Vienna Sound of Spring Concert Re-Defining Chinese Love of Golden Hall On the evening of February 3, the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musicians Association Mansion held a “Vienna Sound of Spring Concert”, in which three Chinese classics were introduced between the traditional Waltz pieces. As a result, the concert turned beautifully into a gift from Austrian musicians to the Chinese Lunar New Year. That night, 2 days before the beginning of the Year of the Pig, the Golden Hall was almost wholly packed, leaving no room in the standing-tickets area either. An emotional evening enshrouded in joy, indeed. The…

  Chapter One: Fate Transformation Fatalists believe that the fate of a human being is absolutely predestined. Fate is decided by mother nature or God, and it could never ever be changed. But my thinking towards this theory is entirely different. I know a boy, whose fate was transformed in three days after he was born. One autumn evening many years ago, the rain was drizzling, chilly gusts of autumn wind were blowing. At the entrance space of an old and shabby building in an alley of XiangYan Qiao Road, Hong Kou District, Shanghai, a middle-aged couple were sitting there…

Birdhead in Vienna   A recent exhibition in Vienna showed the unique art ideas of Birdhead,  which aroused a big interest in understanding the fleeting, mysterious yet real mentality of today’s Shanghai. The interpretation of SCHIFFAMT building in the 2. district of Vienna through the Asian eyes was yet another highlight for the opening ceremony. Birdhead (Song Tao *1979 and Ji Weiyu *1980) have been working together and debating daily since 2004. They are taking over 10,000 photos every year, which are scanned and archived before re-appearing, in small numbers, in their work. No one is familiar with the Birdhead…

Recently, a trip to Ningxia became a fascinating wine-tasting experience for me. A bottle of red wine there made me believe I was back in Bordeaux. It was a cuvee with 80% of Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% of Merlot and 5% of Cabernet Gernischt. Pure joy with absolute high quality! In the following days, more wine with Merlot, Sirah and Cabernet attracted my attention, leaving me crave for some research into this wine paradise in China. Among the eight main wine producing areas in China, Ningxia, located in the middle of Chinese territory, is obviously the most suitable for grape planting…

Songshan Forum, a unique international cultural platform at the foot of Songshan, Henan Province, where the world-renowned Shao Lin Si is located, has opened its 7th annual meeting today.  Aimed at the goal of “Multicultural Coexistence, Harmonious Symbiosis and Sharing Future”, this year’s Forum has summoned more than 60 scholars from around the world, including those from Russia, India, Austria and America. Of all science academies in the world, approximately a  third have visited this forum. The symposia cover a wide range of topics such as Cultural Pluralism and Civilization, Harmonious Living and Sharing Future, Philosophical Reflections on Religion in a Secular Age, Moral Commitment with Universalist Implications, Intellectual Interactions Between Christians and Zen Buddhists…