. Chinese Youth
. Tour of the Xisho lslonds.
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PUBLISHED MONTHTY IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, ARABIC, GERMAN AND POR. TUGUESE BY THE CHINA WELFARE INSTITUTE (SOONG CHING L|NG, CHAIRMANI vol. xxtx No. 9 SEPTEMBER t98O Articles of the Month CONTENTS Chinese Youth: Pro Youth gress ond Problems Chinesu Youth Today Three orticles obout Young People Tell Personal Plans A Poll at the - whot Chino's young peo- Shanghai Shipyard 6 ple ore thinking ond do- Reform of a Young Delinqueni 8 ing, some of their prob- lems ond steps by so- Housing the People ciety to solve them. Also ore About Housing in China Today 11 how delinquenB turned toword progress. The 'Squdre Courtyard' ol Old Beijing 15 Poge 2 New Rural Homes 16 Medicine/Science Chinese Medicine Through French Eyes 1B The Housing Situotion Ancient lmperial Pharmacy-Now the Pb0ple's 39 Housing drortoges ore serious in Chino's big cities, A Family in the Academic Tradition OJ Couses ond meosures for improvement. Focts from the Beijing oreo types of housing, new buildings, N otio no lities io n /Relig rents, ownership, etc. Poge 11 The 'Lusheng'- Music-Maker for the Miao People zt Speaking as a Chinese Christia;r 36 Medicql Science The Arts Two noted French physicions wiro come recentl, to Marvels Done in Dough 29 Chino to ottend the "Sino-French Medicol Science Painter Situ Qiao as I Knew Him 44 Fortnlght" wrote on their impressions, ond on some prospects exchonges. Situ Qiao and His Works 46 results ond of ocodemic Poge 18 First U.S. Worhan in Bei.jing Opera 51
Across the Lond Journey to the Xisho A Thousand Giant Pandas 20 !slqnds Visit to the Xisha lslands 22 Our Four-Hour Stop in Taiwan 34 Present circumstonces, history ond beouty: o Tangerines of Xuefeng 54 firsthon'd report. The Day Lily Comes Back Home 58 Poge 22 Historic Guanzhong Plain 68 Columns ond Speciols Cartoons 10 A Christion Speoks Philately in China 56 Our Postbag 61 Bishop Ding Guongxun, on cfronges in Chino's Pro- Chinese History XXIV - testont thurches during the Ming Dynasty: 2 - Foreign Relations 66 post 30 yeors, ond on the Language Corner: desire of the counttyts Lesson 21: lmperial Palace 71 Christions to run them well ond to friendly FRONT COVER relotion equolity, Rare species of sea cucumber peculiar to the Xisha with fo ligionists. lslands Liu Chen Poge 36
Edltorlol Ollice: Woi Wen Bullding, BelJlng(37), Chlno, Coble: "CHIRECON" Beijins. Generol Dislribulor: GUOJI SHUDIAN, P.O. Box 399, Beijing, Chino. hinese Youth Toda
ZHONG PEIZHANG
Young geologicll surveyors. Tian Ping A youth loading team on the Shanghai docks commcnded as an advanced collective. Xinhua
HAT about Chinese youth in should be grcat diversit.y am()ng dencies to rowdyism, the results the present era? In the the youth. Nevertheless, a m..\in oI the atmosphere cleal,ed by the 1950s China's young people were tendency can be dlscerned. gang of four, and re-cskrbli,shing characterized by revolutionary It first surfaced in the popular' a willingne.ss to studv hald to enthusiasm, dedication and disci- demonslrations irl, Tian An Men master modern scietrce. pline; and in the cultural revolu- Square on Aplil 5, 1976 to com- o Young workers have become tion of the 60s by the Red Guard memorirte thc late, ftentier Zhou an important force in many work "spirit of rebellion." Where are Enlai. llhe.se demonsl,ration.s were units as the veteran.s re'ach retire- today's youth headed for? Are really a Shrrw o[ strength against nrent age, Last year 7 million of they, as some say, a generation the gang of fr.rur, who had grabberd thern were placed in jc.rbs. They whom experience has taught to a lot of power in the Cornrnuni.sl zrre doing their share in mzrking think for themselves? Or are they, Party ancl governnrent.* t\ glerit rrp frlr damage to the national as others call them, the "wound- many of the denronstrators wcre (iconomy during the decade of ed," or even the "lost" genera- young penple, Their revolr-rtionary r 966-76. tion? Are they typified by the action marked the beginrring of r Attitudes of serving the peo- few that strike one on big city the end for the gang, wl'tttse pler, ht-.lping olhers and being pr:lite streets by their avid copying of downlall cirrne tht' follorving ;rnd disciplincd ure again rccom- western styles of bell-bottom Ocl,rlber, menclcd behavior, even if still not trousers and imported sun glasses? Since I976 l,hert'c has bor'rn a universally complied with. Or by the juvenile delinquents stetrdy pn)cess of rc-evaluation r>f These .strands comprise the whose stories appear in the press the ideas promoted over several main tendency among Chinese from time to time? Such ques- years by the gung and by Lin youth, despite any others present. tions are asked by people both at Biao before them, and China's They reflect their strong de,sire to home and abroad. young peoplc have shared in it. create the democracy and China's young people today For thcm the re'sults have been: advanced culture one expect.s in a display many tendencies. They r Seeing through the blind socialist society. This is the way are quite different from the youth cultism, demagogic words and dis- today's youth can continue the of the 50s, or of the Red Guard torted ideas about .socialism pro- cause of their predecessors. movement. The years since 1976, moted by l.he gang. and cmbarking covering the downfall of the gang on a search for the truth and ways The'Advancing Generation' to develop socialist democracy and of four and the discarding of their Today's youth are deeply in- policies, to modernize the country. extreme are for China a fluenced by what happened in the point, o Repudiating the idea of look- historical turning in which 10 years of turmoil during the it is not surprising that there ing down on education and ten- cultural revolution. In promoting I their ideas, Lin Biao and the gang ZIIONG PEIZHANG is a vice-director See the article "The T'ian An Men of four misused the political of the newspaper Chinese Youth and itr Incident in 1976 A P€.ople's Revolu- charge of research for the Communist tionary Movement"- in China Recon- enthusiasm of the yqung people of Youth Leagre. structs in E ebruary 1979. that time, the elder brothers and
SEPTEMBEB I98O &4@ 6 * They are sensitive to new things. not content with things as they are; they want change. TheY are dead set against the kind of cul- tural autocracy and restrictive policies pursued under the gang of four; they feel they are entitled tr-i a better lif e, both materiallY and culturally. TheY are eager to Iearn, and want t0 know about the world outside and build con- tacts and friendship with the people of other counlries' Today's youth are the mosl enthusiastic force for social advance. Actively suPPorting the Chinese Communist PartY's Pre- sent policies, theY are willing to work hard and exPlore the un- known in the cause of moderniza- tion. They are u'iliing to break through the trammels of conven- tional ideas. Zhao Le,zs-year-olcl assistanI technician iu Shanghai Teleconrrnnnication llarintr time there are Cable Bureau, one of the many-young people wlro arc becoming the technical At the same mainstay as veterans retire. Xinhuo some who raise questions like: sisters of today's youth, or in some Since Braduation from Jiangsu Asricultulal College in 1918 Qiu Taiping (right) China has been uolking on improving the bl'eed of cases young people. from Yangzhou in souiheast of these same sher:p in 'Iihet. 'Shtr 1'r' Thousands of politically enthusias- tic youngsters were duped by them, and this collective ex- perience has left a deep scar. The policies pursued by the gang left this whole age group "iN ' ill-educated and closed off from important knowledge about the world. They are keenly aware of the wide gap between their pre- tui": paration and the tasks they must face. China's low-level economy, still undergoing readjustment, can provide no quick soiutions for many problems affecting their lives college enrolment, employ- ment,- marriage, housirtg and a richer cultural life. Greater con- tact with things abroad is giving today's youth broader vistas, but has made even more apparent to them the gap between China and the economically-developed coun- tries. This is a factor for greater maturity, but also creates a more complex psychology. They are politically-minded and look for- ward to China's modernization, and they are realistic in that they will not tolerate empty slogan- eering. They want to seek the truth and think independently and will not be talked into accepting anything easily or blindly.
4 cHrNA iltBCONStnucrs Which is better, socia-lism or capi- Discussions Show Morality talism? Wherein does the su- periority of socialism lie? Such Two widespread discussions this questions are in reality a repudia- spring give some insight into the tion of the empty socialist mood of Chinese youth today. rhetoric young of Lin Biao and the gang of four Jiang Xue, a man from Shanghai wrote and show that today's youth to the newspaper Chinese Youth saying that he had sincerely desire genuinely scien- found he had an illness which had tific solutions under socialism. left him incurably paralyzed. He At the top level, China's leaders felt that because of it he should are analyzing the experience and break with the young woman he lessons of the past thirty years of had been going with for the past socialist construction in China, in f our years. He couldn't decide order to develop guidelines for what to do, and wanted to know modernization in China's own what the editors thought. Pub- way. In essence this process is Iished, the letter provoked a lot of going on at the grass roots too, comment and brought letters and the questions of the young from over 6,000 readers in two people reflect this. At any his- weeks. Some expressed concern toric turning point it is inevitable for Jiang Xue's health and that some people should be con- happiness and urged him to have fused, but as a whole it is correct the confidence to fight his illness. to describe the present youth as Some sent him medicines or re- an advancing generation. commended doctors who had had good results treating paralysis. Some rural readers sent packages Dealing Yang Nunye (left) has been praisetl in with Delinquency of peanuts and dates. the press for her decision to marry Xue Xianzheng lrrho bccame disabletl as a Juvenile delinquency in China On the crucial question, qirite praised result of injuries while defending has in recent years been higher a few his noble spirit, but Chiua's border witb Vietnam. Xinhua the majority said that though he than in the 50s and early 60s, meant well, they thought he giving cause for concern, Yet the was underestimating his sweetheart. rate in China is still much lower selflessness: no matter what peo- Many young women wrote that a than in capitalist countries. ple did, even in their everyday girl who really loved him would though maybe be In China, juvenile crime is not work, they not give him up. Some people objectively working for the com- a consequence of the social system advised him to maintain the re- mon good, they were really onlY legacy years but a of the ten of Iationship a little longer in the out for themselves. Yet, she was countrywide turrnoil. It will re- hope a cure might be found, but quire unwilling to accept this, and both ideological education in the end to break it off if it wanted to know why things and solution to problems proved of school incurable. seemed to be getting more and enrolment, One thing almost writers employment and all the more hopeless. praise- better recreational facilities. In agreed on was the Such spiritual scars are those worthiness personal the past two years great efforts of the love borne by many of her generation. between Jiang Xue and his have been made to save young Yet, within three weeks the offenders. fianc6e. Such human feelings had In many neighborhoods magazine received more than helping been sneered at for a whole hands have been stretched 20,000 decade when ultra-Ieft ideas Ietters in response to hers. out to them through "help and Only a very few either totally education" groups involving the dominated. Another letter, in the May agreed or disagreed with her. Communist Party and Youth._ About 95 percent of the writers League organizations, par- issue of Chinese Youth Journal, . schools, said that they could understand or ents, the police, retired workers was from Pan Xiao, a young woman of. 23. Hardships to her share her feeling, but did not and local housewives. As a family during the cultural revolu- agree that life was becoming more result of their efforts, a good tion, retaliation from factory hopeless, and hoped that she many petty thieves and young a head she had criticized, lack would get over her low mood. hoodlums have turned over a new of opportunity for further The discussion of her letter leaf. Some. have even become schooling love shows that youth model joined and a broken today's are re- workers or the affair had led }rr:r to conclude examining the meaning of life, the Communist Youth League. Such that things were not as she had worth of the individual and the results illustrate the superiority of been taught. Everybody, she now tasks of society in preparation for relations between people under felt, was essentially out for self assuming their own historical socialism. and there was no such a thing as role. D i SEPTEMBER T98(l Young People Tell Personal Plans * A Poll ot the Shonghai Shipyard JIN GONG
HAT is your personal plan Concern for material welf are Occupationally, 45 wanted to for the next ten years?" was was shown in roughly 100 an- find work more in line with their the question put to young work- swers; 58 people wanted a pay- interests. Personally, 18 young ers at the Shanghai Shipyard this raise soon; 31 to get a comfortable people answered that they want- spring. flat: 28 to buy a set of modern ed to find an ideal spouse and The shipyard has 3,000 young furniture; 18 to save some money. have a happy family life. Some people. Of the 292 approached Such desires, as dressing at- hoped to find a bosom friend. including 3 Party members and tractiveiy or sampling f amous A few aspired to f1y to the - wines, and delicacies 226 League members one third teas other - moon on a spaceship. were women. Each was- asked to once ridiculed as a sign of vulgar question- give three answers anonymously. and'individualistic' inclinations D)ESIDES filling in the were longer considered in-- LD nsi1s, some wrote more ex- In all, 650 replies were received. no decent shameful and so were plicitly what people they The largest category, numbering or kind of reflected in some answers. wanted to be. One young man said, 174, showed the respondents want- Revealed was a variety of in- "I hope to become a person who ed to learn more and raise their terests as regards spare-time knows both how to work and to abilities. Among 107 plan- them, activity and recreation. Fifty-four enjoy himself , has good morals ned to reach the level of senior workers hoped to learn skills such and good manners and does his graduates middle school or college as tailoring, knitting or TV as- share for the country and society." through study at night schools; 9 sembly; 30 wished to go in for Other such statements were, "I aspired to be creators and in- arts such as music, calligraphy or do not want to dilly-dally through ventors in science and technology; photography; 76 to tour China and life." "I am determined to spend 43 wanted to learn one or two visit scenic spots; 21 to go on a more time in study." t'I want to .languages. foreign To broaden trip abroad; 13 to learn dancing, contrtbute more to the people and their cultural horizons, 13 of the skating or swimming; 21 to im- nation." workers planned extensive read- prove their physiques, some pledg- Were there young folk who did ing of well-known Chinese and ing to stop smoking; 6 wanted to not hope for anything at all? Yes. foreign works of literature. Two develop their hobby, stamp col- One wrote frankly, "I doh't have were interested in deepening their Iecting; 9 to keep diaries. any plans. I just want to drift thought processes, Iearning some- As regards politics, 48 workers along." thing about logic and psychology, hoped to qualify for the Party or The results of the survey and exploring man's inner world. the Communist Youth League. aroused widespread attention and
Young workers can upgrade themselves through study as in this shipyard class in electrical engineering.
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CHINA RECONST&UCTS with 8,600 sq. meters of floor space built. But in the ]ast three years, the investment was 2,550,000 yuan, enough for 25,000 sq. meters. newlyweds got ; r':_fui"tH"YlA,qr Many new apartments in June when 10,000 sq. meters of new housing were assigned; more will move when the 12,000 sq. meters Plan- ned for this year are completed. In spring, the factory orlanized a touring group for those who want- ed to sightsee. Six hundred work- ers, mostly young people, visited nearby famous scenic cities like Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Yixing. mHE measures taken at the I Shanghai Shipyard are broad- Shen Longcai (ccntet') of the hull shop, the innovator. Iy representative of the situation in many places in China. Nation- interest. The newspaper Chinese sult 60 percent of the Young wide, 280,000 young people are Yctuth commented on them under: workers have reached junior high studying in classes given by the the heading "May your dleams school level, an increase of 25 per- Central Broadcasting and Televi- come, true!'', saying that with the cent over 1979. More and more sion University. Students attend- exception of a few, most of the de- are going to senior high school ing classes in factory-run colleges to sires expressed by the young classes. This year over 1,000,have and spare-tipe coileges amount given par- Housing (including people were reasonable and been the chance to 580,000. in technical hostels) built last year covered a legitimate. ticipate in rotation courses leave from floor space of 60 million sq. practicable, the training with Wherevel work. The most hardworking and meters, 66 percent more than in Shanghai Shipyard has taken successful get early promotions in 1978. Many young people who measures help young peo- to tht wor,k. are conscientious in their work, ple realize their wishes. It has To help improve living condi- technically skilled and making organized 266 classes - evening. tions, construction of new housing good contributions have been part-time or with full leave from has been put high on the list. In given promotions and pay raises. work. from elementary to senior the ten years from 1966-1976 the Some have been sent abroad for high school level for technical shipyard.:s investment in new further study or training after and cultural subjects.- As a re- housing was only 640,000 yuan qualifying in examinations. D
Shanghai Shipyartl has a swimming-pool, but better re- creational faeilities are high on the list of demands of young motivation to study. people everywhere. Photos by Zhono Xiangdong w. : !:: ,lrt: "".Jt, @'rN ;A i*;
1980 Reform of a Young Delinq uent
YOU YUWEN
Fang Wenxing on the job at the Tianjin Streel Cable Plant.
I S the train approached at high wounded in the War of Liberation. to rise to various posts, what / r speed, a young man in his His mother worked in a govern- reason was there for us to study twenties threw himself across the ment-bffice. In primary school or behave? From then on I became tracks. Another young man stand- he had been a good student and one of the chief troublemakers in ing nearby pushed him aside just Ieader of his Young Pionepr group. class, throwing chalk at the teach- before the train roared past. At- But a negative thing was that like er, singing rowdy songs, getting tempted suicide at such an early some other children of cadres, and into knife fights. When I was age? No, merely a show of bravado particularly as the only son born to expelled from school I thought by the first young man, whose fairly old parents he had been in- that was just fine because now name was Fang Wenxing to im- dulged too much at home. nobody could stop me from doing press gang. his He had built it up How did he go bad? Young what I wanted." and become its leader by being the Fang himself, now a worker at a Neither his father's nor his most daring, the toughest. Once steel cable plant, explains it this mother's pleading could make him he had grasped a red hot poker way: change. Once when young Fang without uttering gang's a cry. The "During the cultural revolution was taken to a hospital with an code was that of the ancient we stopped attending classes. injury from a fight, his mother, "brotherhoods" of China's feudal Social order was shattered. The driven to the brink of insanity by outlaws absolute loyalty to each students lined up in factions which worry, begged the doctor to give other to -the point of death. brawled with each other. Whoever him an injection that would end That was what Fang Wenxing was tough and beat up more people his life. was like in 1971. A hoodlum noto- rious was regarded as a hero, so I began throughout the city of Tian- doing it myself. The first time I He Called Him Comrade jin, he had a record of some 200 beat somebody up, with a dummy After Fa-ng was released from street fights (sometimes five or six hand grenade, I was worried that his second spell of labor educa- a day) in seven of the city's eight I would be punished. But at the tion in 1979 he got work as a districts, and 60 arrests. To show same time I thought my parents bricklayer at Steel Cable Plant their disrespect for authority his would cover up for In fact, No. gang me. 2 in Tianjin. Within 20 days took to snatching caps off nobody did anything to stop me. he had a record of four new fights. people's heads and he had been On the contrary, the boys respected One day he overheard someone caught at it 170 times. He had and feared me all the more. saying that he wasn't going to be served two terms in education- "When I was in middle school kept at his job Iong. Though this through-labor camp for a total of the gang of four, through the was in fact untrire, he flew into years. four newspdpers and other media they a rage. Without permission he Fang's family background was controlled, made a big hero of a Ieft a rush job he was doing re- good. His father had joined the character named Zhang Tiesheng pairing a boiler and charged into revolution as a boy and had been who turned in a blank examina- - a meeting being held to educate tion paper, claiming he was defy- new workers in revolutionary YOU YUWEN is a staff reporter for ing the old school system. If that ideals. There he was confronted China Reconstructs. made him a hero and helped him by 25-year-old Bian Fenggang, a
8 CIIINA RECONSTRUCTS deputy secretary of the plant's hour. When he left Bian gave deal with young people who had Communist Youth League branch. Fang three new pamphlets writ- been influenced by the encourage- "A1I right, you'll bave your ten for young people on current ment to beat, smash and loot that chance to say whatever'you want ideological problems. Fang not came from the gang of four and to. Let's go somewhere and talk only took them but picked uP a their like during the cultural this over," said Bian,. beginning to hatchet and smashed the scraPer revolution? These young people, Iead him toward the plant's into several pieces. The two shook and the attitudes they took had security office" Fang punched hands. become a real'social Problem. asked to Bian in the face and broke two of The next day Fang Bian felt that the Youth League make a self-criticism at a meeting his teeth, branch at the plant had stressed Bi.an remained calm, which in- of the workers. When he was praising advanced and furiated Fang al1 the more be- finished, Bian was the first to aP- the PeoPle picking good examples, Yet cause he felt Bian was doing it to plaud and then many of the nobody had paid much attention L deliberately embarrass him in Youth League members came uP it In the to these others. The worst of public. He picked up a stone and to shake Fang's hand. Pre- often years Fang had been was that the League Pro- was about to heave it at Bian's vious eight joining even some one stopped him. meetings be hibited them from head when up before manY to social activities for kill you ." Fang's This normal open "I'll 'uvere criticized and denounced" young people. To get a fuller view parting words to Bian. was the first time he had been gathered of Fang's past record, Bian sPent That evening he eight applauded. He could not keeP weeks talking to young men in his room. They the next two back the tears. Fang's family and to peoPle at his were about to go the plant to to the education- find Bian when, somebody knock- school and at Also a Victim which he ed door. came Bian through-Iabor camp to at the In not he alone himself. For a long time Bian had been had been sent. "It's to that's blame for his crimes," Holding a kitchen knife to pondering the question: How to Bian's head, Fang aimed the sharpened end, of a ?-inch scraper against Bian's chest with his left hand. The others in the gang had 1 ., l,\ guns, which they pointed at Bian. i ::# i The scraper began to poke a hole in Bian's shirt. ' "Comrade Xiao Fang, I've come here to talk with you. I want to help you." Fang slowly let the scraper drop. For the past eight years nobody had ever called him comrade. His gang called him "Elder Brother", h- but in the feudal manner that meant that he was boes. The police, his neighbors and even his mother just called him a hoodlum. Now here was Bian, whom he could not help respecting for being even more fearless than himself, talking to him as an equal and of- fering help at such a moment. Young Fang,- after all, had been brought up in the healthy socialist atmosphere of earlier years. There was something in him that re- sponded, something deeper than his recent self, Fang told his gang to leave and sat down to talk with Bian. The latter. told him that both the Youth League and his co-workers wanted to help him. If he'd only change he, too, could have a bright .future. They talked for over an SEPTEMBER ,1980 Bian began ,,yes, to think. he bosorn friend. "I'11 die for you if when he thought of his talks wiih harmed others and was a menace necessary." Bian. IIc 1:ut down his fist, but. to society, but he was a also "Let's cut out this brotherhood overPorr"'ered by the feeling of victim." loyalty," ,,We Bian smiled. are being rvrong€d, couldn,t go on He concluded that Fang had friends still comrades. That's working and sai down disconso- some good potential. For instance, why we should help and show lately on the bridge near the plant. his boldness and strong feelings. concern for one another." Bian hurried to the scene. He did If only they could be turned into Fang moved into the plant's not criticize Fang. He praised him constructive channels. also single men's hostel and shared a He f or not losing turned room with Bian. his temper arrd up a fact that really im- urged him to finish the job. pressed him. One day Fang had Succeeding in his effort to do come across an peasant The Last Blowup old sitting many good things, Fang began to beside the road crying and mut- The news oI Eang's change show signs of conceit. Once when tering. Asked what the was spread on wings through the plant. a shop needed painting, Fang matter, the old man said he had He soon began to do extra work volunteered to do it singlehanded- just had 300 yuan stolen from around plant the on his day off, ly, which wasn't necessary. The him. It had most likely been lift- and was the first to volunteer.When for Youth League branch decided its ed by one of the gang, Fang the tedious and jobs. dirty members would all work together reasoned. Soon he found the he learned that the mother of one ,'Don't on the job, and that Fang could youth and scolded him. of his co-workers was ill he you remember work with them. This made Fang that we swore not mailed the family 30 yuan from furious" to steal from workers and peas- his savings. "They still don't trust me." ants?" Recovering the money, But it was not all smooth sail- he thought. Bian Fang returned it to the old man ing. One day as Fang pushed a talked to him again and and helped him to the railway cartload of bricks under the took some of the blame on himself, station. scorching sun, he got into a row saying that his constant praise with Old Wang the gatekeeper be- of Fang had contributed to the latter's shortcoming. A Step Back carxe he had forgotten io bring new This his pass. It was a rush job and impressed Fang and he went to Fang join the painting. Recently Fang A few days after Fang's self- thought the keeper, who -was criticism the plant purchased a knew him, should have let him cited as a pace-setter and through anyway. model in eeonomizing material at load of fish to be divided up ('Don't among the workers. Bian had you tell me what to do," work for the whole city of Tianjin. heard that Fang's mother was ill. the old man said. "Everybody At first Bian had wanted Fang, Fang was dway that day, so Bian knows what kind you are .', as part of his progress, to break asked the kitchen to cook up his Fang flared up, "You old off all relations with his old gang. own share and that of another bum . ." Another worker, think- Then he found that Fang's change branch secretary and sent them ing Fang had returned to his old was having an influence on them ways, punched with Fang's share to Fang's house. went up and him. too. They have committed'no new That night many things passed Fang was about to strike back crlmes slnce. !, through Fang's mind. He thought of the harm he had done to society over the past eight years and the CARTOONS strain he had put on his mother. Tormented by such thoughts till he could stand it no longer, he rushed into his mother's room and threw himself into her arms, crying bitterly. "Ma! Ma! I've done so many bad things. I thought there was no hope for me. But Bian has been so good to me. I've made up my mind to turn over a new leaf." Embracing him, his mother said, "You'Il never understand hou, worried I've been. But if you can change, Smoking is suicide. I'1I die happy.', Liu Yong The first thing the next morn- ing Fang looked When wiII this be mod- up Bian to thank ernized? Wang lrugang him. He said_ [e wanted to be his
10 CHINA RECONSTRUCTS fibout ousing in China Today
FANG JINGGEN and CHEN RINONG f N China's cities, new housing lem. A 1977 survey of 192 cities cent of total spending for capital r for 4 million families (56 mil- found an average of only 3.6 construction. Between the 60s and lion square meters) was built last square meters per person. One- early 70s it accounted for only 4 year alone, a rate of construction third of the families lived in con- to 7 percent. Construction of re- unparalleled in the nation's ditions that are clearly crowded. sidences dwindled to almost noth- history. As much or more new Many young people were delaying ing during the ten years of the this housing may be finished marriage because of lack of a height of influence of Lin Biao year. place to live. and the gang of four, who paid the countryside. many In There main reasons for little regard to the needs of the millions of families have moved are two this. shortage, economisf s say, people. After their fall, however, into new homes since the proportion con- Eirst, the rapid growth of China's the of capital Iiberation, and most of other-s struction funds put into housing urban population. In 1949 only have had their homes renovated climbed rapidly as follows: it was people cities or rebuilt. Although rural housing 50 million lived in 6.9 percent in 1977, rose to 7.8 were is in general not as well built or and towns. By 1978 there percent in 1978 and reached 10 equipped with facilities as that in twice that number. So despite percent in 1979. Much of this the cities, the homes often have the very large number of new money is allocated to factories, more space. houses built, urban living ipace schools and other places of work It is in the cities that . living per person today i.s smaller than to build housing for their workers. prob- space has become a serious in the 50s. They are also encouraged to do so Second, outlay for housing con- with their own funds. In 1979 FANG JINGGEN is l reporter for Xin- hua News Agiency. CEEN RINONG is struction has been insufficient. the latter type of expenditure o staff reporter for Chino Reconstructs. In the 50s it accounted for 9.1 per- reached 1,540 million yuan in the
Planniogt urban construction for Beijing. -i '' .-e .'
j,.. . -r;.
?r.'; * \i cities, and constituted a ttrird oI socialist transformation of 1956 rent apartment buildings. But the total spent for urban housing many houses owned by big real- one-story farm cottages are still eonstruction in the whole country. estate owners were bought by the the majority. These are financed This two-pronged approach has government, so exploitation and owned by the families them- indeed provided more housing: through high-rents was ended. selves. 120 million square meters have Reconstruction of slum ar€as been built in the last three years. began in the big cities soon after Getting An Apartment Furthermore, encouragement liberation. How this happened in How housing allocated a and help is given to workeis and section is is a of Beijing was vividly big question, complicated the other city dwellers to build their described by in the play Dragon- present acute shortage" People own homes. Over 14,000 residents Beard Ditch by the late well- in Fuzhou, Fujian province, for who want more room, or young known playwright Lao She. Con- getting instance, have done this. In ad- couples married and want- struction of large-scale urban ing housing apply to their places dition, in Fuzhou and elsewhere, housing projects began after 1953. quite of work. The request is consider- a few families and relatives A total of 580 million square of overseas Chinese have bought ed by a committee composed of meters (accommodating some 40 workers' representatives and one or built housing f or themselves million families), has been built with remittances from abroad. of the leaders. After each case in cities and industrial and min- has been carefully investigated, Private ownership of houses is ing protected areas since the liberation in housing is assigned in the order specifically in the 1,949, In the rural areas, as a re- Constitution" of urgency. When many apart- sult of the development of pro- m,ents are Standard designs for houses and being allocated at the duction and raising of income same apartment buildings, recently ti.me a tentative plan is after the collectivization of ag- posted for public comment. made available, take into account The riculture almost al1 the old hous- final decision suitability conditions, rests with the to local ing has been either repaired or leaders place economy and looks. Most of the of work. of the rebuilt, with brick houses gradual- This method generally apartments have bedrooms, is fair two ly replacing those of mud bricks. and reasonable. a kitchen and toilet, and a floor But there have been cases where those charge, space 45 50 square meters. in of to Low Rents workplace Five or six-story walkups are or leaders, have grab- the bed more most common. Some high-rise Housing in the cities and towns than their share of space for themselves, relatives or apartment buildings (10 stories or is generally government-owned. friends or for someone who has bribed more) have been put up in a few Rents are low with slight varia- them. When found out, of the big cities. So Chinese tions according to space, quality such of- far fenders architects can't and location, and they have re- are severely criticized and agree on whether sometimes punished. such construction is suitable for mained the same throughout the What happens wide use. years. In Beijing the charge is when a family increases, f instance a 0.16 yuan per square meter in an or when child is parent Improvement over Past apartment building and 0.12 yuan born, or an elderly moves The in a one-story house. A young in? tenant can apply Building efficiency has been for more room as described above. couple with a combined average raised with new techniques and But if there is a reduction in materials, Though quality income of 110 yuan per month is still pay family size, as when a child mar- low and facilities somewhat lack- will about 4.50 yuan, or four ries percent of and leaves, the family is not ing, the housing picture is incom- their income for a two- asked room apartment to move to smaller quarters. parably better than 30 years ago. of 25 square And in the event of changing In the past, the great majority of meters. Before liberation 20 to jobs or retiring from work? In 30 percent the working people lived in small of urban family earn- general the tenant can continue ings went r.ent. rundown shacks, some even in for living in his old home if he or she Iow, damp mud huts or shelters Some believe the present rents wishes. Sometimes people wish made of straw mats. Rents were as too low: that they do not cover to move closer to the new job. high and a heavy burden, par- the cost of maintenance which is If the new workplace has no ac- ticularly in a metropolis like done at no charge to the tenants. commodation, they can register to Shanghai. In the countryside This view was raised at a recent swap apartments at housing ex- landless peasants were often meeting of economists and au- change centers operated by the forced to live in brokendown thorities on rent policy. No con- housing administration in large temples or literally didn't have a clusion was reached, bui it was cities. These put people who wish roof over their heads. agreed that rents exceeding eight to exchange apartments in touch In the land reform in the late percent of the family income with each other. If both parti,es 40s and early 50s extra housing would be a burden to the tenant. agree, they can swap. Last year owned by the landlords was par- This question is still being studied. such centers helped 17,000 families celed out among the poor peas- In the rural areas, some com- in Beijing obtain housing more ants. In the cities, during the mune brigades have built low- suited to their needs. tr t2 CHINA RECONSTBUCTS Residential building under construction. Liu ( ltr'tr Ltnl \it' ,Jtrtt Signalling the crane operator, part of the Chinese city scene.
Welding together prefabricated sections. lliutrq Hongrurt to their jobs. Thcy or:crr[,./ r)hr large room on the west wliictl irt Jian Lanhua's request was sub- divided into two smaller ones. with a total of 22 square meters. A small window has been cut into the west wall. She and her husband sleep in one of the room.s which is about filled up by a double bed, wardrobe, several trunks and a sewing machine. The two daughters sleep in the other, which the family also uses for dining. On the cupboard An old residential area in Bcijing. stands a l2-inch black-ancl-white television. Her husband, an elec- trician, had built it himself. Jian Lanhua told me that the couple's combined wage was not high, only 100 yuan, but rent was The 'Sguare Gourtyard' 0l ()ld Beiiing very low, only 2.46 yuan. "Of course two rooms are not vety much for four people," she said, RONG.YEN "but we're better off than some of the neighbors."
Tf] HOUGH many new multi- another in the northwestern The Housing Problem r storied apartments have been Beijing. The first, at No. 23 built in Beijing, "home" for a little Qijing Lane. was built many Housing, or rather an insuf- more than half the population of years ago as a private residence ticiency of it, is thus clearly a problem the city proper consists of a few and is occupied by six familie.s in Beijing. This i.s lec- rooms in a traditional one-story numbering among their working ognized by the city administration. "square courtyard" (siheyuan in members an electrician, driver, Along with new constluction. Chinese). This consists of rows of bus conductor, policeman, teacher they are trying tr> make better use rooms enclosing the four sides of and office worker. of existing living space. Soon a courtyard where an old tree or Behind the traditional red- after visiting Jian Lanhua's home, talked Baoqi, 48-year- two usually provides shade, and painted double doors, a pas- I to Zhu :r flower.s may be grown. For cen- sageway led into the courtyard. old mason who has been pralsed such tht' turies. such has been the typical This did not look very spacious for effolts as head of Niujie Street Housing Of fice. Beijing residence for a middle because two of the families had Zhou class household, comprising sev- built small lean-tos off the in the district where the family He rnosl ril eral generations. This form of northern and southern rows of lives. said thirt housing, with entrance through the rooms to serve as their private the one-story buildings in his areir had nriike all southern row, provides some shel- kitchens. Yet pots of flowers been renovated to rooms Extensions ter against the city's cold and crocheted cotton curtains con- liveable. iutting northwest winds. Traditionally, tributed a homey look. As it out into the courtyards have been the row tacing south toward was daytime, everybody had gone built on over 300 houses, increa.s- ing floor space 400 familio.s. the courtyard and thus most to work or school except an old for As residential distlicts. warmed by the sun, was where woman who was listening to for new the head of the family and his girl Beijing has built many r-rl' thcnr in the radio, a reading in her past wife lived. The rooms along the room, and a woman worker just the three years. In l9?9 east and west sides the housing with 2.6 nrjllion square were for ready to leave for shopping on her sons and meters of floor space an all- daughters. The fourth day off. Sbe was Jian Lanhua, row, with high windows time high for one ye.ir- was toward about 40 and when I told her -- the street and a sunless northern completed, providing housing for what I had come for she made me exposure was used kitchen, 52,000 families. Ten neu' for welcorne and showed me around of the storage and, society, projects large. in the old the house. housing are rather servants' quarters. including a complex of 29 apart- Now, instead of accommodating Jian Lanhua's Family ment buildings of ten to 14 slories one household, such courtyards just south of , Tian An Men are shared by several families. I Her family of four had moved Square, with acconlmodation f or visited one in southwestern and there seven years ago to be closer 9,000 families.
SEPTEMBDR I98O 15 Neighborhood Renewal An interesting job of neigh- borhood renewal is going on in the Beiyingfang residential area northwest of the city. The one- story houses there had originallY been military barracks during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), and after its fall became the dwellings moving to the city of laborers && i.rl. from other parts of the countrY. Beginning in 1949 the government spent tens of thousands of yuan annually to keep the old houses habitable. But they were still old and barrack like. FinalIY, in 1976, the city decided to pull them down and build new ones by stages. Till now 13 new apartment buildings have been put up, providing new homes for over 300 families. The day I was there a truckload of furniture was being unloaded before Building 26. East of it. construction was still going on. To the west, some of the old one- story buildings were still being New Rural Homes lived in, and quilts were sunning in the yards. Among the new tenants in LIU CHENLIE Building 26 was the family of Tian Xiu1an, a 57-year-o1d retired woman worker. She was moving IUMINYING village on the sible by the advance in its agricul- apartment 56 square T I into an with I plain of Daxing county south ture. Over the past few Years meters of floor space, much more of Beijing doesn't look the way it the commune members have than the two rooms, totalling 28 used to. The three-storY adminis- levelled most of their 133 hectares square meters she had left. tration building of the commune of arable land into paddy fields. "Now we have three bedrooms," production brigade of which it is As a result grain output has she said. husband and I will "My part stands out ProminentlY. jumped to 7.5 tons per hectare, 0.1 facing south. sleep in the biggest Around it are neat rows of one- ton above the target set for the my three sons and one One is for story cottages. The willow-lined area with a resulting increase in We have a for my daughter. straight road running through the both individual family incomes kitchen and toilet to ourselves and center is brightened with glassed- collective funds. hallway is wide enough to and the brigade's the in stands displaying photo exhibi- New housing had top prioritY for serve as a dining area. The rent tions and current newsPapers. the additional money. is not high, only 6.83 a Yuan Lining it are stores, a bath hPuse, 1975 the brigade's leaders month. We can well afford it on In a kindergarten, a primarY school overall plan for both combined income of 150 drew up an our and a clinic. If it were not for included yuan." housing and roads. It the wheat fields melting into the two l2-meter-wide thoroughfares A lot of the new tenants are edge of the'village I would have shop assistants, drivers, nurses, intersecting in the center of the thought I was in a residential new Liuminying, and four resi- teachers, cadres and workers in section of small town. a dential sections to be built one construction and other trades. On people LiuminYing have The of as old housing investigating I found that the rebuilt village after another the completely their In the average floor space per person from the former mess of dilaPi- on them was demolished. three years followed, 186 was 7.1 square meters comPared dated farmhouses scattered haP- that well as some to an average of 3.2 in their old hazardly between crooked rutty houses were built as accommodations. For them it is a lanes. This has been made pos- factories and buildings for com- big improvement. But over- munity use. mainlY cramped housing is still a concern LIU CIIENLIE is a staff rePorter The houses are financed for a lot of Beijing people. D for China Reconstructs. by the families themselves and
16 CIIINA BECONSTEUCTS Peasants' new homes in Liuminying village ln Daxing county, Beijlng municipality. Wang Hongrun belong to them when finished. house. Construction took three posit 90 yuan with the brigade to The brigade supplies manpower, days. The builders were credited cover manpower costs. provides bricks from its kiln at with work points for which they Iow cost and lime free of charge. will be paid when the brigade Better Than Before Water comes to each household distributes its income. Sixty-one-year-old Wen- from a water tower built by the The Liuminying produetion Zhao yuan is full of praise for this brigade. Each house also has a brigade is an advanced one. It is He and his welL rather an exception at presbnt in method of building. that it supplies the labor for new family have a house with seven rooms sufficient for the old The House housing. That Zhang Built couple,- eldest daughter with In most cases the entire cost of their Zhang Jincheng, 49, is one of building is borne by the family her husband and two children, the villagers with a new home. itself. The nearby and four unmarried daughters" Qinshuiying is fronted by a big courtyard His family of nine lives in three production brigade is an example It peach, plum, pear, sets of rooms, all facing south and of this, full with locust and poplar trees and flower opening out onto a long enclosed Before liberation 1949, in in beds. courtyard. Each set consists of Qinshuiying, only a few landlord Over a cup of tea Zhao told me three big rooms, averaging 22 peasant or rich families had how the four rooms on the north square meters per person, eight houses of bricks with tile roofs. had been built in 1963. He had more than in their old house. The Most houses were of mud bricks. had to spend a lot of tirne gather- central room of each set, which Now ther.e are 250 tile-roofed brick ing materials and rounding up s€rves as kitchen and dining room, houses 202 in this brigade of friends and relatives to help, has two built-in cookstoves. The households. were Forty of them While the work was going oD, smoke from passes them through built between L977 and early 1980. good meals, drinks, cigarettes and flues under the kang (brick plat- Eloor space averages about 18 tea had to be provided for the form bed) in the two rooms on square meters per person (the builders. Those four rooms had either side and keeps them warm. total is 18,750 square meters). cost him 1,300 yuan, about half Zhang and his wife and his 70- Before the commune brigade of whicl.r he had had to borrow. year-old mother live in the center developed its present system, each It took all of the family's savings set. His eldest son and wife have member family had to bear the for the next three years to pay the west set, neatly-furnished with expense of building all by itself. it back. a wardrobe, sideboard, nightstand, And land for new construction Knowing that they wanted to square dining table and several was not used in a planned way, build three more rooms on the chaiis, a wooden trunk, sewing as houses were put up wherever west, the Zhaos led a frugal life machine, desk clock and transistor there was space. Beginning in for many years to save money radio. The third set of rooms is 1977 planning was introduced. for the construction. Their plan reserved for Zhang's second son The brigade asked members was finally realized in 1975. Had when he marries. who wanted to build new houses the new system already been in- The total cost to Zhang was to hand in applications and par- troduced then, they would not only about 1,000 yuan, since he ticulars. After these were ap- have had to skimp and savelo used some materials from the old proved, they were asked to de- much or wait so long. tr
SEPTEMBEE 1980 77 Chinese tlledicine Through French Eyes
E. LAFONTAINE and L. LEGER
TYIE came to China at the head program to modern medieine (i.e. perimented with the technique W of a delegation to the France- known in China as "western me'd- and reported our results to the China Medical Fortnight - March icine") and to traditional Chinese National Academy of Medicine of 30 l"o April 14, 1980. The delega- medicine. In a country as vast France. tion was composed of 14 univer- and populous as China, the med- In their essay, published to- .sity and hospittrl medical doctors ical structufes can hardly cor- gether with ours in the Presse from Paris specialists in sur- respond to those of the West. In M€dicale (August 30, 1975. pp gery. opl-rthalmoltigy,- rheumato- China's countryside the "barefoot 2027-2026), Rabischong and his Iogy. cardiolc,gy, hematology, pe- doctors" are indispensable auxilia- colleagues studied the physical diiitrics, phalmacology, and so on. ries. Before and even during and histological reality of the lLr Shanghai and Beijing we vi.sited hospital service, they provide acupuncture point: they found hospitals, medical schools and re- simple. natural and inexpensive minimal cutaneous lesistance, .sealch institutes. and held a series treatment which produces no side which permits electrical pr 1B CHINA RECONSTNUCTS to organize a six-year cycle of studies in French, the first year to be devoted to obtaining a work- ing knowledge and proficiency in the language. France will not remain indifferent to this develop- ment, which she both applaud.s and hopes to assist. Re-implanting Extremities Re-implanting extremities is onc of the activities of the,Sixth Peo- ple's Hospital in Shanghai. At a conference in Kyoto (JaPan) in 1977, Professors Chen Zhtrng'- wei, Qian Yunqing and Yu Zhong \ iru-Premier Deng Xiaoping nre€ts Louis de Guiringaud, honorary head of the reported that among 438 such Frcnch Medical Delegation. First left is the head oI the tlelegation, Prof. Lucien I-egcr. Zhao Tianpin operations made between Januar;' 1963 and June 1976. success wi)s lcctcd irnalgesia transfelence by the originator of the technique, attained in 83.2 percent ol thost' perfusing the cerebral ventricules Prof. Shi Jixiang, was elected a involving the limbs and 57.5 pet'- of a receiver rabbit with cephalo- member of that academy, which cent for fingers. This last figurr' rachidian liquid from a rabbit considers itself honored to have a has been improved upon and analgesized by acupuncturb. corresponding memhr in the Chi- raised to 92.3 percent by the use. This reference to the modest ef- nese People's Republic. since 1973, of microsurgery. As a forts in Francb might seem pre- We learned that the Ruijin result, 34 percent of the patients tentious in relation to the country Hospital is attached to the Second have been able to go back to thcir 'uvhere acupunctuie was born. The Shanghai Medical College, succes- former work, with con-rplott'ol' excuse may be of fered that we sor to the Department of Medicine almost complete rcstrtlalion ol' wish to show the interest we feel at Aurora University, historically sensation. And we rvelc ttblt' t,r in the woll< r;t our Chinese associated with Erance, which was see a film that letraced tht' c'1;it colleagues. itself founded in 1907 around the stories of severely injured cirst's. Hospital Sainte-Marie. Tkris medi- transported to Shanghai. fit'st b1' Trealmcnt of Severe Burn Cases cal college has retained a sizable small boat, then by trains irtrd orr nucleus of French-speaking doc- the last lap by medically-cquipl-rt'cl The Rui.jin Hospital in Shanghai tors. It plans, in the near future, aircraft. ha.s had. since 1958, a department for severe burns under the charge French ophthalmology professor Daniele Aron-Bose visits a pathologl' r('s('llttlr of Prof. Shi ,lixiang, assisted by lab in Beiiing's Tongren Hospital with hosDital vice director and prolossr)r ol' a remarkable team. Five thou- ophthalmology Zhang Xiaolou (first left), Ye Jrttt sand burn patients have been suc- cessfully treated. Twenty recover- ics have been effected in patients with burns exceeding B0 percent (third-degree burns 50 percent), and five in subjects with third- degree burns on 90 percent of the skin's surface. The principal therapy consisted of the excision of scar zones after a few days, followed by applica- tion of perforated pigskin grafts and, the orifices perfora- at of the wv tions, autografts taken from the 'i! surface of the patient's scalp, which is often undamaged. Since they are extremely thin, such autografts may be taken again at the same location every five days These altogether remarkable ilesults were reported to the Academy of Surgery of Paris. And SEPTtsMBER T98O The application of micro-surgi- humanist, a man of action, a phi- the practice of medicine, the sym- cal techniques has brought about Iosopher, an aviator and anti- bol of brotherhood across the new progress. Among the exam- Fasci,st fighter in World War IL world? ples are: Is there any better meeting We are fully convinced that Reconstruction of an ampu- ground than that of science? Or these cultural exchanges are the tated thumb by graftirig any better medium of understand- best cement of understanding and on the second toe, ing than the one that unites us, peace between peoples. tr Installation of a digital pincer after loss of a hand, Vascular and cutaneous grafts, Pandas Fibula bone grafts with A Thousand Giant immediate revasculariza- PRELIMINARY national survey carried on since 1974 has tion. established that at least a thousand giant pandas now exist in China. Friendly Ties To protect the country's most prized animal, the giant panda, ten special nature preserves have been set up. Eight are in Sichuan We knew to start with that we province in the southwest and two in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces would learn much during our stay in the northwest. The three key ones are in Foping (in Shaanxi), in China. We were not disap- on the Baishui River (in Gansu), and at Wolong (in Sichuan). They pointed. are administered by the Ministry of Forestry and supported by the We were struck by the quality state. The seven others are run by provincial governments, which of the work of our Chinese col- also set up their respective administration organ. Different protective leagues, the exactness of their measures have been adopted to prohibit capture and hunting of giant reasoning and the clarity of their pandas and other rare animals and to protect the natural environ- expositions. We were captivated ment for the giant pandas. by the excellence of the results In May this year the Wolong Nature Preserve received the first obtained with a great simplicity group of foreign scientists from the World Wildlife Fund. They of means. .This contrast must be were Invited to China to help with the designing of a research center emphasized in an era where all for the protection of giant pandas. Peter Scott, president and founder countries in the world are worried ,of the World Wildlife Fund, was the leader of the group. He is a by the increasing cost of medical world-renowned British natural scientist and painter and himself care. In a country like France, designed the emblem of the WWF, which features a panda. tr where health expenditures equal or, since 1978, even surpass the entire national budget, China's 1. Foping example is worth thinking about. Foping county We believe that young French 2 Baishui River doctors should be sent to China for Wenxian county 3. Jiuzhaigou training, so that they may benefit Nanping county f,rom the knowledge of Chinese Shoonxl 4. Wanglsng medical men in these matters. I Pitrgwu county a\ xi'.tr In an original fashion, our work 5. Tangiiahe sessions were conducted in the $o 0inochuan county form "exchanges" which 6. )(iaodni:igou of in Beichuan munty specialists from our two countries 7. Wolong successively set forth their cer- Wenchuan county tainties and also their uncertain- "@ 8. Fengtongzhai ties on a given subject. This work @, Baoring county T g. lvlabiandalongding in common, these modest reports, Mabian county appear us more chonsdu sichuon to fruitful than Q|, 10. iilsigudalstrgding er cathedra discourses which are Meigu couoty always incomplete. In addition to our gains in science, we had the opportunity in these days of making new friends. "Compel them to build a tower together, and you will turn them into brothers. .." said the late Location of the llature Preserves of the Giant Panda Antoine de Saint-Exup6ry, the French writer who was at once a 20 CHINA RECONSTRUCTS with holes produced better tones than those without, the craftsmen incorporated them into the instru- ment. To this day, rats are re- vered by lhe lusheng makers. Yearly Competitions Lusheng competitions are a tradition among the Miaos. In the Rongshui Miao Autonomous County in southern Guangxi, for instance, they are held annually on the 16th of the first month and 15th of the eighth month by the Lunar calendar. The contest be- gins with a grand opening cere- mony. A muzzle-loader gun is fired thrice. An orchestra beats gongs and drums. Competing teams from the surrounding vil- lages march one by one into the field, led by a respected village elder holding a banner. Then A girl sits ,by the window, pipes of different lengths, each follow a dozen or so oI the village's la. sngpe55ed in her embroidery. with a brass reed inside, affixed to most beautiful girls and, finally, Suddenly the soft, melodious a long mouthpiece. The instru- the l"usheng players themselves. strains of. a lusheng, a multiple- ments could be anywhere from 20 They circle the ground three times, reed wind instrument made of centimeters to as much as 3 meters then line up in rows. bamboo, float in from the moonlit long. Their timber ranged from Next, each team forms a circle" night. Recognizing the tune or loud and sonorous to soft and PJ.ayers with smaller instruments, the way it is played, the girl sweet. Modifications in recent decorated with colorful pheasant springs to her feet and runs out years have increased the number feathers, surround the banner and to meet her lover. This often hap- of pipes to eight, eleven or sixteen; the bigger lusheng. The leader pens in villages of the Miao na- and of notes playable on it to eight plays a series of melodious trills tionality in southern China, where instead of the former five. Tonal as a prelude and then springs into fhe lusheng plays such an impor- range and temperament are much the air. Immediately the whole tant role in the people's social life. improved. team strikes up. At the height of The instrument is also popular Miao iegend claims that the the competition, each team tries lusheng was a gift from the gods. among other nationalities such to outdo the others in sheer - Grandpa Gudi, ancestor of the as the Dong, Shui and Gelao but volume of sound. The contest is - Miao nationality, is supposed to nowhere so much as among the not only musical but one of Miao have ordered a fine craftsman to Miaos. Practically every stamina. play Almost make the first one in conformity knows how to it. - To be the first team to enter the every Miao village }ras a lushmg with instructions giver{ by the gods to the spirit Midi. As to the field was traditionally supposed to orchestra and a special place for ensure good crops and healthy dances its music. It is played muSic, says the legend, the gods to livestock for its members. So the at festivals, weddings, funerals. It taught it to Midi during three order of precedence was taken is heard during the slack farming divine days and nights, said to be very seriously so much so that seasons and in breaks in the work- equivalent to three years and in the old days- it often caused ing day. Young men use it to three months by earthly feuds between villages: Today the serenade their beloved. reckoning. Another legend relates that competitions are held under the In the old days a lusheng used there were no holes in the first sponsorship of communes and pro- to consist of five or six bamboo pipes. But once a pipe was acci- duction brigades. And the se- dentally put in a pile of uncured quence among the YI SU is a member of the research rle- is arranged gartment at the Ceniral lnstitute for bamboo and gnawed by rats. participants through friendly Natiotralities in Beijing. When they found that the pipe discussion. tr SEPTEMBEB I98O 2t Uisit to the Xisha Islands TANG ZHONGPU (^INE can go [o the Xisha silvery oval of a sand cay. It was \,, (Paracel; lslands in the South the northernmost of some 30 China Sea by sea or by air. islands and reefs in the Xishas. B.y ship, it is 20 hour.s from After another 15 minutes, several Qinglan Harbor on the east coast more islands came into view from of Hainan Island to Yongxing north to south. From the air they Island. the capital of the Xishas. were breathtakingly beautiful. No By air it is a l',2-hour flight from wonder poets have described them Sanya. as a string of pearls in the South China Sea. A View from the Air At 11:50 a.m. the plane landed on Yongxing. I went by helicopter. We flew I found there new cream- -fi.-"" F':r at 1,200 meters. White clouds colored buildings amid , green ,:".:"-,o:e :...... " i'l' r:' ' ' ' :.: j:1.: floated in the distance. Below, the coconut groves. They include ,i;r:.#.1r,',,.,1 '" crystal-clear sea glittered under party, government and army the sun. offices.' a department store, l-igttf,oore distinguishes nr rrrr,r"rt"a "North Reef !" someone sudden- bank, post office, hospital. weather bit of coast. Xla Ming ly .shouted. Reneath us was the station, club and guesthouse. Cargo ships vessels and naval moved the round-the-island came newly- on TANG ZHONGPU is a staff reporier in and out of the road. for China ltccolrstruels. dredged harbor. Motor vehicies Prefectural Capital Harvesting giant sea cucumbers, Over a five-story building near :-iii'-i.,. the south coast flew our national tlag. It housed the people's gov- ernment of the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands which admin- sa. isters all China's islands in the South China Sea. Under it are of- fices for exploration and develop- ment, protection of natural re- sources, material supplies, welfare, public health and security. Major local government deci- sions in recent years included sorne aimed at protecting the natural beauty of the islands. Vice-Chairman Fu Guohai, a man in his fifties, told me that they used to export guano nitrat€ deposits accumulated from- the droppings of sea birds, used for fertilizer. But ceaseless digging for guano, on a.surface only 6 meters above sea level, threatened the island and its beauty. So the local government banned the ,n CHINA RECONSTRUCTS Stone tablet commemorating the recovery of the Xisha Islands by Chinese naval forces, erected on November 24, 1946. Pisonia forest on the Xisha Islands. |, ifroung brown boobies. i# ! - Bdachcombing for birds' eggs. Artists from the mainland per- Seamen at supper. forming for the naval units stationed on the islands. A corner of Shidao Island r-i 'r f: 'f, digging of guano and dissolved the "Are there so many fish to eat in geology, soil, guano and company engaged in it. my hometown?" phosphate deposits. In the new An afforestation group has "Or so many beautiful shells," China, scientific investigation has planted 20,000 trees on Yongxing said another. accelerated. Recently several Island in recent years. OnIy some "This is our territory," added a groups from the Oceanographic tropical trees of little economic third. "To guard these islands is Institute under the Chinese value had grown there before. to guard our homeland." Academy of Sciences and from Now coconut, banana, jack fruit, Newcomers to Yongxing usually the Marine Life Museum in the papaya, Ioquat and Masson's visit ,a memorial stone com- seaport city of Qingdao. Shanclr,ng pines have been introduced. It memorating the recovery of the province, have come to study the was a hard job to establish them Xisha Islands by the Chinese secrets of the sea. Plants of the in this place of coral and sand. Navy in 1946. They were Xi.sha Islands and Soil of the soil and fresh water all Saplings, invaded and occupied first by Xisha Islands are among China's be brought from the had to France, and then by Japan in the recent scientific publications,)n mainland. In addition, sugarcane, 1930s and early 1940s. The Chi- the area. sisal, corn and many kinds of East Island, the second-Iargesl nese government recovered them vegetables are being successfully in the Xisha group, is an especially in 1946 after Japan's defeat and grown on Yongxing. According to rich site for studies of tropical life. surrender. a botanist, the variety of plants Approaching it, was fascinated At one time during the Vietnam I on the Xisha Islands now numbers by the multi-colored coral reel 200 tenfold the War, three islands were occupied more than - flashing in the sun through the number Darwin found growing on by the South Vietnamese regime 6 transparent blue sea. Ashore of Nguyen Van Thieu. In January comparable coral reefs in the were lush green forests of Pisonia 1974, the invaders were driven out - Pacific. "This is because of the trees and communities of sea after a sea battle in which naval hard work put in over a long birds, the best-known being the forces of the Chinese People's time by the Chinese people here," brown booby. Young boobies are Liberation Army one enemy he observed. The vice-chairman sank covered urith snow-white fluf f. entertained me with a big fresh warship and damaged three more. while the adult birds, about the coconut. Its sweet, refreshing More recently, the present Viet- size of a duck, are dark brorvn juice made me appreciate all the riamese government, to serve its with a white belly and have red more the miracle wrought by our own ambitions and those of its webbed feet and green bills. people's diligent labor. social-imperialist backers, has During the day they hover in made unwarranted claims cover- flocks over the sea, catching fish Part of Our Territory ing these islands. This, despite the and shrimp. At dusk they return fact that its own leaders, maps Engineer Yang, a young man to land to perch in the Pisonia and textbooks had in the past re- who had come in 1974, had helped trees. Hunting of rare species peatedly design and build the main pro- declared them indis- is forbidden. The rule is en- putably jects on the island, told me about Chinese. China, of course. forced by nature conservation them. The military defenses are will never cede her territory workers who patrol the f orests nearing completion. Many new here to anyone. Earlier this guarding against any damage to houses have been built for army- year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry plants and animals. published men and local residents. A new a document reviewing lighthouse guides ships away from a host of historical records and Islands Were Always China's facts proving China's historical the reefs. A control tower on East We left East Island for the sovereignty over the islands. Island serves airline traffic. Yongle Islands in the west of Soldiers and sailors from all the Xishas. Zhongjiang (Triton) parts Scientific Surveys of China are posted on Island abounds in top shells. Yongxing and the other islands. Chinese scientists have stepped hence also named "Top-Shell They can be heard speaking on virtually every coral reef and Island". The main i"slands are dialects from all over Sichuan, - roek in the Xisha Islands. Before Guangjin (Palm), Shenhang (Dun- Hunan and Hebei provinces, the founding of the People's Re- can), Shanhu (Pattle). Ganquan Shanghai and Beijing. public of China in 1g49, teams (Robert) and Jinyin (Money) Asked if he missed home, one of scientists from the mainland islands. They are scattered close sailor from the mainlarid replied, came periodically to study their to one another in the shape SEPTEMBER 1980 27 This shows that the Chinese peo- ple knew them well 1,000 years ago. On Shanhu Island I found a small temple built of coral rocks. Inside are a stone statue and in- cense burner, exactly like those in small temples built by fishermen in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties along the coast of Guangdong province. On Ganquan Island a dwelling site dating from the Tang (618- 907) and Song dynasties was ex- cavated in 1974, yielding a wealth of porcelains as well as iron choppers and pots. bird bones and shells and charcoal ashes Ieft over after cooking. In the one-meter-thick coral sand on Jinyin Island well-preserved porcelains of the Qing dynasty were found. Shenhang and Guang- iin islands yielded copper coins of the Song and Ming dynasties. These relics indicate that the Chinese people were the first to come to develop the Xisha Islands. Today China's naval f orces stationed in the islands of the South China Sea are both defend- ers and builders. Making their homes there, they have erected Unloading materials for expanding the harbor. dwellings that can stand typhoons as '"rrell as barracks and strong fortifications. They are sinking of a horseshoe facing the south. As early as the Song dynasty wells. planting trees, opening The water in the bay is several (960-1279) the Xishas were official- vegetable gardens, raising poultry meters deep, while outside the ly named "jiuruluozhou" (Nine and livestock and beautifying the depth reaches over 100 meters. Top-Shell-Shaped Isles), an apt landscape. The once desolate We landed at every island. description of their topography. islands are full of life. D Navy men after work. Young trees for windbreaks. {\'tiA CIIINA RECONSTRUCTS Morvels Done in Dough TAN MANNI The Goddess of the Luo River rftANG SUGUO chooses a gob to be popular, r and still today in figurines he sculp[s now constitute from a trayful of colored the lanes of Chinese cities one a school of plastic art in their own dough and between greased palms can come upon a group of right. rolls it into a ball the size of his children clustering around the Tang Zibo's innovations included thumb. Poising it atop a bamboo spread-out wares of an elderly doing away with the strings and splint, he presses it into shape folk artist, surrendering their the splint traditionally and affixes bits of black and pink used to precious ice-cream-treat money hold the dough figure shape. paste with a blade made ox in of for an irresistible dough chick or He also devised horn and a set of facial features a method of mix- rabbit. At the same time, the ing preservatives pigments emerge. He winds sliver of and a best works of Tang Suguo and his with the rice black dough into the high coil of and wheat flour and father, now collectors' items, cost steaming it so that the figures, an ancient hairdo, . adding tiny flowers made in his palm. After a fortune. So closely ha's the once dried and hardened, would craft become associated the body and limbs of the with these keep their shape and color figurine are built around the two that they are rarely known without eracking or fading and, splint, he begins to clothe it in by their given names, but only as encased in a glass case, last a very thin layers of dough, starting "the Doughmen Tang." Iong time. Along with the usual from the skirt and working up to bright colors of dough toys, he the outer robe. A wire coated Doughman Tang Senior used the dre pigments of Chinese with dough becomes a long flying painting to produce subtle hues of scarf and soon the Goddess of the The son of a docker and brick classic elegance. He would fix Luo River, a famous beauty of carver, the elder Tang was born tiny pieces of gold or silver, par- Chinese legend floats gracefully in the town of Tongxian, east of ticle by particle to the dough to before us, Beijing. All sorts of artisans create the effect of embroidery. Tang Suguo is engaged in the frequented the town, which was SiIk floss often supplanted dough ancient art of dough modeling. It the northern terminal of the for the hair for a more realistic probably came into being for Grand Canal. As a child selling Iook. making effigies of demons to peanuts in the market, Tang Zibo He greatly enriched the subject be destroyed. Earlies! reliable was fascinated by them. He did matter of dough sculpture by ex- evidence of it dates from the Han not let poverty stop him from tending it to well-known charac- dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.). In developing his talent. At the age ters in Chinese literature, operas the Song dynasty (960-1279) it of 12 he could copy the works of and Buddhist stories. His versa- was used for pastry decoration local masters of traditional paint- tility enabled him to portray in and toys. Later the custom arose ing with such great fidelity that depth the spirit of these charac- of using all kinds of objects made he was taken on as a pupil. From ters, as well as true-telife expres- of dough as ritual offerings to the them he learned to draw figures sions and natural movement. dead. and flowers in the ink wash Groups of mini-figurines set in It was also the art of Tang technique of the rie yi (expres- nutshell are another of his inven- Suguo's father, Tang Zibo (1882- sion of the spirit) school. On his tions. Inside half a walnut shell, 1971), who raised it from a folk own he studied Chinese literature, in one of his works, through a craft of toy vendors to a decora- calligraphy, seal carving and art magnifying glass one can find a tive art. The old craft continues restoration and later carried the famous stage scene with 18 principles he had learned into his scholars mounted on donkeys, TAN MANNI is staff reporter for chosen craft, which he developed each with a different expression, China Reconstructs. to a high level. The types of posture and attire. In the SEPTEMBEE 1980 29 Arts and Crafts. Many of his works were presented as gifts to jnternational organizations and foreign friends, and photographs of them were compiled into books. Second Generation "There is no limit to artistic perfection. Now it is up to you to develop our art further," Tang Zlbo on his deathbed told his second son Tang Suguo. Forty- year-old Tang Suguo has lived up to his father's expecta- tions and evolved a unique style of his own. The elder Tang started to teach his art to his daughter and three .sons when they were very young children. "Making dough figures, paper kites and lanterns were our pastimes," son Tang Suguo re- calls. "At the New Year we made 1'ang Suguo at work, puppets of donkey skin and put on a shadow p1ay. In addition to our homework, af ter school we background are rocks, a stream, His accumulated observations had to do exercises set by our trees, a bridge and houses. resulted in piles of sketches, parents in Chinese painting and among them a thousand masks of calligraphy. We had to memorize The Wandering llabit Beijing opera characters. To poems. On holidays Father would make his opera figures more take us to a temple or shrine By the beginning of this cen- authentic, he even moved his and give us a lecture on its tury Tang Zlbo was already family to a village outside Beijing Buddhist sculpture. We had to famous in Beijing art circles and where opera costumes were made remember the characteristic parts of ten a guest in the homes of and got his wife and daughter of the statues and be able to noted artists and scholars. His taken on as embroiderers in the recreate them in dough. dough creations had won acclaim workshop. Through them he "Once a French artist came to at home and abroad. Never- made a comprehensive study of visit Father. I don't know what theless, he continued as he had the patterns on these gorgeous he thought of the way we all begun, traveling over much of stage garments" stared at him during his hour's China peddling his folk toys His love for opera enabled him stay. But we knew that Iater we not to make a living but as a way- to capture the essence even of the would have to sculpt his head and to observe the world, study the different portrayals of the same portray his expression in as few people and their ways of living, character by different famous lines as possible." and tour legendary places and actors. This was borne out by the Of Tang ZTbo's four children, scenic spots. Temples, full of following story: Once Mei Lan- only Tang Suguo has stayed with images, were his favorite places. fang, the noted player of women's the craft. His sister, who had He used to tell how once, Iate at roles, saw a dough figurine of the shown even omore talent, died night, he came upon a deserted concubine in a f amous Beijing young. One of his brothers opted temple in the mountains, He opera scene doing her sword dance for atomic energy research. The slipped through the space be- for Xiang Yu, one of the over- other is an architect. But Tang tween the loosely-fitting double throwers of the State of Qin in 207 Suguo's nephew is now apprenr doors and climbed up onto the B.C. Immediately recognizing not ticed to him and working in his cobwebbed shrine. By feel he just the character but that it was studio. And the favorite pastime recognized among the statues a his own portrayal, he burst out, of his 11-year-old daughter is - rarely-found one of a warrior "That's me!" copying his dough figurines. Buddha. He spent the rest of the After the liberation in 1949 After his graduation from high night studying with his hands in Tang Zibo taught his craft at the school, Tang Suguo joined his the dark the way the figure was Central Academy of Fine Arts father in 1956, doing research at portrayed and clad. and the Institute of Industrial the Institute of Industrial Arts 30 CHINA RECONSTBUCTS Tang Suguo's figure "Zhong Kui EnrageC at His Bat', The Bodhisattva Guanyin with a fishing basket Buddha with the Long Brows. Scene from the classic drama ,,The Western Chamber,,. The beautiful girl is startled to see a young scholar. and Crafts. His works were Zhong Kui has become a symbol his chin flows right into his chest; displayed later at the Seventh for deterring evil, or for good his earlobes droop to his broad World Festival of Youth and luck" So the scene of him enraged shoulders; he has the rounded Students in Austria. and later in at his bat (the word has the same paunch dictated by tradition. His 1958 at an international exhibition sound as that for "happiness" in loosely-falling wide-sleeved robe of plastic arts in Moscow. By Chinese) used to be mounted over is formed from a single piece of 1966 he was achieving new artistic gates like a guardian god. dough. The few incisive folds on heights after six years of formal "The most important thing in the sleeves reveal at once the training in the western tradition modeling a dough figure is to violence of his movement and the of sculpture at the Central bring out the character's spirit, correct body proportions under- Academy of Fine Arts. The my father used to stress," Tang neath. Similarly, in the rie yi exquisite dough models which Suguo recalls. "Father had an (expression of the spirit) school ot axiom: The best figurine is one Chairman Hua Guofeng took with painting, the artist uses only a him as gifts on his tour of rt-estern in which from close up one can wash of ink and a few brush see the spirit, yet from a distance Europe last year were Tang strokes to show the way a person the whole bearing reveals the Suguo's creations. He now heads holds himself or the mood of a character. The eyes par{icular the dough sculpture studio of the in landscape. Viewed from a dis- convey the spirit, and the brows Central Academy of Fine Arts in tance, this enraged Zhong Kui is the mood. Both eyes and brows Beijing and was chosen to be a like a ball of fire, flaming with member are, as we say 'Iinked to the righteousness against the devils. of the select Chinese gave Artists' Association. heart'. I this portrait of the Other subjects for which Tang enraged Zhong Kui very deep eye Suguo is noted are his figurines sockets, the eyes rolled up Chinese PIus Western with of monks in meditation, stage showing a lot of the whites. This characters and Buddhist figures. Tang Suguo's own special style and the closely-knit upward- In depiction of characters from f ollows the family tradition of slanting brows bring out his western literature and contem- employing the techniques of Chi- indignation. The wrinkled, porary life, Tang Suguo has gone nese painting, as- upturned nose foreshortened to but also has is much farther than his f ather. similated aspects of western art, create a pleasantly ugly face. Among them are Othello, Romeo utilizing techniques and styles of Exaggeration of his beard blow- and Juliet and many figurines of great ancient and contemporary ing in the wind and of the hairs 'minority dancers. His "Seiji masters of European sculpture, bristling from his ears, conveys Ozawa Conducting" was a rare His own works very few more his perturbed state of mind." eye-catcher at an exhibition of his than a dozen centimeters- high To show the awesome air and dough sculptures last year. when studied in photographic- strength of Zhong Kui, Tang Viewers remarked. "If the Boston enlargements show the perfection Suguo has utilized the exaggera- Symphony conductor would run of life-sized sculpture, with ex- tion traditional in depicting war- across this figurine, he would pressive facial details and proper riors: .Zhong Kui has no neck, certainly exclaim, 'That's me!"'! proportion. His use of color includes ambient coiors and some- times hints of impressionist stylg Seiji Ozawa Condueting Othello which is a long way from tradi- tional Chinese painting or dough- '!ii,;il'i.j':ra craft. Tang Suguo explained his style using a figurine entitled "Zhong Kui Enraged at His Unpunctual Bat". It iilustrates an old tale. Zhong Kui, a legendary figure, took first place in the imperial ;,.ir. officers' examination but was re- fused a position because of his ugly face, which was deformed by . demons. He died of grief but his ea) spirit appeared to the emperor in a dream, still fighting the demons. He had tamed a bat to guide him in this task to which he had dedicated himself. One day when the bat did not show up on time he became very angry. SEPTEMBER I98O 33 Our Four-Hour Stop in Taiwon LI FURONG flN May 23rd after PlaYing in zhi, when three members of the "What forf What's there for a \J the Fifth Asian Table Tennis airport staff joined us. They spoke Chinese to be nervous about when Championships in Calcutta our fluent putonghua (standard Chi- he's on a part of China?" one of Chinese delegation was flYing to nese) and showed much interest our players replied. "Do I look Hongkong via Bangkok on Thai in everything that was haPPening nervous?" asked Huang Liangkai Airliner TG 610. Because of a oti the mainland, asking, for humorously. plane was unable to example, about people's incomes, typhoon the 'and Iand at Hongkong and had been housing conditions, Prices T EARNING that we had just informed by the airport control market supply. One even asked us I ' played at the Fifth Asian Table tower that it would be necessarY to how much a shirt cost. We were Tennis Championships, theY were stop over at the TaoYuan airPort all casually dressed; some wore keen to hear the scores. TheY in Taibei. Despite this unexPect- suits, others ordinary everydaY congratulated us when we told ed change, we felt quite haPPY to clothes. They were intrigued bY them that we had won the titles in have the chance to visit Taiwan. our clothing. One inquired, "Isn't all 7 events. We told them that "What do you think Taiwan is everyone on the mainland dressed mainland athletes were doing well like? It's a very beautiful Place, in blue?" in badminton, calisthenics, diving, isn't it?" Liu Yang, a 1?-Year-o1d We explained that life no'yv was men's and wornen's volleYball. girl player asked Zhang DeYing, much better than before, but our They also asked us about men's the oldest on the team. economy was still recovering so basketball on the mainland. A "Yes, it is," broke in a Thai the average standard of living on police officer who had come over Airlines stewardess who had over- the mainland was not as high as told us that not long ago a Taiwan heard her question. "It's some- that in Taiwan, but that our amateur baseball team had beaten times datled 'Treasure Island', and livelihood was guaranteed. an American team. Taiwan excels has a lot of places for sightseeing. The 30 years of separatiop Plus at basketball and ueiqi., he added. inter- Since you have this chance-a the harm done by distorted ProP- At this point our English said, "We hoPe rare one for you make the most aganda have resulted in lack of preter Xu Zengwu some of Taiwan's best teams of it." She invited- us to her home comprehension and even mis- that come the mainland for ex- in-Taibei if we were able to leave understanding. The Taiwan PeoPle will to competitions and we can the airport. We were warmed bY know little about us, and what we hibition send ours Taiwan as well. If her obvious sincerity. know. about them is also verY to there's about coming and hour we reached the Tao- Iimited. difficulty In an going, we have the comPeti- yuan airport on the northwestern One staff member asked us can tions in Hongkong." edge of Taibei. l'Bring your bats whether we were still using Pro- along," I cried out to my team- peller-driven planes on the main- mates, "If we get a chance to go Iand. I told him that theY were HEN a young woman of.2l al to town we'Il play an exhibition only used for short-distance,flights the cosmetics counter found match for our Taiwan com- within a province. Boeing ?47 jets out that Zhang Deying was from patriots." fly Beijing-Paris and Beijing- Shanghai, shc exclaimed, "Shang- We were led to the waiting Tokyo lines, and other Boeings, hai! My family's from Shanghai, room north to the airport where Tridents and IL 62s flY between too! My parents both lived there we sat down to beer, soda and big cities. 30 years ago, but I've never been sandwiches served by Thai Air: Our conversation attracted the there." lines. attention of the saleswomen at the "When you come to Shanghai counters selling duty-free cos- some day, remember to come to T WAS sitting with the vicehead metics, cigarettes and wines. At my home for a visit," Zhang De' I of the delegation, Zheng Min- first they just leaned over the ying said warmly. counters and listened. GraduallY The conversation went on until LI FURONG, vice-chairman of the they left their couriters and joined it was time for the saleswomen to Chinese Table Tennis Association, head- us. c\ange shifts. One of them, eil the Chinese Table Tennis Dele- "Don't you feel nervous here?" Huang Cuiyu had become engaged gation to the Fifth O.irr. 1r51s lennis just Championships in Calcutta, Intlia. one of them asked. to be married the daY before. CEINA BECONSTRUCTTS 34 scenic spots, or get the chance for a game of table tennis with Tai- wan players. But this accidental visit made us deeply aware that reunification of Taiwan with the mainland is the mutual desire of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It is our sincere hope that more contacts will be established between athletes on Taiwan and the mainland. The joint particiiation of both Taiwan and mainland track and field athletes in the track and field meet at Mt. San Antonio College in Tbe Chinese Table Tennis Delegation at Taoyuan airport in Taiwan. California in April was a good UPI photo/reproduced frorn the Hongkong Wen Hui Bao beginning. tr Offering us two "xi bing" (hap- piness cakes),, she said gaily, "I'rri really lucky to meet you today. Take these 'xi bing' and share my happiness." Zlnang Deying accept- ed the "xi bing" and wished her .,.,: happiness. A little later, the bride- "i to-be peeled two pineapples, sprinkled them with a pinch of salt and had them sent to us. Pineap- ples are a specialty of Taiwan, fg,-.' mous for their refreshing sweet- ness. We found their reputation well-deserved. The saleswoman whose family home was in Shanghai happened to be surnamed Zhang too. She gave each of our six women players a bottle of perfume, and opened one to spray a bit on them. Our men players were offered a Taiwan delicacy dried, preserv- ed beef. In return- we gave them the badges we were wearing from China's National Games. We also chinesp table tennis plaver chang Deying (seconal left) chats with a saleswoman took snapshots in the'airport. LIPI phr:to/repr*duceil the Hongkong together. , lrom Wen Hui Boo I T 6:30 it was announced that -a r we were flying back to Hong- -*i kong. We shook hands with them, reluctant to leave. We told them we hoped that they would come to the mainland some day to see mountains and rivers of our motherland, visit their kinfolk and see the birthplace of the Chinese nation. One airport staff member joked, "I hope there'll be more typhoons like this, typhoons that'll bring you to Taiwan.,, . It's a pity we didn't have enough time to visit some of Taiwan,s SEPTEMBER I98O $peaking a$ a Ghinese Christian K. H. TING r ti lr in which its citizens of manY na- n: I tionalities, majority and minority, $ and of all cultural and religious :. : backgrounds unite in the effort to overcome age-old backwardness and shortcoming to strive toward new heights. It is a countrY in which, for the first time in our history, the possibilities latent in human individuals are given oP- portunities for develoPment and fulfilment as we work together for socialist modernization. We are patriotic in the sense of not stand- #:;-rn+;';*" 1 ing aloof from, but with, our own people in their asPirations and yearnings for Progress to a great Bishop K. H. Ting (middle) and colleagues at Nanjing flnion Theological College future. discuss the new Chinese iranslation of the Bible- Ltrt Littang Chinese Christians have not ahvays been patriotie in the past' ChristianitY was introduced into is a good word. supremacists and the shouters ot China largelY at the time of a1AIRIOTISM economlc' -f gut it is in bad odor in some "my country, right or wrong" - western Penetration - countries. When our gr:oup of four who also invoke the name of diplomatic. military and cultural' spite of Chinese Christians visited U.S. patriotism. In that historical milieu, in indi- churches in September last year Well, we Chinese Christians the good intentions of manY and spoke about the patriotic feel- don't feel apologetic about being vidual missionaries, it was diffi- ings of the Chinese Christians, we patriotic. The reason is that the cult to draw a sharP line between dom- got mixed reactions. It made some country we cherish is a PeoPle's the secular drive for western good American friends think of the republic, the resulL of our people's ination and the religious move- chauvinists, isolationists, white- long self-sacrificing struggle, a land ment of western evangelism. The missionary movement did, in fact, have a denationalizing effect on Chinese converts' It alienated us Christians from the rest of the made us of Chinese peoPle and Prof. K. H. Ting, a bishop, is acting chairman strug- of foreign to our own PeoPle's the Three-Self PatrioLic Mouement Committee There were member of the Standing gle for liberation' Chinese Christians, a who could Committee of the Chi.nese National Polttical Con- even some Christians the soldierc sultatioe ConJerence and a d'eputy to the National pray to God to drown ArmY People's Congress. ln the 7940s h.e studied theol- of the People's Liberation ogE in Canada and the U.S.A. and.usas secretary when they crossed the Changjiang to oJ the World Stud.cnt Christian Fedetdtion' Return- (Yangtze) River in their advance ing to China, in 1951 he uas appointed. Principal victory in 1949. of Nanjing [Jnion Theotogical CoLLege. Since 7979 he has been deputy president of the Naniing Our "Three-Self Movement" IJniaersity and director of i,ts Center f.or Reh.gious Soon after the liberation in 1949 Studies. those of our Christian leaders who were the most aware started a movement to raise the soctal CHINA RECONSTRUCTS 36 lion Roman Catholics and seven out the impact of the three-self hundred thousand Protestants. At movement. the very least, the number has not decreased in the last thirty years. People's Right to Believe This could not have haPPened It is a policy of the People's Re- without a more favorable attitude public of China to Protect the Peo- towards Christianity on the Part ple's right to believe in religion. of our people at-large. For a grouP There should be no discrimination of Christians to work within Nan- agait'rst believers of any faith. jing University as its Center for Leaders of all religions take Part Religious Studies, with amPle oP- in the People's Congresses and the portunities for exchange of views People's Political Consultative Con- with non-Christian friends in this ferences, at the national, Provin- intellectual communitY, would cial and local levels. Jointly with have been quite unthinkable with- representatives of all other sec- A Sunday service in Beiiing. He An Baptism on Easler. IIe An and political conscience of fellow- Christians, and to make China's churches self-governing, self-sup- porting and self-propagating. It was through this movement that Christians in China became trulY I patriotic, fully Chinese. Through this "thrree-self movement" as we t" call it, Christianity in China has ceased to be an appendage to west- Bishop Ting (lett) in New York u'i(h Han Wenzao (middle) and Li Shoubao, two ern mission bodies and become, in other prominent Christian members oI the (lhinr:se religious delegation. the full sense, a Chinese religion which self-respecting Chinese citi- zens can freely embrace. In short, this movement is aimed at making the churches in China just as Chi- nese as churches in the United States are American and those in England are English. During the Iast thirty years, the churches in China have, for the first time in their history, acquired a Chinese selfhood, a Chinese identitY' This is the essential pre-requisite for any type of ChristianitY to take root in Chinese soil, and for anY Christian witness to be borne effectively in the new China. As a fruit of this movement, Chinese people in general have substantially changed their atti- tude toward us Christians. The number of 'Chinese Christians has been estimated at about three mil- SEPTEMBEB 1980 37 Announcing "Ghina f,econstructs" in Ghinese In response , - to suggestions and requests frorn overseas ,ffi' gly::,11d- 9H"o:..1i"i"e jfgnsto_ng and Macao, a ;,i,*t Chinese-language editioh of-in China Reconstructs will appear later this year. In its main content, it will conform to the editions in other languages. That is, it will report vividly and factually on China'b politics, social conditions, the iife ot the people, and the progress of the four modernizations, as well as education and the arts. And it will present historical subjects, and the splendid culture and natural To subscribe and receive beauty sample of China. copies, please write to our distributois, Other features, special to the Chinese edition, will GUOJI SHUDIAN include articles on tho ancestral areas of the overseas or direct to thern locate their Promotion Department reading habits of China Reconstructs be printed in the (Rates are the same as those for the in vertical lines. foreign editions) tions, they air their poli- views on world have been cooperating with life and work is being warmly cies both domestic and foreign. adherents of other religioni, and acclaimed. No one religion China in enjoys with atheists, for twenty centuries, We are aware that in churches any special position of preference. and in a multitude of ways. Why abroad, a small number of people Many of our revolutionary lead- should we now hold back? take a hostile attitude to the new ers are atheists but their faith- Sitlce the downfall of the no- China. They attack our principled fulness to the policy of religious torious gang of four with its un- stand on the "three-self,, concept, freedom is not hard un- popular to and bankrupt ultra-leftist and try to poke their hands into derstand. That they adhere to attempts to eradicate religion, our church life under the garb of atheism does not at all impty that. China is returning to the long- "evangelism," "fellowship', and their first interest Iies in making tested correct policy of religious "research". They are in reality every Chinese an atheist. Their freedom as laid down by Chair- trying to push Chinese Christianity first priority is to unite the whole premier rnan Mbo Zedong and back to the colonial past and make people, including believers, in a Zhou Enlai. We Christiaru, in all it bear once again the onus of a common front against backward- walks of life, can again practice foreign religion that make crypte ness in agriculture, in industry, in our religion and are doing our best westerners of Chinese Christians. science and technology and in na- to contribute to our country's four We trust confidently that these. tional defense, and in the com- modernizations. individuals will fail to win the mon effort to enable our people support of the majority of Chris- to live Our Strong Confidence better through achieving tians abroad. modernization in all those fields. Today, more and more churches With those Christians abroad For the sake of thib all-important are being re-opened. Regular Who assume an attitude of inity, religiorx faiths practices and theological education is to be equality- and friendliness towards are respected. caried on at our theological us, we are ready. to enter into We Christians don't have to college in Nanjing. Publication of normal Christian relations and fellowship. agree with others in their views the Chinese. Bible arrd other Chris- Ours is a small church. We have on religion and on Christianity. tian literature is proceeding apace. much work to do. We earnestly But we have elery reason to take , The idea of us having a national pray that a church our place within the uni'ted front structure devoted worthy of the to helping new China will soon rise and stand for national prosperity, which we, Christian communities ac:ross the solidly on the soil of our beloved too, long for. Christians in the country to strengthen their pastoral motherland. tr 38 CHINA RDCONSTiTUOTS yrir' Tongrentang's retail departm€trt in Beijing. Ancient lmperial PharmaGy-Jlow the People's YOU XIUAN and LIU HONGFA Dispensers weigh out prescriptions, T N the labyrinthine lanes of I the hurly-burly shopping district of Da Sha La, a tradi- tional market place of old Beiji.ng, stands the 311-year-old Tongrentang, once apothecaries to China's emperors. TodaY the shop is a busy state pharmacY. Its name, and many of its products, are known far and wide not onlY throughout China but in Southeast Asia and further afield. Interest is increasing as the medical world and the general public grow more aware of the side-effects of some modern "miracle drugs" anti- biotic or chemical and turn- back to re-appraise herbal- medicines, which are sometimes as efficacious with less risk. Strictness of Standards Tongrentang's reputation rests on the fine qrlitity of the large repertory of the medicines it prepares, compounds and dis- penses. Its formulas range from home remedies to prescriptions made out by China's famous doctors over the centuries. Many were once closely guarded court YOU XIYUAN is a correspondent antl LIU EONGFA a staff reporter lor China Reconstructs. SEPTEMBEB 1980 39 or family secrets, but no longer. quality, careTully selected and a binding agent and preservative, Today they are used in the 4g5 processed to obtain the maximum must originate in the nectar of the patent medicines this establish- therapeutic effect. For example, jujube flower of Xinglong county, ment prepares and sells to the the ginseng root which features Hebei province, or locust flower public. prominently in many of Tongren- in the outskirts of the capital and Another reason for Tongren- tang's famous tonics has to come or linden flower from northeast tang's fame is the high standard from one place, Jilin province, and China. Botanical sources of drugs and purity of its drugs and the ac- nowhere else. The root of the tree must be of the right variety and curacy and care that goes into peony must come from Wuhu in age. their preparation. Whether they Anhui province, the white peony In the old imperial days the shop are decoctions, pills, ointments, from Dongyang in Zhejiang prov- was always ensured of the best powders or pellets. the ingredients ince, Artgeli,ca sr,nensis from Min- raw materials by its patron, the plant, of animal or mineral origin xian county in Gansu province imperial court. They were collect- go which into them, are of the best and so on. Honey, mostly used as ed as needed by its officials and sent up as tribute. The pharmacy Patent pills are wrapped before leaving the pharmacy. also enjoyed a large annual sub- # sidy from the court. Such was Tongrentang's posi- tion during the Qing dynasty that business at the big winter and spring herbal fairs held in Qizhou (today's Anguo county, Hebei province) could not begin without the presence of its buyers, who would have first pick of whatever was being offered. Meticulous Work The old pharmacy's founder in the 17th century. Yue Zunyu, in- sisted that, "However complicated and onerous the processing, every I whatever the cost." It was a re- Medieinal liquor is made hcre. markable thing to insist upon in those days before the advent of modern science, and it certainly contributed to the efficacy of the pharmacy's products. Since Chi- na's liberation, when free medical care for government workers and industrial workers was introduced, the same strict demands have been maintained despite the im- measurably greater demand. To- day, there are scientists and lab- oratories to keep check as well as the experienced and conscientious staff. When the selected drug sodrces, mostly plants, arrive, they are carefully sorted and cleaned. Then whatever is unwa4ted is,removed by hand, and the resulting raw drugs are steamed, dried or other- wise processed for sterage. Tong- 40 CHINA RECONSTRUCTS *-t 6rx )L E Tongrentong Phormoceutiro! Fodory Trad,itional Medicfues Clwiffi Cqful proercshg HWh stnndnrils of purrty Products available for export through: China National Native Produce and Animal By-products Import & Export Corp" Beijing Branch 52, Xijiaominxiang, Beijing Cables: TUHSUBRAN BEIJING Meigltcilu Jiw (Rose Ltqtnr) ? - -II =.(D (Cl -CT la = El^ -. rD =:rh a- a E. - E. F}rL tt * *r (DiD E(D is Y.!- oitr vaE v,(D 134 Chifeng Road, Tianjin Cables: FOODCO TIANJIN, CHINA Telex: 22503 TJFDS CN rentang's traditional standard horn and bezoar among its active of fineness for powders illustrates ingredients, is recommended for the constant striving for consistent coma with high fever, convulsions therapeutic values even in the old and cerebritis. days. The selected raw ingredients are cut, crushed and ground. The Vastly Enlarged Clientele powder at the first sifting is passed through a sieve containing After the country's liberation 8,100 meshes to the square inch Tongrentang along with other with the requirement that everY private enterprises became at first 500 grams mwt not leave more a joint state-private and then a than 9 grams of residue. After state-owned enterprise. The owner further processing the' residue Yue Songsheng, a direct descend- must not be larger than 0.9 gram' ant of the founder, was retained .4, r'eteran pharmacist at lhe inquiries deputy counter gives advice to a client. as manager and elected ,by pharmacy. pl-totos Zhang Jingde Some Famoub Drugs mayor of Beijing. The which in 1949 had ppproximately prepared In preparing one of the Phar- 200 employees and and to go repeatedly to high banks of macy's "ten famous drugs," Tiger processed its drugs at the back of tiny drawers, take out the re- 147 Bone Wine, which contains the shop, has grown until today it quired quantity of each ingredient, constituents and is greatly produces active employs 1,600rpeople and weigh it by hand, bring it on the sought as an alleviator of arthritic 135 as much (by value) as 30 times makeup counter and then wrap up pains, 30 ingredients are first years ago, while maintaining its the compound. It also saves a lot steeped in alcohol made from sor- high standards. of time in filling prescriptions. ghum for ten minutes and then progress helped by the This was Besides making its medicines stored in a cool cellar for six research team in setting up of a availpble over the counter in most months. Bones from a tiger are 1952 help Beijing's with the of of China's pharmacies, Tongren- stewed over a slow fire f or 88 Professor mayor Peng Zll^en. tang runs a mail-order depart- hours, after which the gelatinous Zheng faculty of Qidong of the ment. Last year it received 15,000 material obtained is mixed with pharmacology the Beijing Uni- of letters which were often requests other ingredients, boiled for versity was direct re- the invited to for advice. In keeping with its ten minutes, then put into earth- This the search. led to establish- tradition, the shop has two veter- en jars, sealed and stored for at ment plant of of an extracting an pharmacists with a half a cen- least 12 months before use. Tongrentang's two years later. tury of experience on duty right Niu Huang Xin Wan, or Tongrentang's research Iabora- Qing by the door to advise clients. Chi- Bezoar Antifebrile Pills, prepared tory analyzes, isolates, identifies, nars traditional pharmacists are according to a dynasty court assays and concentrates the active Qing trained to diagnose and treat some prescription, are especially recom- ingredients of traditional medicines ailments. As a doctor must know mended by Chinese traditional with the result that many have the properties of the medicinal medical doctors for treating cer- now appeared ready-to-take in agents he prescribes, the pharma- fevers, facial nerve disorders tablet form instead of in bulk for tain cists must know something about and dysphasia. Among its 13 home brewing as in the past. Tong- the diseases. ginseng Plant active ingredients are rentang Pharmaceutical Despite the fact that there are bezoar and powdered ante- Chong Wen root, outside the capital's more doctors and hospitals, lope horn. gate is the largest in Beijing. And Chinese people still buy a lot Dan, Large Pills suburban counties, Tongren- Ta Huo Lo or in of patent medicines. the cities plant, In for Vasomotor Ailments, are tang has a bottled medicine many resort, for minor and chronic prescribed for difficulty in locomo a medicinal plaster factory which complaints, to tried and tested re- tion and backaches. is one of China's biggest and a medies in which they have confi- Shen Rong Wei Sheng Wan, or farm that raises som'e animals, dence. The practice of such self- Ginseng and Deer Antler Pills, are such as the deer, which provide treatment is still very alive in a wed to treat debility, lassitude, ingredients for traditional drugs. population which so recently had vague aches in legs and loin, loss Machines have begun to replace very little access to professional of appetite, amnesia and certain the manual work in the prepara- medical care. Traditional medi- menstrual disorders and premature tion of Tongrentang's medical cines, moreover, are seldom drastic aging. This prescription contain- products. 'Electronic equipment in action, very few are dangerous, ing 20 active ingredients was once weighs and dispenses some 400 of none are toxic, and side-effects a closely guarded family secret. the more commonly used ingre- are rare. Besides, the pharmacist An Gong Niu Huang Wan, with dients, saving much labor for the always tells the customer of any musk, powdered Asian rhinoceros staff members who formerly had counter-indications. tr SEPTEMBER 1980 43 Ihe Painter $itu Qiao a$ I l(new Him SHEN CONGWEN f MET Situ Qiao in 1923, the although they hadn't even started which I did. After cooperation be- I year after I came to Beijing to write. tween the Chinese Communist to enroll in Yenching University. Situ Qiao invited me to his Party and the Kuomintang broke Fresh from the countryside and room to look at his paintings. down in 1927 the situation in !Vu- eager to learn, I sought the com- Sketches and drawings were han turned bad. In 1928 and 1929 pany of my fellow-students. My tacked to the walls, Iay on the those of my acquaintances who first acquaintance was Dong Jing- table and covered every available survived the Kuomintang's mas- tian (also known as Dong Qiusi). space. I had no training in art sacre of Communists and progres- One day I came to his dormitory and did not presume to offe'r any sives gradually gathered together in the university (which in those comments. I was not much in- in Shanghai. Situ Qiao came too, days was situated near today's terested in still-lifes, but his figure with many of his paintings. Beijing Railway Station), and sketches fascinated me. AJI his In 1928 in an article entitled there I met Situ Qiao. An old characters were ordinary people, "Mr. Situ Qiao's Misfortune" I blue windbreaker with paint similar to those in my hometown wrote: "In present China, there is stains down its front was flung and so vivid in my memory. They not a single art that is not engaged were dear me because was casually over his shoulders. He to he in power struggles, hypocrisy, drawing exactly those I wanted to opportunism Where looked a bit like Haile Selassie, or trickery. write about the common place except that the emperor af- "low" is the for honesty? people. This- first meeting left me of prospects or of as- fected an pomp and "Devoid air of with a very good impression. I sistance, spends his doing majesty while he days Situ Qiao didn't Iiked his unaffected personality; I practical work spurned the care by what he looked like at aII, liked his pictures. socialites. When he runs rather 'astute' out of tune with the other In 1926 the Northern Expedi- out of paints he washes out what's Yenching students of that time, tionary Army was advancing vic- left in the squeezed-out tubes and who wore Western-style suits and toriously and many of my univer- he pawns any clothes he can among whom those majoring in sity acquaintances went to Wuhan spare to buy canvas. In spite of literature, in particular, tried to and Guangzhou to join the Great the difficulties he has created look like Byron. Some even kept Revolution. I stayed for a time in many good works. I am telling stacks of stationery printed with Beijing to continue my precarious everybody about his apparent the words "Poetry by So-and-so", existence as a professional writer. foolishness because if we believe I was just making some headway a better era will come and hope it SHEN CONGWEN, notett novelist and in my work and, when I was in- will come sooner, it would seem industrial artist, now works as a re- searcher in the Institute of History ot vited to Wuhan, I thought it would that more such fools are needed ihe Chinese Arcademy of Sciences. be better for me to go to Shanghai, in the arts to meet requirements. 44 CHINA RECONSTRUCTS "A bit of understanding, recog- against China, the Qinghua, Bei- silent protest against the old so- nition, and genuine sympathy jing and Nankai universities eva- ciety. I always admired his arising from such understanding cuated from north China to Kun- honesty and simplicity, a quality and recognition, a bit of hap- ming in Yunnan province, rare among the "artists" of that piness derived from them these continuing as the Southwest As- time. are enough to satisfy him."- sociated University. I went along, After many sufferings and set- At that time "artists" in Shang* portrait of me. found him- hai affected long hair, black West- taking Situ Qiao's backs Situ Qiao finally ern-style suits and scarl,e,t bow- OnIy after the victory over Japan self in the new China he had a]- ties; French styles were the eight years later did I return with ways longed to eulogize with his vogue. And only those who knew Beijing University. Situ Qiao came brush. Unfortunately, he died of the ropes and were agile socially back, too, and bought a tiny studio an illness soon after. His attitude got ahead. Situ Qiao's simple way at the foot of Xiangshan (Fragrant toward his work had alwaYs of ]ife didn't fit in with current Hill) in the western suburbs. I stimulated me and I am sure fashions. But I admired his prac- and my family went to visit him. more people will want to learn tical application rarely met with He had done a lot of work in the from him" In his lifetirrie he in those days and thus to be valued intervening decade. But what neither rode high nor achieved all the more. In my view litera- impressed me most was the fact great fame. yet he lives on in the ture as well as painting needed his such simplicity, honesty, unpreten- that he still kept his frugal and memories of people who knew tiousness and closeness to the com- diligent way of life. Seriously, worJh. The por-trait he drew of mon people, if they were to achieve wi.thout making any fuss about it, me disappeared during the tur- the progress they should. My fond- he lived among the common peo- moil of the cultural revolution but ness f or Situ Qiao grew into ple as one of them, depicted the th,e impression he made on me admiration. lowly and oppressed in their actual from the very first has not faded In 1933 I came back to Beijing life and on their behall voiced a and never will u from Qingdao University and met Situ Qiao again, He had married and was Iiving in Bingjiao Lane near the Shichahai Lake in the northern part of the city. After the great social upheavals our' reunion was all the more dear to us. And of couise I looked over his new creations. Although he had never had a quiet and settled life his painting had become more mature. A few days later he of- fered to make a portrait of me for a keepsake. For three and half days I sat for him in a corner of Beihai Park. He drew a half- length portrait about 70 centime- ters high in gouache, which a1l my friends praised as a good likeness in both form and spirit. He him- self was proud of it too. This was his fourth best portrait, he assured me, after those of Tagore and the Zhou brothersx. I was touched by his enthusiasm- After the Lugouqiao (Marco Drawn in Illness PoIo Bridge) Incident in 1937, which signalled the beginning of Japanese imperialism's all out war * Zhou Shuren (Lu Xun) and his brother. sntrnMsnn rggo 45 $itu Qiao and His llorks WEN QING qITU QIAO (1902-1958) was born in a poor fam- t,t ily living in Kaiping county, Guangdong prov- ince. It was in Beijing in 7924 that he decided to make painting his life-long career. An annotation on a self-portrait in which he depicts himself smil- ing on one side of his face and weeping on the other reads: "Go on painting with tears in your eyes, you fool. Spend all your life in the prison of art." , Neither poverty nor poor health he con- tracted tuberculosis at the age of 30 - could de- flect him from the path of his choice.- He studied in Paris and the United States, taking part-time jobs to support himself. He came back home after the new China was founded. For the first time he saw the oppressed people he had so often described as masters of the country and saw overseas Chi- nese with half a Iifetime of wandering behind them settled down comfortably. And he was happy. But in February_1958, bef.ore he could fulfil his wish to abundantly depict the new life around him, he died. ,{ fr&'l On the evening before his d,eath he was still work- ing cheerfully on a painting about his native place, Soong Ching Ling "Homebound Sails on Chishui River." In 1979, an exhibition of a 100-some paintings Three Ovcrseas Chinese Llborers selected from his works was held in Beijing under the auspices of the Association of Chinese Artists. The exhibits not only showed his skill in gouache, water colors and oils; they also breathed his sympathy for the down-trodden people and an indignant condemnation of the old society. "Put Down Your Whip" is an oil based on a street- cornei play of the same name that played its part in mobilizing resistance to domestic oppression and foreign invasion in the 1930s. In the picture a $: poverty-stricken old minstrel tries to compel his A young go performing she is t. daughter to on after * exhausted. "Three Overseas Chinese Laborers" {" was done by Situ Qiao on his way home from the United States in August 1950. On shipboard i& he met three toilworn Chinese who had spent 48 years in the United States working for capitalist i,& exploiters. Situ Qiao sketched them as he lis- t! tened to their pathetic reminiscences. "q. The paintings shown included some of .l national minority people in the Xinjiang Uygur r) Autonomous Region in northwest China, of land- :. ': t* lE,$ " scapes in Guilin and on Hainan Island, and of the .. .:t e, life, customs and scenery in the south China home- si i '... towns of overseas Chinese. The range of subject fl matter was broad, the workmanship serious and * k 4 his style creative and unrestrained. * 1 Many of Situ Qiao's works have also been published in album form. tr 46 CIIINA BECONSTRUCTS Playing on an Ancient Harp (1939) Put Down Your Whip (1940) Pastures Under the Tianshan Mountains (1944) My Wife Feng Yimei (1940) Ed,itor's note: The author is a doctoral can- didate in Asian Theater, specializing in Chinese drama, at the Uniuersity of Hatnaii,. Since Sep- tember 7979 she has been a graduate research student at Nanjing Uniuersitg on a fellowship from the Committee for Scholarly Erchange uith the People's Republic of China. Belous she d.escribes the erperience of studging and performing the trad,itional Beijing oytera "The Drunken Beautg" in Nanjing. Elizabeth Wicbmanu as Lady Yang. First U.$. toman in Beijing 0pera By ELIZABETH WICHMANN QINCE my piece was only 40 expressing a serious interest in a emperor has gone to the quartels \-/ minutes long, it was preceded traditional Chinese art form. This of another concubine instead. Hurt by another short play. I waited welcome encouraged h€, and and jealous, she attempts to hide backstage, suffering the most carried me to the position on stage her feelings from her attendants, overpowering stage fright of my where I was to begin my firsi set and drinks alone. Finally she be- life. I wondered why I had ever of dance movements and song. comes intoxicated, and is helped had the audacity to think I could Then I began to sing and was back to her own rooms. As I spoke go on stage in China and respect- inundated by wave after- wave of and sang I found myself employ- ably perform a Beijing opera laughter. ing a time-honored Western act- made famous by the master actor I had heard Chinese audiences ing technique I used the hurt Mei Lanfang. laugh at stage situations which to and anger which- I, the actress, felt As the applause for the first play my Western theatrical sense seem- at the laughter of the audience to died down, I could hear the ed not to call for lairghter, and as help portray Yang Guifei's emo- audience murmur excitedly that a student researching the aesthet- tional state. To my utter astonish- the next one would be performed ics of Beijing opera had spent ment, the audience rose and clap- by a foreigner. Then the intro- some time analyzing,the phenom- ped for several minutes when I had ductory music began. Eight stu- enon. But now every fiber of per- finished. dents from the theater school who former in me cringed in horror at Afterwards, feeling like the were playing attendants to my this reception. Rather than run proverbial neurotic puppy, I went character, Yang Guifei, the favor- from the stage, I recalled my backstage and asked my teacher. ite imperial concubine of the teacher Shen Xiaomei's words: "Why did they clap and then Tang dynasty Emperor Ming "If you weren't good in your own laugh and then clap?" Her face Huang, went on stage in pro- way, if you couldn't creditably melted into that rare expression of cession, preparing the garden bring the play to life within the total. understanding. "Oh, Eliza- for her coming. I ran through general form of Beijing opera, I beth, they laughed because they every appropriate relaxation wouldn't let you go on stage. You were surprised! They never ex- exercise I knew of, spoke sternly must trust me." I set out to tell pected that you would evoke the to my knees which were literally the story of the play. Then I be- spirit and flavor of Beijing opera. knocking, and began as best I gan to act. But you did ! Now, the next time knew how to walk in the stylized In the first scene, Yang Guifei you perform. . ." and she proceed- steps of an aristocratic young walks through the palace gardens ed to give me specific, technical woman as portrayed in Beijing in the moonlight, happily ap- performance directions. opera. When I came into the light proaching the pavilion where the and turned to face the audience, I emperor has asked that she join The Problems Involved hit what felt like a solid wall of him in drinking and feasting. As applause, it was so sudden and so she walks, her anticipation makes My difficulties with my first loud. everything she sees seem beautiful performance are typical of the I knew that I was being ap- to her, However, when she sort of dilemmas which I, and the plauded because I was a foreigner arrives she is informed that the Chinese artists helping me, face in SEPTEMBEB I98O 5t the course of my research. This patterns of speeeh, song and of cultural exchange, resonating traditional theater form, more movement so as to have a per- with past cultural exchange, would than 150 years old, uses an exten- sonal, physical understanding of be an appropriate contribution to sive "vocabulary" of speech, song, the art. Nanjing University has no the resumption of cultural rela- acting, dance, and acrobatic con- theater department, and so could tions. I decided to throw caution ventions. It is taught by the tra- not provide these opportunities it- to the winds and try. ditional method of imitation, rath- self. But, through a complicated My first meeting with my teach- er than by explanation and theory. series of arrangements, the Jiang- er Shen Xiaomei was rather un- Beijing opera performers can Provincial su Beijing Opera Com- comfortable. She was used to pick up newly written play pany accepted me its ryorking a into teaching young native Chinese script and, by drawing on training Iife. speakers who had been intensive- so comprehensive that thd "vocab- ly studying the "vocabularies" of become second ularies" have Unexpected Opportunity Beijing opera for several years. gesture and nature, can sing, How was she to go about teaching dance rehearsal aI- month later received an- at the first A I a 29-year-old American woman, though the script contains no mu- other opportunity, one which I per- had neither expected nor plan- with no such background, to sical notation nor stage directions. form a full traditional play? As I need acquire fraction this ned for, Nanjing University Pres- I to a of watched her perform the piece for understanding. ident Kuang Yaming suggested 'fsecond nature" me, simply, without costume or since performarrcs that, as it was the 50th anniver- And the "v6- makeup and humming the musical cabularies" are intend.ed elicit sary of the American tour of Mei to interludes herself, I experienced a spontaneous reactions an Lanfang, I Iearn and perform from growing terror. I felt I would audience reacting on Guif ei. Zui Jiu (The Drunken Beau- the basis of need to watch her perform the its own social and values, ty), one of the plays which that cultural play at least 1,000 times to learn need master actor had presented in the I to acquire a fairly intuitive the complex coordination of eye- understanding of tho-se values as U.S. He proposed that I be taught by the last student of Mei Lanfang hand-head-arm-torso-leg-toot that well. The process of learning to move- Shen Xiaomei, a teacher at the made up the units of the think and react from a new set of ment vocabulary. The songs and Provincial- Theater School. aesthetic, social and cultural stylized speech presented an even I was overwhelmed. This was a values is similar to that of learn- greater problem. The meLodic ing a new language. It is slow chance to view the form which I was researching from the inside, style stili did not sound "natural" and time consuming, with few ' to me, and I could not find the re- sudden breakthroughs. And is working with its performers in- it sonating areas in my head which dependent upon the understand- stead of watching them work. But would produce the characteristic ing support of people who already I had never performed in a for- falsetto vocal quality. We discuss- "live in" those values. eign language, and had never act- problems, decided to When I arrived in Nanjing in ed in an Asian play for an Asian ed the and on movement first. September 1979, I hoped to become audience. I was terribly afraid begin work the listen attached to a Beijing opera com- that I would present a poor car- At the same time, I would pany, and through watching their toon of the original, performing a on my own to a tape of her sing- training sessions, rehearsals and disservice to the form and embar- ing and speech, slowly memoriz- performances, to familiarize my- rassing myself. However, Pies- ing the melodic progressions. self with the practice of Beijing ident Kuang stressed that since Later, we would attack the vocal opeia. And I hoped to "try on" relations between the U.S. and quality. the performance "vocabularies" China had only just been officially In our next several sessions, myself - to learn the most basic normalized, such a concrete piece Shen Xiaomei patiently taught me Practicing under Te4cher Shen Xiati- Being made up in the costume room, mei - famous Beijing Opera actress. ()n stage with aitendants, played by the Chinese drama students. Photos by Zhang Jittgtlr the basic movement of the play - tion work included facial expres- more than I should have. Instead where to stand and when, how to sions as well, dnd I began to work of gently correcting ffi€, Shen get from one place to another, and on eye exercises each day so that Xiaomei sharply told me to begin the accompanying gestures. Later I could go for extended periods again, and to do it right. I felt a she introduced the relationship without blinking and without rush of pure joy. I knew that she of the singing to the dance by appearing to be -in shock as a thought there was a chance for singing to aceompany my move- result. me to do a creditable job, because ment, all the while gently correct- I also began meeting with an- she was now addressing me from ing my most glaring mistakes. I other teacher at the Provincial within the traditional Beijing spent a great deal of time practic- Traditional Theater School, Hu opera student-teacher relation- ing the movement on my own, and Zhongwu, a musician who teaches ship. There was no longer any found that I would often accustom the hu qin, the 2 stringed instru- remnant left of the distancing my body to incorrect movement ment which provides the principal politeness extended to foreigners patterns. Several actresses sug- accompaniment, He would play in China. I was simply her gested that I join them early each and I would sing, first trying sim- student. morning for their exercise sessions. ply to match my melody to his. As they worked out, I would stand This was not easy since the hu Eehearsal and pertormance behind them and imitate their qin's accompaniment is frequently movement. Afterwards they a melodic progression which com- The final week before the first would watch me and correct the plements rather than mirrors the performance is a frantic, colorful errors which they could see but I vocal line. Hu Zhongwu also haze in my memory. The makeup could not yet feel. At my twice-a- spent many hours patiently help- specialist worked for hours on my week lessons with Shen Xiaomei, ing me search for the required face, trying to adapt the tradition- I would then try to apply what I vocal quality and painstakingly al makeup design, intended to had learned to that point. correcting my pronunciation. enlarge the eyes and make the About seven weeks after our nose appear higher, to my already Studied Stylized Speech first meeting, Shen Xiaomei asked large eyes and nose. Her final re- me to combine the movement, sult was much better than I had Our work on the stylized speech speech and singing. As I sang imagined possible. The costume began with the traditional method about the beauty of two mandarin mistress located a set of costumes of listen-and-repeat. When I was ducks swimming together in a long enough for me, and allowed able to produce fairly accurate stream, mimed leaning on a bridge me to spend several hours trying mechanical reproductions, I began railing with my left arm, and t,o accustom myself to moving in to try to express feelings, and dis- raised my right arm above my the stiff brocade. And she walked covered that many of my instinc- head to allow the long white sleeve behind me when I first wore the tive expressions were inap- to form a backdrop for my face, I heavy, tight headress, ready to propriate. Thereafter, this imita- turned my body to the left a bit catch me if I fainted. At the first SEPTEMBEE T98O 53 erines of Xuefeng CHEN ZHENGWEN Thc Xuefeng Hilts, where Xuefeng taogerines grow. Zheliang province' Mtlt't' t.han 40 years rrf breeding and selection have cr>nsl"ant,ly improved its third of the Its name derives from the quality. seven [/ITHVY . ".one And bv l9zg. world's tangerine-growing Xuefeng Hills in Shaoyang *unti"" in the al,ea were glowirrg province where it on a total of 14,200 hectares. The h a mild climate, 15,200-ton har.vest thal yc:rr was d rich soil, the the higherst in thc pr<'f t'r,tru-c'-s growlng ol'anges history. nd local people Credit for ttre rapid develr)pmcltt so for more than of the Xuefeng tangerline should ver, the original be given the staff of the citt'us China and abroad for its regular strain of tangerines raised here had research institute set up in shape, glossy skin, seedless pulp seeds which made it unsuitable for Shaoyang prefecture in I9?3. Wjth and delightful taste. It is exporte6 canning. It was only in 1932 that 61 technicians and 855 workers in to Canada, Indonesia, the Soviet a seedless variety was brought in charge of a l30-hectare experi- Union and other countries. from Wenzhou prefecture of mental orchard arrd a processrng dress rehearsal, the other actors prised me by bringing me supper. When it was (,ver, pcrtornrers and the orchestra members seem- As I ate, she reminiscenced about from the Beijing opc'ra (:omperny ed unsure about what to make of her experiences with Mei Lanfang. surrounded mc and bote me oft a f oreigner performing Beijing Her stories created. an island of to an after-theater supper'. And opera. By the third, we were a calm, making me feel for the mo- throughout the supper, they ex- cast working together. They ment that I was actually becom- citedly gave me specific criticisms offered suggestions and shielded ing a small part of the perform- And as I cycled back to the univer- me from reporters who wanted to ance tradition that is her ]ife. sity afterwards, it dawned on mc interview me while I badly need- Then the makeup specialist work- that I must indeed have done' ed to work on the f1ay. ed her magic, the costume mistress something righ[. They had not On the day of the first perform- dressed me, the other performers simply said, "tlow nice, very ance, we had a final reheardal, embraced me, and aII too sud- good," which would assuredly after which Shen Xiaomei sur- denly the play began. have meant, "Oh dear, well, at 54 CHINA RtrCONSTRUCI'S plant, the insl,ilule is r'!rarged with and ah'eady more than 30 speci- breeding ihploved varieties, study- mens are growing well. ing methods of cultivation, man- Among the 20 varieties of irgenrcnl. and stolage, providing tangerines no'vr/ grown in the area. good saplings and training skilled half of them are new ones de- veloped by the research institute, personnel for the region. So horticultural gardens and com- far they have trained about munes. Mosl of them have a sugar 60,000 peasant lechnicians and content oI 11 percent; some as skilled workers for local com- high as 16 percent. munes. By crossing a foreign Formerly, fluctuations from year species with a native plant in to year in the trees' yields Pre- recent years, they have develoPed vented local fruit growers from a new vilr'ie ty of tangerine that maintaining consistently high ripens in late September, 20 days yields. Members of the research earlier tl'ran other species, with a institute went afield to see what lrigher resistance to cold and fruit growers elsewhere were doing yielding more and better fruit. to solve this problem. From what The tree has been widely planted. they learned they selected ways New method.s evolved include a and means suited to conditions in of high-graltirrg techr.rique' in whiclh Shaoyang. These consisted Tangcrine har\ est ordinarv 1:rngeline buds are wrapping the trees with a warm jacket as manur- grafted onlo a citron stoek 30 cen- of straw as well ing. loosening the and water- timeters aborre the ground. Dwarf- soil before cold weather set in in65 and close planting are also used ing measures, coupled with to improve cold-resistance and Such prompt pest control and repeated achieve precocity (earliness of and selective pruning during'the bc:aring). l.rigl-rer yiclds. better fruit have enabled local growers quality and lower productic.rn costs. 5rear, to get high yields every year since Experimt:nts have produced 1974. mcthods of making grafted trees Since 1971 Liu Lizhong, produc- bear fruil alter only 3 to 5 years tion sub-chief at the Shaoyang instead oI 7 or' B years as before. horticultural farm, has been ex- The horticullural Iarm in Dong- perimenting on obtaining high ha.s derre)oped a kou county yields from individual trees. pomelrrttrngerine hybrid which Taking a 4.9-meter-high tree which bears f ruil t allic.r' than otdinary had been planted in 1944 and was langerine tree.s. The fruit has past its prime, he took meticulous close'ly-spirc:ecl evenly-sized seg- care of it. By 1978 it had borne menls. crisp and delicious ttr the up to 263 kilograms of fluit taste, and can bc'slor(.d longer. annually, and in 1979, it yielded Checkins lhe sugar content a.t the This new hvbrid is the work of 3,621 tangerines. totalling 380 Citrus Research Institute. Luo L,untitro. the farrr's manzrgel'. kilograms. tr Plt.olos by WanQ Xinnrn lenst you trie'cl " In [hr. sccond more than I had thought I could Xiaomei, the theater school, the performance at the theater school, do. There is actually one phrase Beijing opera company, and the and in l.he thild which was held at of song'in which the vocal quali- university did in fact make a con- l"he university, I tried trar'd trr ty, the movement, and the acting tribution to cross-cultural under- inctrrpolate thcir cnmmt nt,s, style somewhat resemble Shen standing. And my own research Xiaomei's. has benefited appreciabty, Beijing An Dvaluation In a broader context, I see two opera is no longer an exotic, for- What I performed was of course real achievements. From what I eign performing art to me. I do not good Beijing opera. After see- have read in the Chinese and not pretend to fully understand it ing l.he vidc.otape made, I hesitate American press, and from the let- as yet, but the distance of un- to call all but one or two minutes ters I have received from people familiarity is gone. I now have of the show Beijing opera at all. in both countries, I believe that a foundation upon which to But am proud of it is much the combined efforts of Shen build. x I - it SEPTEMBER IOSO 55 Philately in ehina ZHAO WENYI A LMOST any day of the week, Organized philatelic activities lA. slusfsrc of people engaged in began to develop in China some animated dibcussion can be seen 60 years ago. The first philatelic in front of the China National organization in the country, the Stamp Corporation in downtown Divine Land Stamp Research So- Beijing. They are enthusiasts of ciety of Shanghai, was establish- the newly-revived pastime of ed in 1922. The Chinese Philatelic Society was set up the same stamp'collecting, which has a long in city Certilicate of membership and seal of history in China but had virtually in 1925. Both organizations pub- Chinese Philatelic Society sei up ln disappeared during the cultural Iished journals. 1925. revolution. Also in t925, the New Light Philatelic Society came into being in Hangzhou. At one time it had China Philatelic Company to boost as many as 5,000 members and stamp collecting, and in 1955 published two periodicals. The began to put out the magazine 1934 Philateiic Society was found- Chinese Philatelic Journal. ed in Zhengzhou in the year Philately was condemned during named and also started a journal. the cultural revolution as a "lei- After the founding of the Peo- surely and carefree hobby of the ple's Republic of China in 1949, bourgeoisie," and even exchanging the Ministry of Posts and Tele- of stamps through correspondence communications established the was bracketed with espionage. Stamp collectors were attacked and Veteran philatelists Ma Benquan (Ma some philatelists imprisoned. The Ben Chuen) (risht), Zhao Shanchang Chinese Philatelic Journal had to (K. Y. Chao) (center) ancl Sun Junyi suspend publication, and the ex- (John T" H. Sun). port of Chinese stamps to foreign collectors stopped too. At the Exhibition of stanrps of the people's Republic of china in Hongkong in Novenrber 1979. flNLY after the fall of the gang \-, of four in late 1976 did philat- ely begin to flourish again. Philatelic organizations have been founded or re-established since then in many cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Changsha and Wuxi. Groups have been set up in some counties as well, such as Boxian county in Anhui province and Shunde. county in Guangdong province. These associations frequently hold local exhibitiohs or lectures on stamp collecting. d.; While the most noted philatelists in China are elderly people who have built up stamp collections over many years, growing numbers ZHAO WENYI is an editor of the "Chi- nese Philatelic JoutnaI." 56 CHINA RECONSTRUCTS Certificalc of nrerit won by China's ,'1934 Philatelic Socicty Monthly" at the lnaertraaional Stamp Exhibition in Brussels in 1935. of young people are taking up the pecially those released in the Among those judged the best were hobby. One children's cul.tural liberated areas. f ourteen sets of commemorative palace in Shanghai has a group of The well-known Chinese writers stamps, fourteen sets of special 50 youngsters in an after-school Xia Yan and Ba Jin are avid stamps and two sets of ordinary philately class. philatelists. stamps. Three other sets won One of China's best-known phi- speci.al awards. latelists was the late Jiang Zhi- rFHE China National Stamp Cor- Chinese newspapers and maga- fang (1907-1980), who for 60 years I poration has extended its op- zines, radio and television and film collected Chinese stamps only. erationS to more than 20 big and studios devote more attention to He entered international stamp middle-sized cities. Its branches philately than ever before. exhibitions in Brussels, Lisbon sell individual stamps, collections, Two documentary films on the and Moscow, winning several med- albums and other items connected subject. "Chinese Stamps" and als. His rich memoirs, "60 Years with philately to customers at "Stamp Collecting", have been of Stamp Collecting", were carried home and abroad. Chinese stamps made in the past two years. tr in several installments in a maga- are now exported to more than 80 zine Xiangjiang Literature pub- foreign countries and regions. Front cover of the January 1980 issue lished in China's Hunan province, The corporation held a major of the "Chinese Philatelic Journal" Hongkong Japanese with which it resumed publication, and in and exhibit of stamps of the People's magazines simultaneously last with a picture of the "Natlonal Em- Republic China Hongkong blem" commemorative souvenir sheet. year. of in last year. It lasted a fortnight and Other veteran collectors in- drew some 130,000 visitors. An- clude the 70-year-old founder of other National Art the 1934 Philatelic Society, Zhao exhibit at the Shanchang (K. Y. Chao), who often Gallery in Beijing, held in March writes articles on the subject for this year, displayed stamps from magazines; 78-year-old Wang Jize, the days of the Qing dynasty who had done a great deal of re- (China's first stamp was issued in search on early Chinese stamps; 1878), stamps issued in China's and 76-year-o1d Ma Renquan (Ma Iiberated areas in the 1930s and Ren Chuen), author of "Ma's Illus- 1940s, and the stamps of new trated Catalogue of the Stamps of China since 1949. China," which won a silver medal The national stamp-collectors' in a 1957 international exhibition magazine, Chi.nese Plilatelic Jour- in Moscow. nal, resumed publication in Janu- Shen Zenghua, 56, began stamp ary this year. In March and collecting as a middle school April, it conducted a poll involving student. As a soldier in the Chi- some 60,000 philatelists in China nese New Fourth Army during the as weII as some abroad, to select War of Resistance Against Japan, the best stamps of the 30 years of he continued to collect stamps, es- the People's Republic of China. SEPTEITIBER 1980 57 They are,,,also well kngwn to the Chinese people as a gourmet food, for the tender buds make excellent eating. One variety, the The Doy Lily Huanghuacai, or literally ."yellow florarer vegetable," has been cul- tivated for several hundred years Comes Bock Home in Hunan, Jiangsu, Gansu and other provinces. The steamed and dried buds, sometimes called LONG YAYI "golden needles" because of their appearance, give a special flavor to cooked dishes and soups. They are one of China's traditional exports. Er ARLY this summer visitors to number of chromosomes). Since The plant itself is a perennial F the Beijing Botanical Garden day lilies mostly originated in of the lily faniily, Its spindle- were attracted by some magnifi- China, he said, he would be happy shaped root stalk, or rhizome, cent, many-colored flowers grow- to see the modern tetraploid plants tapers off in a stem about 0.7 ing in experimental beds there, developed in his country blossom- meter long, Its leaves are long and These were day lilies grown from ing in China. narrow and ridged on the reverse 100 seeds sent to China five years side. The day lily has a flowering ago by the late professor Law- An Ancient Chinese Flower pettod that begins in March and rence Arguimbau who taught at The day lily has long been Iasts until late autumn. Each stem Massachusetts of the Institute known to the Chinese people. is topped by one or several Technology. A passage describing this plant is flowers. Orange or lemon-colored, Prof. Arguimbau wrote to a found in the Book o/ Songs, a they are funnel-shaped and some Chinese f riend in 1974 that he Chinese classic written more than give off a sweet fragrance. Prop- advanced was suftering from an 2,500 years ago. Ancient Chinese agation takes place by means oI kidney disease. This limited his poets lauded its beauty and seeds. or by division of the plant physical activities, but he still claimed that it made people forget in autumn. amused himself in hybridizing fheif sorrows. Of the 15 kinds of tetraploid day lilies (day lilies day lilies known to exist in the Abroad and Back with four times the ordinarv world most have been found in China, They are cultivated in Chinese day lilies were taken to LONG YAYI is on the research staff ot both north and south China, or the Beijing Botanical Garden attachetl Europe in the Middle Ages, and to the Botanical Research Institute of grow wild in places with damp from there to the Americas. Early the Chinese Aeatlemy of Sciences" soil. in the present century an Ameri- can botanist Dr. A. B. Stout stated The author does artilicial pollination on day lilies. his opinion that China's wild- growing double-flowered day lily was the best species yet dis- covered. He collected the seeds of species growing in China and cultivated new varieties by cross- breeding. On the basis of the experience gained in obtaining polyploids through chemical treat- ment American botanists il the 1950s succeeded in breeding polyploid day lilies with stronger stems and-leaves, bigger and more beautiful flowers, and better adaptability to different environ- ments. Day lilies have in recent years become one of the main ornamental flowers in European and American gardens, especially the latter. Prof . Arguimbau's expressed hope . that the flowers would flourish in China, their land of 58 CHINA BECONSTRUCTS Photos by Wctttg Hongxun ond Sun Yunshou that this man made to his race, nation Would it be possible for you to run and country. an article on the subject of philately The gang of four and Lin Biao did in China. Are there any philatelic a number of negative and retrogres- societies in China? Are there any sive activities to give the false image famous stamp collections in China? of the peop).e's struggle in China. IIow many philatelists are there? Do However, such evil led the people to they display their collections publicly? be aware of their malicious activities Could China after 35 Years we have an article on China and the people united and destroyed stamp designers? China and my friends from China the evil few. It is therefore our duty Martin Smith have always been special to me. The and capability to take advantage of Kings Cross, Australia two years I spent in China (r943-194b) any disadvantage and turn it to our ln fesponse readers, as a young man in the U.S. Army advantage. to requests ue Air carrA an article entitled ,'Philatelg Corps brought me into contact with We can apply this principle in in China" in this issue. Editor. many Chinese and gave me insight into various circumstances. We should learn - the desperate eonditions and the suf- from both present'and past comrades ferings of the Chinese people since the who have dedicated their lives to Shares CR with Children previous contribute to the struggle century. Still, they faced their and to We have certainly enjoyed China problems man's complete freedom with dignity, courage and and happiness. Reconstructs as we prepare for our cheerfulness. How could a person not H. N. Mgulo third Ostersund, trip to China in October of 1980. be impressed by such a people? Sroeilen It is hard to give suggestions for im- Mostly ) I want to say how much I provement. The photography is beau- have been impressed by the changes Want More on Religion tiful. We especially liked the article in your magazine over the past few Congratulations on ,,In on Qufu as we will be visiting there years. The meaningful content of the the article a and also Catholic Church in Beijing,, in the look forward some day to articles has increased markedly. An taking the cruise on the Yangtze excellent January 1980 issue. I would like to River. variety of subjects is now We enjoy the articles about history and offered. Obviously your staff works see more articles about religion in China. about individuats and their con- hard and intelligently to provide a tributions. window through which the rest of the Jos6 Gorardo Garcia Mora San Jose, Costa Rica Recently we had an art fair at our world can view the remarkable and school and the theme was the year heartwarming changes taking place in I have been reading.your periodicals 2000. We enjoyed Yu Feng's article, China. from a lriend who is h subscriber and "The Year 2000 in Children,s Minds,t Each time I read your magazine, I I have grown to in the June issue so like almost aII topics - children's art is see the great differences between now you treat in them. It seems you hardly delightful and universal. and 35 years ago, and I think of what talk on religious matters. I would like I. share your magazine with friends the changes mean to the individual you to indicate types of religious and recently used it to talk to the human beings. China may still be denominations prevailing in China and sixth grade at my children's school. poor, but the improvement has been the state attitude towards them. The children are very interested in great. China is rich in that most Owusu-Agyemang R. K, China and have a great deal to learn. valuable resource, human spirit. And Dormaa Ahenkro, Ghana I spoke to four classes and they wanted it just may be that China is now to go on asking questions long after Since gear evolving a society better suited to the the beginning of this our the hour was finished. magazine energy-resource future of the world, has carrieil seueral articles Angus Dun F. W. Dickson on the subject cooering China's San Anselmo, U.S.A. Oak Rid7e, U.S.A. religions in general (Mag), Catholics (Januarg), Buddhism (Julfi, Istam (August) and in this issue one by Pro!. Really Modernizing On Liu Shaoqi K.H. Ting, o bishop of the Chinese In the February 1980 issue, I find Protestant Church. We'd like Aour "Protecting the Environment" very in- Liu Shaoqi was indeed a great man opinions on them.- Editor. teresting. like most progressive In Burma also we are trying liberators. He our level best to promote our environ- was subjected to character assassina- Suggests Article about Philately ment. "The Berlin Orchestra and von tion and blacklisted. However, we Karajan Acclaimed" and should ,.Truth in China "Performance not forget that crushed from Abroad Brought Cultural Spring- to earth will rise again.,, Indeed, All the members of China Philatelic time in Autumn" show that modern finally the truth about Liu Shaoqi Society of Sydney enjoy reading your China is really modernizing. came to surface and the masses now magazine and, of course, particularly U Saw Naing aII acknowledge the great contribution the section "Stamps of New China". Pantanaw, Burma origin, has now come true. Poiy- the modest but elegant "Peace" Some of these flowers are quite ploid day lilies raised from his with its heavy fragrance in the large, with diameters of up to 18- seeds are now growing weII in evenings (fig. 2); "Yellow Hibis- 19 cm. and stems bearing as many Beijing. Many have new, charm- cus" (fig. 3); "Golden Lotus" as 57 blossoms. Propagati.on of ing names given them by Chinese (fig. a); "Azalea" (fig. 5); "Great these day Lilies is being speeded botanists. Violet" (fig. 6); "Purple Margined up, and they will soon grace parks Among them are the coy and Velvet" (fig. 7) and "Rosy Clouds'i and gardens in many parts of delicate' "With a Smile" (fig. 1); (fis. 8). China. ! SEPTEMBEB I98O 61 t i&." ,d-.{,f ra"r t , ...::.*::: 'w& 8. $,{iI}iYr.i, $th{rrl& BEIJING REVIEW Political and theoretical EL POPOLA CINIO Comprehensive monthly weekly in English, French, Geiman, in Esperanto Spanish, Japanese and Arabic. Airmailed SCIENCES i5r to a1l countries SOCIAL IN CHINA Quarterly English CHINA PICTORIAL Large-format pictorial SCIENTIA SINICA Foreign language edition monthly with short, concise articles in published monthly with articles mainly in Chinese, English, German, French, Jap- English anese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, , Indonesian, Italian, Swedish, Korean, KEXUE TONGBAO Monthly in English Swahili, Urdu, Vietnamese and Romanian CHINESE MEDICAL JOURNAL Monthly in CHINA RECONSTRUCTS Illustrated monthly English of general coverage on China in Chinese, CHINA'S FOREIGN TRADE Illustrated bi- English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Gernran monthly in Chinese, English, French and and Portuguese Spanish CHINESE LITERATURE Chinese ]iterature WOMEN OF CHINA Monthly in English and art monthly in English and French CHINA'S SPORTS Monthly in English PEOPLE'S CHINA Comprehensive monthly in CHINA'S SCREEN Quarterly in Chinese and Japanese English Distributed by: GUOJI SHUDIAN (China Publications Center), Beijing, China Order from your local dealer or write direct to GUOJI SHUDIAN, P.O. Box 399, Beijing, China. CHINA RECONSTRUCTS A Fomily in the Academic Tradition TAN AIQING f I Heng, 83-year-old director of lation Scarlet f./ of Stendhal's and. ness of seeing and hearing many the Shanghai Observatory and Black rn an edition of 560,000 times Madame Curie, the great his wife Luo Yujun, a retired pro- copies. An earlier edition, of woman physicist whose unbending fessor Chinese of literature, from 160,000 copies, was sold out in will and devotion to science she the East China Teachers' College, July last year. admired immensely. Once, at a occupy the second floor of a small lecture, Luo Yujun managed to get house fronted by garden a in Teacher and Pupil a seat right up in front to be closer the western part of Shanghai. All to see and hear that famous scien- the other members of the family As for Professor Li Heng the tist. At recess she went to ask for son and daughter, son-in- father, if it.were not for some dif- - an autograph from Madame Curie law and daughter-in-law are ficulty 'in moving his right arm scientists. - and leg, the legacy of a cerebral who signed her name on the "Our family has several of the thrombosis several ybars ago, peo- student's card and which the Chi- faculties of a university litera- ple rvould hardly believe he is in nese girl lovingly kept, a cbnstant ture, engineering, chemistry,- his eighties. His energy, high reminder to always be like her physics and medicine," Professor spirits and general air of good heroine, as datrntless, humane and Luo jokes. Daughter Li Xiaoyu, health belie his years. His wife is upright. 47, is a graduate in pediatrics and short, comfortably plump an'd al- In 1933, the couple had both has been with the Shanghai Insti- ways smiling. "We were ardent earned their doctorates and, to- tute of Materia Medica for some and loving whe,n we were young. gether with their five-month-old twenty years. Her present re- Now we are very good and old daughter, boarded a ship for home search on the immunological ac- friends. Can't imagine life without to China. tion of certain herbal drugs used the other, could we?" he said to They first taught at Shandong in Chinese, traditional medicine his wife, who smiles agreement. University in Qingdao, then joined has earned her, a two-year fellow- They will be celebrating their Sichuan University and later the golden. ship at the Max-Planck Institute wedding annive.rsary two West China Union University. In of Experimental years Materia Medica in from now. Having shared 1950 a few months after China's Giittingen, both joy West Germany. and severe trials and sor- liberation Guo Moruo, head of the Her husband rows they are now looking forward Qi Ruyun, who Chinese Academy of Sciences, in- holds a doctorate in chemistry to more years of happiness. vited Li Heng to join the Shanghai from a British universit;z, is a vice Both are natives of Sichuan (formerly Zikawei) ObservatorY director of her institute. He heads province where Li Heng taught where astronomical a laboratory doing research on the Luo Yujun Engllsh and mathemat- a century of studY application of quantum chemistry ics when she was in middle school. records in French awaited post," in regards to drugs. That was before Li Heng went to and collation. "I'1I take that Son Li Yanjun does optical in- Paris in 1925 to major in astrono- said Li, delighted to be of service formation processing research and my. By happy coincidence, he ran to the young people's republic. teaches in Zhejiang University. into his former pupil who was ma- The whole family moved to Shang- His ',vife is a technician in the joring in French literature at the hai, where Luo Yujun taught lit- institute. Sorbonne. She had broken with erature in the East China Teachers' The mother, Lo Yujun, since re- fettering feudal family ties when College. tiring from her professorship in she was twenty and had made her 1965, has been doing translations way alone to France to study. Husband and Wife Team from French into Chinese. Over Li was her senior by ten years the Spring Festival this year the but they had much in common, Li Heng has written many works entire family met to celebrate the including the desire to study and on astronomy and translated manY publication of her Chinese trans- master their own respective fields. others into Chinese. Among his Their attraction was mutual. works running into-Geieral five million TAN AIQING is a staff reporter 'of During her student days in characters, are Astro- China Reconstructs. Paris Luo Yujun had the happi- physics and Popular Astronomy. SEPTEMBER I98O 63 work for the country." Her voice foreign literature into Chinese" He and the look in her eyes leave no has been translating some of John doubt that she is very proud of Galsworthy recently, with the able the children she and her husband help of his mother. have brought up. Both were star pupils at school. Both are busy scientists now When Xiaoyu was in her second but they preserve the love for year at the Shanghai No. 1 Med- Iiterature their parents, parti- ical College, the brilliant record cularly their mother, awakened in there resu-lted in her election as a them in their childhood. They delegate to the Shanghai People's had learned to appreciate Shake- Congress. Neither married until speare at an early age, along with they were in their thirties. "Too the works of great writers of their busy with their studies," explains own country. They love their their mother, who worried more work, but find it relaxing and re- about their studies and character Li Heng, astronomer. freshing to read the literature of development than about their per- the West and the East. Xiaoyu sonal lives. "I went through pri- Professor Luo, after her retire- Ioves music, and, according to mary, rniddle school and college ment, despite high blood pressure herself, is a "mediocre" pianist, again, with them," recalls Profes- and heart trouble, did not let the she says, but others say she plays sor Luo with a chuckle. She was days pass without doing something very well. Her brother finds a teacher first and then a mother. irseful. She continued her work of pleasure after work in translating Even today the parents take a translating French literature into Chinese. She had finished Sten- dhal's Scarlet and Bl,ack, Hugo's Three generations of the family. Toilers of the Sea and Maupas- sant:s O?cr Heart and several works of George Sand before the cultural revolution disrupted such work, and her life in 1966. In her work. she found her husband quite help- ful. In her husband's translation of. A Brie| Historg -of Astronomg. there is also an acknowlegement, "Texts compared by Luo Yujun.'' Actually many of their translated works are joint efforts to some extent. For example, when Luo Yujun was working on the transla- tion of Scarlet and Black, her hus- band was her indefatigable assist- ant, checking and looking up re- ferences and offering advice and suggestions. In their collaboration, the husband and wife, scientist and artist, would sometimes argue heatedly over a'point in transla- tion, even fight furiously over a word, and in the end reach a more lucid and accurate understanding. In general, however, the husband and wife team works without friction. The Teacher at Home Of her daughter Xiaoyu and son Yanjun, Luo Yujun says: "They are fine children, doing useful 64 CIIINA BECONSTRUCTS keen interest in their children's work and progress, sharing some of their worries, failures and successes. Luo Yujun is the onJy one in the family wholly engaged in lit- erature and not science. But she does not feel left out. "I am the old granny of the family, but that is not the only tie I have with my children (among whom she includes her son-in-law and daughter-in-law). They are all intensely interested in my translation work. This is our com- mon interest and common lan- guage. Often we sit down together and discuss characters in novels and techniques of translation. My work and I are strong cement hold- ing the family together," says Protessor Luo. The elderly couple lead a regular Iife, following a regime they have lVife Luo Yujun (left), famed translator, and daughter, Li Xiaoyu, medical scientist. Photos by Zhong Xiangdong prescribed for themselves. In the mornings they either read or write. "Knowledge must be constantly Iiated and made to suffer fearful House which the Sichuan People's replenished. We must always persecution for being the transla- Publishing House is bringing out. learn and learn," says Luo Yujun. tor of Scarlet and BLack which itself Their children are again busy, In th! atternoons Li Heng goes out was condemned as a "big poisonous Yachun has completed eleven pa- for a bit of fresh air. On Sundays weed". The couple's residence was pers on optics and electronics. Xiaoyu and her husband bring raided and ransacked by successive Li Heng is now chairman of the their five-year-old daughter to gangs of fioodlums. The old peo- Astronomical Association of visit the grandparents and to enjoy ple were driven to utter despair. Shanghai, advisor to the Shanghai some dishes prepared by their What was most heart-breaking to Union of Writers for the Diffusion mother. But on festivals, the Luo Yujun was that the suitcase of Scientific Knowledge and a whole family meet in the second- filled with her manuscripts accu- member of the Shanghai People's story home of the grandpaients mulated through the years was lost Political Consultative Conference, and have a happy get-together. during the ransacking. But des- He still frequently gives talks to On these occasions the grand- pite all this, their spirit never young astronomy enthusiasts at mother is kept very busy in broke. The children comforted the Children's Palace of the China the kitchen, forgetting her trans- their aged parents as best they Welfare Institute. Luo Yujun is 'a Iations to concentrate on the could. Luo Yujun says she kept member of the Writers' Association dishes everyone looks forward to. her sanity recalling and reciting of Shanghai and active in her work She insists on doing the cooking classical Chinese poems she had of the Shanghai Women's Federa- despite her years and the fact that learnt as a child. tion. Last year, on Internationai she has someone coming in every The tremendous changes that Women's Day, she was awarded a day to help with the housework. have taken place in the last three special honor for her work in years have of course been reflect- bringing fine foreign literary After the Long Bleak Years ed in this family. In 1978 Li Heng works to the people. At the Spring was invited. to attend the National Festival tea party given by When the gang of four was Science Conference in Beijing. the Shanghai People's Political around, learning was a crime and After long bleak black years the Consultative Conference for welt ignorance was something to crow Li family once again felt that they knowr! personages in the city, Luo about. This intellectual couple were wanted and useful, and they Yujun was asked to address the were not spared their share of the had contributions to make. The meeting, she said, "I'11 never put hurniliation and' abuse. Li Heng elderly couple went back to trans- down my pen tiI I die," reaffirm- was pilloried and hounded as a Iating and writing. Luo Yujun has ing her belief in the power of "reactionary academic authority',. just finished her translation of learning and issuing a challenge Luo Yujun was publicly humi- Dumas's The Knight of the Red to the younger generation. D SEPTEMBEB I98O 65 Chinese History-XXIV Ming Dynasty 2 Foreign Relations JIAO JIAN fN the first halt of the Ming f (1368-1644) dynasty China t-iuiiur"n)ri was known in the world as a rich MING and powerful country. She received envoys and trade missions from many lands and extended her foreign contacts through a series of sea voyages extending from the coast of southeast Asia to the In- dian Ocean and the coast of Africa. In 1405 the Ming Emperor Cheng Zu mounted a huge sea expedition under the leadership of the court eunuch Admiral Zheng He (1371- 1435), a Muslim from Yunnan province. Traveling with him were 27,800 people including sailors, soldiers, interpreters, mer- homeward in May when a south- nities in lndo-China, Sumatra, prevailed. chants, artisans and doctors in 62 erly wind Java, Kalimantan and Luzon, and big seagoing ships. The biggest, Often foreign kings or their en- more were to follow. By the late 140 meters long and 60 meters wide voys would come back with the Ming dynasty there were 30- with 12 sails and manned by about ships to China, bringing ostriches, 40,000 overseas Chinese in Luzon 300 seamen, could accommodate lions, zebras, giraffes and other and 20-30,000 in Java. They got a gifts thousand people. Laden with gold, exotic for the Ming emperor. along well with the local people, silver, silk, porcelain, ironware They were hospitably received at and through their labor made a given presents and cotton cloth, the ships set out the court and in re- contribution to the economy and from Jiangsu province. turn, and arrangements were made cul.ture of those countries. Some plant In the 30 years that followed, for their homeward travel on the opened up land to sugarcane, pepper, Zheng He made sgven expeditions next voyage of Zheng He's fleet. tea and rice, while others gold prac- to Indo-China, the Malay archi- Zheng He's voyages predated by operated or tin mines or pelago, Bengal, India, Iran, Arabia half a century those of the fa- ticed medicine. and the coast of the Red Sea and mous late l5th-century European navigators of Portuguese Fighting Japanese Piratqs east Africa. - the Zheng He and his retinue were Vasco da Gama to India and Soldiers, merchants and pirates warmly received in every country. around the Cape of Good Hope and hired by feudal lords on the Jap- He paid his respects to local kings of Columbus to America. Zheng anese island of Kyushu had begun gathered and presented gifts. After that He and his companions pillaging the Chinese coast in the sea routes came trade with officials or mer- much information on last years of the preceding Yuan foreign lands, broadened chants. Chinese goods were much and on dynasty. In gangs ranging from a economic and cultural exchanges desired, especially the silks and few dozens to hundreds, in big and created early friendships for blue-and-white porcelain bowls and armed ships, they passed them- China with visited states in saucers, which were exchanged for the selves off as traders, but actually Asia and Africa. precious stones, pearls, coral and they plundered and often spices. With the permission of the burned and killed. - Qverseas Chinese king of Malacca Zheng He built a The early Ming government put storehouse on the Malay penin- Even before the Tang dynasty up a strong defence against these sula. Ships of Zleng He's fleet (618-907) Chinese had crossed the pirates and as a result the raids that had been to other lands would seas to make a living in southeast subsided. But in the middle of the assemble there and sort out and Asia. By Zheng He's time there dynasty these efforts slacked off pack the goods before sailing were f'airly big Chinese commu- and piracy grew once again. To 66 CHINA RECONSTRUCTS make things worse, big Chinese landlords- and merchants in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces connived with the pirates, dividing the spoils. The people along the south- east coasts suffered enormous losses in property and lives. In 1533, prompted by these Chi- nese merchants, several hundred Japanese pirate ships raided coastal areas in Jiangsu and Zhe- jiang provinces. Some penetrated as far in as Nanjing and Anhui province, killing and burning and carrying off a hundred boatloads of booty. A blockhouse to guard against Japanese pirates built between l52z and 1566 The furious local people, on their outside Quanzhou in F\iion provinse, own initiative, organized armed forces for their defence. The Ming government, too, mustered trooPs in Pyongyang and Seoul. The Korean to suppress the raiders. Appointed anese pirates from Zhejiang people eastern nine successful battles. Then it rose up in arms. commanding off icer in year Ming Zhejiang province was Ji- moved into Fujian and Guangdong The following the Qi provinces join forces with an- general Li Rusong led an army to guang (1528-1587), then oniY in his to other army, By 1565 the Jap- Korea in ans'*,er to an appeal from twenties. He built up a well-train- . anese pirates along China's south- its government. Together with the strictl.y disciplined army of ed, essentially Korean army defeated the in- 3,000, personally selected from east coast were it eliminated. vaders and recovered Pyongyang among the local peasants and made rule that and Seoul. In 1597 Hideyoshi re- miners. He it a Aid to Korea his men must push on forward turned with 140,000 men. The even if there was sea or fire In 1592 the Japanese general Hi- combined Ming and Korean forces pressed to ahead; and retreat on signal even deyoshi Toyotomi s€nt an army of once more them back if there was gold and silver in 200,000 on hundreds of vessels to Pusan. Hideyoshi's death the front of them. This crack armY invade Korea as a springboard for year after and internal con- was expanded to 20,000. attacking China. They landed at flicts in the Japanese government In 1561, with' popular support, Pusan on the southern Korean brought about their hasty Qi Jiguang's army routed the Jap- cclast. then advanced to caPture withdrawal. rl Bronze cannon used by the Ming dynasty in defense of its northern frontiers. The sword of General Qi Jiguang, who for a time got rid of the Japanese pirates. Model of a trattleship designed by a Korean general to tight thc Japanese invasion of that couutr5'. il$6le*@+v;;t;;- SEPTEMBER I98() 67 F Inside the Museum of Qin Shi Huang.s Tomb. Historic Guanzhong Plain SHI NIANHAI rf.lHE Guanzhong Plain. a narrow the Longshan Mountains, lower a route to the west along the val- I strip of land surrounding the but with precipitous clif fs and Ieys and lower mountains. One of eastward turn or "elbow" of the deep valleys that provide a natural the marvels of the ancient world Huanghe (Yellow) River and sev- defence for the area. The Beishan was the plank road along the cliffs eral of its tributaries in Shaanxi range on the north is another of the Qinling Mountains dating province, has been a focal point rampart. from the Warring States period. in China's history through the It was made by thrusting beams ages. It was the home of one of East of the Pass into holes cut in the cliff. The China's earliest types of human Were it not for the valley of the walkway cantilevered over the being, Lantian Man (Sinonthropus Huanghe opening to the east, the clif f was covered with boards. Lantienensis) 600,000 years ago. plain and the two rivers, the Sometimes, if the valley was not In its mountain-ringed security 11 Weihe and the Jinghe would be too deep, there were support pil- feudal dynasties made their capi- almost completely locked in. Two Iars from the valley floor. Both tals. And, traversed by one of the thousand years ago in the Warring pedestrians and vehicles passed few east-west travel routes across States period (415-221 B.C.) the along this road. Remnants of it China, it was the beginning of the area was controlled by the State of can still be seen today. Old SiIk Road. Qin, then one of the seven states. The largest tributary of the The plain, 300 km. Iong from As a protection against eastern Huanghe River, the 878-km.-long east to west and ranging from 30 neighbors, the Duke of Qin forti- Weihe (Wei River) flows eastward to 80 kilometers wide, is bordered fied Hanguguan Pass at the across the plain. With its tribu- on the south by the Qinling Moun- eastern end of the pl,ain, today in taries, the Jinghe and Luohe rivers, tains, one of China's most famous Henan province. The area west of it is the basis of an irrigation net- ranges averaging over 2,000 meters the pass and accessible through it work which has been a boon to above sea level. On the west are became known as Guanzhong - the plain since ancient times. which means "center of the pass". Along the rivers the plain is cut SHI NIANHAI is Vice-President ol Though the mountains were a up by erosion into large flood plain Shaanxi Teachers' University. barrier, the ancient people made terraces. The biggest, on the north 68 CHINA RECONSTEUCTS bank of the Weihe in the western part of the Guanzhong area, cover.s seven counties or 1,400 square kilometers. j Home of Primitive Man ,N.-\ In the loess soil have been found ,/R\ the remains of the Lantian Man dating from 600,000 years ago - older than either Peking Man or Xianyanq iTomb ol oin shi Hosig Lrntong Java Man. These finds from the ! sil€ ol B.npo Villas€ zhou Capitsl \o Paleolithic period were uncovered chms'il '\'\kn'hn Mil in 1963-64 in Lantian county, 43 kilometers southeast of Xi'an, big- gest city of the plain. At the time Qinling Mountains Lantian Man dwelt on it, the plain had a warm, humid climate. There was even more human activity on the plain during Neo- Other remains have been found and nearer the Huanghe and the lithic times, clustering along the around the lakes on the plain. entrance point which every state rivers, as shown by post-liberation The Guanzhong Plain was the sought to control. The city of archaeological finds. Quite a few site of the capitals of the mo,st Chang'an, capital of the Han were uncovered in the vicinity of famous dynasties in Chinese dynasty, southwest of today's (1lth Xi'an, where better soil and water history - Western Zhou cen- Xi'an, grew up after the Qin provided for better living. The tury-?7l B.C.), Qin (221-206 B.C.), dynasty. Sti[ using the same, most noted is Banpo Village (be- Han (206 B.C-220 A.D.) and Tang name, the dynasties of Sui (581- longing to the Yangshao culture) (618-907) - and of many shorter- 618) and Tang built capital cities unearthed in the early 50s on the lived ones. It has been a capital on slightly different sites but still eastern bank of the Dongchan site for a total of over 1,000 years, near Xi'an. longer any part the River near Xi'an. The 50,000 than other of The Chang'an of Sui and Tang The plain was good square-meter area contains fairly country. a times was the biggest of Guan- place capital because of its complete remains of a matrilineal for a zhong's 11 capitals. The triangle agricultural prosperity as well as commune of 7,000 years ago with formed by the Zhou capital, Xian- convenience for defense. residences, pottery kilns and a yang the Qin capital and the Not all the capitals were located burial ground. Remains of grain Tang Chang'an encloses the richest -considerable at the same place on the plain. testify that progress part of the plairi. The Tang The Zhou dynasty and later the capital had been made in agriculture by State of of the Warring Staies of Chang'an was almost com- then. Qin period had their early capitals on pletely ruined by fighting in sub- Later, knowledge of well-digging the Zhou ancestral lands in its sequent centuries, but remains of enabled people to live away from western part, but both were later its city walls and important build- the land. rivers on the higher moved to richer land eastward - ings, and of the tombs of the emperors can still be seen today. It covered an area of 8,410 hec- tares, excavations since liberation in 1949 show, but the present city has outstripped it. Chang'an in Tang times consisted of three parts, the palace city in the center of the northern section, where the emperor lived and ad- Pottery basin wiJh face de- ministered state affairs; the im- sign found in Banpo Yillage near Xi'an. perial city at the center which housed the court and official build- ings; and the outer city surround- SEPTEMBDB 1980 69 t.:r lf *-cnE 5 g* frsrt rs" BC sf *s I *g *:l &ffi rtr ** r *F s # Eusiness center of present-day Xi'an, ing the latter on three sides, which west. In these the famed OId Silk In Han times there was a street contained 108 blocks where the Road played an important role in Chang'an especially accom- people of the eity lived. The com- from the Western Han dynasty modating the merchants and trav- pact and symrnetrical layout was (206 B.C.-24 A.D.) onward. Be- ellers from the west. Even more typical of Tang city construction ginning at Xi'an it passed north- came in Tang times. Many stayed and was follor,rred as an example westward through the Gansu Cor- for a long time. Chang,an became by succeeding dynasties. ridor, crossed the Pamir Moun- quite an international city in its tains and then traversed the lands customs and living habits. From Cultural Exchange Center that are today pa The capitals on the Guanzhong Arabia and Turk Plain were the center for both coast of the Medi domestic and foreign exchanges, it passed silk pro the latter extending as far as Ja- and exotic good pan to the east and western Asia, as well as the id north Africa and Europe to the cultural exchange. exchanges laid a firm basis for friendship between China and the The pomegranates of Lintong county are one of the famous prorlucts of the plain. peoples of other countries. Photos by Xinhua Today the Longhai rail line, which begins on the seacoast in Jiangsu province, traverses part of the Old Silk Road beyond Xi'an to the industrial city of Baoji in Shaanxi province. The ancient capital was an im- portant handicraft center from early on. Norv the Guanzhong plain is an important industrial area, with a large number of factories and plants dispersed about the plain, and also an im- portant rail center. It has kept its fame as a major agricultural base. In addition to the ancient irriga- tion network in the lowlands, ir- rigation has been extended into the highlands. tr CHINA BECONSTRUCTS 'zH0'll t Lesson 21 fmrperial Falaee ( if.t#w 4q. & B, ,fe,fn /L Lz +,Y& fr1 Rf,",St. f i"ffi (Lly6utu{n cinguin Gtgdng, tEmen c6ng WAng: Zhbnglt de Tiih6diim. Zh6ngh6diin (Tourist group visit Imperial Palace, they from Wang: Middle route Tai He Hall, Zhong He Hall fiia. i6it n+n ,t,t *(B ) f" &fi"ffi L g_tr E,ff tL8 nAnbEn t6nggud Tiininm6n jinrl Girg6ng) hd Bloh6diirn shi hu6ngdi , rlchAng chill south side through pass Tian An Men enter Imperial Palace) and Bao He Hall are emperors usually dealt with Az lk-$, & rrf #**\, L B F k1 ,t i. 6f,& fie #.,e& Wdng: Girgdng, yE jiiro Ziiinch6ng, shl gudshi de difang. XIlil hC d6nglil Wang: Imperial Palace, also called Forbidden City. is state affairs place. West route and east route Ell. rE frl + tr ,'f 6 4\ 6i 9-E " {t k r.i *ct i1 *-ia Zh6nggu6 Ming. Qing litrng dii de huAnggdng. d6u shi iitshl f€izimen shEnghud de Chi na's Ming (and) Qi ng two dynasties' imperial palace. all are old dais imperial concubines' living a+Lrtdfi^6;.t+fr1 E EL" Z,hl jln yi jing ydu wibtri liirshl niAn de g6ngdiim. Till now already has 560 years' halls. fn*-"4 E^ 9ft €te *.trr'f' t\"'fll *, lL f.,Y& hP'Lo lishi. Ydu=l 0rshi si ge hudngdi cdngjing Shlmisl: Wbmen xEn c6ng zhdnglir kirnql ba. history. (It) have 24 empefors once Smith: We first from middle route see. E ,iE 4-.,:6it" ,n,t+_ 4F h frt m ,l1t f" fi, rt1 E W_ ,-y,l *_ zdti zhBli sh€nghu6guo. Xiirnzii zudw6i QiAnmiirn ni hdngwEi de gdngdiirn iin shi here lived. Now as Ahead that magnificent hall is fiLhrn tik-" kfi" ffi- ,42 bdrn)yuim kSifing. Tirih6diin ma ? museum ts open. Tai He Hall? $r1i[z ,L-s. €€ N-+, *t n ,tt a; lt.t k *k-Eg *" nfi B6ltng: Zh0n ch6ngch6ng diiny[, Mo di ya! WAnel Dui. Te shi Gigdngli zui dA de Brown: Here row after row halls, how big! Wang: Right. It is Imperial Palace in largest Az &E 5 ,t, ,4J -Y,l E frl-" /-tr e'P li, Efr ril{ng: Girg0ng zhAn di yu6 qishl =T0rwin gdngdiirn. Hudngdi . jl wdi, xudnbi Wang: Imperial Palace occupy land about 720,000 hall. Emperors ascended throne, promulgated +iX,4 * A. Efz ,rt + + qn #ih, plngf6ngmi, ydu gd shi fAngwii zh0ngling dEng zhdngdir hu6ddng' square meters, have variousstyles(of) rooms (with) Sovemment decrees and so on important activities, )L+ l,l ,t-,lU , *q. fi**, + 4t, +4i " iiiqinn dud jEn." Ciinguiin ltxiln fEn ddu ziti zhdr i[xing. 9,000 more. Sightseeing routes (are) divided (into) all at here held. f r&. 6,v&. t t* fie th*\,?-tr fie 9E trd, ffA zhdnglir. xllt. ddnglir MIII: Hudngdi h6 hu6ngbdu zhitzii sh6nme middle route. west route, east route and Marie: Emperor and empress lived what el ff,f*" ,&,7 'foz wiiddnglir. ilifang ne? outer east route, Place? tr fi.i,t: ,i IL * *u, Y*h, #l'4 Az t, z n hi- Efr 6 E aE, Sitast: Zht il ti6o cinguin ltrxiAn d6u ydu WAng: ZAi sin di diin hdumiin !'6u hdu s6n gdng' Sachs: These several sightseeing routes all have Wang: At three big halls behind have back three halls, 4t z ,+,k ofr-z fllr k 9+, th E4akl ,ti" sh6nme' tldiin ne? ni shi hu6ngdt. hu4nghdu j[z]i de difang. what special features? that is emperor, empr€ss living place. SEPTEMBEB IgE(l 7l state affairs. The west and east routes include halls Etr$.r! +kBs T *. {. a i+? where imperial concubines lived in the old days. Shimisl: Girgdngll bd shi hrti ydu xidud Let see from the middle route that Smith: Imperial Palace in not is still have many Smith: us first, Is ,4t superb hall in front of us Tai He Hall? ibrt &'fr, T it 6u. Wang: Yes. It is the largest hall in the Imperial Palace. w6nwir zhlnltrn kEyi ciinguiin ma? '!" Important ceremonies such as accession to the throne culiural relics exhibits can visit? and promulgation of decrees were held here. + !- z ft_rt*J . t y* fie ,l- f; ,y& n Marie: Where did emperors and empresses live? WAng: Shi de. Ddnglir h6 wiiddnglfi vdu Wang; Behind the three big halls are three rear halls. Those Wang: Yes. Eastroute and outer east route have were their quarters. *if &'frB, *p Smith: Doesn't the Imperial Palace still have many cultural gC zhdng zhin16nguin, rt relics that we can see? various kinds exhibit halls, such as Wang: Yes. The east and outer east routes include various exhibition halls, such as the Pottery and Porcelain IGJ tr IE,. +ffi\*tq. Hall. Bronzeware Hall and Treasure Hall. We can qingt6ngqigutrn. tAociguln. visit them one by one. (and) Pottery Porcelain Hall, Bronzeware Hall, Gordon: Shall we be able to finish our sightseeing today? +ErE ++, +\'ftt T v\ €.+ Wang: If we go a bit faster, we'll be able to finish today. zh6nbioguln dEngddng, wdmen kdyi zhfg0 Smith: The Imperial Palace from an architectural point of Treasure Hall and so on, we can one by one view is amazing and it is also a splendid treasure- , + &il," house of cultural relics. qt ciinguiin. go visit. Notes r.4, Ax_ &n, 1+ 7, ,\? I. Ability and possibility with n6ng tE (can) GEdEng: Jintiiin clnguEn wAn ma? de and k6yi T vX (may). Gordon: Today (can we) visit finish? ,l+ WS n6ng tingddng zhdngw6n. ,\ffi,f'tE f i. J-.: _,k T v)( &tLi," (I can understand Chinese Literally: hear and WAng: Kuii yiditrn kEyt c5nguiinwdn. - understand.) Zhb rub shdn ni n6ng shingqu ma? Wang: Quick a bit can visit finish. EE& lki.,L+'q? (Can vou climb this moun- *.ffr.,t: *k B il. *-$u L^i iL *_ tain?) Jintiin kiyi cdngudn w6n. +n{v^4'-;4.. Shimisl: Girgdng c6ng jiinzht yishtshirng shud shi (It's possible to finish our sightseeing today.) Smith: Imperial Palace from architecture art speaking is f . Another way to express possibility is by 1 frIr, fi-E- t 4. k putting Ae between the verb and its comple- tidobtrqi de, 6rqiE tE htti shi yl 44 ^fu ment. Jinti[n cEngudn de w6n. amazing, and it also is a +**lr/.tr+tr " fr1 (We shall be able to finish our sightseeing today.) 4. *eE xth EE-" zhdngwdn. ge cirnlAn de w6nwil bdokir. W6 ting de ddng 1\X4+t#.+i" splendid culturalrelictreasurc-house. (I understand Chinese.) Zhi zad shiin ni shing de qi ma? ir.tsJ-l thilil*,\t (Can you climb the mountain ?) Translation In the negative of this form bt 6 replaces 4i. .l-rntiiin c[ngudn bi wdn. +f-*fl^ft," (We (The tourisr group visits the Imperial palace. They shall not be able to finish our sightseeing today.) enter from the south through Tian An Men Gate.) Wd tins bi d6ng zhdngwdn. *"XT,Ef x. Wang: The Imperial Palace, also caJled the Forbidden City" (I don't understand Chinese.) Zhb zrub shin wd E was the palace in the Ming and eing dynasties. It shing brfi qtr. iip,t11\-1r+" (I can't climb the has a history of 560 years. Twenty-four emperors 4 lived here. Now it is open as a museum. mountain.) t as ffi Brown: There are halls one after another. How big it isl 2. HIo 6 an intensifier. is often placed as inten- ft Wang: The Imperial Palace covers an area about 720, OOO Hlo 6 Good) an 5 of : square meters. There are more than 9,000 rooms of sifier before an adjective, usually in an exclama- - various types. There are middle, west, east I and outer tion. HiorE de ti6nqi! *fl.t6ti-tt (How hot )t, east routes for sightseeing. it is!) H6o piiotians de *t.&fr,61r*.fi.t )L Sachs: iiirnzhir! What are the special features of each route? (What a beautiful building!) Zhili h6o di ya! Wang: The middle route includes Tai He Hall (Hall )L of (What a big place!) ZhixiE gdngdiin Supreme Harmony), Zhong He Hall (Hall of Complete ;tEif t%t o preserving h6ngw6i ya! (what + Harmony) and Bao He Hall (Hall of h[o iLEEN-*?fi,fi,tt 4 h Harmony) - where the emperors usually administered magnificent palaces!) s 72 CIIINA EECONSTBUCTS ,& The Tongrentang Phannacy in Beijins All your needs in troditionol medicine fhree hundred years of selice 24Da Sha La, Qianmenwai Street, Beijing Telephone: 330221 LL GULL WATCHES China National Light Industrial Products Import & Export Corp., Tianjin Branch 172 Liaoning Road, Tianjin Cable Address: "INDIJSTRY" TIANJIN Telex 22506 TJLIP CN