Picture of Beautiful Women with Flowers in Their Hair

The painting Picture of Beautiful Women with Flowers in Their Hair is attributed by some to Zhou Fang—a well-known painter of figures in the Tang Dynasty. Painted on silk, this 46×180 cm work depicts some of the aspects of the luxurious lives of noble women during the reign of Li Kuo, an emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The painter, by employing fine lines and deep colors, creates a leisurely and carefree mood. In this scene, a group of beautiful women, five mistresses and one servant girl, are playing with dogs, catching butterflies, and enjoying the flowers on a walk in rate spring. The noble women are dressed in gorgeous silk     

Bronze Elephant

A rare find among Shang Dynasty bronzes in China, this bronze elephant was unearthed in a hillside in Liling County, Hunan. It was probably buried by slave owners as a sacrifice to the mountains and lakes. The bronze elephant served as a wine vessel. Wine was poured into the large opening at the elephant's back, and was served through its trunk. It is 22.8 cm tall, 26.5 cm long and weighs 2.8 kg. The body of the vessel was carved with animal motifs. The front of the trunk, for example, is carved into the shape of a phoenix with a hooked beak. A tiger is crouched on the comb of the phoenix, and a snake curls out of its beak. The base of the trunk is decorated with another snake, with its head near the mouth of the elephant. The entire trunk is decorated with scales.     

牙雕《月曼清游》(局部)(英文)

This ivory tablet was carved in 1741 by Chen Zuzhang and four other handicraftsmen, based on a picture drawn by Chen Mei, a painter from the lmperial Art Academy of the Qing Dynasty. They spent 100 days to finish the work. Altogether, there are 12 parts, with each part having one side carved with a scene and the other side with a poem by Emperor Qianlong. The carvings tell of the recreation activities of women     

Gao Fenglian and Her Papercuts

The papercuts of Gao Fenglian, a northern Shanxi woman, are collected by Chinese and foreign galleries, museums and individuals. For a time, it has been a hot topic in her hometown. When she returned from the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, the rural woman who has lived on the Loess Plateau for dozens of years was admired by her fellow villagers. The scissors gave the hardworking woman infinite delight     

Emblem for the International Year of the Family: A Symbol of Life and Love

This is an official IYF emblem. The simple design, created by Catherine Littasy-Rollier, the Swiss-born artist who now resides in Vienna, consists of a heart sheltered by a roof and linked to another heart. The design symbolizes life and love in a home full of warmth,     

Photographer Follows Progress of Rural Family

At the 1994 Spring Festival Party held by China Central Television, a press photographer and the four large photos he had on display became one of the highlights of the event. The photos were taken in 1950, 1963, 1979 and 1994, respectively of an ordinary rural family in Zhejiang Province. They were selected from nearly 1,000 photos taken by the photographer on more than 50 visits to this family. They trace the changes of an ordinary Chinese family and vividly illustrate the historical changes that have taken place in New China. The photographer was Xu Yonghui, a senior reporter with Zhejiang Daily. In this issue we feature a few of his photos and a report which testify to those changes.     

Twenty-Year Reunion

A massive earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale struck the city of Tangshan at 3:42 a.m. on July 28, 1976. The city, which had history of well over 100 years and a population of over one million people, was left in ruins. The violent earthquake killed 242,469 people, with 164,851 people sustaining injuries, 2,652 children under 16 years of age left as orphans and 885 elderly people as widowers. Some 96 percent of the city's buildings and houses collapsed, with a direct economic loss of 10 billion yuan. Earthquake tremors spread over a two million square kilometer area, with hundreds of millions people placed in peril by the natural disaster.The Tangshan earthquake set a record as the world's strongest earthquake of the century. The people of Tangshan have set a new record for the rate of reconstruction accomplished over the past 20 years. The support of the People's Liberation Army and people across the nation combined with the unyielding efforts of survivors led to the establishment of a new Ta     

武汉东湖游(英文)

East Lake is the largest lake within a city in China and a famous sightseeing spot in Wuhan City. It was one of the first areas deemed as a State Scenic Area by the State Council in 1982. The boundaries surround an area of 88 square kilometers. The East Lake Scenic Area features beautiful hills and water, abundant and varied greenery, the unique     

Here are some photos chosen from the Picture Archives of Chinese Babies.

The archives set up early this year are the first in the country. Now they keep 25 pictures of "millennia baby" born on January 1,2000 in China's 25 provinces and municipalities, shot by Niu Qun, master for Kodak photographic teaching, as well as about 20,000 pictures of infants and babies shot by their young parents and appraised by photographic experts. The founder of the Picture Archives of Chinese Babies, the Organizing Council for Concerning Yourself with New Life, is a group of mothers who are     

Dance Drama The Border Town

THE large-scale dance drama The Border Town performed by the Hunan Provincial Troupe attracted a large audience with its natural human touch, strong local flavour and elegant literature, provoking reverie from the people. The Border Town dance drama was adapted from the novel of the same name by Shen Congwen, an influential writer on Chinese modern literature. The Border Town, written in 1934, was his masterpiece, which gives a delicate account of the young love between the orphan girl Cuicui (who was adopted by an old ferryman), and the young