CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Thursday, January 24, 2019 | 19 LIFE TV program promotes creative takes on relics

By LI YINGXUE intangible cultural heritage art [email protected] forms and their derivatives. “Each project has its own direct­ A jade dragon is now an incense or, who seems to fall in love with the burner and a china bottle is fridge projects and feel like they have magnet — these are just some of the become partners,” says Hao. examples of around 5,000 cultural Yao Jinbo, CEO and founder of and creative products inspired by 58.com, and Zhejiang Television’s the historical artifacts collected by star entertainment anchor, Hua the National Museum of China. Shao, lead two teams — each recom­ “The cultural relics all have long mending 20 projects that will com­ histories, but we want to bring pete. them to the public in a younger, “It’s a new combination. We more fashionable and technological hoped Yao would offer more busi­ way,” says Chen Xi, a staff member ness advice and Hua would judge at the museum. from a cultural angle. Unexpected­ Chen was presenting Guobo Yan­ ly, the duo brought sparks to the yi, the cultural and creative brand show,” says Hao. launched by the National Museum Yao’s dry humor and recommen­ of China during the second season dation of certain projects seem to of Creative China, a cultural­ven­ bring out his softer side. The culture A Peking Opera costume exhibition at the China Millennium Monument in Beijing includes late Peking Opera master Zhou Xinfang’s ture show on Beijing TV. vulture, Hua, who is an entrepre­ long olive­green robe (second from left). The exhibition will run through Feb 10. ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY According to Chen, the National neur, also doles out business advice. Museum of China has cooperated Most of the projects in the second with Alibaba to create a platform season have already proved suc­ for all of the country’s museums in cessful. Hao aims to not only China to connect their intellectual present Chinese culture but also property with investors, designers show that traditional culture can be and manufacturers. a money spinner. The revival of China’s historical “One reason knowledge of tradi­ relics struck a chord with most tional culture is in decline is that Four colors judges during the Jan 16 final of Cre­ the younger generation thinks it is ative China. Guobo Yanyi won the not profitable, so they are reluctant second season’s finals. to inherit it as a vocation,” says Hao. Peking Opera costumes from a private collection are on show in Beijing, Hao Jingbo, general director of “We want to provide both the the show, says the National Muse­ industry and the audience with Chen Nan reports. um of China’s winning project new ideas about how to protect shows people’s love of Chinese cul­ those traditions and also make a n olive­green robe fash­ According to Lyu Guliang, ture. profit. ioned from handmade director of the traditional Chinese Ten projects make it to the final, “We are actually taking the role silk, with an embroid­ opera committee under the China with half of them focusing on tradi­ of translator for the projects. One ered image of a qilin, a Association of Performing Arts tional culture, such as the “3.0 ver­ aspect is to translate the culture mythical A beast, caught antiques Committee, which aims to revive sion” of Along the River During the into a show on the stage. The other collector Chen Shen’s attention public interest in the art form, the Qingming Festival, which is a high­ is to interpret the business model when he first saw it. Peking Opera costume exhibition tech interactive art show that recre­ into the simplest words so audiences A seller brought the long robe to in Beijing will run through Feb 10 ates Zhang Zeduan’s painting from understand,” Hao explains. Chen’s home in Beijing in the late and will travel to Taipei in June the Song Dynasty (960­1279) using Hao and her team began their 1990s after learning that Chen was before touring other cities on the a four­dimensional dome screen. search for new projects for Season 2 looking for old Peking Opera cos­ mainland. Created by the Palace Museum in February last year. What tumes. Beijing­based artist Su Yongge, and Phoenix Digital Technology, the impressed her was the boom in the Chen was impressed by the inspired by the exhibited cos­ project invited more than 30 top development of cultural and crea­ embroidery and the materials, tumes, painted 12 pictures of dif­ artists to work on the painting, tive industries in China during the especially the golden thread used ferent Peking Opera roles from which includes 814 figures, 28 boats past year. to embroider the image of the qilin. classic shows, such as Farewell My and more than 170 trees. It was “When we were selecting the pro­ He bought the robe at a high price. Concubine and Jiang Xiang He. exhibited at the Palace Museum jects for Season 2, there were many Chen believed the robe had a The paintings are being displayed between May and the end of last more projects that wowed me than connection to Peking Opera master alongside the costumes. year. in the previous season. And the Zhou Xinfang (1895­1975). Chen Shen started collecting Peking Opera costumes in 1989 and “We want to showcase the Other finalists include astronau­ focus of the projects were much “When Zhou started to perform now owns more than 300. LIU FEIYUE / FOR CHINA DAILY knowledge and beauty of Peking tical cultural and creative products, more diverse, especially those cen­ as a teenager, he was also known by Opera from various aspects,” says Tea World and Five­Dimension tered on traditional culture,” she his stage name, Qi Lin. Traditional­ Lyu. Memory, an art show combining 27 says. ly, Peking Opera costumes for male 200 workers and took months to ances of Peking Opera masters, The Ministry of Culture and roles have dragons rather than finish. such as Mei and Cheng, as a child. Tourism, in a report released in images of qilin. Only Zhou wore In the 1950s, Zhou wore the robe They helped the art form blossom 2017 after a two­year nationwide qilin costumes,” says Chen, 69. while performing the classic at home and abroad. survey on traditional Chinese He found out about the robe’s Peking Opera, Xiao He Chasing “Though I couldn’t understand operas, such as Peking Opera, Kun­ late designer, Xie Xingsheng, a silk­ Han Xin in the Moonlight (Xiao He the lyrics back then, I was qu Opera and Yuju Opera, said embroidery master from Suzhou, Yue Xia Zhui Han Xin). enthralled by the martial arts, the there were 348 forms of traditional Jiangsu province, who made cos­ “After learning about the history music and the costumes.” Chinese operas. When this data is tumes for established Peking of the robe, I was amazed. It’s a Mei toured the United States. He compared with the figures of 1999, Opera artists, including Mei Lan­ work of art,” says Chen. staged one of the first Peking one can see that about 60 tradi­ fang (1894­1961), Cheng Yanqiu Now, the robe is on display at the Opera performances in the West. tional Chinese opera forms have (1904­58) and Ma Lianliang (1901­ China Millennium Monument Chen, who was born in Shanghai died while many others are facing 66). Chen brought the robe to Suz­ along with 30 other Peking Opera and raised in Beijing, studied pho­ extinction. hou to meet Xie in 2006. Xie costumes. All are designed in four tography at Renmin University of The traditional Chinese opera confirmed the connection. The cos­ major colors — red, yellow, green China and graduated in 1983. He committee, which has more than tume­maker died in 2013. and blue. The costumes that Chen started collecting Peking Opera 100 members, including the The robe was made by more than collected over the past 30 years costumes in 1989 after being invit­ National Peking Opera Company, came from different parts of the ed to edit a book on the subject. the Northern Kunqu Opera Thea­ country, including Beijing, Shang­ Chen has more than 300 costumes ter and Xi’an Qinqiang Opera hai and Suzhou. and stores them in his house in Company, offers platforms for tra­ The cultural and creative brand, Guobo Yanyi, launched by the Chen says he watched perform­ Beijing. ditional Chinese opera troupes National Museum of China wins the championship of the second “I enjoy looking at the costumes from around the country to per­ season of Creative China. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY as much as I enjoy seeing good form and communicate. photos. They are both works of art On Jan 15 and 16, the Qiju Opera and powerful.” Troupe from Qiyang county, Hun­ Chen exhibited some costumes an province, gave two shows in Bei­ from his collection in Macao in jing. The 500­year­old Qiju opera Rare set of ancient 2017, and last year, he showed genre originated in Qiyang. The some at Shanghai’s Tongji Univer­ troupe, which was founded in 1952, sity. first came to Beijing in the 1960s inkstones on display and hadn’t returned until this month. By CHINA DAILY “Like many traditional Chinese opera forms, Qiju Opera struggled A collection of inkstones is to survive in the 1980s. The situa­ being showcased at an exhi­ tion got better after the art form bition at the Asian Arts was listed as a Museum in Nice, national intangible France, through Feb 14. cultural heritage The exhibition, titled form in 2008,” says Spirit of Harmony, presented by Zheng Anshun, the the Departmental Museum of Asian troupe’s director. Arts in Nice, is dedicated to contem­ The year 2020 will porary creations and literary tradi­ mark the 230th anniversa­ tions in China and Japan. ry of the birth of Peking Opera, Chinese artist Yang Ermin con­ Above: An which originated from four tributed most of the inkstones on inkstone from famous Anhui Opera troupes that display. the Ming came to Beijing to celebrate the An inkstone is a stone mortar for Dynasty. Qiju Opera Troupe 80th birthday of emperor Qianlong the grinding and storage of ink. Left: An from Qiyang coun­ of the Qing Dynasty (1644­1911) in For serious calligraphers and inkstone ty, Hunan province, 1790. The tour was a big hit, which painters, a good inkstone is as depicting poet gives two shows in enabled the troupes to stay in the important as the quality of the ink. Li Bai drunk. the capital on Jan capital, and Peking Opera formally An inkstone will affect the quality PHOTOS PROVIDED 15 and 16. The 500­ took shape. and texture of the ink that is ground. TO CHINA DAILY year­old opera gen­ Lyu says the committee is work­ And together with the brushes, re was listed as a ing on building a center for tradi­ ink and rice paper, inkstones are form of national tional Chinese operas in Beijing’s considered one of the “four trea­ sions,” says Yang. intangible cultural Tongzhou district that is scheduled sures” of a Chinese scholar. “I consider them as a representa­ heritage in 2008. to open in 2020. Yang’s collection shows various tion of ancient Chinese civilization ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY types of inkstones from almost all and a cross­cultural bridge, espe­ Contact the writer at Chinese dynasties. cially when curators introduce them [email protected] “Inkstones are one of my pas­ to international audiences.”