How are you?

This is the first week of my second year in Chinese National Academy of Arts and the third year as a full time art student in the art schools ( the other school is China Central Academy of Fine Arts) in Beijing.

Except having the school’s opening ceremony, we had three lessons by Prof. Tian Liming, who is the vice President of Chinese National Academy of Arts and the dean of Chinese Painting School at CNAA; Prof. Man Weiqi, who is the Executive Assistant Dean of Chinese School and Prof. Han Jingwei who is from the Art school at Qinghua University. Also, I re-painted two paintings for two Chinese poems and my own created music.

I came back Beijing as soon as I basically completed the work on my possible publication, for I wanted to re-paint the paintings in the publication, to improve their quality and to connect them with a long scroll.

However, when I discussed this idea with my tutor Mr. Lu Wenqing, he did not think it was a good idea since every painting has its own content, but he encouraged me to make a small draft to see its result. After I did what he had asked me to do, I changed my idea and I decided to paint the long scroll in 3 or 6 years -- to connect three groups of the paintings that have similar meanings in the three annual or biennial publications together. For example, to combine the three groups of the Songs of the Spring in three publications together, combine the three groups of landscapes, love, farewell, philosophy and encouragement together, to create some different long scrolls.

At this time, I’d better paint a group of Tiao Ping with 12 paintings with voice, to list my content lengthways; then, in 3 or 6 years, to connect the paintings of similar content widthwise, to create my own system with paintings, music and poems...:- )

Anyway, when I re-painted the first 2 paintings, I did feel that my hands a little bit rusty and I did not feel the result ideal yet. So, I will re-paint them after I re-paint the other 10 paintings.

The good news is that our classrooms will be moved to the other place in the near future, and the school will offer us accommodations and resolve the eating problems for us.

I am thinking, if my life condition could be improved this way, maybe I should think of settling down in Beijing. After all, Beijing is the center of Chinese culture and arts; after all, I was born in Beijing and I have started to enjoy the fall and the spring in Beijing already. Maybe I should be “a bird of passage”, to be in the South and the North of China or to fly among China and some foreign countries often? :- )

The bad and good news: My feet started to be in edema after I came back to Beijing. But the distance between the school and my new hotel has offered me a good opportunity to walk, while it has enlarged my life semi-diameter. Can you imagine? There are 41 restaurants within the semi-diameters of 300 meters around of my new hotel and I have found several kinds of beautiful flowers and many strong and big trees by the roads between the school and my hotel. They have not only offered me some new subjects to paint from the nature, but also, they have brought me a very good heart.

Even though I have to leave for home much earlier in the night because I do scare to walk in the street alone in the midnight, I can get up quite early in the morning. Instead of sleep at midnight like I did, right now, I get up at about 6:00am and go to school at about 8:00am. Sometimes, I start to work at about 4:00am. The new life habit ensures me to have my meals normally; it will certainly help me to have energy enough to work and to fight with the sicknesses.

No matter what will happen to me, I will hold to my dream and never give up, try to do my best to help non-Chinese speakers learn Chinese culture and language and to help Chinese teenagers from the poor and remote areas, in the process to live my limited life meaningful and beautiful.

How about you? Do you have any dream or anything special to share?
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
Sep 24, 2012(Beijing Time)