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The First Changsha (International) Arts Exposition was unveiled on December 19 at the Hunan Province Exhibition Center. About 3,500 pieces of modern arts of drawing, calligraphy, handiwork and ceramics are on display. The four-day event is open to public free of charge.This exposition covers an exhibition area of 10,000 square meters. The oil paintings and traditional Chinese paintings from famous art institutes and galleries of Spain, South Korea, North Korea and Latin America as well as China Taiwan are displayed to present the native artistic style of different regions.In addition, works of traditional Chinese painting masters like Huang Yongyu, Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong, Chen Baiyi, Huang Tieshan and works of well-known contemporary artists including Fang Lijun, Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun, Mao Yan and Wang Guangyi were exhibited, drawing big crowds.As the first large-scale art exhibition of its kind in Hunan, it aims to set up a platform for art exhibition and exchange as well as to further spread Huxiang Culture abroad.The opening ceremonyTranslator: Wang BilianSource: hunan official website
2013-12-22 11:12
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Flocks of migratory birds have started arriving in wetlands of East Dongting Lake for winter since late October. According to staff at the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve, the lake has predicted an inflow of 120 thousand migratory birds this winter and the period between mid-to-late November and early December is the best season for bird watching.Dongting Lake is one of the best-known bird watching destinations nationwide. Since November, a good population of bird-lovers has thronged there to go birding and take photographs. The greatest charm of autumn and winter there is birding and it is currently the peak season for bird migration at Dongting Lake.Pied avocets flying up and down the lake shore.Grey crowned-cranes foraging in wetlands.Translator: Liu FenSource: Hunan Official Web Portal
2013-12-02 23:01
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On September 15, Austrian extreme sportsman Michael Kemeter, nicknamed “spider-man”, successfully climbed the tallest building of Changsha—Beichen Times Square, 268 meters high, without protection. After reaching the top of the building, he finished an extreme challenge of super-low-level skydiving with a leap into the air.Located at the bank of the Xiangjiang River in Changsha, the Beichen Times Square is structured with totally enclosed glass wall, with refuge floors in the 15th and 30th floors fully covered with windows. Sponsors had set up a protective net in these two floors to provide rest places for Kemeter. Depending on perfect coordination of soles, knees and arms, he climbed the glass wall and metal strips. After nearly 50 minutes, he successfully reached the top of the building.Kemeter, pleased with the success of his first show in China, praised the beauty of Changsha and expected more extreme challenges in other cities of China.Michael Kemeter climbing the building. Translator: Hao JingruSource: Hunan Official Web Portal
2013-09-18 23:21
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Jishou Municipal Tourism Bureau of Xiangxi Tujia & Miao Autonomous Prefecture announced that Jishou was crowned as one of the Top Ten Tourism Destinations with Folk Characteristics in Greater China, an item of the Golden Travel Award of Asian Tourism at the 19th Golden Travel Award of Asian Tourism & the Conference of Tourism and Culture Award in Greater China.Mainly hosted by the Federation Asia Traveling Culture and held for 19 times since 1995, the Golden Travel Award of Asian Tourism is now one of the important awards in Asian-Pacific tourism circle. The award ceremony turns into a top class Asian travel award ceremony and a high-level platform for brand communication.With the ceremony themed "Chinese Style & Chinese Affection", its organization committee assessed 149 national scenic spot candidates through their environment, distinctive culture, leisure lifestyle, natural scenery, environmental protection, management innovation, supporting services, guiding brands, responsibility assumption and talent management. Jishou stood out after five procedures of local or organizational recommendation, parent organization nomination, online voting, and experts scoring.Translator: Zhu MengxiaSource: Hunan Official Web Portal
2013-09-10 15:38
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BEIJING,Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- In the past, young girls in China had to learn needlework at a very early age because the ability was seen as the key to finding a good husband.In most parts of the country, it seems the tradition has gone the way of the dinosaur, but in the remote areas of China's Hunan province, the tradition is still alive.Ethnic peoples, such as the Tujia, the Miao, the Dong and the Yao, have dwelled in the west and south of Hunan for many generations. They have created several renowned textile crafts that are regarded as treasures of traditional Chinese culture.For instance, there is a branch of the Yao ethnic group called Huayao - or "Flowery Yao" - because they are known for their special and colorful clothes as well as outstanding cross-stitch embroidery.In a Huayao village located at the foot of a mountain in southwest Hunan, cross-stitch embroidery is still the most important skill for women."Normally from the age of 7 or 8, a Huayao girl has to learn counting threads, using needles and gradually grasping the cross-stitch embroidery techniques under the instruction of her mother or sisters," said Feng Xuemei, an inheritor of the Huayao cross-stitch embroidery craft.Unlike machine-aided embroidery, the cross-stitch technique does not require a draft design or embroidery frame but only hands and skills.Huayao women follow the veins of the hand-woven cloth and make embroidery according to a picture in their mind.The women always carry their needles and embroidery work with them so that they can make cross-stitch whenever they have time.They are often seen with their needles and cloth in front of a diaojiaolou, a wood-structured house over the water, on a stone near a brook or in the forests.The hand-woven cloth in plain colors of blue, white or gray becomes art with aid from the needles of the Huayao women. Images of flowers, Mandarin ducks, golden sunsets and rainbows transform plain cloth into something extraordinary.These are then made into scarves, cloaks, belts, skirt lace and underwear.Women from the Miao and the Dong add even more romantic elements to their craftsmanship.They not only make clothes for family members but also bed covers, handkerchiefs and pillows.They even weave flower belts using colorful threads as tokens of affection.Pursuit of beauty"The Miao ladies are passionate and have a love of beauty. However in past periods of scarcity, they had to make every effort to make adornments by hand and make themselves look better," said Wu Jinglian, the only inheritor of the tie-dye technique in the county of Fenghuang."The pursuit of beautiful things is just one reason for the prosperity of ethnic embroidery," said Sun Wenhui, member of the Hunan intangible cultural heritage expert committee."The origin of the ethnic groups' colorful and picturesque clothing started with the demands of offering sacrifices during the long-past totem worship period."For example, animal imagery is another important theme of the Huayao's cross-stitch work. The snake is one of the most widely used images.Dwelling in deep forests where snakes usually appear, the Huayao people worship this animal because they find that it has many skills that human beings lack.Huayao's worship of snakes is similar to the Han people's worship of dragons, experts say.The brocade used by the Dong people for sacrifice has the images of their totems, including a legendary creature that looks like a mixture of a dog and a dragon.Brocade also plays an important part in the Tujia people's sacrificial ceremonies. Ever since the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1100 BC), the Tujia people have used delicate brocade to decorate shrines. They also wear brocade handiwork for their traditional dances.The folk crafts are more than just techniques for making useful items. They also tell the stories of ancient civilizations.And the Tujia brocade also plays a very important role in people's daily lives.Once a Tujia baby is born, the grandmother will give him or her a piece of brocade as a present. The infants will use bed covers made by brocade.The Tujia girls learn the brocade skills and when they get married, their parents and relatives will give them brocade as a dowry. The more brocade bed covers a bride gets from her family, the more distinguished she is.The color of the brocade changes with occasions, too. Brocade silently records the Tujia people's customs and lifestyles.Developing with timesAmong these traditional textile crafts in Hunan, the most renowned form is called Xiangxiu, or Hunan embroidery, one of China's four major embroidery forms. An art belonging to the Han people, it is perhaps the one that best follows the time and caters to market demands.The art form comes from daily life and changes with the times, enabling Xiangxiu embroidery to survive and develop in the modern era, experts say.The Shaping township in the suburbs of Changsha, Hunan's capital, is the cradle of Xiangxiu.Embroidery is so popular there that locals say "every family has an embroider, and every village has an expert."However, contemporary Xiangxiu has taken on some modern elements and become more fashionable and vivid.In the past, the Xiangxiu used threads instead of pens to record history. Today, on the basis of traditional skills, the embroidery incorporates skills from traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy.Besides, the embroidery is better mounted and packaged to cater to market demands.Compared to Shaping township, traditions are better preserved in the Miao and Tujia villages in the mountainous areas of western Hunan because these places are relatively more isolated from modern civilization.Some elderly people still use bed covers made of traditionally tie-dyed fabrics. Old wedding and festival customs related to traditional embroidery are also kept.However, since the traditional techniques require a very comprehensive set of skills that not many people master, just a few are preserved till now.Now governments at all levels have realized the cultural importance of the traditional craft and are already working toward its preservation.Several textile arts have been listed among the country's intangible cultural heritages.In 2006, Xiangxiu embroidery, Huayao cross-stitch embroidery and Tujia brocade entered the country's first State-level list of intangible cultural heritage.In 2008, the Dong brocade, the Miao cross-stitch embroidery and the Miao embroidery were placed on the second State-level intangible cultural heritage list.Besides embroideries, some local traditional clothing has become intangible cultural treasures, too. One of them is the Miao dress and personal adornment, which are known for their variable kinds and styles as well as delicate craftsmanship.Despite protection, some techniques, especially embroidery, are still faced with extinction, said Xiao Lingzhi, deputy chief of Hunan's provincial department of culture."Now fewer and fewer young people are willing to learn traditional skills and techniques," Xiao said.Xiao called on the young people to learn traditional folk techniques and pass down these cultural heritages to more generations in the future.The inland province of Hunan is home to a number of ethnic groups, who have together created 99 State-level and 220 provincial-level intangible cultural heritage items, according to the provincial cultural department.Source: xinhuanet
2013-08-26 22:35
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The tryout of the Tenth World Robot Olympiad in China was held in the gym of Mingde Middle School of Changsha on August 10. More than 1,500 competitors from 326 teams of 24 provinces, municipalities, prefectures and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region participated in the five events including creation competition, football competition and green city competition. Contestants from Shanghai team installed the "robot cleaning glazed tiles of palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1840)".Translator: Zhang MinsiSource: Hunan Official Web Portal
2013-08-12 11:44
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The scheme to upgrade and modify Baisha Ancient Well Park was approved by the Changsha Municipal People's Government and the renovation is expected to start this year following some related procedures.Director of the Changsha Landscape Architecture Administrative Bureau Zhou Wen introduced that the park, after modification, will better reveal the cultural connotation of the ancient well, preferably trace the layers of the city's history, and provide more convenience and comfort for citizens and tourists. According to the renovation plan, the move is to upgrade the infrastructure and landscape design. The time-honored granite and the protecting wall around the well will be left as they are, while an open drain will be equipped above the water catchment area to prevent pollution. To make better use of the unceasing well water, a water landscape site, Run Xing (Star Lubricating) Pool, will be constructed on the north of Baisha Well to recycle the spare water.Translator: Liu FenSource: Hunan Official Web Portal
2013-07-05 14:35
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A ceremony was held in Liuyang City on June 15 to mark the opening of China's first real-life battlefield rafting on Shikou Gorge at the source of the internationally famed Liuyang River. Shikou rafting is set in the natural oxygen bar Dawei Mountain and on the crystal clear headwater of Liuyang River. The 5.8 km rafting route crosses through 28 treacherous rapids and brings two hours of brand new excitement and pleasure. An official source at the Changsha Municipal Bureau of Tourism introduced that Shikou Rafting took two years and cost tens of millions of yuan. Its original idea of a real-life battlefield theme, first of its kind in China, has given Hunan's third generation rafting, namely themed rafting, unprecedented reach. Visitors take a real-life battlefield rafting trip.Translator: Liu FenSource: enghunan.gov.cn
2013-06-17 16:24
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The dragon boat racing event for the 8th Changsha Sports Games was held on June 9 at the Qianlong (Thousand-Dragon) Resort in Getang Town. Six dragon boat racing crews from districts and counties across the city competed intensely on the close-to-3,000-mu (about 201 hectares) Qianlong Lake.The event for adult men group was divided into two categories, the standard 500-meter and 200-meter straightaway racing.During the race, dragon boats sailed like living arrows sent forth from the bow. Drummers were seated on the boats to set the pace for paddlers competing against other oarsmen.Opening ceremonyDragon boat racers are ready to go.Dragon boats sail through winds and waves.Translator: Liu FenSource: Hunan Official Web Portal
2013-06-11 13:30
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After China Southern Airline's initiative of opening a Zhangjiajie-Taibei direct flight on April 15th, Taiwan TransAsia Airways has followed by opening a Taipei-Zhangjiajie direct flight on June 2nd, along with Taiwan UNI Air opening a normal charter flight between Zhangjiajie and Taiwan's Gaoxiong on June 3rd.On Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays each week, the 3-hour Taipei-Zhangjiajie Flight takes off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 15:50 and arrives at Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport and the return flight commences for Taipei at 19:50. From June 3rd on, the newly-opened normal charter flight will take off from Gaoxiong at 14:50, arriving at Zhangjiajie in 2 hours and 40 minutes, and will return to Gaoxiong at 18:50 each Monday.These flights between Zhangjiajie and Taiwan will greatly facilitate Taiwanese wishing to tour Zhangjiajie. Via the 3-hour direct flight, they can now comfortably and safely get to the beautiful city instead of transferring in Guangzhou or Changsha.Translator: Wang XiaoluSource: enghunan.gov.cn
2013-06-04 11:04
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