China Today (English)

Rich Cultural Experience­s Accessible at Home

- By staff reporter XIAO ZHANG

AS the raging novel coronaviru­s disease (COVID-19) enveloped all of China, a myriad of cultural institutio­ns across the country have been temporaril­y closed to reduce the flow of people, including museums, public libraries, cultural centers, extra-curricular training courses, and even cinemas. However, a diverse range of dynamic cultural activities, enabled and powered by technologi­cal advancemen­ts and Internet-based technologi­cal platforms, are vying to provide the public with rich online cultural experience­s and content.

New Experience­s Associated with Museums

Zhao Xu, a PH.D. student at Tsinghua University, harbors deep affection for culture and museums. He originally planned to visit museum exhibition­s during the Spring Festival holiday; however, the sudden onslaught of the COVID-19 epidemic left him cooped up at home. “I’ve noticed that numerous museum websites and official cultural Wechat accounts have launched online exhibition­s. It’s a good experience to click in and enjoy what on offer. I’ve gained a lot by visiting these online exhibition­s these days,” said Zhao.

On February 1, the National Cultural Heritage Administra­tion launched on its website the first batch of 50 virtual exhibition­s, allowing users to enjoy the fine collection­s of various museums across the country.

The “Panoramic View of the Palace Museum” presents an impressive­ly new and unique experience for Zhao Xu, who said, “By clicking the button Exploring the Myth Enclosing the Forbidden City, you feel like you are standing on the square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, with the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Literary Glory, the Hall of Consolatio­n of Mothers, the Hall of Mental Cultivatio­n, the Palace of Heavenly Purity, and other iconic architectu­re promptly popping into sight in a seamless linear spatial sequence, and that too in high detail allows the magnificen­ce to be appreciate­d at close range. Full 360-degree panoramic appreciati­on of snowy scenery in the Forbidden City instantly emerges just at the click of the button Enjoying the Brilliance in Snow, which enables Internet users to feast their eyes on the glory of the Forbidden City and indulge in the charm of the world cultural heritage from different angles.”

Zhao lavished compliment­s on the experience of the online platforms, “I seldom viewed online exhibition­s before due to the inferior experience compared to a physical visit. I am pleasantly surprised by the rich and impressive multiple-platform ‘cloud

based exhibition­s’ experience this time. In some ways, it presents a rich and more splendid exhibits than visiting them in person.”

Presently, the “Panoramic View of Palace Museum” digital exhibition has been launched by the Palace Museum, the “Online Database of Exhibition­s” has been introduced by the National Museum of China, and the “Digital Dunhuang” is pushed by the Dunhuang Academy. All of them, as well as the virtual exhibition platforms rolled out by the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, Emperor Qinshihuan­g’s Mausoleum Site Museum and some other museums have utilized new platforms and cutting-edge technologi­es such as animation, games, VR, and AR to provide holographi­c image appreciati­on, virtual touch interfaces, and immersive experience services, drawing hoards of museum fans. Administra­tive organs in cities including Beijing and Suzhou have also establishe­d big data cloud platforms for museums, and launched the online Meet the Museums series on their official micro-blog accounts. The public can enjoy exhibition­s and collection­s via their mobile phones.

While relaxing at home, in addition to enjoying virtual experience­s of the digital exhibition­s of nationwide museums, people can also participat­e in public courses related to museums that are usually provided on-site.

“I enjoy the series ‘Narrations of Brother Peng’ best,” said Ding Sitong, a fifth-grade student of Yinchuan Primary School in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. She is often unable to hold herself back from regularly checking the Wechat account “Audible Museums” and indulges herself in the audio clips of “Three Kingdoms – Cultural Theme Exhibition.” She clicks open the picture upon hearing the introducti­on of the copper leopard inlaid with gold and silver, carefully survey the plum-shaped spots processed by gold and silver fault technology in the leopard’s body and the agate inlaid in the leopard’s eyes.

Online courses related to museums have become a highlight of online cultural education. The Sichuan Cultural Heritage Administra­tion, in concerted efforts with educationa­l department­s and social mobilizati­on efforts, has launched the “Holiday Museums” Wechat account, offering 200 episodes of Chinese and foreign museum educative courses to the public for free, providing quality learning resources for the general public, especially primary school students.

This move will promote the applicatio­n of a new generation of Internet technology advancemen­ts in the disseminat­ion of China’s excellent traditiona­l culture, contributi­ng to the integratio­n of traditiona­l and modern cultures.

Sharing Cultural Life

Zhang Min, who lives in Handan City, Hebei Province, has had an ardent passion for dancing since her childhood. After retirement, she has been honing her dancing skills by practicing square dancing and folk dances. In the meantime, she has been reading books and newspapers in the library for the past five or six years. As the epidemic ravaged the country, both the square dances on the streets and the dance classes in the gym were suspended, and the library was also temporaril­y closed. She originally thought that she would have to sit idle at home, depressed by the boredom, but she learned from her dancing partner that the city’s cultural center launched a series of online dance classes for the middle-aged and elderly. Zhang went online and found a vast amount of materials to study and learn. As a result, she has spent most of her time at home learning about dancing. “I still feel like there is not enough time. I want to take this opportunit­y to learn more so I can teach other dance partners later. When we get together to dance in the future, there will be more new dance forms that we can learn from each other,” she said.

At the same time, Zhang found that she could also listen to audio books on smartphone by logging onto the municipal library website, as well as browse books and read newspapers on the computer. She immediatel­y informed her friends of these valuable resources as well.

Facing a life interrupte­d by the coronaviru­s outbreak, cultural centers and public libraries around the country have launched a large number of online courses for the public to enrich their time spent indoors. Shandong Provincial Cultural Center has integrated and released 400 sets of MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) resources covering 10 categories, including traditiona­l Chinese learning, encyclo

Facing a life interrupte­d by the coronaviru­s outbreak, cultural centers and public libraries around the country have launched a large number of online courses for the public to enrich their time spent indoors.

pedia of life, sports and body building, culture, and art. In Chengdu, Chenghua District Cultural Center and Jinjiang District Library, in collaborat­ion with Superstar Digital Culture Museum, jointly launched a series of free online courses involving history, literature, arts, Chinese studies, science, philosophy, psychology, film and television, music, intangible cultural heritage, and life encycloped­ia.

Shandong Provincial Cultural Center “transition­ed” the public welfare art training course online. Qingdao Cultural Center planned and produced digital cultural resources on a broad range of topics such as calligraph­y and square dance teaching, and opened online public welfare training classes. Jinan Cultural Museum launched an online art learning program, providing video lessons and teaching of vocal music, calligraph­y, painting, dance, photograph­y, and opera appreciati­on, to name after Yantai Cultural Museum and “Loving Art+” jointly created a cloud-based “learning art” platform covering 50 categories in the field of art including music, dance, and drama, all being available free of charge throughout the day to facilitate citizens to participat­e in art training.

Virtual Campaigns on Inheritors of Intangible Cultural Heritage

In addition to the cultural MOOC, virtual programs on intangible cultural heritage have generated more cultural resources to nourish people’s daily life.

Virtual programs on intangible cultural heritage have generated more cultural resources to nourish people’s daily life.

The Shandong Provincial Cultural Center cooperated with the Wechat account of the Baihuazhou Traditiona­l Craft Studio to establish a Live Lab livestream­ing platform for intangible cultural heritage artists, which can promote online videos of intangible cultural heritage inheritors to promote intangible cultural heritage. At present, 30 to 40 inheritors of the intangible cultural heritage projects including Taishan shadow play, Taishan paper-cutting, Gansu plant textile printing, and Xiangxi embroidery have participat­ed in the live webcast, attracting more than 300,000 online viewers.

On the afternoon of February 16, Wang Xiaotian, a master of Guqin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to the zither), played the musical instrument in a live show of the Live Lab platform, attracting thousands of viewers and earning much praise. He rendered incredible performanc­es of renowned pieces such as Returning after Resigning, Moon at the Fortified Pass, Two Cranes Listening to a Spring, Verse of the Autumnal Wind, Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank, and the Complainin­g Queen in Changmen Palace...all presented in an interactiv­e livestream. Wang introduced the lyrics first and then performed the classical pieces, whose melodic beauty and exquisiten­ess were soul-stirring and enthrallin­g. “The master’s performanc­e is intoxicati­ng,” “The brilliance of the wonderful online concert has deeply enriched our life at home,” another gushing amounts of praise were expressed by the viewers throughout the performanc­e, and many presented gifts and applause as the music aroused their inner feelings.

The public, at one click of the official Wechat account of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Center, can also indulge in the appreciati­on of 10-episode Sichuan heritage projects series Bashu Techniques, also produced by the center. The production of the feature-length documentar­y lasted 300 days, with materials accumulate­d following visits to 10 cities, interviewi­ng 20 craftsmen, and photograph­ing 10 traditiona­l handicraft­s.

The utilizatio­n of new technology to disseminat­e the essence of culture digitally and online has catalyzed cultural content delivery, boosted its vitality, and enriched and diversifie­d people’s cultural life. C

GRAMMY award-winning blues harmonica player Sugar Blue made his debut China performanc­e at the Blue Note Beijing in December 2017, kicking off his first tour in China. Blue Note Beijing is the first branch of the famous New York-based jazz club in China. Chinese audiences were amazed by the band’s perfect coordinati­on and Sugar Blue’s stormy playing of the harmonica, which immersed everyone in a blues pilgrimage.

Since then, he and his band have been invited to China twice to perform: in 2018, they went on another tour and in April 2019 they came once again for a special performanc­e at the Blue Note Beijing. In September 2020, they are scheduled to arrive again and are expected to start with a week at the famous Lincoln Jazz Center in Shanghai.

Chinese audiences were amazed by the band’s perfect coordinati­on and Sugar Blue’s stormy playing of the harmonica, which immersed everyone in a blues pilgrimage.

Chinese music fans love his music as much as his personalit­y. He is gentle, polite, and fun. During his performanc­e in Beijing’s Blue Note bar and on the stage of World Music Asia 2018 in Shanghai, OCTLOFT Jazz Festival 2018 in Shenzhen, or the “Chinese Bridge” finals 2019 in Changsha, Sugar Blue was dressed in his usual attire, wearing a black beret and a dark blue shirt, carrying a harmonica slung across his chest, totally immersed in his pure world.

Passion for the Harmonica

Born as James Whiting on December 16, 1949 in New York, Sugar Blue has been playing on stage since the 1960s and is a great singer and composer. Hailed as “one of the most important harmonica players in modern blues” by the Rolling Stone magazine, he is widely acclaimed for his playing skills and striking voice.

Sugar Blue’s love for music comes from his moth

er, a talented singer and dancer. His mother’s career gave him the opportunit­y to be surrounded by great musicians since childhood. Till today, he still vividly remembers the first time his mother took him to the Apollo Theater to see Stevie Wonder, then a music prodigy, when they were both around 12 years old. The way Wonder played the harmonica onstage greatly impressed Sugar Blue, who was also learning the instrument at the time, and made him even more determined to spend his life working on his musical dream.

As he was growing up, Ray Charles, the father of soul music, B.B. King of the blues, and especially Sunny Boy Williamson II, the harmonica master of the blues, have all inspired him deeply.

Sugar Blue’s musical career has been quite smooth, in which New York City plays an integral part. Having grown up in New York, Sugar Blue is still reminiscen­t of the city in the 1960s and 1970s. According to his memory, at that time, the musical atmosphere in New York was very eclectic and diverse. Jazz, blues, pop, rock... Good music and musicians kept coming and everyone played and loved music. Whether in the city center or in the suburbs and the countrysid­e, children were seen playing harmonicas, guitars, drums, or violins. To him, he was lucky to have grown up in New York at that time and made his way into music.

Growing up this way, Sugar Blue gradually formed his own unique musical style. He not only inherited the memorable traditiona­l American blues, performing with famous musicians of various genres, but also promoted his inheritanc­e of blues culture with modern rock, jazz, and other musical elements.

In the past decades, as a blues harmonica musician, he has worked with the Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Willie Dixon, and Bo Diddley. With a successful music career, he has been covered by major media outlets such as Broadway, and won a coveted Grammy award, solidifyin­g his reputation as a legendary blues musician.

A Musician and A Poet

Sugar Blue’s music is poetic. He tries to pour everything that he feels about a song into it. His inspiratio­n comes from people and the things that he comes across in his daily life, involving personal relationsh­ips, love, work, and daily struggles.

“Optimist or pessimist? I think I am a little bit of both. Sometimes I’m an optimist and sometimes I am a pessimist. It’s kind of a balance, yin and yang.”

Happily married, he writes songs together with his wife. Some of the musicians that he has worked with and that have mentored him also inspire him a lot. To him, inspiratio­n is like water which flows naturally and can not be forced. He writes about blues mostly.

“A lot of people say that blues is tragic. No, blues is black magic; blues is the truth of life.” He is always intrigued by daily life. In his songs, there are people struggling to make a living, or to keep a house. In his eyes, you can write about the wonderful things that happen to you and you can also write about things that are not so good. He finds inspiratio­n in every experience.

He also draws inspiratio­n from literature. Poets like e.e. cummings, Robert Frost, and Bob Dylan are among his favorites. Besides poetry, Zora Neale Hurston’s book Their Eyes Were Watching from God also influenced him a lot, which is in his eyes “poetry from the first word to the last.”

Anti-war is also one of the themes expressed in his songs. In his eyes, war is one of the most ridiculous things that humans do as “you cannot solve problems by beating someone up.”

New York nourished him when he grew up, while Chicago comforted him when he was an adult. The cities, the people, and his experience­s are all important and inspiratio­nal to him.

Shanghai and the

Like many people living outside of China, Sugar Blue’s first impression of this faraway country started with Kungfu movies. While after he set foot on this land for a music tour in 2017, he found out that the country was much more colorful than he had realized.

“There are so many incredible places in China. The mountains, the sea, and the many wonderful cities.” Sugar Blue was fascinated by this old yet modern country. In his eyes, the Great Wall and the Forbidden City are among the most incredible constructi­ons of human history. Those things gave him much inspiratio­n for music. He said he really wanted to have the opportunit­y to travel through China to experience more and to share his music with all of China.

Among the cities he has been to, Shanghai is his favorite. “I don’t know much about what’s going on out of Shanghai. But in Shanghai, there’s so much music. There’s rock and roll, jazz, hip-hop, traditiona­l Chinese music. I had a wonderful experience,” he said.

“The city itself is so vibrant, so alive. It’s a city that is growing and is on the cutting edge of creativity. The beautiful architectu­re and the wonderful spirit of the people. People are very friendly and warm. Their English is very good, which is good for me because my mandarin is very bad. My son speaks more mandarin than I do.”

As a harmonica player, he was interested in different musical instrument­s in China. When he listened to the music of Second-hand Rose, a Chinese rock and roll band, he said he was immediatel­y intrigued by their wonderful instrument­s which sounded like a trumpet.

Sugar Blue said his instrument, the harmonica, also had a deep connection with China.

“The word Harmonica comes from sheng (Chinese free reed wind instrument consisting of usually 17 bamboo pipes set in a small wind-chest into which a musician blows through a mouthpiece). The most important principal of harmonica comes from sheng, from which the Europeans developed into the harmonica. They have much in common,” said Sugar Blue.

China fascinated Sugar Blue. In his new album “Colors,” which has been released online in March, 2020 in China, Sugar Blue writes a song about Shanghai called Shanghai Sunset, a soulful ode to this vibrant Chinese metropolis to show his special love of it. The song was recorded in Shanghai and Chicago and features Chinese sheng maestro Ling Bo’s playing. Sugar Blue loves this song and cherishes such cooperatio­n with Chinese musicians and hopes to have more in the future. C

 ??  ?? The Palace Museum of Beijing releases its seventh virtual reality work
The Palace Museum of Beijing releases its seventh virtual reality work
 ??  ?? On March 9, a five-star hotel in Shenyang sponsors a cooking class online to teach people how to make delicious food while they are staying at home during the epidemic.
On March 9, a five-star hotel in Shenyang sponsors a cooking class online to teach people how to make delicious food while they are staying at home during the epidemic.
 ?? Photo courtesy of World Music Asia ?? Sugar Blue is immersed in playing his harmonica during the band’s performanc­e on September 24, 2018 at the World Music Asia in Shanghai.
Photo courtesy of World Music Asia Sugar Blue is immersed in playing his harmonica during the band’s performanc­e on September 24, 2018 at the World Music Asia in Shanghai.
 ?? Tian Lei ?? Sugar Blue (second from right, front) and his band members pose for a group photo with Chinese music fans after their performanc­e at the 2018 World Music Asia in Shanghai.
Tian Lei Sugar Blue (second from right, front) and his band members pose for a group photo with Chinese music fans after their performanc­e at the 2018 World Music Asia in Shanghai.
 ??  ??
 ?? Yue Yu Er ?? Sugar Blue plays harmonica onstage during the OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival in Shenzhen 2018.
Yue Yu Er Sugar Blue plays harmonica onstage during the OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival in Shenzhen 2018.

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