The Sound of Music in China

FOR several years, Cheng Fangyuan has harbored a plan for introducing American musicals to the Chinese stage. In 1995, she went to the United States to study the art form; every day for half a year, she got her artistic "nourishment" from attending shows which were playing on and off-Broadway. In the end, she     

Child Laborers

"When I was 12, I started working in a cotton mill as a child laborer." Fan Xiaofeng, the former vice-director of the Labor Protection Department of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, wrote this sentence in one of her books. In 1932, she came to     

Art Appreciation

Wang Erkeis a middle-aged woman with deep feelings and a strong character She has lived on the black land of the Great North Wilderness and gained abundant experience from her ups and downs She has tasted the happiness of marriage and as well the pains of divorce in the new life she has made for herself, she feels as fresh and vital as the spring. She tried to discover the type of painting that enabled her to express her inner feelings Though she lost the chance to study at an art academy. she studied and practiced ink and     

Emancipation Began When Foot-Binding Ended

MY late grandmother was one of the last generation of women who had bound feet. In the beginning of this century, she was born in a small remote village inhabited by the Mongol and Han nationalities. In those years her mother bound her childish feet tightly, using strips of cloth, so her feet remained small and pointed. Although I didn't know much about life when I was a child, I often felt constrained at the sight of my grandmother's bound feet. While I was growing up, I read some books about women's emancipation and started to be more concerned about the fate of women. Chinese women have struggled up a long     

Guo Shuang, A Woman Conductor

BORN in a musical family in Beijing, Guo Shuang began to show her talent for music when she was nine years old and began to learn piano from her mother. At the primary and then the secondary school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music, Guo Shuang studied piano, musical theory and composing. Later, she enrolled in the Conservatory to study conducting and piano under the famous conductors Zheng Xiaoying and Xu Xin, piano professors Wu Ying and Xie Huazhen. In 1989, she went to Germany     

Ma Xinlan Reflects on a 23-year Teaching Career

SHE wears a white cap typically worn by women of the Hui ethnic nationality and a smile which often appears on her amiable face. And when the smile comes, her face betrays the races years left on it, which leads me to believe that she doesn't live a relaxed life. She is Ma Xinlan, 42, principal of the Weizhou Hui Nationality Girls Primary School in Ningxia Hui Nationality Autonomous Region.     

喜欢花衣衫(英文)

Whenever her mother was making up colorful clothes, the girl would sit around, watching with great interest. In her mind's eye, there appeared the happiest moment when she, in clothes of beautiful colors, became the focus of attention. She felt like a princess. At night, when she was lying in bed, she went off to her dreamland. "What a wonderful thing if one day I could design clothes for myself as well as for others, " she thought. Later the girl grew up and her sweet dream has come true.     

Chinese Family Patterns Undergo Changes

IN China, family patterns change as children get married, have children and the family line continues. Aunt Cheng is a retired teacher. After her husband died, Aunt Cheng continued to live with her unmarried younger son. She got on well with neighbors in the building, who would often see her out walking with her son. One day, she began to furnish their apartment. Her neighbors assumed her son     

A Hong Kong Woman on Teaching

"SHE has black hair,very beautiful eyes and a smile alwaysplaying on her lips,"sixth-grade Pan Yong wrote in his diary.Hewas describing his teacher,Zhou Kefan,a young Hong Kong womanwho came to teach for half a year in the mainland’s southern remotemountains inhabited by the Yao people. A graduate of the preparatory course from Hong Kong LiBaochun United International Academy of Classical Learning,ZhouKefan has been a good scholar with an agreeable demeanor since shewas little.Just as she had decided to go to the United States to studyfurthe,a voluntary teaching position on the mainland made herchange her mind. A long-term help and support to the Nangang Primary School in     

Promises

AT dusk, I switched on my radio. What I heard was a special call-in program entitled "New Air of the City," on a local music channel; the two silver-tongued hosts were discussing the topic of promises. A young woman with a soft voice managed to get through first. She said that she had been in love for many years. She and her fiance often went to the banks of the Yangtze River in their spare time, lifting stones to look for small crabs, as tiny as fingernails. They liked to raise the crabs in a glass bowl. But one day, there were few stones by the river; they searched for a long time, but found nothing. An old man who was catching fish told them that it was difficult to find those crabs on the bank. Then he took several crabs out of his     

Out of Misled Love

Astray "I couldn't understand it," she said in a sad and serious voice, "in what way do I not match her? I'm more beautiful, more selfrestrained and more tender and considerate than her...." Sitting at the psychological consultative center, Xi'er buried her head in her hands. Only at the center could she, not being all nerves, get her tangled feelings of anxiety, agony and antipathy off her chest. She is an unbending young woman and conscious of her image all the time. So, even shedding sad tears, she took a tissue from her purse to     

Duan Jingfang Shar Chinese Music with the Worls

PROFESSOR Yuan Jingfang has many titles: Dean of the Music Department, Central Conservatory of Music; Tutor of Doctors; Vice-president of China's Traditional Music Society; Member of the National Music Committee of China's Musicians Society; and Council Member of South China's Music. Yuan truly carried on national music traditions and has persisted in disseminating them. Yuan is from Yueyang, Hunan Province. Her love of music was not influenced by her family, unlike other performers of national instrumental music. Yuan's father is an engineer and her mother a nurse. Her desire to perform and study national music was fostered by the vigorous and grand scene she witnessed of performers beating waist drums to celebrate the founding of New China.     

Water Lily and Lotus

Yang Zhiwan. 35. a native of Shantou. Guangdong. is a lecturer with the Fine Arts Department at the Shantou Pedagogical College. Though she lives in a small city. she has a keen sense of observation of the commonplace life. A short poem. a segment of music. a pool of clear water.a glistening dewdrop on a leaf—all bring a momentary shiver to her heart and     

《北京绝活》

When Chen Xiaorong started her career as a features reporter for China Daily, she never expected an interview with Yang Fuxi, the country＇s last-known traditional bow and arrow maker, would cause her to focus on a traditional Chinese field -- handicrafts.     

From Village Teacher to Woman Conductor

MS Zhang Peiyu, now an Austrian citizen, was born in Dacheng Township, Zhanghua County, Taiwan Province. She studied music at Zhanghua Teachers' Training School. After graduation, she worked at primary schools in Zhanghua and Taizhong Counties as a music teacher. Later, she resigned her post and went to Vienna to study music. She stayed there for eight years. In her first year, Zhang Peiyu worked very hard studying German and music by     

chool Board Protects Students' Rights and Interests

IN a test. Li Xiangmei, a sixth grade student at the Central Primary School of Majuqiao Township, Tongxian County in the suburbs of Beijing, didn't do well. She scored only 70-odd marks out of 100, and when she took the test home, her mother got so angry that she tore her textbooks to bits and wouldn't allow her any lunch as a punishment.     

Diving Star—Guo Jingjing

SINCE she won the gold medal for thethree meters springboard dive at the ThirteenthAsian Games, Guo Jingjing has become anoutstanding star within China's sporting circle.People take her as a leading figure after thelikes of Fu Mingxia and Tan Shuping, andplace great expectations on her. As soon as shefinishes a competition. reporters pursue her foranswers to their questions. A cheeky figure,her reply is often a non-committal,"I don'tknow".     

Queen of Children Teacher Gives Heart to Students

WANG Huiqin, 48, is an English teacher at the Beijing Yanjingli High School. She started her career as "queen of children" at 20. After so many years of teaching, she has acquired unique skills that enable her to effectively educate and redeem students who lag behind the rest of the class. No matter how naughty or mischievous the     

No Ordinary Teacher

IN the language laboratory of the GraduateSchool of the Chinese Academy ofSciences, Yang Jia is teaching English to newdoctorate students with beautiful tones,gestures, and smiles. But there is one thingthe students don't realize about the active,amiable, patient and knowledgeable associateprofessor before them: she is blind. Yang was born in the Year of the Rabbit. At15, she was admitted to the EnglishDepartment. of Zhengzhou University. At thefarewell party, her classmates wished her "abright future!" she said: "I will be a bigscholar; I will speak English with a London     

Memory Like A String of Pearls

WANG Mingzhen is a wellknown Chinese physicist. Recently the 91-year-old woman looked back over the profoundly affecting experiences of her life. A Series of Setbacks As soon as she graduated from Peking University in 1930, Wang Mingzhen received an offer of admission from the University of Michigan in the United States. Although the school offered her a four-year scholarship for her tuition, she was penniless and could not afford the steamer ticket. Unwilling to seek help from her friends and relatives, Wang sent a letter declining admission, using her mother's illness as an excuse. She could not know that this action would postpone