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Shanghai Lady Poster - Old Fashion in 1930's

5/28/2013

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Shanghai Lady Posters used to be known as Calendar Poster as they were used commercially to promote the western goods such as cigarettes, medicine, wine and so on in 1930’s and 1940’s. The fashionably dressed ladies in the posters are so beautifully painted, the iconic graphic style marrying art deco with Chinese brush painting, that until today they are still the symbols of Shanghai romance. The lavish image of beaming young women dressed in the signature qipao, unmistakably Chinese yet clearly bearing the influence of cosmopolitan Western tastes, captured the mood of the city at that time.

Today Shanghai is soaring at magic height after such a long sleep over half a century, but these lady posters bring back the sweet memories of old Shanghai as the Paris in the Far East and the paradise for the adventurists.
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Happy Buddha (Laughing Buddha)

5/17/2013

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Happy Buddha is always represented as very stout, with the breast and upper abdomen exposed to view. His face has a laughing expression, and he is also known as the Laughing Buddha. Happy Buddha usually stands in the first hall of the Buddhist monastery.

Happy Buddha is the incarnate image of Maitreya Buddha in Sanskrit term "the Merciful One" which is rendered into Chinese as mi-le. This name is said by some to be derived from the a King, Syriac Molekh.

Maitreya is a Bodhisattva, the principal one, indeed, of Sakyamuni's retinue,
but is not counted among the ordinary disciples. It was in the Tushita heaven
that Sakyamuni met him and appointed him as the successor, to appear as Buddha after the lapse of 5,000 years. Maitreya is therefore the expected Messiah of Buddhists, residing at present in Tushita. Therefore, as opposed to the Past Buddha (Bhaisajyaguru Buddha, or Medicine Buddha) and Present Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha), Maitreya is the Coming Buddha.



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Formation rules of Chinese characters

5/15/2013

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"Liushu" refers to six basic formation rules of Chinese characters that were firstly summarized in the book "Shuowenjiezi" (Analytical Dictionary of Characters) by Xu Shen, a famous literateur and linguist who lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 BC).

In Liushu theory, four rules that define the formation of Chinese characters are the most important:
- pictographic
- indicative

- indicative compound
- pictophonetic compound
Among these, the first two apply to the characters of single structure while the other two to the characters of complex structure. The early Chinese characters that were carved on the animal bones were sketched pursuant to the forms of the objects which people saw or visualized logic. Thus, the first characters, mostly of single structure, were created in pictographic and indicative rules. To distinctly represent more concepts that were barely accomplished by mere pictures, many more characters were created later over time in other rules, such as indicative compound and pictophonetic compound, which give birth to characters of complex structure. The majority of Chinese characters in use nowadays belong to complex structure.

The foundation of Chinese characters are traditional version of characters that were created and used until the Republic of China (1949 as the last year). In middle 1950's, in order to popularize the literary of population, the simplied version of characters was introduced to people across mainland of China. In that process, some other customary rules were employed together with traditional  "Liushu" to form the characters in ubiquitous use nowadays in China mainland.

Illustrated below are the characters that demonstrate the application of each of the major formation rules:

Single Structure
- Pictographic
                    Script style evolution (diachronic):
                                   <Ancient>            <Transitional>  <Modern>

                         Oracle      Bronze    Seal    Clerical   Regular     Cursive         Print
  
   月
Moon
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Crescent (the vertical stroke in the middle signifies the light)
  
    舟
 Boat
图片

   羊
 Goat
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Horns & Face of goat

Single Structure
- Indicative
                   Script style evolution (diachronic):
                                        <Ancient>          <Transitional>  <Modern>
                       Oracle     Bronze        Seal      Clerical  Regular    Cursive       Print

   上
  Up
图片

   下
Down
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    三
 Three
图片

Complex Structure
- Indicative compound
                  Script style evolution (diachronic):
                                          <Ancient>                    <Transitional> <Modern>
                        Oracle              Bronze              Seal  Clerical Regular Cursive  Print

   酒
 Wine
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图片
Water
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Pot
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Wine
  
   明
Bright
图片
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Moon
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Sun
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Bright
 
   尘
 Dust
图片
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Oracle script: A running deer above and the particles of earth raised consequently beneanth
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Seal script: evolution towards to modern regular script
尘:Modern simplied character. It consists of 小 and 土 that mean respectively small/tiny and earth

Complex Structure
- Pictophonetic compound
           Script style evolution (diachronic):
                                          <Ancient>            <Transitional>  <Modern>
                         Oracle           Bronze        Seal  Clerical Regular  Cursive       Print

   河
 River
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图片
"Water" implies the trait
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It reads "Ke", approximate to "He", the pronunciation of River
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River. It reads "He"
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Chinese Poetry - 1

5/9/2013

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Ascending the Guanque (Stork) Tower

The setting sun behind the mountain glows,
And towards the sea the Yellow River flows,
You can enjoy an endless sight
by ascending to a greater height

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