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Hi,Dear Friends
 How are you? Have you had a good week? Are you enjoying your weekend right now?
Today, Jan 23, 2012 is Chinese New Year's Day. I am writing this letter to you in Wuxi City , China.
According to Chinese customs, I would like to say Happy New Year to you while I would like to wish you and your family members to have a happy, healthy and successful New Year.
New Year’s Day ? Spring Festival is the most important festival in China, no matter where we are and what we are doing, as long as we can, we try to go back home to have a reunion with our family members. Therefore, I have also put down every things, hid the worrying about my time in my heart and with the ache on my body, caught the airplane on Chinese New Year’s Eve and came back home to see my father and family members.
Since my mother was gone, I have been keeping going back home to accompany my father to have the dinners of Chinese New Year’s Eve since it is the most important dinner for a family in a year, so that I saw it as one my obligations as a daughter. For bringing him a big smile, I carried all of my paintings since 2009 to show him since he was an art student before he joined in the army even though it was quite hard for me to carry two big suitcases to catch the taxi to go to the airport at 5:00 am. Then I played a piece of music that I worked in Shenzhen and on the airplane for a Chinese classical poem for him on the music instrument that my mother left behind us, even though it is quite old and the tone colour has not been good as mine in Shenzhen.
To be honest, many people do not understand why I am working so hard on art of music, painting and language. Except they are relate to my own art dream, it was also one of my mother’s last wishes.
After objecting me to learn painting or to enter any song and dance ensemble for about 30 year, Aug, 2005, just in Wuxi, first time, my mother said that “You can write your own music for Chinese classical poems” and just on the airplane going back Shenzhen from Wuxi, when I looked at the beautiful white clouds were flying in the blue sky, I could not help weeping silently and I completed one of my first music Chi Le Chuan on the airplane.
Since then, I have been keeping the music creating and I have been thinking of it as a part of my own comprehensive art that I have been studying and creating for a long time.
As a "dreamer" and an art student, I am confident with the wonderful social circumstances in today’s China and the numerous helps, supports from countless individuals and organizations, meanwhile, I am confident with myself as a lifelong student who has experienced much hard time and specially cherishes the current life and study conditions.
So, even though I know that I have chosen one of the most difficult roads to go, I will face at least three big challenges: my own comprehensive art educations and cultures; the exploration in cross -art and cross- culture fields and the traditional aesthetic standards.
Therefore, except completing my music assignment on Chinese New Year's Eve in my travel, I got up at 5:00 am Chinese New Year's Day and completed the new painting to match the music and the poem Xiao Chi - A Little Pond . Also, I have re-edited 3 articles to introduce something about Chinese Spring Festival.
At the same time, my work partners Charlie Zhang, Mr. Mike J, Mrs. Xiaogang Z. and Mr. William G. are helping to work on my art dream in Britain, America and China as volunteers. Meanwhile, my brother and sister - in - law have offered the best life support in Wuxi -- they have prepared a domicile for me in one of the best areas in the city by the Tai Lake . A group of my best friends and former colleagues in Wuxi City will also meet me in their vacation.
The best news is that with a good insight, Jinan University Press has made sure to help and to direct me to improve my work level and to publish something that I have been learning to work, create and explore...
With a grateful heart, the hardest work down to earth and the firm confidence with a meaningful career that base on the idea to help more people for whole of my latter part of life, I am sure that I will be able to go over the most difficult time relates my health and art creating and to face a wonderful tomorrow.
Anyway, the biggest lesson is that I should not work too hard to forget that I am sick still, so that the edema has been accompanying me since the second week I went to Chinese National Academy of Arts Oct, 2011 and the stomachache has been following me since I came back to Shenzhen, so that I realize that I must do my best to manage my own health and to find the balance point between health and work. :-)
The biggest comfort is that I got the phone call from my son from Australia at the time we had the dinner on the Chinese New Year's Eve... :-)
How about you? Do you have anything special to share?
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I am just a student on Art of Painting, Music, English and Management, to work on the web site in my free time. I would really like to do a few things with what I have learned to make this little web site to be an Electronic Bridge of Inter-Art & Cross - Culture Exchange, Chinese Language Learning & Friendship Making. To help the others while to improve myself.
I would like to appreciate you for your understanding, directions, supports and help.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or leave your message on Message Board.
Shirley Yiping Zhang
Jan 23, 2012(Chinese Time)
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