Lanting Xu 蘭亭序 and Zhejiang

My wife and I had the opportunity to visit this historical place Lanting 蘭亭  in Zhejiang where a famous work of calligraphy was written by Wang Xizhi (王羲之 a famous caligrapher) in year 353. This work was written in semi-cursive style and was the most well-known and well-copied piece of calligraphy work in Chinese history. It began as the preface to a collection of poems composed by 42 poets who gathered at the Orchid Pavilion 蘭亭 near Shaoxing, Zhejiang. They composed poems, played music while enjoying wine (having a good time). These gentlemen engaged in a drinking contest: wine cups were floating down a small winding creek as the men sat along its banks; whenever a cup stopped, the man closest to the cup was required to empty it and write a poem. In the end, 26 of the participants composed 37 poms. Lanting Xu 蘭亭序 was then written by Wang Xizhi 王羲之 as the preface to the compilation of all these poems. The original is lost, but the work is survived in a number of finely traced copies in existence, with the earliest and most well regarded copy being the one made between c. 627-650 by Feng Chengsu, and it is located in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

When we were in Zhejiang sometime ago, we were fortunate to visit the Orchid Pavilion; we saw the little winding creek, the wine cups that were floating on the creek. We could experience the atmosphere that day almost 1800 years ago when those gentlemen were having so much fun in drinking wine and composing poems. We sat by the bank, the cup stopped by the side of the local tour guide and without any hesitation, he quickly picked it up and emptied the wine. He was lucky this time tough as he was not asked to compose any poem. Later we passed by a court yard where there were many high tables for tourists to have a go at Chinese calligraphy. There was a big flower pot beside the table, you just picked up a brush, dipped it into the water, then started writing on a piece of stone placed on the table. It was said in those days that you had to use up all the water (why used water?) in the pot before you could see significant improvement in your calligraphy. That would took many years of hard work!


The Entrance of Pavilion

The Winding Creek with floating wine cup







    

Tour Guide emptying the cup

You may not understand the significance of this piece of calligraphy work by Wang Xizhi unless you you know who the calligrapher was and why there was such a craze over his work (even emperors spent enormous effort and money looking for the original manuscript of the Lanting Xu).

 

Wang Xizhi (303 - 361) 王羲之 was known as the Sage of Calligraphy (書聖), who lived during the Jin Dynasty (265–420). He was considered by many to be one of the most esteemed Chinese calligraphers of all time, especially during and after the Tang Dynasty, and a master of all forms of Chinese calligraphy, especially the running script. The Emperor Taizong of the Tang ynasty admired his works so much that the original Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion 蘭亭序 was said to be buried with the emperor in his mausoleum. Wang Xizhi is well remembered for rearing geese. Legend has it that he learned how to turn his wrist whilst writing by observing how geese moved their necks. Wang Xizhi had seven children, all of whom were notable calligraphers. The most distinguished was his youngest son, Wang Xianzhi.

 

The preface, Langting Xu, consists of 324 Chinese characters in 28 lines. The character zhī (之) appears 20 times, but no two look the same, which is considered one of the features of this work that constitute its calligraphic excellence.

 

Emperor Taizong liked Wang Xizhi's calligraphy so much that he ordered a search for the original copy of Lanting Xu. According to legend, the original copy was passed down to successive generations in the Wang family in secrecy until the monk Zhiyong, dying without an heir, left it to the care of a disciple monk, Biancai. Tang Taizong sent emissaries on three occasions to retrieve the text, but each time, Biancai responded that it had been lost. Unsatisfied, the emperor dispatched censor Xiao Yi who, disguised as a wandering scholar, gradually gained the trust of Biancai and persuaded him to bring out the "Orchid Pavilion Preface." Thereupon, Xiao Yi seized the work, revealed his identity, and rode back to the capital. The overjoyed emperor had it traced, copied, and engraved into stone for posterity. Taizong treasured the work so much that he had the original interred in his tomb after his death.

 

Wang Xizhi had seven children, all of whom were notable calligraphers. The most distinguished was his youngest son, Wang Xianzhi. In 2010, a small Tang reproduction of one of Wang's calligraphy scrolls on silk with four lines, was sold in China at an auction for ¥308 million RMB ($48 million).

I kept wondering to myself, why so much attention was paid to this Preface to the introduction of the collection of poems written by so many people in the past. What happened to the poems? Has anybody anything to say about these poems, 37 of them. It seems nobody really bothered about the poems,  or at least I have not read any one of them.

An ancient copied work from the original Langting Xu

The Creek where it all began in the year 353

By Wang Xianzhi



Practising Calligraphy

 

The Hanging Temple

The province of Shanxi in China is full of interesting tourist attractions. Beside the ice caves, the ancient court house, another famous attraction is the Hanging Temple 悬空寺. From far, you may find that this temple looked like being embedded onto the side of a mountain cliff. It is strange, when engineers construct buildings, they have to do piling underground to provide a firm foundation to anchor the buildings. It has never occur in my mind for once that piling can be done horizontally to sustain the weight of a building, defying the law of gravity. But again in old ancient China, anything was possible as this was carried out more than 1500 years ago.  

The hanging temple is built into a cliff some 75 metres above the ground near Mount Heng in Hunyuan County of Shanxi Province. We had to travel to the city of Datong then only arrived at the site after some travelling on the coach. The temple was built more than 1500 years ago, probably in the Sui Dynasty. This temple is famous not only for its location on a steep side of a mountain cliff, it is also a building site that incorporated Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian elements. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure was hidden inside the bedrock. One should admire the intelligence and creativity of ancient folks if one studies architecture and civil engineering. Why on earth should someone built a temple so high above the ground? So long ago?

Signage

Close Up View





View from the far ground



Steps leading to temple



 











Why on earth did ancient people build a temple so high above the ground, on the side of a steep mountain?

If you look at history and the culture at that time, it is not difficult to find out the answer. During that time, warfare and uprisings were common things. Empires came and new emperors ruled the country for a while. Then there was uprising with intense fighting before new empire and new rulers came into power. These events happened again and again. If the monks built the temple on the ground, when the army (imagined hundreds of thousands of them, marching and running or on horse backs) came along, it would disappear in no time (just like a bull dozer removing any obstacles on its path). As the temple was built so high up, the army would not disturb it (monks also posed no threat to rising power). Moreover, if the temple was on high ground, the monks would not worry about the animals that roamed the vicinity at night. Yes, the earthquakes and fires and all those natural disasters, the temple will survive all thees threats. With no disturbance (natural or man made) to worry about, the monks would be left doing their own things, minding their own business. What a revelation. This also explained the reason why the temple was still around after so may empires had come and gone. The ancient folks were not stupid after all.

When we there, we had to climb some flights of narrow steps and walkways before reaching the chambers of the temple. What was on every body's mind at that time, do you know? Sure, we were dead frightened. Could the stairs and walkways (or temple chambers when we were standing on) support our weight? What happened if the structures suddenly collapsed? Don't forget it was built some 1500 years ago. Did they have solid basis in engineering principles when the temple was built so long ago. As I was able to write this article, you would have known the answers. All the worries and doubts were not necessary. As a tourist, just enjoy the magnificent temple and the beautiful scenery in the vicinity. Ancient people were no doubt skillful and intelligent. An Italian architect, after visiting the hanging temple, couldn't stop admiring the wisdom and civilisation of ancient China.  What they built years ago will stand the test of time unless some crazy fellow were to bring it down using modern methods. The temple can be very save as the mountain provides  a shelter for it.

View from the hanging mountain

                                                      A video on the hanging temple (Part 1)

              ^{Part 2}                                  

                      ^{Part 3}                     

Ice Caves of China

Do you know there are many ice caves in China, around 50 of them, all are located underground beneath mountains. My wife and I had the opportunity to visit one of them a few years ago, the one we visited is in Shanxi, a province of China. I must admit that I have never heard of any ice caves before where there is ice all year round, even in summer where temperature outside can reach 40 degrees C. Elementary Science will tell us that Ice and Summer are mutually exclusive, I mean you won't fine ice in summer, only heat and plenty of it. So I had to visit one such cave in order to believe it. My friend researched on the Internet and found one such cave in Shansi, so a tour was arranged in the summer to visit Shanxi. Finally summer (I mean summer time in China, for it is summer all year round here in Singapore) vacation came and we were on our way to see the unbelievable.

During the briefing before departure, we were told to bring along winter clothes as the temperature inside the ice cave was below freezing. It looked rather strange when we packed our luggage for this summer tour of Shansi as we also included thick winter clothing like anoraks, gloves and scuffs.

Inside the ice cave

Road leading to Cave

When we were in Shanxi, the ice cave was not our first stop. We experienced the intense heat of the usual summer in China where temperature of 36 degrees are very common. When we reached the entrance of the ice cave, there was nothing special as it was still hot everywhere. Then the tour guide reminded us to take out the winter clothing and bring along with us into the cave. As we walked further and further into the caves, it got darker and darker and the temperature dropped dramatically to freezing temperature. We quickly put on our winter clothing and we began to see ice on the ground. Further down the cave, walls covered with ice appeared in front of our eyes. The scenery was extraordinary, not only to mention the beauty of ice under the different lighting. There were ice structures everywhere, all constructed of ice. They were huge and magnificent. You had to see it to believe it, ice structures in the midst of summer. A few minutes ago, we were still complaining about the hot weather. Then we saw ice, so much ice around us. It was incredible. These ice structures looked so firm and strong that they were not going to melt any sooner. The tour guide told us that the cave was formed millions of years ago, hence the local people called it the Million Year Ice Cave. Here are some photos to share:

Beautiful lighting

Look at the ice formation







                                                 Video on discovery of yet another ice cave

Incidentally more ice caves are being found in China. I recently found on You Tube news on such discovery. Hence I put it up for sharing. Although not many caves are open to tourists (yet to develop into a tourist attraction spot), it is good to visit the one in Shanxi. The authority has to limit the number of tourists allowed to enter the caves to preserve the caves. As every person is a heat mass itself, too many tourists might bring up the temperature inside the caves which may subsequently affect the stability of the ice structures.

Just to share with you a story told by the travel guide that how serious the authority is when treating this national treasures. A local chap was recently fined a million Yuan for damaging an ice structure. When he protested that it was merely some ice (not worth anything, he thought) but the fine was huge, then he was reminded by the Judge that this was no ordinary ice for it was formed millions of years ago, hence the fine had to be of equal magnitude. Anyway it is a duty of everyone to protect such treasures of the world. It belongs to the everyone, it is a world heritage, everybody has a duty to ensure such things should be kept in good condition/order for our future generations to admire.


My wife at the entrance

Look at the ice!

万年冰洞真神奇

长年结冰不须疑

尽管洞外炎阳天

洞内寒冷如冬季

A poem composed on the Ice Cave

 

Fine Wines

In this world, if the word "fine" is added in front of something, it becomes valuable and people won't mind paying a premium price for it. For example, there are fine jewellery, fine wines, fine arts, fine teas, fine dining, etc. Let's talk about wines and fine wines. The reason is that wine drinking has become so popular that every stores or supermarkets will have a wine section solely cater for the wine drinkers of the mass market. The bigger the wine section, the bigger will be the supermarkets. An average housewife also knows how to pick up a bottle or two when she goes shopping. Actually, can there be so much thing to talk about on wines or wine drinking. You won't be surprise, there are so many books written on wines, wine with food and wine appreciation, not to mention the weekly magazines on wine. Some wine cellars (or just shops selling wine) even run courses for wine appreciation and these courses are always oversubscribed. You pay a certain fees, you have the chance to taste all types of wine, the reds, the whites and the pinks, from a diversified wine producing regions of the world, beside learning techniques like how to serve the wine, what type of glasses to use, improve you taste buds (palate) and most of all know what wine is for what occasion, sweet or dry etc. It is good to have some knowledge in the art of wine drinking so that one does not feel odd or embarrassed in public. For example, if you order a bottle of wine in a restaurant, the waitor brings in a bottle. When he pulls the cork and passes it to you, you must know what to do. And when he pours just a little bit of wine in a glass and passes it you, don't give him a strange look as tough you want him to pour some more wine into the glass.

 If you are not a wine connoisseur, most probably any wine will do if the price is right. To the ordinary folk, all wines taste the same, except for the colour. But for the wine connoisseurs, they choose their wines carefully, the wine producing regions, which vintage year, the type sof grapes even the wine agents. Names like Chateau Margaux, Chateau Petrus, Chateau d'Yquem, Chateau Lafite, etc, are no strangers to them. Some even commented that life is too short just to drink ordinary wines. Usually these people are either rich, famous or they are professionals who have deep pockets as these bottles cost easily several thousands or more per bottle. Some rich people may not know how to appreciate wine. I once heard of someone (famous and rich) who ordered a 1982 Chateau Margaux (may be to show off his wealth and status) and asked the waitor for some orange juice to mix with the wine. Just to quot from a newspaper cutting I kept some years ago, a six-little bottle of Chateau Lafite was auctioned for HK$363,000, a 1.5 litre Chateau Petrus 1982 fetched a price of HK$435,000. 1982 is a magic year in the wine trade for the superb quality of wine produced.

China may be a nation where tea drinking is a way of life among its people. With the influence of western culture, wine drinking has also become very popular and affordable to the ordinary people. Incidentally, the wine auctions of fine and rare wines have also shifted to Beijing. In another newspaper cutting dated December 23, 1997, the first ever fine and rare wine auctions auction was conducted in Beijing where a woman  bid 220,000 yuan for a bottle of Beychevelle 1989's St Julien. Nearly a hundred bottles were auctioned off, mainly to Chinese collectors. In 1977, Sotheby's auction  house also auctioned off Sir Andrew Lloyd Webbers's (renowned UK wine collector) collection of prize vintages to wine lovers and raised over 1.3 millions pounds. Many of such stories are found in newspaper cuttings I collected over the years.

 Do not be put off if you can't afford that kind of wines the wine connoisseurs drink. Actually, wines costing tens of dollars are quite okay for ordinary people like myself. If your palate has improved, those costing hundreds can certainly perform exceptionally well. Just remember, treat the wines nicely and they sure will quench your hungry taste for some fine things in life. Here are some tips I can offer, although I also consider myself as a beginner (can't afford a bottle of Chateau Petrus). Don't open and drink the wine straight away after you have bought it from a supermarket. The wine needs sometime (preferably couple of days) to settle down after all this moving around. Serve the wine at 17 degrees and do not mix with ice or other juices. After the wine is poured out, let it breathe for a while before drinking it (it's been in the bottle for a long time, it needs some fresh air) Try to consume the wine in one session for wine oxidises rapidly and the taste will be different the next day. I also fine that some cheap wines can improve further if you store them properly for over 1 or two years in bottles. I usually keep them inside the cupboard as the temperature can be quite uniform there. Of course one can always buy a refrigerator specially made for storing wines. Again, if the wines are cheap, no point to keep them in that environment (it will add up the cost). I once bought some very cheap wines and kept for over one year, I find that the wine quality has improved over the years and the taste is quite good (of course don't expect that they will be like Chateau Margaux but they are still fit for consumption). The rationale behind is: if you don't mind the brand, you can expect to have good wine everyday on your dinning table. But before you horde up your collection, make sure that the wine is cheap and good. Chateau Wines are for occasions only, even if you can afford them. Why not settle for the lesser brands (over 2000 Bordeaux labels, St Emilion, Pomerol, Burgundy etc) where you can enjoy you wine anytime, anywhere you like. Some Australian wines are fantastic as well, good value for money. The German whites are fruity, especially those from the River Rhine region.

Wine breaths faster in a decanter

   
Usually people drink wine together with food, the reason is that good wine blends well with the food you eat. As a rule of thumb, red wines always go well with beef, pork or chicken and white wines blend well with fish or sea food. If you are entertaining friends, it is always good to have a bottle or two on the table. When I was in UK, my hosts always started off with a starter wine (before the meal), then wine to go with the main course and finally a desert wine after the meal. It was really elaborate when wine drinking is concerned.

I started drinking wine in the 1970s when I was a student in England. Because of budget, I started making my own wine and beer. It is legal in the UK for people to make and consume their own home-made wine. Most of the supermarkets in UK have a section where ingredients for home-made wine and beer are sold. Things like grape juice, wine making and bottling equipment, yeasts, even wine labels for sticking onto the bottles. So one can make his own clarets, Merlots, Carbenet Suavignons. I even tried making wine from apples, flowers and other ingredients. Usually one can of grape juice with some sugar can be fermented into 5 bottles of wine of your choice (depend on the brand of grape juice). Of course these bottles of wine need to age for several months before they are fit for consumption. Accidentally, I was able to make some sparkling apple wine (not because I have the knowhow or equipment) because the wine began to ferment again in the bottles (after bottling) during summer due to some residual sugar content in the wine. This would release some carbon dioxide in the wine. On pulling the cork of a bottle, I could see bubbling taking place as the gas gushed out. Obviously the pressure was quit small, or else there could be some form of explosion. For beer making, I used a large pale and put the barley and malt extract in it together with the yeast. It took around 1 to 2 weeks for fermentation to complete. Then I decanted the beer for storage. I would go to a pub and collect some empty bottles for bottling my beer. Each brew could produce enough beer to fill 20 to 30 beer bottles. After storing the beer for a couple of months, I could see a thick foam on the glass filled with beer, quite similar to beer produced commercially. When I came home from a hard day's research work, I would open one bottle and enjoy the fruit of my labour. Wine and beer making can be fun but it is not legal to produce wine for own consumption here. May be I will share my experience in wine and beer making for latter posts.

  
     Chateau Margaux                    Chateau Petrus 1982


Sauternes from d'Yquem

The Amazing Danxiashan

Two years ago, my wife and I joined a 8-day tour organised by close friends to Danxiashan (Mount Danxia 丹霞山) in Shaoguan of Kwangtong, a province of China. This part of China is a scenic area with mountains formed from a reddish sandstorm, eroded over time into a series of mountains surrounded by curvaceous cliffs and many unusual rock formations (Danxia Landform). It is now a  UNESCO geological park of China. This hilly region of China is full of mountains all having a characteristic reddish brown colour, quite spectacular in sight. Tourists can also take a boat ride down a river winding through the mountains to enjoy a good view of the colourful mountains. There is a local saying which goes like this: The beauty of Guilin is no match to the reddish cliffs of Danxia.

The hilly region of Danxiashan in Shauguan.

It is interesting to note that there are two particular rock formations in this region known as the Yangyuan Si (male stone) and the Yinyuan Si (female stone) both somewhat resembles the sex organs of the human race. Many tourists are stunned by these sights.


Signage for tourists



Photo taken during sunset





Signage for tourists

For your imagination?

Here are the photos I took while we were in the Danxia region where the local tour guide showed us these two huge (or rather erotic-looking) rocks. The Male Stone and the Female Stone looked just like the sex organs. I don't mean to be rude but these rock formations are just the creations of Nature. Tourists who visited this place were marvelled (stunned) at these scenes and some local tour guides even composed a poem to share with the tourists. It read like this:
 

     千里迢迢来看洞

     原来只是一条缝

     女人看了羞答答

 

            男人看了心会动

Next time if you visit Kwangtong, don't forget to visit the Danxiashan in Shauguan. This is definitely a place not to miss. The sight is awesome.

Danxiashan in Kwangtong 

Chinese Fine Arts

Do you know why the rich are getting richer?

Apart from business dealings, they invest in fine arts. The value of some Chinese Fine Arts has rocketed sky high over the years. I can still remember the times when I frequented the art galleries on Orchard Road, some fine Chinese paintings were selling at prices around a couple of thousands in the 1980s. There were big names like Wu Guanchong, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Huang Binhong, Fu Baosi, Fan Zheng, Tang Yun, Chen Yifei, Li Keran, Wu Zuoren, Pan Tianshou, Huangzhou, Lu Yansao, Lin Fengmien, etc. In the 1990s, these similar paintings were in the region of tens of thousands of dollars. In 2012, some of these fine arts were auctioned off at phenomenal prices of tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. Unbelievable, isn't it?

Just imagine if you were to put your money in Chinese Fine Arts in the 80s, let's say the price of a private property is around two to three hundred thousands. If you invested in fine arts, how many pieces of fine arts you would have collected? At today's prices, you can easily tell how much they are worth now. Then again, you need hard cash for this type of investment, not like properties where you can get a bank loan to finance your purchase (not much cash needed upfront). I can vividly remember that I had just started work  in the early 1980s, earning an average engineer's pay. Even tough I liked fine arts, especially fine Chinese paintings, spending a couple of thousand dollars for a painting was out of my reach. Those days, it was more important for one to bring home food on the table, than to bring back something to hang on the wall for enjoyment purposes. Then, one had to think of his mortgage loan, car loan, etc to finance. As a result, I might have frequented the art galleries and admired quite a lot of good pieces of fine arts, I was not able acquire any of those works. As I aid before investment in fine arts requires a lot of hard cash. Hence, only the rich have spare cash for investing in fine arts. That is the reason why they will get richer over the years as people (especially people in China) become more and more affluent and able to appreciate fine things in life and begin to buy up fine arts. Having pieces of fine arts in one's collction can serve as some form of insurance against financial difficulties. For example, if someone's business is not doing well, he can still have some fine arts to auction off for hard cash to rescue his business. This type of stories are not uncommon.


Brochure of art exhibition in late 80s

Here are some instances of fine arts sold over the years.



Wu Guanchong 's oil sold for $150,000 in 1989

 


Wu's another oil at $140,000



Qi Baishi's work at $42,000

Chen Yifei's oil at $781,587

Xu Beihong's oil at $260,000

Having said so much about the value of fine arts, investing in fine arts can have its risks. As these paintings command high prices in auction markets around the world, undoubtedly they will be fakes in the market. One renowned Chinese artist once commented in the press that most of his works in the market (around 99%) are fakes. So be careful, do not fall prey to unscrupulous art dealers.

         

The Parrots Have Come Home

I like to keep newspaper cuttings. In a way, old newspaper cuttings help to record things or happenings in the past. If you look back (at those things or events that happened), you are glad that you have actually kept those newspaper cuttings all the while, or else, you won't remember what had happened.

Here is a story (from my newspaper cuttings) regarding some amazing parrots (around 50 of them, all from the Jurong Birdpark in Singapore) painted by a renowned Chinese artist by the name of Wu Guanchong. This huge ink-and-colour piece, Parrots, which Wu took half a year to conceptualise and one week to paint. The painting appeared a few days ago in the press before a Fine Arts Auction to be held in Singapore in 1994. The Parrots, which Wu painted after his first visit to Singapore in 1988, would be his largest ever put up for sale at an auction with a base price of $300,000 to $350,000 then in 1994.

Pre-auction Publicity in 1994 

The painting was eventually sold at a record price of $374,00 during the 1994 auction held in Singapore.

This article was dated August 2, 1994

This painting was again in the news, in an article "Parrots fly their way home" which appeared in the press on November, 2005. The article has a heading which read like this: A painting of parrots drawn in Singapore has been bought in Beijing  by a museum here. A large painting of Parrots by Chinese master Wu Guanchong has returned to Singapore, some 17 years after it was painted here.

Article was dated November 10, 2005

The Parrots was bought by Art Retreat, a private museum in Singapore for a record S$5.8 million at an auction in Beijing. The painting will be placed in the Wu Guanchong Gallery, which is part of Art Retreat in Ubi Techpark industrial centre.

Invitation card of initial auction on 24th July 1994

There is great value in Chinese Fine Arts by renowned artists. In the 1990s, $374,000 was unthinkable for a painting. One could purchase a nice home for something less than this amount. Well, in the world of fine arts, anything is possible. Then in 2005, you might also comment that a price of over 5 million dollars was just crazy for a painting. By today's standard, some of these fine arts can well fetch tens or even hundreds of millions in auctions. You see, there are plenty of rich persons around.

 

Watch this video you will know what I mean.