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1Gardening Expertise
The 2011 International Horticultural Exposition was held in Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, from April 28 to October 22.
The 178-day expo showcased new achievements and new products in the areas of landscaping, horticulture, environmentally friendly and energy-saving technology, and hundreds of rare plants and ecological landscapes from different areas and different climate zones around the globe.
It was the third time a city on the Chinese mainland has held the event. Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, hosted the event in 1999 and Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province, was the host in 2006.
2Chinese Names on UNESCO Heritage List
After a decade-long application, the West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, capital of South China’s Zhejiang Province, was officially admitted to UNESCO’s World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee in Paris on June 24. West Lake became the only lake recognized as a world heritage in China, marking the country’s 41st world heritage recognition.
The West Lake is an outstanding model of a cultural landscape, reflecting idealized fusion between humans and nature.
In addition, Chinese shadow puppetry, a form of theater performed with colorful silhouette figures made from leather or paper, accompanied by music and singing, was inscribed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on November 27. It’s China’s 29th intangible cultural heritage on the UNESCO list.
3Relic Theft Crackdown
On May 11, the Chinese Government pledged to launch an eightmonth crackdown campaign in 17 provinces and regions to deal with the rampant relic theft that may threaten the safety of state cultural relics.
This announcement was made days after the relic theft in the Palace Museum in Beijing on May 8. On that day, seven pieces of art from the private Liang Yi Museum in Hong Kong were stolen from the heavily-guarded Palace Museum, where they were on display.
This incident alerted the public to the rampant theft, smuggling and illegal trading of cultural relics driven by high profits in some places in China. Police and cultural relic authorities also announced the establishment of a national database for relic theft crimes to facilitate future investigations.
4Free Access to Cultural Facilities
The newly refurnished National Art Museum of China opened to visitors for free on March 2. The new museum, covering an area of nearly 200,000 square meters, is the largest museum in the world.
In addition to the National Art Museum of China, public art museums at national and provincial levels also stopped charging admission. Meanwhile, all public libraries and cultural centers are to have barrier-free, zero-threshold access by the end of 2011 as part of China’s campaign to offer the citizens free access to public cultural facilities, which started on February 10. Other levels of art galleries are to be opened to the public for free by the end of 2012.
The Central Government plans to provide special subsidies to such facilities in less developed central and west China. In addition, local governments are required to provide funds to art galleries and libraries at all levels, enabling them to continue operating and improving services without relying on entrance fees. Private investors are also encouraged to invest in or donate to museums and libraries.
5Landscape Reunited
The renowned Chinese landscape painting, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, by Huang Gongwang (1269-1354), was displayed in its entirety at an exhibition in the“National Palace Museum” in Taipei from June 1 to September 25.
This great cultural event across the Taiwan Straits attracted a flood of attention because it was the first time for the two parts of the great work to come together since they were burnt apart 360 years ago. For more than 60 years, half of the painting has been kept in a museum in Hangzhou, capital of South China’s Zhejiang Province, while the other half has been housed in the “National Palace Museum” in Taipei. Its reunion also symbolizes the end of the history when the people separated by the Straits didn’t see each other for decades.
6Online Copyright Dispute
A group of 50 Chinese authors posted an open letter online accusing Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, of stealing their work and infringing copyright laws on March 15, the World Consumer Rights Day.
They said Baidu Wenku, Baidu’s online literary database, provided free download service of their works without paying copyright royalties. They claimed Wenku was damaging original Chinese literature. In response to the accusation, Baidu Wenku deleted nearly 3 million potentially infringed items from its literary section.
Online copyright infringement has become a prominent problem as everything goes digital in the information age. Among others, Baidu’s case has called for public awareness on and effective measures of copyright protection in the virtual world.
7Cooling Down the Art Market
Artwork prices hit new records at auctions this year after China became the world’s largest art market in 2010. The artwork transaction volume this year is expected to more than double last year’s figure, powered by the country’s double-digit economic growth.
Behind the prosperity, however, a number of problems have plagued China’s art market for years. Auction companies sell fake artwork without punishment. Unqualified experts and art agencies offer unreliable endorsements and certificates. Counterfeiters grow in numbers. To resolve these knotty issues, qualified third-party artwork authentication and valuation agencies have to be established. While reinforcing supervision, the authorities also need to toughen legislative efforts to regulate the market and curb artwork counterfeiting.
8Cheaper Books Online
Threatened by much cheaper prices at online marketplaces, brick and mortar bookstores are disappearing in cities.
While many bookstores have gone out of business, the market share of online booksellers has continued to expand. In addition to Dangdang and Joyo Amazon, many online vendors have joined the price war. 360buy began selling books at the end of 2010. Online sales of books and audio and video products are expected to be worth more than 500 million yuan ($78.75 million) in 2011.
Booklovers and bookstore owners are calling on the government to save traditional bookstores, because along with these bookstores, a lifestyle featuring the bliss of hanging around in bookstores is disappearing. The Chinese Government is planning to include private bookstores as beneficiaries of this policy to help them survive the competition.
9Booming Movie Market
China’s movie market continues to grow this year. While domestic box office revenue is expected to reach 13 billion yuan ($2 billion), Chinese movie theaters are adding eight more screens every day nationwide, or about 10,000 screens in total by the end of 2011.
Thanks to increasing diversity and the fact that more audiences go back to cinemas, some small-budget productions find chances to glitter and perform well at the box office.
Meanwhile, foreign film makers are trying their luck in this expanding market. While foreign faces are increasingly seen in the movie crew and cast of Chinese productions, China has further relaxed rules and regulations on movie cooperation. Six countries have so far signed cooperation agreements on movie production with China. The co-produced movies are treated as Chinese films for domestic distribution and are exempt from quota control, and are also protected in overseas markets.
10The Musical Season
The past summer offered an interesting variety of musical performances. While the Chinese version of Mama Mia!, one of the most popular musicals in the world, tours China on a 200-performance run, homegrown musicals are also gaining ground.
Love U Teresa, an original musical about influential Taiwanese Chinese pop singer Teresa Teng (1953-95), has been staged in Beijing since August 5. The Broken Bridge, a large-scale musical featuring a cross-Straits love story spanning 60 years produced with funds from the Hangzhou Municipal Government, was staged in the famous tourism city in Zhejiang Province from September 15 to 22. Musicals for children, such as The Vagrant Life of Sanmao and Sesame Street, were also piquing the interest of younger audiences.
A real interest in musicals has been cultivated through overseas productions and Chinese-version reproductions. But musical professionals still have to cope with challenges such as a lack of talent and standards for producing quality musicals, while finding investments and heading towards profitability.