle, let
alone do Han embroidery,”
she says.
“It is hard to attract the
young people with old
themes. I want to revive the
old art and promote it to more
people,” says Yang, adding
that she has a lot of respect
for the old masters and still
has much to learn from them.
Yang’s studio is in Tanhua-
lin Historic Street, a popular
pedestrian mall in Wuhan lled
with cafes and shops that attract
the city’s young. Her apprentic-
es, all women, run three other
shops on the same street.
Contact the writer at
wangru@chinadaily.com.cn.
By WANG RU
Yang Xiaoting, 34, is recog-
nized as a rising star of Han
embroidery in Wuhan. With
many award-winning works
already in her repertoire,
the young woman is creat-
ing waves, and controversy,
unsettling traditional masters
such as Ren Benrong.
Hubei-born Yang has set
out to learn a wide range of
different embroidery skills
from all over China and she
is applying the fused knowl-
edge in her own works —
which ranges from samplers
of animals and owers, land-
scapes and folk art, to Da
Vinci’s famous
Mona Lisa
to
her own self-portrait.
She has broken all the
molds, but she insists her
Ren Benrong’s embroidered
portrait of Visvabhadra
Bodhisattva.
Yang Xiaoting is a young designer of Han embroidery.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
4
sunday
people
CHINA DAILY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2013
world
scene
Naked men turn out to see
... Naked Men
e exhibit in Vienna’s Leopold Muse-
um is entitled
Naked Men
, so a group of
nudists and naturalists took the curators
at their word and showed up to see it
on Monday in the bu . “It is good to be
free, I am seeing this exhibition for the
second time now and it is perfect to see
Naked Men
as a naked man,” said one
of the visitors who called himself Max
and who on his previous visit wore his
clothes.
Jazz legend Hancock
embraces Turkish legacy
Guo Pei has plans to introduce more ready-to-wear pieces including bridal outﬁ ts.
Pianist Herbie Hancock will celebrate the
special connection between Turkey and
jazz music forged decades ago when the
Turkish ambassador opened his residence
to white and black musicians at a time
when segregation held sway in the US
capital. Hancock, a UNESCO goodwill
ambassador, is organizing a gala concert
with jazz stars from around the world on
April 30 at the famed Hagia Irene in the
outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istan-
bul, which has been designated the host
city for the second annual UN-sanctioned
International Jazz Day.
Fake horse-racing blog dodges
Italy’s election polls blackout
Which horse are you backing in the Ital-
ian election? A blog appears to have found
a way around a publishing ban on polls
in the two weeks before this weekend’s
vote by writing up the results of pretend
“underground horse races”, which appear
to re ect each party’s standing. In line
with the last published o cial polls, the
winning horses of Tuesday’s “San Nicola
Racetrack” came from the “Bien Comun”
stables, a thinly disguised name for the
center-le “Italia Bene Comune” coalition.
e center-right slate of former Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi was shown
coming in just 3.5 “seconds” behind.
Bird invasion brings real-life
horror to American city
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
A-LIST AIMS
Fashion designer Guo Pei has made a name for herself among China’s
celebrity set, but is now looking for global success, she tells
Mark Graham
.
C
hina’s most amboyant designer, Guo Pei, whose outrageously extrava-
ed a two-man escort to bear the
weight, and two boys to help carry
the train. Other gowns included a
Japanese geisha-style creation with
embroidered dragons, a yellow fur
coat with matching gold boots that
appear to have been inspired by the
Apollo moon-landing missions and
sultry scarlet frocks that would not
look out of place in a Wild West
bordello.
Writer Godfrey Deeny of Fash-
ion Wire Daily saw Guo’s work for
the rst time at a show in Beijing,
and was amazed at the clothes —
and surprised by the tepid reac-
tion from the audience. “In Paris
or New York she would have got a
two-minute standing ovation,” he
wrote. “Everything about the show
was impressive, except maybe the
audience.
“ ere were hints of Galliano and
McQueen, but Guo Pei very much
does her own thing, from the tra-
ditional wooden heeled shoes that
morph into red carpet platforms to
the exquisitely- nished chinoiserie
beading and embroidering.
“Guo Pei can also cut a mean suit
— a series of midnight blue jackets
and boleros with sky blue embroi-
dery and extended chi on fringes
showed she is a great tailor.”
Contact the writer at
sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.
gant gowns are much sought a er by movie stars and socialites, aims to
make an international impact in the near future. Beijing-based Guo is
famous in her native country for producing her signature gowns, one-
o s that can cost up to $50,000 a pop. Among her clients have been
A-list stars such as Li Bingbing and Zhang Ziyi.
e sometimes-bizarre couture
confections of the design maestro
have even come to the attention of
razzle-dazzle-loving Lady Gaga,
who made inquiries about com-
missioning a Guo garment. A
collaboration is planned with Ital-
ian haute couture textile designer
Angelo Sesana to develop chinoi-
serie fabrics.
Fashion writers from overseas
have also been attering, prompt-
ing Guo to look outward. Recently,
she has been featured in the New
York Times magazine and on the
Fashion Wire Daily website.
“I hope people in Paris, New York
and London can appreciate and like
my work,” says Guo, 45. “In ve or
10 years, I think we will get more
international attention on Chinese
fashion.”
Guo has a style that is unmistak-
able. Inspirations for her creations
can come from disparate sourc-
es including bullfighting outfits,
imperial gowns and Hollywood
fantasy movies. e intricacy of the
embroidery and beading work on
each special order can require up
to a year of work.
“I like garments that are very
elegant and classic and have a lot
of detail,” she says. “I am like an
author with my clothes, I like to tell
a romantic story, a fairy tale. I get
my inspiration from many sources.
Watching the Tim Burton movie
about the bride who died, and
came back to life in the moonlight,
wearing a beautiful dress, was one
source. From movies like that you
can see the meaning of life and how
precious it is.
“On a visit to Paris, I saw Napo-
leon’s costumes in a museum and
that really gave me ideas also.”
Guo works from Rose Stu-
dio, located in an outer suburb of
Beijing. The nondescript exterior
gives no hint of the glamour that lies
within: e interior decor is wildly
elaborate, with chandeliers, mirrors,
animal-skin rugs and gold bird cag-
es, plus an ornamental iron staircase
that winds to the upper oor.
A staff of 150 work in the stu-
dio, with another 300 employed in
factories that make the garments;
the nished items sell for between
$3,000 to $50,000, depending on
the intricacy involved.
e designer, who is the mother
of two daughters, is not the out-
and-out extrovert her creations
might suggest. Dressed simply in
black, with no entourage, carrying
a phone that rings constantly, Guo
is warm, so ly spoken, bright-eyed
and thoughtful, carefully consid-
ering replies to questions rather
than trotting out well-rehearsed
answers.
She says: “I think there are two
sides to my personality. Inside,
when I am creating, it is very dra-
matic, but outside it is the opposite.
I am just the creator of the dream:
My personal style is very simple
because I have to work every day,
so it is more convenient to dress
simply.
“For me, it is the technical side
of design that I nd interesting. For
Guo says she is like an author
telling fairy tales with clothes.
inspiration I like to go to museums
all over the world. I like all design-
ers, they all have their strengths
and personal styles — Yves Saint
Laurent was an in uence, and John
Galliano at Dior.
Currently, almost all the items
Guo makes are at the couture end
of the fashion spectrum, but she has
plans to introduce more ready-to-
wear pieces including bridal out ts.
The fancy togs Guo currently
makes are certainly not items that
could be worn to the o ce. For one
collection, she ew in septuagenar-
ian model Carmen Dell’ Orefice
from New York to model a jeweled
gown that was so heavy it need-
Millions of birds have descended on a
small Kentucky city this winter, fouling the
landscape, scaring pets and raising the risk
for disease in a real-life version of Alfred
Hitchcock’s horror lm e Birds. e
blackbirds and European starlings blacken
the sky of Hopkinsville before roosting at
dusk, turn the landscape white with bird
poop, and the disease they carry can kill a
dog and sicken humans.
Jenni Rivera memoir due
out in July in two languages
Some nal words from the late Mexican-
American singer and TV star Jenni Rivera
will be out this summer. Atria Books
announced on Monday it is publishing a
memoir by the multimillion-selling artist,
who died in a plane crash in December
at age 43.
Unbreakable
will come out
simultaneously in Spanish and English.
It has been authorized by Rivera’s family.
Atria says the book will reveal the “heart
and soul” of Rivera, a mother of ve and
grandmother of two known for her frank
talk about her life. Rivera was born in Los
Angeles and launched her career by selling
cassette tapes at ea markets. She went on
to sell more than 15 million copies of her
12 major-label albums.
Belgian boar hunters come
up short in mass cull e ort
E orts to cull a sprawling population of
wild boar in Belgium’s northern forests
met with limited results this week a er a
party of 200 hunters managed to kill only
one animal. e hunt was organized last
week by local wildlife o cials in a north-
ern forest near the town of Postel, where
several road accidents have been linked to
wild boar.
Bringing US-style classes home to China
Summer School, which opened
on the campus of Shanghai’s East
China Normal University in 2010.
ey created a structure that was
considered unique three years ago
but has been copied widely since.
“We wanted to o er a summer
of American-style classes taught
by American professors for Ameri-
can university credits. First- and
second-year Chinese students can
come home for a summer break
without interrupting their studies,”
he says. He knew that would appeal
to parents, too.
ECNU in Shanghai liked the
idea, he says, but they’d never done
anything like that before. Schools
o cials told him to try to recruit
students and teachers and “we’ll see”.
Liu hoped to get about 60 stu-
dents that rst year, and signed up
240. Through his US contacts he
also recruited 13 teachers — three
from his own university, Wabash
— and the company was off and
running.
Liu finished his own degree in
Indiana last year, and today presides
over more than 50 employees who
organize summer-school programs
at six universities around China.
The Chinese schools provide
annual big game vs DePaul, when
the two rivals vie for the Monon
Bell trophy.
More than 3,000 students have
passed through the program, and
SIE will o er classes in Vietnam for
the rst time this year as well as the
six Chinese campuses. Renren, the
social network known as the Face-
book of China, is a major investor.
“It’s exciting to be making US
universities rethink study abroad,”
he says, adding that he hopes SIE
will eventually o er a four-year pro-
gram though at least one univer-
sity. “It will be a Chinese diploma,
American style.”
While Liu can spit out facts and
gures in a manner that’s all busi-
ness, he doesn’t mind acknowledg-
ing that his own university days
included fun as well as study.
“I had many friends — it was an
all-male college so sometimes it was
like a big fraternity,” he says.
So was the beer better in the US?
He laughs out loud, shaking his
head no. “It’s much better here,”
he says, but concedes the circum-
stances were di erent in the small
Midwestern town.
“In college,” he says, “we pretty
much drank beer from Wal-Mart.”
By MIKE PETERS
michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn
An old saying goes, “Idle hands
are the devil’s tools.” But sometimes,
good things can come from bore-
dom.
Today, 25-year-old Hao Liu sits in
a gleaming new CEO’s o ce in Bei-
jing’s Sanlitun Soho area because he
couldn’t nd something to do with
his summer break while studying
abroad in the US.
“It was the end of my rst year at
Wabash College in Indiana,” he says,
“and I was looking for a program
over there where I could earn credits
during the three months’ break.” He
didn’t nd a US university program
that t his needs, but he found some
accredited, American-style courses
in Hong Kong and Singapore.
And then he thought: But why
not in the Chinese mainland?
“Plus,” he says, “those programs
were limited, only for four weeks.”
So Liu, who was studying math
and philosophy in the US, seized the
opportunity to become an educa-
tion entrepreneur.
Liu and a friend who’d been at
Harvard Law School entered a part-
nership to create SIE International
RICKY WONG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Hao Liu’s idea has blossomed into a multicity operation with a sta of 52.
facilities, but SIE recruits teachers
and sets academic standards are
strict, thanks to a review board
entirely composed of American
teachers. ere is no institutional
pressure to in ate grades — teach-
ers work for SIE and not the host
universities.
“ e stigma of ‘no-fail’ would kill
us in the long-run,” says Liu, who
seems proud that 2 to 5 percent of
SIE’s enrollees actually fail.
“For students who have been
struggling to maintain their level
of academic performance in a new
environment,” says instructor Kes-
ho Scott, “being back in China re-
establishes their comfort zone but
still gives them US-standard classes.
“And for the professors? We get a
great opportunity to come to China
and work — without giving up our
‘regular job’ during the normal aca-
demic year.”
While SIE has a US director who
recruits from a base in Los Ange-
les, Liu makes about a half-dozen
trips to the US himself every year
to recruit teachers. One trip always
coincides with Wabash University’s
REUTERS
sunday
expat
5
CHINA DAILY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2013
TWO GUYS AND
TWO PIE HOLES
A pair of Australians
open up wide to
share some favorite
grub with Beijingers,
and Oz expat
Belle
Taylor
sits down for
a chat between bites.
DIPLOMATIC POUCH
|
MIKE PETERS
Houston consul
visits Carters’
home during
trip to Georgia
I
n Australia, every
major city, beachside
hamlet and coun-
try town will almost
certainly have three
things — a pub, a bak-
ery and a Chinese restaurant. You
would be hard pressed to nd an
Aussie who hadn’t enjoyed a plate
of
jiaozi
or a dim sum lunch, but
how many Chinese can say they
have eaten the great Australian
dish, the meat pie?
“You haven’t actually been to Australia
unless you had a pie there,” says Matthew
Wong, born and bred in Sydney and now
living in Beijing. “It’s completely symbolic
of what Australia is about.”
If you can’t make a trip down under,
never fear, Wong, along with business
partner and fellow ex-Sydney resident
Andrew Papas, are bringing some balance
to the Sino-Aussie culinary exchange and
are introducing China to the joys of a pie.
Their shop, Two Guys and a Pie, has
recently opened its doors in Beijing’s San-
litun, giving residents of the capital an
opportunity to get a taste of this simple
but hearty dish.
An Australian style pie is a pastry with
a savory lling, usually beef with gravy,
and often accompanied with tomato
sauce.
“A pie is just a very humble kind of
food,” Wong says. “You don’t need to make
it too fancy, it’s what Australia is all about.”
This simple approach is reflected in
their Beijing shop. It’s a tiny space, there
is only room for a couple of stools for
customers to eat at a counter, and a small
warmer for the pies and their close cous-
in — the sausage roll. e biggest extra
Wong and Papas provide is an enthusi-
astic Australian “g’day”.
“You are introducing Australian cul-
ture,” Wong says of the chatty atmosphere
in the shop. “You get a lot of people come
in and you get to tell them about Australia
and for a lot of people it is their rst time
The Chinese consul-general for Houston,
Xu
Erwen
, recently visited former US president
Jimmy
Carter
and his wife,
Rosalynn
, at Carter’s hometown
in Plains, Georgia. Xu thanked Carter for his invita-
tion and applauded his signi cant contributions to
the development of China-US relations. Carter estab-
lished diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic
of China 34 years ago, and the former president has
been to China many times since he le o ce.
• • •
Recently appointed
Italian Ambassador
Alberto Bradanini
led a
delegation of Italian o -
cials on a visit to the EU’s
SME Centre in Beijing
during a busy weeklong
tour just before the Spring
Festival holiday break.
Since 2010, the center
has provided hands-on
support for small and
medium enterprises from the EU, helping them to
bring products and services to the Chinese market.
• • •
eating a pie, so that feels good.”
Wong and Papas had both been living
and working in Beijing for a number of
years before the idea for Two Guys and a
Pie came about.
Wong came to Beijing in 2008 to work
in marketing at education exchange com-
pany IES Global, which is owned by his
mother. He continues to work with the
company while helping to run Two Guys
and a Pie. Papas initially came to China in
2001 to travel and learn Mandarin. He fell
in love with the country and wore a num-
ber of hats — from English teacher to tour
guide — before nding his true calling, he
says, as pie ambassador.
“We both came from Australia,” Wong
says, “and our love for the same football
team brought us together.”
e two friends would occasionally get
together, talk about their homeland, and
discuss the one thing they struggled to
nd in China — a good meat pie.
“One time I actually brought in a few
packets of Four’n Twenty,” Wong recalls,
referring to an Australian pie brand. “I
smuggled them onto the plane.”
They were experimenting with reci-
pes to sate their own hunger when they
noticed an online forum for expats had
a discussion running about the dearth of
pies in the Chinese capital.
“Andrew said, ‘Let’s just write a reply in
there and see what happens,” Wong says.
Before they knew it, they had half-
accidentally started a pie delivery busi-
ness, providing pies to foreigners craving
a taste of home.
Marking the 49th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic relations between France and China,
East China Normal University in Shanghai launched
a French edition of its website.
Founded in 1950, ECNU was the rst teaching uni-
versity of the People’s Republic of China and remains
a key national universities. “With a renowned French
department,” the French embassy in Beijing says on
its website, ECNU has established several ongoing
projects with institutions of higher learning in French,
including a training program for Shanghai master’s
and doctoral students’ in social sciences and humani-
ties. A total of 286 aspiring researchers were trained
and 96 doctoral students were able to continue their
studies in France.
PHOTOS BY FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY
Top: Matthew Wong (left) and Andrew Papas say the meat pie symbolizes what
Australia is about. Above: A sausage roll and a meat pie.
“Andrew likes taking risks while I am
a bit more conservative,” Wong recently
told Agenda magazine in Beijing, “which
makes us a good combination for doing
business together.”
It took about a year to open a shop front,
and it means they are now reaching a wid-
er customer base, with more Beijingers
dropping by to discover a taste of Australia,
and o en getting a bit of cultural exchange
in the mix.
“It’s still predominantly foreigners, 80
percent foreign, but we get a reasonable
number of Chinese and a lot of them do
come back, which is good.” Wong says.
And he believes China might just be
able to develop a taste for the humble pie.
“We were thinking we could do a few
shops across China, obviously that’s a
long way from happening but that’s a
nice dream to have and you’ve got to start
somewhere,” he says.
Who knows? With time, a pie shop
might just be a staple of every Chinese city
and country town.
e restaurant is located in the north
alley of 58 Gongti Beilu, Beijing.
Contact the writer at
sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.
• • •
e Royal Danish Consulate General in Guangzhou
is temporarily closed due to technical issues, the Dan-
ish embassy in Beijing announced. Visa applicants will
take longer to process since they will be forwarded
to Beijing. e embassy said processing time can be
reduced if applicants choose delivery by EMS (directly
from Beijing).
• • •
Harmonic convergence, with his lips
Two Chinese visitors to the Netherlands recently
told Dutch Ambassador to China
Aart Jacobi
that
they are “very impressed” with the atmosphere of
cooperation, e ciency and professionalism that they
experience during a visit to Dutch sports facilities
and teams.
Wa n g X i n l u o
is from the national coaching pro-
gram of the Chinese Football Association, and
Chen
Luyi
is on staff at the General Administration of
Sports. e Dutch Visitors Program was organized
for a fourth year and included guests from several
countries.
Wang and Chen visited the Royal Dutch Football
Association and several famous Dutch soccer clubs,
and they joined one of the December trip’s organizers
at home for a traditional Saint Nicholas celebration.
• • •
at makes playing Chinese music on the
harmonica even more pertinent, Power
says.
“It’s like bringing the harmonica back to
China, completing a circle,” he says.
Power has long been fascinated by Chi-
na. Drawn to Chinese Taoism, he wrote
a thesis on the ancient Chinese Taoist
philosopher Chuang Tzu when he was at
college many years ago.
He has released 15 solo CDs, in a wide
variety of musical genres such as jazz, pop
and blues. He is also an expert player of
Irish traditional music. In 1993 he won the
“All-Ireland Title”, and more recently the
Society for the Preservation and Advance-
ment of the Harmonica in the US named
him international player of 2011-12.
Power says his long fascination with
China has included its traditional music.
“I love it; it’s a passion for me. I mean
I just love hearing the expression; the
scales are o en very simple scales, but the
motion and expression of the Chinese tra-
ditional musicians gets out of the simple
scales. I think is amazing.”
He says his desire to play Chinese music
was inspired by a video of a well-known
erhu
player, Min Huifen, playing the piece
Moon Re ected on Er’quan Spring
on You-
Tube two years ago. “I was just blown away
by her expressiveness and her passion, and
I love the big bending notes, so I won-
dered if I could do it on the harmonica.
en I studied it and I changed the har-
monica to suit it.”
By CHEN YINGQUN
chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn
It is the kind of music you are likely to
hear as you watch the sheri ’s posse settle
in for the night, warmed by the glowing
embers of a camp re.
The harmonica is as much a part of
American Westerns as howling coy-
otes, cicadas and Colt 45 revolvers. But
the world-renowned harmonica player
Brendan Power is so versatile with the
instrument that he can transform it to
play music that would not be out of place
as the soundtrack to a costume drama set
in ancient China.
at is exactly what Power, 56, did in
Beijing recently when he gave an exquisite
rendering of
Jasmine
, a well-known Chi-
nese folk song, on his Western harmonica.
“ is is awesome,” said Xu Guangyu,
22, a harmonica lover who had traveled
from Henan province in Central China
to meet Power.
Power, whose music can be heard in
Hollywood movies such as 2008’s lm
Atonement
which won an Academy
Award for best soundtrack, toured China
and gave a lecture in a Beijing blues club
that was packed with fans who bom-
barded him with questions.
Jasmine
, whose rendition particularly
impressed the audiences that a ernoon, is
just one song on Power’s latest album,
New
Chinese Harmonica
. On it he plays nine
well-known Chinese folk songs that were
ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY
Brendan Power says a harmonica can be expressive in traditional Chinese music.
originally played on Chinese folk-music
instruments such as the
erhu
, a string
instrument, and the
hulusi
, a traditional
Chinese free-reed wind instrument.
“ is is my attempt to show Chinese
people that the harmonica can actually
be just as expressive for Chinese music as
traditional instruments,” he says.
Power, a New Zealander who has lived
in Britain for 20 years, says the harmonica
was invented in China about 2,000 years
ago and is the basis for the modern har-
monica that was developed by a German.
“The free reed that makes the sound
in harmonicas is thousands of years old,
rst documented in ancient Chinese lit-
erature,” he says.
However, the tremolo harmonica that
many Chinese people owned as children
is widely considered a toy and unsuitable
for public performances because of its
limited range. The modern harmonica
played in the West is usually chromatic or
diatonic, o ering a greater sound range.
The embassy of Indonesia was celebrating the
inclusion of one of the country’s traditional dance
troupes at the recent Lunar New Year celebration
at the National Center for the Performing Arts. e
Sanggar Indonesia troupe (pictured) performed a
dynamic Yapong dance for the 2013 Spring Festival,
mesmerizing an audience of about 500 with its cheer-
ful music and dance moves.
Send embassy news to michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

China Daily - Sunday, Tygodniki, prasa, magazyny

Odnośniki