Painting China’s Soul——the Flower of Winter

THE plum blossom, flower of the Prunus mume, is a prominenticon of traditional Chinese culture and one of the most loved subjects in Chinese     

Labor of Love Embracing the Volunteer Spirit in Education

FEELING her way carefully down the long, dark pathway of a bicycle shed in Shijingshan District’s Laoshan Community, 72-year-old Yu Shuhua reaches a small room It’s a chilly winter’s day in Beijing, and at 4 p.m. the afternoon light is dwindling. Luo Meiqi, the 12-year-old daughter of a migrant worker who runs the shed and also calls it home, is waiting inside. Yu, a retired college teacher-come-volunteer, tutors little Luo every day after school. "I first met Luo’s children on a summer day in 2008 when they were doing their homework in front of the shed.     

Custodian of Huizhou’s Lacquer Art Traditions

GAN Erke was born in 1955 in Huangshan, Anhui Province. Today, Gan has considerable expertise in painting, carpentry, carving, and traditional lacquer techniques. Over the last three decades he has been instrumental in revitalizing the Huizhou "pineapple lacquer" tradition. Gan has also played an important role in bringing a local strand of lacquer inkslab art back from the brink of extinction.     

On Target for Posterity Yang Fuxi Upholds China’s Bow and Arrow-making Legacy

THE bow and arrow craftsmanship of the Ju Yuan Hao workshop in Beijing was recognized as one of China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritages in 2006.It was among the first cultural traditions to be given the title.At the time,48-year-old Yang Fuxi was one of the few master craftsmen remaining adept at traditional Chinese bow and arrow construction.Yang’s workshop,called "Ju Yuan Hao" for generations,produces some of the more complex bow and arrow designs of ancient China.Creating them today still requires many hours of     

Steady Progress in RMB Internationalization

ON April 18,2012,HSBC Holdings PLC issued the first RMBdenominated bond in London. Marketed to investors in Britain and Continental Europe,the bond issuance is expected to eventually raise more than RMB 1 billion.     

Hebei:Launching Cultural Projects to Benefit the People

WITH the Bohai Sea to its east and the Taihang Mountains on its western borders, Hebei’s topography is that of China on a smaller scale. Here you can see farming, nomadic and marine cultures intertwined, all alongside modern industrial towns and cities. How to better benefit people with its diverse cultural resources is high on the agenda of the Hebei provincial government, said Wang Jingwu, deputy director of the Publicity Department of     

Muse,Music,Musings

EMBER Swift seems to be a walking collection of improbabilities and contradictions, which probably means she blends seamlessly into modern China. She is a white, foreign female singing original lyrics in both Chinese and English     

Accelerating the Pace of CPC Transformation——An Interview with Wang Changjiang,Director of the Party Building Teaching and Research Department,the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC

The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921 and came to power in 1949.It steered the country through a planned economy operating under trade blockades from 1949 to 1978,and ushered in a market economy under the reform and opening-up policy that took effect immediately afterwards.During this entire period,the CPC also transformed itself from a revolutionary party to a ruling party.Now civic awareness is growing among the Chinese people,and the market economy phase has nurtured an independent and autonomous spirit,which requires the Chinese leadership to promote political restructuring and the building of democratic institutions.     

Chinese Universities Embracing the World

TRAVELING to study in a foreign country was already popular as far back as ancient Greece.Globalization, and a consequently more integrated world,has intensified the internationalization of education.China is the world's biggest exporter of commodities,and runner up in     

Home of the Ancient Sage

The hinterland city of Qufu has made its name as a valued historical and cultural destination,not least for being the birthplace of Confucius.