16 | Thursday, August 12, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | DAILY LIFE Plateau villagers unite to green the desert

XINING — Tashi’s hometown of Sadrushi township has trans- formed from a barren land plagued by gales and sand- storms to a beautiful, lush land- scape filled with trees. The achievement is decades in the making, and comes through the hard work of generations of villagers who live there, and Tashi is among them. Left: A large-scale calligraphy work, exhibited at the Liangzhu Culture and Arts Center in province, showcases artist Lu Junzhou’s own rendition of the Liangzhu Located in Hainan Tibetan pictographs with his unconventional calligraphy style. Right: Another piece on display is an art installation entitled Qianzishi (stones with a thousand characters). autonomous prefecture in Northwest China’s Qinghai province, in 1956, more than 90 percent of the land area in Sad- rushi was affected by desertifi- cation. “When the wind blew, we could hardly see our homes, as On the ‘write’ side of history they were all engulfed by sand,” says the 56-year-old man. He adds that in the past, the sky would be yellow more than half Exhibition celebrates UNESCO’s recognition of key archaeological site and inscriptions the month, and sand sometimes blocked gateways, making them that confirm depth of Chinese civilization, Cheng Yuezhu reports. impossible to pass through. Influenced by his father, Tashi n China, there has always With a belief that Chinese charac- participated in afforestation been a fine line between lan- ters have great potential in terms of efforts from a very young age. guage and calligraphy. From their shape and structure, Lu’s style the oracle bone inscriptions of calligraphy is an unconventional Ito the scripts that are widely adopt- one that is not always accepted by ed today, the transformation of the general public. and that of cal- While the conventional standard I will protect the ligraphy seem to closely interact for a good calligraphy is to imitate trees planted by my with one another. the style of a particular master, such Fascinated by such dynamics, art- as Xizhi of the Eastern Jin grandfather and ist Lu Junzhou is driven to explore Dynasty (317-420) or of the father, and leave their extremes by using his avant- Song Dynasty (960-1279), Lu wants garde calligraphy style to present to present his own way of expres- lucid waters and the prehistoric pictographs — creat- sion, unrestrained by any standard- lush mountains for ed even before written Chinese — ized font. with his Liangzhu Writing exhibi- Lu says that growing up in the future generations.” tion at the Liangzhu Culture and 1980s, he was actively involved in Dainzin Nyima, son of Tashi, Arts Center in East China’s Zhejiang the calligraphy scene. With a fervor a retired village Party chief province. for calligraphy, he participated in who led locals in the planting Open from July 6 to Sunday, the any competition he heard about and of trees and the fight against exhibition celebrated the two-year won wide acclaim. desertification in Hainan Tibetan autonomous anniversary of the Archaeological In his early teenage years, he prefecture, Qinghai province Ruins of Liangzhu City being grant- played to the crowd by fitting into ed UNESCO World Heritage Site the orthodox calligraphy criteria status. and imitating the styles of ancient In 2006, Tashi was elected as At the ruins, which provide evi- calligraphy masters, only experi- the Party chief of Sogorgya vil- dence of Chinese civilization’s menting with new forms of calligra- lage, and the prevention and 5,000-year history, a seminal discov- phy in private. control of desertification then ery was that many artifacts, such as “I am not a person who likes to go became an obligatory duty for receptacles and tools made of by the book,” Lu says. “By the time I him. He led locals in the planting ceramic and stone, were found the hundreds of stones. entered high school, I stopped par- of more trees and the fight inscribed with pictographs. “The preface moved me greatly. ticipating in any competition or against desertification. Although their meanings are yet When he wrote and published the organization. But I continued to He even took a loan of 150,000 to be deciphered, many experts book, he had already joined the War practice calligraphy and explore yuan ($23,141) to buy saplings to believe that these inscriptions, if not of Resistance Against Japanese unconventional methods in the art distribute to villagers. the precursor of Chinese characters, Aggression (1931-45) and Liangzhu form, until my first solo exhibition “It was hard to tell when the were at least symbols with commu- was occupied by the Japanese army,” in 2018 at Suzhou Museum. changes began. But seeing the nicative functions used by ancient Lu says. “Although texts are very impor- land that was being engulfed by Liangzhu residents to convey certain “As a young intellectual who held tant to my creations, in the end I aim sand become farther away, flow- messages. such love for his hometown and his for ‘de-textualization’. I hope that ers on the roadside blooming When Lu was invited on a field country, the preface was so much when visitors come to see my works, and crops getting denser, I knew trip to the archaeological ruins and more than an archaeological report. instead of reading the prose or poet- that our hometown had really Liangzhu Museum, he was awed by It is his reflection on the culture of a ry created by the classical masters, changed,” says Tashi. the aesthetics of the sites and the nation.” they can see my artistic language Even after retirement in 2018, pictographs, both of which revealed After writing down the text, Lu and my expression.” Tashi still continues to dedicate to him a kind of crude beauty. then collaborated with the curation In Lu’s vision, the ideographic ori- himself to afforestation. He “Our language and words are team in arranging the stones to gin of Chinese characters gives Chi- wanted to mobilize more locals, being constantly enriched, but it present a conversation across time nese calligraphy the potential to be including the elderly, women seems to me that it’s getting harder and a tribute to Shi. portrayed in different forms, such as and children, to plant trees, in a and harder to express ourselves Top: Lu Junzhou speaks at the opening of the exhibition at the Also in the exhibition, Lu show- installation art, and to be appreciat- bid to further push forward the without misapprehension,” Lu Liangzhu Culture and Arts Center in Zhejiang province on July 6. cases his own rendition of the pic- ed despite language barriers. prevention and control of says. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY tographs found on the artifacts, “Cultures are diversified and, desertification, as well as “In ancient times, the way people Above: At the opening, dancer Hou Ying performs a contemporary including a large-scale calligraphy sometimes, even alienated from one increase the income of the communicated was almost animal- dance entitled Timeless. photos by zhang xiao / for china daily work. Although the symbols have another, but the languages of art, locals. like. They could complete their com- little in common with modern Chi- music and dance, for example, are Inspired by Tashi, more than munication with a few simple nese characters, Lu does not find it shared by all humanity,” Lu says. 40 villagers from Sogorgya and sounds. These simplistic expres- acters), which features several province, whereby locals built walls difficult to create calligraphy “So I’ve been thinking, if we neighboring villages joined in sions fascinate me greatly.” hundred stones placed in circular, with stones found in the rivers and works based on them. emphasize the artistic elements of an ecological project in April With a keenness that each one of concentric layers, giving the work a streams. Curator of the exhibition, Zhang calligraphy, it will become a lan- 2020. his exhibitions should display new radiating effect. So, he and his brother went to col- Weina, commends Lu as a genius, guage understood by all. Even for an “Each villager can earn 140 work with connections to the local The inspiration for the exhibition lect stones from the river in his with a unique calligraphy style to be international audience that doesn’t yuan a day by planting trees. The culture, after returning from the comes from the Liangzhu city walls, hometown and transported them to able to reproduce the primitive understand Chinese, people will be project has helped eight house- field trip, he concentrated on creat- the foundation of which are made of the museum. imagery. “The pictographs in Liang- able to grasp the rhythmic pattern holds shake off poverty,” he adds. ing a series of pieces centered on the stacked stones. Seeing the walls dur- Shi Xingeng (1911-39), the discov- zhu Culture are very natural and of the writer and interpret Chinese Thanks to their unremitting pictographs. ing his field trip, Lu was immediate- erer of the Liangzhu site, wrote a interesting, and his writing allows calligraphy as a visual art.” efforts, the land area of the town- An iconic piece in the exhibition ly reminded of the architectural preface in his book reporting on the us a deeper understanding of Chi- ship affected by desertification, is an art installation entitled Qian- methods in his childhood village preliminary excavation of the ruins nese civilization more than 5,000 Contact the writer at as of last year, had dropped to zishi (stones with a thousand char- near , also in Zhejiang in the 1930s, which Lu replicated on years ago,” Zhang says. [email protected] 12.3 percent. “Desertification control and afforestation have been handed down from generation to gener- ation. I will protect the trees Coin workshop unearthed in Henan is world’s oldest planted by my grandfather and father, and leave lucid waters and lush mountains for future ZHENGZHOU — The world’s old- 640-550 BC, making it the earliest ered several pits where a large quan- Guanzhuang ruins. ern Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century- generations,” says Dainzin Nyi- est mint, dating back about 2,500 known workshop of its kind in the tity of bronze casting waste was New discoveries at the workshop 771 BC) and abandoned about 450 ma, son of Tashi. years, has been uncovered in Cen- world. dumped, with two finished metal site not only provide a clear archae- BC. A large area made up of handi- Dainzin Nyima established a tral China’s Henan province. During further excavation, four coins found in one of the pits. ological background for studies on craft workshops was found at the company to undertake local Using radiocarbon dating, Chi- items related to coin manufacture The coins are believed to be the the exact time of currency produc- site, where bronze casting, pottery afforestation projects. He nese archaeologists have con- were unearthed at the site, includ- currency that was in circulation tion, but also help reflect the social and bone artifact production had named the company Shuhai, firmed that a bronze casting ing finished coins, used and during the Spring and Autumn (770- and economic mechanism during been carried out. meaning “a sea of trees” in workshop at the ruins of Guanzhu- unused coin molds, as well as outer 476 BC) and Warring States (475-221 the development of metal money, A paper on the coin workshop has English. “I hope that one day ang in Xingyang city, the western molds, says Han Guohe, an archae- BC) periods, and are among ancient Han adds. been published by Antiquity, a peer- my hometown will turn into a part of the Henan provincial capi- ology professor from Zhengzhou China’s earliest coins, according to The Guanzhuang ruins, first exca- reviewed archaeological journal. sea of trees.” tal of Zhengzhou, began minting University. Gao Xiangping, the archaeological vated in 2010, is a complete city site, standardized metal money around Archaeologists have also uncov- team leader of the excavation at the built about 800 BC during the West- XINHUA XINHUA