China

Stone-Faced Buddha ~ Longmen Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes

Took a little trip to the Luòyáng , China this past weekend as part of a culture trip hosted by the University!

Pronounced something like “loi yahng,” this beautiful home to the National Peony Festival (I’ll add an update on the Peony Garden later) is one of the “cradles of Chinese Civiliazation” and one of the ancient capital cities of China (Henan has 2 of them! – Luoyang and Xinzheng). The city itself is amazingly clean and open, the streets are unlittered and it’s pretty modern.

The best part of my visit by far though was the Longmen Grottoes and the Peony Garden. This week was part of the 2 week festival they have each year for the Peony festival, so people were everywhere despite the rain.

The Longmen Grottoes themselves are absolutely mind-blowing ~ an amazing feat of human design and capability. To imagine that such intricate design, specific carvings, and gentle touch art were feasible so many centuries ago is one of those things that always stops me in my tracks. I know a lot of people aren’t as interested as I in history and stone statues (several of the teachers I was with were fairly denigrating about spending so much time in a “Stone Garden). But to me, standing on the same ground, touching the rocks they touched, seeing the art they created, glimpsing pieces of hearts long past. It’s simply miraculous.

The Grottoes are home to thousands and thousands of carvings on the stone faces of the mountain cliffs. Most are of Buddha or his followers, some are pagodas, buildings, and other designs. The varying stone colors used to frame and decorate the statues, each one different from the rest. Carved over a period of centuries (5th – 15th Century AD), each set was designed by a different artist, many from completely different times. You can trace the changes, both in religion and philosophy (skinny to fat Buddhas for example) and in art styles.

One of the other reasons the grottoes is so stunning is the River Yi (pron. ee) that runs alongside the valley in front of the rocks. The river is clean and beautiful, sweeping along a lovely walkway as antique-style dragon boats float up and down. Stone bridges line the view, criss-crossing over to the other side that offers views of antique buildings lining the mountain paths.

It’s just a beautiful way to spend a day

Kenyans learn Chinese culture at festival in capital

“Kenyans learn Chinese culture at festival in capital”

via “Xinhua News Agency“

Kenyans learn Chinese culture at festival in capital

NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) — Many Kenyans thronged a Chinese stand at the Third Nairobi Cultural Festival to learn more about the Chinese culture during the international event held Sunday.

China was represented at the festival held at the National Museum of Kenya by the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi during the event that attracted 15 countries and two international organizations.

Guo Hong from the Confucius Institute led the staff in displaying Chinese traditional clothes, food, calligraphy, games, and masks among other exhibits.

“This is the first time China is taking part in the event, and we are in Kenya to teach people Chinese language and culture and let people know one another,” Guo told Xinhua.

Peter Kimura, a visitor at the festival, said he came to the stand to learn more about the Asian nation’s culture after reading in books about the diversity of Chinese culture. “As China and Kenya forge closer international relationship, it is important to learn some aspects of the Chinese culture,” Kimura said.

The festival, conceived in 2013 by the Liaison Manager of Research Institute of Swahili Studies of Eastern Africa at the National Museums of Kenya, Munira Mohammed, in a bid to promote the Swahili culture at first and finally becomes an annual event.

“In 2013, we attracted nine countries, whereas in the second year 12 countries participated and come next year we anticipate the figure to soar,” Mohammed told Xinhua.

Mohammed said the aim of this year’s event is to unite the world through heritage and diversity of cultures.

Other countries that participated at the event included the United States, Switzerland, Somalia, Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain and Indonesia.

Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Sports Culture and Arts, Hassan Wario, was welcomed at the Chinese stand by the choir from Confucius Institute that received him with a Chinese rendition of “Karibu Kenya” (Welcome to Kenya).

Wario emphasized the importance culture plays in life and promised to make the event a bigger carnival next year.

“Food and music are part of culture,” said Wario, adding one does not necessarily have to visit the respective countries to learn about other people’s culture. “You can even learn some aspects of customs from a forum like this.”

Henan Buddha (Largest Statue in the World)

“Are these the remains of a two-million-year-old playground? Stones found at Chinese site could be toys used by man’s early relatives, say scientists”

The problem of Modern archaeology. The item is either a gift fro a mother that shows the loves caringly placed into making it or random stone fragments. We’re not really sure. **EB

“Are these the remains of a two-million-year-old playground? Stones found at Chinese site could be toys used by man’s early relatives, say scientists”

by Julian Robinson via “Daily Mail“

Scientists believe they may have uncovered evidence of a two-million-year-old playground in China.

Researchers found more than 700 stone artefacts in an area of less than six square metres in the Nihewan Basin, Hebei province.

Experts working at the Heitugou site have suggested the items were toys made by early hominids between 1.77million and 1.95million years ago.

Discovery: Scientists believe they may have uncovered evidence of a two-million-year-old playground in China (file picture)

The leader of the project, paleoanthropologist Wei Qi, has described the discovery as ‘amazing’.

The South China Morning Post quotes the Chinese Academy of Sciences expert as saying: ‘The site is a treasure chamber that may hold some useful clues to answer a lot of important questions, from the social structure of the early hominids to whether, when and how they arrived in Asia all the way from Africa.’

Close to 20,000 fragmented pieces but larger items – the majority between 20 and 50mm long – are believed to have been made by women and children.

Wei said one ‘finely made and beautifully shaped’ item was possibly a gift made by a mother for her child adding that ‘you can almost feel the maker’s love and passion’.

Researchers said the lack of evidence of animal remains and large stone tools added weight to the argument that the area was used by children rather than adults.

Scientists dated the site, discovered in 2002, using a special geochronological tool.

Researchers found more than 700 stone artefacts in an area of less than six square metres in the Nihewan Basin (pictured), Hebei province

The items have been excavated and documented with the findings due to be published in an archaeological journal in China.

Nihewan Basin used to be a huge lake and it is thought the items were buried in a sudden landslide.

However, a debate has surfaced over the findings and researcher Gao Xing of the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology said it was important to determine whether the artefacts were all hand made.

The South China Morning Post report him as saying: ‘It is difficult to rule out the possibility that they were just stone fragments created by natural forces.

‘To determine whether they were hand-made artefacts may go beyond the limit of science today.’

Coming Exhibition: China Through the Looking Glass

“China Through the Looking Glass”

Who: Met Museum

When: May. 7, 2015 – Aug. 16, 2015 (View Hours Here)

Where:

Chinese Galleries / Anna Wintour Costume Center
Metropolitan Museum
1000 Fifth Ave.
at 82nd Street
New York, NY 10028

How Much: (View Pricing Here)

More Information: Here

“This exhibition, organized by The Costume Institute in collaboration with the Department of Asian Art, will explore how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries, resulting in highly creative distortions of cultural realities and mythologies. High fashion will be juxtaposed with Chinese costumes, paintings, porcelains, and other art, as well as films, to reveal enchanting reflections of Chinese imagery.

From the earliest period of European contact with China in the sixteenth century, the West has been enchanted with enigmatic objects and imagery from the East, providing inspiration for fashion designers from Paul Poiret to Yves Saint Laurent, whose fashions are infused at every turn with romance, nostalgia, and make-believe. Through the looking glass of fashion, designers conjoin disparate stylistic references into a pastiche of Chinese aesthetic and cultural traditions.

The exhibition will feature more than one hundred examples of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear alongside Chinese art. Filmic representations of China will be incorporated throughout to reveal how our visions of China are framed by narratives that draw upon popular culture, and also to recognize the importance of cinema as a medium through which to understand the richness of Chinese history.

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