Mr Ip’s Album of Zhangjiajie Sketches 葉哲豪老師 武陵勝覽十二圖册 (張家界寫生集 )

Posted on by Patrick Siu
群峯雪霽
群峯雪霽

 

Zhangjiajie (張家界), a city in the northwest of China’s Hunan (湖南) province, is home to the famous Wulingyuan (武陵源) Scenic Area. This expansive protected zone encompasses thousands of jagged quartzite sandstone columns, many of which rise over 200m, as well as caves filled with stalactites and stalagmites. Wulingyuan also encompasses forests, rivers, waterfalls and two large natural land bridges, and shelters endangered plant and animal species.

Mr Ip Chit Hoo (葉哲豪老師) painted 12 scenes of Zhangjiajie in 1989 (己巳), with three paintings for each of the four seasons. Each season has its own particular colours. The dimensions of each painting is 44.5 x 30 cm, ink and watercolour on paper.

P1000085 (488x1024)

To view all the 12 paintings in the album, please visit the webpage :

https://patricksiu.wordpress.com/mr-ips-album-of-zhangjiajie-sketches-%E8%91%89%E5%93%B2%E8%B1%AA%E8%80%81%E5%B8%AB-%E6%AD%A6%E9%99%B5%E5%8B%9D%E8%A6%BD%E5%8D%81%E4%BA%8C%E5%9C%96%E5%86%8C-%E5%BC%B5%E5%AE%B6%E7%95%8C%E5%AF%AB/

 

 

 

 

The boab tree

Posted on by Patrick Siu

The boab trees are icons of the Kimberley, Western Australia. They have bizarre, twisted leafless branches during the dry season and wreathed with brilliant green during the wet season. Boab trees are unique to the northern part of Western Australia and eastern part of Northern Territory. They attract attention because of their striking and unusual shapes.

IMG_3291 - Copy (763x1280)
A boab tree with bizarre, twisted leafless branches during the dry season
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A boab tree wreathed with brilliant green during the wet season

Please visit my web page on boab trees :

https://patricksiu.wordpress.com/the-boab-tree/

Chunfen (春分) falls on 21 March 2015

Posted on by Patrick Siu

Chunfen (春分) is the vernal equinox which is on March 20-21. In 2015, it falls on March 21.

An equinox occurs twice a year, around March 20-21 and September 22-23. It is the day when daytime and night are of approximately equal duration.

Positions of the Earth relative to the Sun at equinoxes and solstices
Positions of the Earth relative to the Sun at equinoxes and solstices (The diagram is not drawn to scale.)

 

The names vernal equinox and autumnal equinox are based on the seasons, and can be confusing since seasons of the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere are opposites, and the vernal equinox of one hemisphere is the autumnal equinox of the other.

Another way to call them is March equinox and September equinox, referring to the times of the year when such equinoxes occur rather the seasons.

 

A few Chinese poems related to Chunfen (vernal equinox):

五代‧ 徐鉉《春分日》

仲春初四日，春色正中分。綠野徘徊月，晴天斷續雲。 燕飛猶個個，花落已紛紛。思婦高樓晚，歌聲不可聞。

 

五代‧ 徐鉉《七絕．甦醒》

春分雨腳落聲微，柳岸斜風帶客歸。 時令北方偏向晚，可知早有綠腰肥。

 

唐‧ 崔融《和宋之問寒食題黃梅臨江驛》

春分自淮北，寒食渡江南。忽見潯陽水，疑是宋家潭。 明主閽難叫，孤臣逐未堪。遙思故園陌，桃李正酣酣。

 

宋‧ 葛勝仲《蝶戀花》

已過春分春欲去。千炬花間，作意留春住。一曲清歌無誤顧。繞梁餘韻歸何處。盡日勸春春不語。紅氣蒸霞，且看桃千樹。才子霏談更五鼓。剩看走筆揮風雨。

 

Further readings :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox

http://big5.huaxia.com/zhwh/whrd/whrdwz/2010/03/1801815.html

http://zhongkao.xdf.cn/201203/1145796.html

Shan shui painting in blue and green by Mr IP Chit Hoo 葉哲豪老師的青綠山水卷

Posted on by Patrick Siu
Image 2
Image 2

 

Image 1
Image 1

 

Image 3
Image 3

 

Mr Ip Chit Hoo (葉哲豪老師) is my fine art teacher since 1960s .  Mr Ip generously and unreservedly passed on his vast knowledge of shan shui painting to me. He celebrated his 97th Birthday in Hong Kong three weeks ago.

Renri – Everyone’s birthday (人日)

Posted on by Patrick Siu

The 7th day of the Chinese New Year is known as Renri (人日, 人慶節 or 七元節), literally the Everyone’s birthday. In 2026, Renri falls on 23rd February (Monday). According to Chinese folklore, Nǚ wā (女媧) is the goddess who created the world. She created the animals, human beings and grains on different days. Renri was the day human beings were created. The days on which different animals and grains were created are:

1st Day : chicken ;  2nd Day : dog ;  3rd Day : pig ;  4th Day ;  sheep ;  5th Day : cow ;  6th Day : horse ;  7th Day : human being ;  8th Day : grains (穀)

People celebrate renri as part of the CNY. Fireworks (花炮) are lit. Foods like “seven-vegetable congee” (七菜粥 ), “jidi congee” (及第粥) or “seven-colour sliced raw fish” (七彩魚生) are common to celebrate the occasion.

jidi congee (及第粥)
jidi congee (及第粥)
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seven-colour sliced raw fish (七彩魚生)

A poem related to renri.

人日思歸  薛道衡 (540 CE – 609)(南北朝人)

入春才七日, 離家已二年。人歸落雁後, 思發在花前。

(意譯) 入春只有七天, 我離家已經有兩年。回家的日子要等待春回大地雁群從南方北飛回來之後，但春天花開之前我已經有回家的念頭了。

(Meaning in English) It is only the 7th day of the CNY but I have already left home for two years. I will return home after spring arrives when the wild geese flying back to the north.  I thought of going home well before the spring flowers blossom.

Further readings :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renri

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%BA%E6%97%A5 (人日)

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%96%9B%E9%81%93%E8%A1%A1 (薛道衡)