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Taipei seeks joint display of torn painting

The Taipei-based Palace Museum director Chou Kung-shin has voiced hope that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will jointly exhibit in 2012 a famous ancient painting, whose two pieces are now held separately by the two sides.

The painting by Huang Gongwang (1269-1354) is titled Dwelling in the Fu Chun Mountains.

Chou says she warmly welcomes the mainland museum to bring its part of the painting to the island.

"If the two parts of the painting could be put together, not only would the Taipei Palace Museum and the island's public will be very happy but also mainland tourists will be able to see it," she says.

"It will benefit people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits."

More than 80 percent of mainland tourists to Taiwan visit the Taipei-based Palace Museum, according to Chou.

Museums in Taiwan and the mainland staged their first joint exhibition in Taipei late last year to display cultural relics related to Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735) of the Qing Dynasty.

The exhibition attracted more than 700,000 visitors to the Palace Museum over three months. One-third of them were tourists from the mainland, Chou says.

The ancient scenic painting was partially destroyed in a 17th century fire. The smaller part of it, about half a meter long (pictured above), is stored in eastern China's Zhejiang Provincial Museum, while the larger part, about 6.5 meters, is kept by the Taipei-based Palace Museum.

Stock market stories in new TV series

Shooting for a new TV drama, Life in the Stock Market, the first such exploration of financial markets in the Chinese mainland, will start soon.

The story begins with the reform and opening-up policy implemented three decades ago and portrays the struggles of a generation caught between traditional values and modern business strategies.

Threading together individual stories, the TV series shows how some become self-indulgent, while others stay with their values.

Director Huang Jianzhong has won many awards, at home and abroad, and is best known for depicting human nature in changing times.

Students gear up for opera show

A student-led initiative to foster interest in Kunqu opera among students launched earlier this month has already attracted 80 signatories, far more than the 30 expected.

The final group of performers and crew will receive three months of training before presenting the Peony Pavilion (campus version) in late June at the Peking University Hall.

The student workshop will invite prominent writer and Kunqu promoter Bai Xianyong, who penned the student version of the classic opera six years ago, as the show's artistic adviser. There will also be A-list Kunqu performers, including Zhang Jiqing and Yao Jikun, to teach the students.

Kunqu is one of the oldest Chinese operas and is included in UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Hebei, Shanghai teams in contest finals

Two teams from Hebei province and Shanghai have won at the 4th France Webdesign International Festival (WIF), China Division, held earlier this month. Their entries were judged as the best interactive multi-media website designs. They will travel to France for the finals in June.

The theme of the competition, as a part of the festival, is "Speed", and competing teams are required to create a dynamic website within 24 hours.

The Webdesign International Festival is staged biennially and the finals feature the best 35 teams competing for the top honor.

Pick lingerie for comfort, Mok says

Hong Kong singer-actress and sex symbol, Karen Mok (pictured right), shared her tips for picking lingerie with guests at a fashion show held by the international lingerie brand, Triumph.

Mok said she always picked comfort over design. In her one-piece, figure-hugging dress, Mok clearly overshadowed dozens of sexy models with her perfect body.

Triumph released its 2010 spring/summer collection "Cushion Bra" in Shimei Bay in Hainan province on March 20. The new collection comes in shades of pink, mint, gray, white and purple.

China Daily - Xinhua

(China Daily 03/27/2010 page11)