Integrated or omprehensive art is my own art style.   

It is the core of my E-bridge Cross-Culture and Comprehensive Art project.

In this project, I use Chinese classical poetry as the join point and nucleus, to connect traditional Chinese painting and modern Chinese language, while naturally connect something behind Chinese painting : music, language, literature and stories (culture background), wish to create a cross-culture and comprehensive art in art field; and to create a new subject that maybe coordinate Daily Chinese, Travel Chinese and so on, its title is : Poetry, Painting, Music: Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese.

Maybe you would like to ask, the two arts belongs to difference fields, how can I connect them together? In fact, there is a ready thing can connect it naturally. That is just Chinese classical poetry.

Because Chinese painting is a combination of poetry, calligraphy, painting and stamp on surface music, language, literature and culture background behind. In this combination, poetry is its core.

Theoretically, Since Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), Chinese artists have been emphasizing: a good poem should include poetry inside and a good poem should includes picture inside. Anyway, then, poems have seldom been written on painting. It was started to be written on the paintings since Song Dynasty（960-1279）and started a new kind of poems. Then it was developed in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) until now.   

Chinese poem was expressed by calligraphy (when it was written), music (when is was sung) and language (when it was read) from visual and audio angles.

--   Poetry in Chinese is Shi ( means poem) Ge (means Song). Ancient Chinese poems could be sung, no matter the first poetry collection Shi Jing ( B.C.11th to B.C.7th centuries) or Chu Ci ( 475-221 B.C), Han Yu Fu(206 B.C.- A.D. 220), Tang Poetry (618 -907), Song Lyrics(960-1279), Yuan Verse (1271-1368) … all of them were expressed by recited with vocal music or instrument music. In the other words, a Chinese poetry history is also a history of Chinese music. Just for the time is too long, most of the music has been lost.

--   Calligraphy is not only the expressed method of Chinese poetry, but also the painting method. A good Chinese painting should be “ written out ”, instead of being   “ painting ” out. I mean each brush / stroke, even a little point of Chinese painting must include the process to Beginning, Going on and Stopping as we write calligraphy. Since a Chinese poem is expressed by writing, each of the words is just the character of Monday Chinese, when people write a poem on a Chinese painting, they are in fact writing the “ Words” – Characters of Modern Chinese language.

--   As similar as English, modern Chinese language has been created for about 5000 years already and it has its own primary words. These primary words are the root words of Chinese characters and modern Chinese language; In about 90,000 Chinese characters, there are only 500 or 901 or 2330 primary words /characters. No matter which version is the best about its number, compare with the number 90,000, it is really a few number. So, base on the primary words/ characters, to learn and master Modern Chinese Language is a fastest and most efficient method.

--   Classical poetry is one of the main carrier of the primary words- Characters of Modern Chinese Language since poetry is one of the earliest arts, the process to create Chinese poetry is not only the process to create music, but also the process to create the primary words/characters of Modern Chinese Language. Therefore, as similar as non-English speakers to learn English, the more non-Chinese speakers touch, learn and master, the more they touch, learn and master Chinese classical poem, the more they touch, learn and master Chinese primary words/ character, then to improve their modern Chinese level. That is why million and million Chinese children start to learn and to recite Chinese classical poem since they can speak at their children times, even though their parents not certainly know the reasons as the linguists.

-- Since each classical poem includes some stories, to learn Chinese poetry is just to learn Chinese culture.

-- Since the easiest way to remember something is to sing, create music for those classical poems according to the understanding of the contemporary people, maybe a good way to help the readers or audiences to remember the poetry. The creation itself is to learn ancient culture and then to develop current culture, while to help the target users.

Summery: Since Chinese painting is the combination and carrier of poetry, calligraphy, picture, stamp on surface and music, language, culture background behind; since poetry is the core of Chinese painting, it is expressed by picture and calligraphy from visual angel, by music from auditory angle, by primary works /characters from language angle and by story inside from culture angle, therefore, when people write a poem, they are in fact writing Chinese primary words of modern Chinese and calligraphy art; when they read a poem with a right tone, they are in face learning Chinese pronunciation and poetry and language arts; when they are touched by the stories inside, they are in fact leaning another culture. When they are painting a Chinese painting, they are enjoying and learning all of the multi-arts at the same time. When they were explained and showed in English, they are touching and learning Cross-culture and interdisciplinary art. To learn Chinese culture and language or maybe American culture and language naturedly, easily and artistically.   

I get these ideas during my study, thinking and exploration 2000 – 2014.

At the same time to study and think, worked with a group of friends from America, Canada and Hong Kong, I have masterminded and translated a series publication :

Together with Me, Learn True American English with 4 books, 4 CDs, 9,300,000 words, Jinan University Publishing Press published it in Oct, 2002.

Also by some friends’ helped, I created the volume 1 of another publication:

Together with Me, Learn Chinese and Language by Enjoying Poetry, Music and Painting. 《诗 画 乐： 综合艺术汉语》 (Poetry, Painting, Music: Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese ). It was published by Jinan University Publishing Press published it in May, 2013.

Meanwhile, I have been to 33 schools and art organizations in Beijing, China, Springfield, Seymour, MO; Peckville, Lexington, KY, USA, gave more than 2400 students from 5 countries 121 free Chinese painting, music and poetry lessons. 99% of them are from America.

Held 4 individual Chinese comprehensive art exhibition in the US.

Also, created my own web site www.ebridge.cn .

Completed my Chinese Painting study at China Central Academy of Fine Arts and Chinese National Academy of Arts for 4 years.

According to some appointments with 3 schools, as long as my schedule can arrange, I will give some new lessons to 2 American schools and a Chinese school ‘s foreign students to teach their students to learn Poetry, Painting, Music: Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese.

Base on the former effort for 14 years, I would like to use another 3 years, to do something below:

-- Artistically, to improve the level of the current “ Poetry, Painting, Music: Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese. ” To publish another books and another 2 DVDs and realize the target to teach online.   

-- Theoretically, to found some theory that can support the practice and service of the project via research the interactions multi-cultures and interdiscipline by publishing some papers.

-- Commercially, to find and create a business model and a base somewhere in USA or in Australia or in Beijing, make a preparative for extending it to the other countries.

During the process, I do hope to get your good comments, directions and help.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or publish your opinions on Message Board . :-)   

--Shirley Yiping Zhang
July 22, 2014