Culture Insider: A compact history of women's powder boxes

"A young woman sits in front a mirror. The reflection of her fairy face in the mirror and flowers around her add beauty and radiance to each other." This is from the poem Pu Sa Man by Wen Tingyun, a poet from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The poem imagines a beautiful woman in a blue mood reluctantly putting on makeup. The powder and rouge she used in the Tang Dynasty were stored in special boxes...

Chinese Folk Music Shines in Sydney

Five artists from the Hubei Chime Music Philharmonic performing traditional Chinese folk music. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org] A Chinese folk music concert was held in Sydney’s China Cultural Center on May 27. Five artists from the popular Hubei Chime Music Philharmonic performed a series of classic songs to local audiences, including Montain and Flowing Water (Gao Shan Liu Shui), ...

Re-creating Beijing's Glorious City Wall and Watchtowers

A one-woman effort gets underway to re-create Beijing's glorious city wall and watchtowers that have long disappeared, writes Raymond Zhou. When the sun was barely over the horizon on May 6, a crowd had already gathered outside the gate of the Red Sandalwood Museum on Beijing's east side. Commuters who were rushing downtown might be unaware, but they were passing witnesses to the unveiling of a...

When Snuff Bottles saved Quju Opera

Twenty years ago, when composer Dai Yisheng, along with scriptwriter Zhang Yonghe and director Gu Wei, created Snuff Bottles, a Quju Opera work produced by Beijing Quju Opera Troupe, she didn't expect that the show would save Quju Opera, a local operatic form developed in the 1950s in Beijing, from extinction. The show also saved the troupe, which was on the verge of being disbanded. Recentl...

China to fund non-profit art performance

China will invest nearly 100 million yuan (16.3 million US dollars) in developing non-profit performances made by troupes affiliated to the central government. Zhu Di, head of the art division with the Ministry of Culture, said the ministry will further improve art administration and strengthen guidance over art creation at a press conference Monday, in response to President Xi Jinping's view t...

Ceramics database launched to help regulate art market

An online database listing detailed information of Chinese ceramic art works was launched on Monday in Jingdezhen City, east China's Jiangxi Province. Jointly built by Chinese art works authentication recording center under the Copyright Society of China and Jiangxi entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau, the database has collected such information as the microscopic structure, chemical ...

Chinese pianist Lang Lang, sting to perform at UN Day concert

Chinese pianist Lang Lang, who is also United Nations Messenger of Peace, will perform in a concert at the UN Headquarters Friday in celebration of UN Day. He will be joined by Grammy Award-winning musician Sting and an international youth orchestra conducted by Manuel Lopez-Gomez, a UN spokesman announced here Monday. "The concert offers an opportunity to highlight the UN's focus on youth a...

First relics museum in Shanxi opens

The first relics museum in north China's Shanxi Province opened to the public Wednesday, exhibiting the largest site for buried chariots excavated from China's Western Zhou Dynasty (11th Century to 771 B.C.) The museum, built with an investment of 198 million yuan (about 32 million U.S. dollars), is housed at the historic site of Qucun-Tianma in Quwo County in the southern part of Shanxi. The ...

Photo exhibition on Chinese people's daily life held in Indonesia

A photo exhibition portraying the daily life and changes experienced by the Chinese people since China's reform and opening up to the outside world was held in Indonesia's National Museum on Monday. The four-day photo exhibition, themed "Dream and Memory", is part of various activities to promote the 2014 ASEAN-China Cultural Exchange Year. The photo exhibition serves as another opportunity ...

Guan Liang's paintings: An interesting way to learn famous Chinese stories

People are always questioning Guan Liang’s paintings: they look just like children’s work, why are they so valuable? Even some great writers applauded Guan Liang’s paintings, and some famous painters exchanged their works with him. The answer comes from the question itself. Guan Liang’s painting is valuable because it’s just like children’s work, with the innocent heart of an art addict. Guan L...