USCPAM

Bringing the cultures of Asia and the Pacific Islands to Southern California, one piece of art at a time.

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TAY NINH, LAND FOR WEEKEND RELAXATION

Only 100 km northwest of HCM City, Tay Ninh is the perfect weekend destination.

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田世光 - 竹鹤长青

by Tian Shiguang (1940)

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"None of my artwork has made an audience cry more than this work, it speaks to so many cultures on so many levels." - Imran Qureshi discussing his installation for the Sharjah Biennale (Image: Blessings Upon the Land of My Love, 2011.)

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宜兴竹海

Bamboo forest, Yixing, China by 梅鹿君

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Chinese stone carvings

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Yoga Narasimha, Vishnu’s Man-Lion Incarnation - Unknown Indian Artist, 12th Century Copper alloy, H. 18 ¾ (47.6 cm); W. 13 in. (33 cm); D. 9 ½ in. (24.1 cm)

Narasimha was an avatar of Vishnu who appeared on earth to slay the evil ruler Hiranyakashipu, who believed himself to be invincible after tricking Brahma into granting him a protective spell. Narasimha is venerated as an embodiment of valor and martial strength; here, he assumes the pose of a meditative yogi after successfully outwitting and slaying the evil king. Narasimha is thus praised as the bringer of peace and order to the world of men. As a meditative yogi, Narasimha assumed Vishnu’s four-armed form and would have carried Vishnu’s weapons—the discus (chakra) and conch—in his raised hands; his lower hands rest passively in meditation. [x]

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Fèng guān凤冠(Phoenix Crown) of Chinese empresses, Qing dynasty and Ming dynasty, collected in the Forbidden city, Beijing.  Actually the first red crown is for high-ranked imperial concubines whose title is fēi妃, and people call them huáng fēi皇妃. The second red crown with more gold ornaments is for the empress who is the only wife of emperor by ancient law, her title is hòu后 and is always called huáng hòu皇后 by people. Huáng皇 means imperial/royal. 

But pay attention that the title fēi妃 also applies to the wife of prince because her status is inferior to the status of empress/huáng hòu皇后, for example, the wife of prince is called wáng fēi王妃, and if the prince is tài zǐ太子(crown prince), then his wife is tài zǐ fēi太子妃. 

In English the wife of prince can be called princess, same as the daughter of emperor. However in Chinese the wife of prince and the daughter of emperor don’t share the same title. Usually the daughter of emperor is considered more superior than the wife of prince in ancient China, for the latter probably doesn’t own royal blood. The daughter of emperor is called huáng nǚ皇女 which straightly means ‘imperial/royal daughter’. If she is especially in favor with the emperor or her mother is the empress, then she would be given the distinguished title gōng zhǔ公主 by emperor himself, so not every huáng nǚ皇女 can be called gōng zhǔ公主. There are even variations in the title gōng zhǔ公主, such as dà gōng zhǔ大公主(most noblest daughter of emperor), zhǎng gōng zhǔ长公主(most noblest sister of emperor), dà zhǎng gōng zhǔ大长公主(most noblest sister of the father of emperor, his aunt).

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Beautiful Tuanshan 团扇 (Chinese Rigid/Fixed Fan; Pinyin: Tuán Shàn) by 霜天晓角李晶

Other names: 圆扇, 宫扇 or 纨扇.

Tuanshan is the oldest form of hand fan in Chinese history and one of the great treasures of traditional Chinese arts. Before folding fans (Zheshan) appeared, Tuanshan were greatly used. This type of Tuanshan which can date back to the Han Dynasty, uses silk as the covering can carry arts like paintings, calligraphy and embroideries on both sides and decorated by Chinese knots, jades or tassels.  It was popular among Chinese ladies as an accessory.

Tuanshan came in various shapes and forms (not like in the photo-set which are all round. But “Tuanshan” means “round fan” usually used as an umbrella term for all fixed fans), and were made in different materials such as silk, bamboo, wood, feathers, plantain leaves etc.(before folding fan appeared, Chinese men usually use those made by other materials rather than silk). The best ones had a surface covered by white silk from East China’s Shandong Province while the handles were crafted out of bamboo from Central China’s Hunan Province. Embroideries from Jiangsu is the most popular in “The Four Great Chinese Embroideries” (Jiangsu, Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan embroideries).

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Yeesookyung’s Translated Vases examines Korean ceramics from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

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Traditional Chinese fashion, fazan, the hanfu accessory. Made by 青荷记

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some of the wonderful performers from our Harvest Moon Festival

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A bust from Ah Xian’s China, China series.

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A close up of Bui Cong Khanh’s The Story of Blue, White, and Red

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the courtyard