How are you?

I started this letter to you at 7:40am Saturday morning.

I am sorry that I did not write last weekend for I was busy on the first volume of my series of books. By the good help from some friends from Britain, Canada, America, China and the publishing house from Guangzhou, the work on translation, writing, painting, music and publishing agreement is moved forward day and day...

During the process, I have seen clearly that the biggest difficulty on my comprehensive art exploration is time and English; the biggest potential crisis is capital lack.

-- Whole of the work can be done by myself and my friends together, with a loose cooperation since I started to machinate and to translate my first series of books in 2000. But, as an individual, with a loose cooperation that relies on the support from friends because of friendship only, this project will not be able to work on a large scale, also, it will not be able to keep for a long time. The work quality will be limited because of my own little ability and level.

-- There is no an English language environment and there is no anyone who is native English speaker around of me to work with me face to face. The most important communicational tool - English, can be done only via telephones and emails. It has become the biggest problem that often delays my work.

-- These problems should be able to resolve partly if I can hire someone else. But, Along with my retreated from the company totally, the only capital support of the project -- my salary will become my pension, the latter will never be able to support this kind of project at all.

-- It is impossible to push my comprehensive project forward by myself. If I do not want it emerges of itself and perishes of itself along with my own health going to worse, I must find the actual support from the government, organization, fund or foundation.

I have been thinking of what road I should go and how I should go my road ahead.

Anyway, since I always feel that I were just 25 years old :-) , I will never choose the life to live as most of retired people when I am still so young. :-) Therefore, I am going to go back Chinese National Academy of Arts in Beijing and my University in USA and also I am going to Australia, to do my best to study, to find help, support and to found work partner relationship, to push the project forward in the process that to resolve the problems.

The future will be certainly bright; the road will not be easy to go. I will never give up my art dreams and to work hard on it. :-)

So, I have started my record job in a professional company. The first feeling in the record room was strange and the work within the first 2 hours was failing. Anyway, since the 4th hour, I found the feeling so that one of the sound engineers said, if I just wanted the record for Chinese poem teaching, the quality was not bad. But, both of my music professor and I myself did not satisfy the work quality because it has not reached my usual singing level in my music lessons yet. So, I will go to the record room every day next week, until the record quality reaches the best level of mine...

Also, this noon or evening, I will invite my classmate Amy and her American husband who is a native English speaker to have a meal, while to ask him to correct my English pronunciations when I am singing the poems that I will publish in the book...

As a part of my comprehensive art project, I will continue to work on the series of books, and hand in it to the publishing house before I leave for another internal trip or international travel.

How do you think of my idea?

Would you like to help me as a volunteer as my friends have done at this time?

Do you have 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
August 25, 2012(Beijing Time)