This past week New Century took us to culture center where we got the chance to observe classic Chinese artwork being made.  Not only did we get to watch some professionals paint, but we also got to hear the stories behind each of the paintings.  From these stories, I learned the real meaning behind several symbols that I often see in Chinese paintings.  For example, one can often spot a fish because the Chinese word for fish sounds like part of the Chinese word for prosperous.  My favorite painting depicted four children pulling a large carrot out of the ground together and read “齐心协力”, which essentially means teamwork.

On top of this, we also got the chance to learn about woodblock printing and even try it out for ourselves.  Using a woodblock that depicted an ancient Chinese market, we first coated it with a layer of black ink, and then pressed the image onto a large sheet of paper to produce our own piece of art.  The image was far more detailed than I had originally imagined, and we then got to watch as the teacher skillfully began to paint the outline we had just made, giving it life.  Overall, I enjoyed how the subtleties and details of these Chinese paintings often had profound meaning and made me appreciate even more the richness of Chinese culture. —–Austin

这个星期新世纪带我们去一个文化中心，让我们看了中国年画。除了看到画家画画以外，我们也听到工作人员解释画上的故事。听到这些故事，我才理解了一些平常在画上的东西。比如说，中国画上常常有一条鱼因为“鱼”那个字听起来像富裕的“裕”。在我看到的画中，我最喜欢四个孩子一起挖一个很大的胡萝卜的画。那个画的上面也有四个汉字“齐心协力”，意思差不多是“一起做”。我们也有机会学习怎么做版画。我们先用画笔把黑墨水涂在雕版上，然后把雕版压在一张纸上。我们把雕版抬起以后，纸上有一个很漂亮画。最后，我们看画家给我们做的画上色。她的技术非常高，连那画最复杂的部分她都画得很好。总的来说，中国画上的东西，连最小的或者我们看为最普通的东西也常常很有很特别的意义，这让我更尊重中国丰富的文化了。—-冯时

上个星期一些老师和学生一起去杨柳青的一家工厂。这家工厂做的东西就是年画。年画是一种画，过年的时候中国人把这样的画挂在墙上。所以叫年画。年画中有很多代表幸福或者跟幸福有关系的东西。譬如鱼，鹤，男孩儿和 荷花。在那家工厂我们看了他们怎么制作年画。他们用一个有一块木头的模子，然后用一把刷子把墨水擦在木头上，接着拿一张纸放在木头上，这样那张纸上就有那个图片了。他们用这样的方法可以很快地做出很多张。然后他们有一些人忙着给这些画上色。

对我们外国人来说很有意思知道他们怎么做成这样有名的年画。 —–安可悦

Last week some teachers and students went to a factory. This factory makes the so-called New Year pictures. These are a kind of pictures that Chinese people will put on the wall during Spring Festival. In the pictures there are a lot of things that represent, or are related to, happiness. For example, fish, cranes, boys and lotus. At that factory we were able to see how these pictures are made. They use a wooden block in which a picture is carved. Then they use a brush to put ink on the carved picture. After that they put paper on the wooden block and the picture will last on the paper. In this way they can make a lot of pictures in a short time. Then there are several people who are busy colouring the pictures.

For us foreigners it was interesting to know how these very famous New Year pictures are made. —Christel