Hello, How are you?

It is the 3rd day of a Chinese National Vacation for a traditional Chinese festival -- Qing Ming ( Tomb-sweeping Day ) on my side. Since it is next to the weekend, many companies will have a vacation for 5 days from April 4 to April 8.

However, instead of having a relaxed time as most of Chinese, I am busier than usual. Except working for 15 to 16 hours each day as usual, yesterday, I worked for 24 hours.

April 1, I was informed that the publishing time of my publication will be postponed for 1 month, from April 10 to be May 10, 2013. According to the unexpected situation, I have changed my work schedule and I have decided to edit and make a new album of paintings within 10 days by using the time that I should re-paint the pictures that had been sent to somewhere to take part in an event in Beijing -- another unexpected thing was that the finished time of this event was also changed 3 times and be postponed for a few months. Therefore, I could not take back the 12 paintings that had been made into a long scroll 1,000 cm x 180 cm ( 393 inches x 70.86 inches ) .

So, as soon as I completed proofreading job that the publishing house asked me to do on April 2, finished the recording jobs in the morning April 4, signed the publishing contract at the noon and sent it out, I started to edit my new album of paintings in the afternoon April 4. After working on it for about 40 hours with the help of a straitjacket with some steel wire inside to protect my back and stomach, I have sent most of my data -- 118 paintings, a new foreword, a content list, 7 articles and two groups of photos of my tutors and I in Chinese National Academy of Arts and my friends and students in Kentucky in 2011 to my designer in Wuxi in the early morning April 6, while I sent my writing to my tutor in England.

When both of my designer and my English tutor were working on it, I had a short rest for about 2 hours, now, when I am getting the photos from the company that is decorating my paintings, I would like to write this letter to you to say Hello.

With a grateful heart, I would like to say:

I am lucky enough for I have met one of the best designers – Mrs. Bao Jinjun in Wuxi, she had helped me design and printed 2 albums of paintings by working continuously for about 60 hours or worked in her vacations and ensured me getting them within 7 days and 11 days after I gave her the data in 2010 and in 2011.

I am also so lucky that I have one of the best English tutors -- Mr. Mike Joyce in England, one of the best technology working partners – Mr. Charlie Quan Zhang in Shenzhen. Since 2005, when we started to found the little web site www.ebridge.cn , we have been paying more attention to built our own support system and hoped to rely on the technology to improve our work efficiency.

Now, we have had the ability to find any picture that we want to edit among the more than 800 paintings within several seconds, make them into any sort by hitting one key; then by hitting another key, the content we want to choose into a book or something else will become a Word File at once, and it will be the line that we follow to work in Wuxi, Shenzhen, England and anywhere else in the world. Then we can design and edit a new album or a book or a DVD faster and faster.

Within the past 12 days, I have gotten 3 offers from Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Wuxi:

-- My art professor who has taught me for 8 years would like to invest me by offering an office space to found a Chinese painting workshops in the coastal city --Shenzhen and the first special economic zone if I want;

-- One of my classmates would like to invest me by founding a Shirley’s Art Gallery for me in also a coastal city Zhuhai and the special economic zone if I want to work there.

-- One of my family members would also like to help me by offering office space and a ready living apartment with several rooms in a city by the Tai Lake – Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

I was so happy and felt honor for they dared to think of investing me on my Chinese painting in our own native country land, that was really the biggest recognition to my hard work and study in this field.

Anyway, except being full of the appreciations in my heart to them, I know clear that I will not work only on Chinese painting. But I want to become a comprehensive artist, after all, the comprehensive ability, multiplex knowledge structure and long-term management experience have offered me something special. What I need to do, is to find, found and strengthen my own core-competitiveness, to create a new career with my own art style base on studying both of the traditional Chinese art, culture, language and the more advanced theory, more opened minds and work methods in the West World.

I want to work in the cross-culture and comprehensive art field with a team instead of working as an individual always.

The good thing was that after experiencing some unexpected changes and a difficult time one by one, my psychological endurance has changed stronger. I can face any difficult time and to deal with my work and life in a very peaceful heart, even, I could not help smiling when I saw something negative so clearly…

After all, this is just the reality and this is just life. The value of a manager should be able to resolve these difficulties and problems, finds out of what is the lesson we should learn from, and to be able to encourage the members in the team to work with a positive emotion still, to work with a more smart style in the future.

Meanwhile, also I realized that I cannot work as an individual again, I must have a team, belongs an organization, otherwise, I would not have a room to develop my dream and I would also not have the qualification to make any equal cooperation with the others.

Therefore, April 4, 2013, on the Chinese Tomb-sweeping Day, I signed my name as the general manager of E-bridge Jiansu Culture and Art Development Ltd on the first contract with the publishing house, a girl in Wuxi put our common seal on it and sent it to our work partner April 5. I will also start to work as the president of E-bridge Shenzhen Science and Technology Development Ltd and think of merging the two companies together.

Right now, I have nothing except the little web site, my works of painting, music and writing; a publication that is still on the half road, but, I have known what I want to do, I have had a little model of a part of my new career and I have found our own theory basis for the comprehensive art exploration, especially, I have had 9,800 registered users from more than 30 countries before I start to do any marketing jobs...

If you look at www.ebridge.cn now, you will find some big change on it. We have found a new and clear comprehensive art area already. Then we will found our own marketing and sales area via some style, and to change the little web site from a personal block to be a true business web site.

Do you like the change on my web site? Would you like to give me any comments, suggestions and advices?

I am sure, along with the time and rely on the good direction, help and support from you and all of the friends, I will certainly found a helpful and meaningful career, to help this world and more non-Chinese Speakers in the world and the teenagers from the poor and remote places in China , in this process to improve myself every day.

For helping you know what I have done on the webs site, encouraging myself, thanking my readers, I would like share something below with you:

A Friendly Greeting from Ms. Jessica Carter from New Zealand, April 3, 2013:

Dear Shirley

I enjoy your website very much and I am learning the poems by using your guide, listening to the words and repeating them after you.

I have been reading e-bridge for 6 months and I like your website very much. I started to learn Putonghua in December 2011 and I am making progress, but it is slow progress! So I decided to learn the poems, especially the poems from the Tang Dynasty.

I use your readings to make sure I am pronouncing the words correctly.

I visit Hong Kong several times a year and I would like to take the train to visit Shenzhen one day. I hope I can make a visit to you one day (when my putonghua improves and we can have a conversation in Chinese)

I went to China (my first visit) in December 2012/ January 2013 – to visit Beijing and Shanghai, and I also went to Taiwan. I enjoyed it very much, but I spoke too much English and not enough Chinese!

I liked reading your 392nd greeting because it was a special day for me too – my birthday, also.

Thank you for your website and for all the words, language learning, poems and paintings you share with us.

Kind regards

Jessica Carter

Auckland

New Zealand

How about you? Do you have anything special to share?


I am just a student on Arts of Painting, Music, English and Management, to work on the web site in my free time. I would really like to do somethings with what I have learned to make this little web site to be an Electronic Bridge of Cross - Culture and Comprehensive Arts Exchange, Chinese Culture and 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
April 6, 2013(Beijing Time)