Sutra Keeping Case

This gold-traced sandalwood sutra keeping case, unearthed from the Pagoda of Enlightened Wisdom in Rui'an County, Wenzhou City in 1966, is a lacquerwork of the Song Dynasty. Handicraft industry was popular in Zhejiang Province during the Song Dynasty. The lacquerware in Wenzhou even gained national fame. The Wenzhou-made lacquerwares unearthed from Wujin, Jiangsu Province, in the 70s are exquisite, bearing lacquerers' names, addresses and shop names. With a smaller box inside a larger one, the outer case, 40 cm long, 18 cm wide and 16.5 cm high, is made of sandalwood in a     

Attractive Fuyang

FUYANG in Zhejiang Province is only about an hour's coach ride from Hangzhou. Fuyang's Fuchun River impresses people with another kind of charm to its more famous watery neighbour. Li Huan, a noted Chinese poet of the Song Dynasty, once wrote a poem praising the beauty of the mountains and waters of Fuyang. And Yu Dafu, a famous Chinese writer of modern times, considered the scenery along the Fuchun unparalleled in the world.     

Colored Clay Bodhisattva

Buddhism was introduced to Zhejiang Province during the Three Kingdoms (220-280). In the Song Dynasty the Buddhist doctrine developed with typical Chinese character. The flourishing commerce in cities and social consciousness toward real life greafiy influenced Buddhist statue art. As a result, the image of Buddha,which was a bearded male found in the Dunhuang Caves of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), changed to     

One Woman's Bitter Medicine

ANGUO City in Hebei Province is a small one—only a few years ago, it was still a township—but it is well-known in Chinese medical circles as one of the four largest distribution centers of Chinese herbal medicine. Locals proudly call their hometown the "Medicine Capital." Anguo's streets are lined with medicine shops. In addition, the city is also home to a large medicine wholesale market, where hundreds of kinds of Chinese herbal medicine from all over the country Can be found. Both in the wholesale depot and in the small shops, it is striking that most buyers are men while most of the sellers are women. Song Mulan, the director of the municipal women's federation, is     

Aunt Song's Thick Fish Soup

Aunt Song's thick fish soup is a famous dish handed down from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). According to an ancient book: In the sixth year of the Chunxi reign, the conquered emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty abandoned the capital of Kaifeng and established a new court in Hangzhou. On March 15, he met a woman, Aunt Song, when he went sight-seeing on the West Lake. The woman said she had followed the emperor to     

Song Huai Kuei Never Accepts Defeat

FORTY years ago, Song Huai Kuei was a 17-year-old student enrolled in the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. It was there that she met Maryn Varbanov, a young Bulgarian painter. Their meeting marked the beginning of a legendary life. Today Song Huai Kuei is the Chinese chief representative of the French Pierre Cardin Fashion Company and chairwoman of Maxim's. She has gained celebrity status and often appears in the media. Her Asian countenance and her Pierre Cardin wardrobe display an excellent combination of Chinese and Western elements. She herself, however, says that she is essentially just an ordinary Chinese. Although others have had different opinions about her lifestyle, Song has     

Pipa Music Spreads from the Mountain to the Rest of the World

LIKE a giant, the Tiantai Mountain Range in Zhejiang Province holds Tiantai County in its arms. The natural beauty of this area is plentiful with talent and music. For years Tiantai County has nurtured groups of pipa players and is known as the "home of the pipa." Pipa is the traditional musical instrument of China, which prevailed in the Sui and Tang dynasties(A.D.581-907).     

Xidi Village

One of China's most celebrated poets, Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) once wrote a poem about the beauty of Yixian County, located in southern Anhui Province: Yixian is the Fairy Land of Peach Blossoms. A hundred miles of natural scenery: The land is covered with bewitching flowers and trees. The locals still revere the     

妇女发展

Song Visits Earthquake-stricken Yushu
宋秀岩赴青海玉树看望受灾妇女儿童
Song Xiuyan, Vice- President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All- China Women＇s Federation （ACWF）, visited earthquakestricken Yushu, a Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern China＇s Qinghai Province, on May 27.     

Recalling the Past of My Husband

Song Xiaohan is the widow of the patriotic general He Jifeng, who served in the War of Resistance Against Japan, He Jifeng was once a brigade commander of the 110th Brigade in the 29th Corps under the Kuomintang. In September 1935, he was transferred to Beiping (the old name of Beijing], and was put in charge of defending Wanping County Seat, Fengtai Township, the Pinghan Railway and Lugouqiao areas. On July 7th, 1937, when the Lugouqiao Incident happened he took his place in front of the troups to direct the battle, and issued an order to fight back the Japanese invaders. The commanders and soldiers of the 29th Corps shot the first bullet in the War of Resistance Against Japan.Song Xiaohan met General He Jifeng after the Lugouqiao Incident, and accompanied him through the disturbances of a half century. He Jifeng died in 1980. Now 80 years old Song Xiaohan lives in Beijing and spends her remaining years quietly. She recalled her old days as follows.     

Wedding in Sheng■hou

"HAVING fun at weddings will bring good fortune to the new couple." This is a local saying in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province. Fun activities at weddings is actually a way of congratulating and blessing new couples. Singing and composing poems in antiphonal style are what people like to do at weddings in Shengzhou, a tradition that started in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). After the wedding banquet, the bride's maids and best men begin preparations. They try to figure out each other's ability, compose the first sentences of     

Fists of Fury Turn to Song

Apopular saying goes,“Seventy-twoof the 108 outlaws of the marsh arefrom Yuncheng.”Located inShandong Province with Liangshan Hill onits east,the Huanghe River to the north andthe Beijing-Kowloon Railway runningthrough,Yuncheng has given birth to manyheroes.Sun Bin,also called Sunzi,famousmilitarist in the Warring States Period(475-221 BC)and Song Jiang,leader of afarmers uprising in the Northern SongDynasty(960-1127 AD)were both bornthere.Wushu has prevailed there forgenerations in past dynasties.Now the     

What I Saw and Heard in the Qiang Village

The Qiang nationqlity has a population of 198,2,52 (according to the 1991 census statistics), who mainly inhabit Maowen, Wenchuan, Lixian and Beichuan counties in Aba Tibet and Qiang Nationalities Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. The Qiang is one of the oldest nationalities in China. It is said that the Qiang nationality was a main tribal race of the Xia Dynasty. The ancient Qiang nationality was an important part of the Huaxia nationality, the predecessor of the Han nationality. In a long historical process, they moved from areas in the northwest and the     

Xidi's Booming Local Tourism

IN recent years, Xidi Village in Yixian County, Anhui Province has become a successful example of village-run tourism. With 340 households, a population of 1,020 and 10.7 square kilometer area, the village is home to a rich reserve of ancient culture and architecture. In 1986, Tang Maolin, the former village Party secretary, took advantage of the large number of well-preserved ancient residences dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) and started a village tourism company. Ten years later, having enlisted     

Shehuo in Longzhou

LONGZHOU is the ancient name ofLongxian County,the western gate ofShaaxi Province and birthplace ofthe cultures of the Zhou (C.11th century B.C.-771 B.C.) and Qin (221-206B.C.)dynasties.Since it became a county in the Qin     

Chinese Tea Drinking Goes Back Centuries

TEA is a necessity in Chinese life. According to historical records the Chinese had already learned how to plant and bake tea more than 2,000 years ago. Sipping tea has always been a favorite Chinese tradition. To the south of the Changjiang River is a region with good irrigation and a climate favorable for growing tea: it is cool at night and often misty. Zhejiang Province is a well-known tea production area, and the famous Longjing Tea is solely produced along the West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of the province. Tea is produced in four areas of China:     

建一座博物馆,延续苗绣之梦

If you happen to visit Kaili(a city in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture,in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province),you will no doubt be impressed by the Miaos,splendid costumes and adornments-throughout the ages-on exhibit in the museum established by Ou Donghua.Ou,a resident of the prefecture,is a Guizhou provincial master of arts and crafts,and an inheritor of the Miaos’embroidery.     

Maternity and Child Care in Yinan County

YINAN is a poor county in the Yimeng Mountain Area in Shandong Province. It has a population of 900,000, over 80 percent of whom live in rural areas and about 600,000 of whom are women and children. Protecting the health of women and children is not only important to reach the goal "Everyone Enjoys Health Protection by the year 2000" and the goals set out in the "Program for Chinese Children's Development in the 1990s," but also has a crucial influence on the     

中原行(英文)

I am a professional photographer. I like to take pictures of the most common rural scenes and farmers in a very simple way. To me, the more common a thing is, the closer it is to the nature of life. With my portable Leica camera, I went to the Central Plains(especially Henan Province)twice: