Msterpieces of Xu Beihong

Xu Beihong is a famous artist and educationist of art. During his life time, he created a lot of masterpieces. Here I want to introduce some to you.

The first one is a Chinese painting called Yugongyishan.

This painting was created in 1940 when China was in a formidable war (which is known as the War of Resistance against Japan) with Japan. The content of the painting is an old fable which showed that with the determination and backbone as well as hardworking, people will finally be successful. He created the painting to inspirit the Chinese to keep on fighting for their country and strengthen their belief of defeating the enemy. I think this masterpiece is the best embodiment of his patriotism. In this artwork he combined traditional Chinese painting technique and western oil painting skills together perfectly and reached a high level.

The second one is Benmatu. Xu Beihong was good at comparing a certain person to a horse in order to express his patriotism. This artwork was created in 1941 during the second Changsha major engagement. That time China was suffering military reverses and Changsha was occupied by Japan. Xu was holding an art exhibition in Malaysia and he was feverishly worried about his country when he heard the news. Then he created the painting to show his anxiety. The horse is full of dynamism as if it were going to rush out of the paper.

Before the War of Resistance against Japan, Xu usually showed disengaged manner in his paintings of horse. After the war had broken out, he came to realize that an artist should not only be confined in the art inebriety but also be related to the destiny of the state and his paintings should be based on life. For this reason, his horse became the symbol of his patriotism.

There are so many masterpieces of Xu, here I introduce these two which shows his patriotism perfectly to show his high spirit. If you are interested in his paintings, you can find more and I am sure that you will be marvel at his artworks.

A Letter to My Classmates in Senior High School

A Letter to My Classmates in Senior High School
Dear Classmates,
We have not seen each other since we parted last summer. When the vital examination had finished and we knew our results but did not know which university we would be admitted into, we held a party, a wonderful one. We were all very gratified on the party. Most of us drank too much beer that day, but I drank very little, I was sober, and at that moment I had the vibe of sadness. At that time, I knew how deep our friendship was. I bet that we will never encounter such classmates, and never build up such friendship because everything that happened in those three years cannot happen again. Then we entered different universities, which might associate with or disagree with our ideals, and now we except me scatter in many cities in China and we live nearly like a group of parallels.
We spent three years together for the special duration of life. We helped each other, wished each other, and then improved together. We were totally strange to each other when we met for first time. At the first day of our life of senior high school, I was appointed to the temporary monitor. Frankly speaking, I had been the monitor for only half a year in the last year of middle school at that time and was nearly the same as a freshman. A month later, our head teacher announced that there would be an election for class committee. Considering my character, I decided not to participate. However, our head teacher added my name to the list of candidates. That night, I just spoke something from my heart on the platform, not hoping to be elected the member of class committee, but the final result was that I turned member of class committee. You gave me an opportunity to show myself and challenge myself, which was the most important. As a consequence, it changed me much, I learned much from it, and I will appreciate it forever.
In the year of senior 3, we, Class 13, Grade 2005, and they, Class 12, Grade 2005, suffered from an annoying experience. I did not want to mention much about it. What I only wanted to say is our friendship was deepened through it and we learned much from it. We understood to cherish what you owned now and accept what you were unwilling to and had to. When I recall my senior 3, I cannot express my feelings explicitly and feel everything is as ambiguous as before. The sole exact emotion is exhaustion. I tried my best, but everything drove out of my planned road. My academic results were bad, and I had to deal with class affairs related to classmates from former class 12. I must be very careful when dealing with such things because I must consider their feelings much. I felt very fatigued, but I could not relax myself. Fortunately, you accompanied me, spending the hard time. I appreciate it.
To me, the final academic results of three years were not ideal. It is satisfactory that I made acquaintances with you and became friends with you. Wish you happiness and success at present and in the future.
All the best!
GUO JINLONG

MY HOMETOWN

My hometown------Guilin is located at north east of Guangxi province in China. Taking a look at the map of Guangxi, you may find it is like the head of a cat. My home town is on the right ear of this lovely cat. I spent my first nineteen years in this small but harmony and quiet city. I think Guilin is one of the most beautiful cities in the world...
The climate condition in Guilin varies in different seasons. During spring, it’s always rainy. Compared with Singapore, the rain in my hometown is less heavy, but it usually lasts for a long time. During the most humid days, condensation is spread about on all the surface of the walls, windows or even some furniture. It’s really an unpleasant time on those days every year. In summer, the weather of Guilin is like that of here. We often have burning sun and cloudless sky. After work, it’s the best time for doing sports. There are so many people in the gym playing basketball, swimming, jogging etc. In weekends, families usually go out of the downtown and take an excellent journey. Summer is a season full of energy and enthusiasm of life. We have dry and cool autumn. At that time there is no bustle, no too many people. Everything seems to be so quiet. I feel calm and relaxed in this atmosphere of harmony. Autumn is my favorite season. Though Guilin is on south of China, winter here is so cold. We don’t have central heating so we should wear heavy coat even in house. But having a warm steamboat with some friends in this freezing weather is an unforgettable enjoyment.
Then, I want to talk about food in my hometown. As Guangxi border Sichuan and Guangdong provinces, we have a variety of food. Most people in Guilin prefer spicy dishes. As a result, steamboat restaurants are everywhere and many of them provide very delicious food. If you don’t eat spicy things, don’t be worried. We also have good restaurants where you can find normal Cantonese food. Actually, some food can’t be found in big restaurants, such as roasted food. They are sold at stalls in certain areas at night. No one can resist the pleasant smell. What’s more, you can’t miss some unique dishes like rice noodles. It’s very famous even among the whole China. I am not able to describe how wonderful it is. I think you need to taste it in Guilin by yourself someday.
Guilin is also a heaven for tourists. There, you can enjoy beautiful natural sceneries. As being the symbol of Guilin, Elephant Hill looks so like a huge elephant which is standing near the Li River and using his nose to drink the water. Ludi Cave is another famous place of interest. In this grotto, thousands of stalactites are found. Decorated with colorful light, the grotto may make you feel being in a fantasyland.Li River is the most beautiful place in Guilin. Traveling on ship, you may see green bamboos are planted along the banks of Li River; small green hills in distance look so lovely. Scenes there resemble a landscape painting. Actually, these three places above are just a very small part of the sceneries in my hometown. Beside, Guilin is the habitat of varied minorities, such as Miao, Yao, Dong, etc. Tourists can feel their original cultures here. These days, more and more things are being introduced to tourists. Whitewater rafting, cycling, rock climbing become popular. A theme park called Merryland has been established since several years ago…
It is just a brief introduction about my hometown. If you have a chance to visit there, I’m sure you may find Guilin is much better than I have written.

We all have emotions

In order to make our future more bright, we all came to Singapore. We left our parents and lived alone. We all learn how to struggle for our future. We may live in Singapore for more than 10 years, during which time we may just come back home at most twice a year. Things will change very quickly and we may not adapt to our life at home.
Sometimes I may think about how far is the distance between life and death, I can't feel it clearly. But now, I know the true feeling about this. My grandmother passed away last week. I just studied in my classroom. During breaktime I recieved a phone call from my mom. I didn't kwon what happened until my mother said something with a cry. I realized that my grandmother died just now. I don't know how to describe my feelings at that time. I even didn't cry, but there were something in my heart. I knew that I could never meet grandma again. I still remember that when I was a child, I always went to my grandmother's.This is the best place I wanted to go. During my childhood, I used to go to grandmother's because I'll free from uncountable homework. I could go outdoors and breath fresh air. I seldom talked to my grandmother but I knew that she did love me. She never scolded me I was happy with her. When my grandfather died, she cried a lot. I was also in deep sorrow. I also remember the expression on her face.
I didn't cry because I must learn to be strong. I must have the couragement to face the reality. Nothing in life can defead me, I just put the feeling in my heart. I just acted as nothing happened and no one found that I was abnormal. But now when I write this blog, my eyes become wet. I can't control my emotions.
We all have emotions and because of love our life become colourful.

A Real Friend

There are many friendships in our world. I think that friendship is the most holy word on earth. We need each other and we help each other. But do we really trust our friends? Maybe sometimes not. We have so many secrets in our mind and we can't believe anyone in the world. That is to say, you are lonely. This is the true situation before you find a real friend.
A real fiend is a friend who really cares about you. He can share happiness and sorrow with you. He will feel happy when you smile and he will feel sad when you cry. He can do almost everything for you except something illegal. He even cares you more than himself. But when you do something wrong, he will tell directly to you and some words may be fierced. Do you get angry with this? I think that is a way he cares about you. So, I think that a lot of money is easy to get but a real friend is difficult to find
In a word, a real friend is a friend that you can truly believe in. You can trust him and tell all tell all the secrets to him. You may have a lot of friends in the world, but you will have just few real friends or even none. So, value a real friend because he is the one who you can really trust.

A Real Friend

There are many friendships in our world. I think that friendship is the most holy word on earth. We need each other and we help each other. But do we really trust our friends? Maybe sometimes not. We have so many secrets in our mind and we can't believe anyone in the world. That is to say, you are lonely. This is the true situation before you find a real friend.
A real fiend is a friend who really cares about you. He can share happiness and sorrow with you. He will feel happy when you smile and he will feel sad when you cry. He can do almost everything for you except something illegal. He even cares you more than himself. But when you do something wrong, he will tell directly to you and some words may be fierced. Do you get angry with this? I think that is a way he cares about you. So, I think that a lot of money is easy to get but a real friend is difficult to find
In a word, a real friend is a friend that you can truly believe in. You can trust him and tell all tell all the secrets to him. You may have a lot of friends in the world, but you will have just few real friends or even none. So, value a real friend because he is the one who you can really trust.

Learning Reflection

In today’s lesson, we’ve discussed about the communication between men and women, which is related to the contents of TL&S (Tapestry Listening& Speaking). In the class, tutor gave us a chance to do a role play, it was very interesting. Our classmates’ perfect and fantastic performance not only made the atmosphere of class more interesting, but also helped us get a better understanding of the main idea of this class.

When tutor explained some thing for us, she said a sentence whose main idea is like this (I can’t remember her original sentence): “if she/he had the patient to conflict with you, at least she/he still cared about you. So this situation is even better than she/he don’t conflict with you, because he/she don’t care you any more, he/she even don’t want to conflict with you.” After I heard the sentence, I felt really very agree with her. And I thought this sentence is not only suitable for this kind of situation for wife and husband, not also it can apply to other situation.

This reminds me of a Chinese ancient motto: “the more you love a person, the more you hate him/her.” Seemingly, this motto is self-contradiction. But in actually, this sentence comprises lots of philosophy. So let’s us think about this situation. The parents have a high expectation for their child; however, their child is too naughty to study very well. So the parents will feel so disappointed about him/her, because the child doesn’t live up to their parents’ expectation. So the parents’ loves are so strong that they can’t understand and forgive their child’s poor performance. Even though the child may complain for his/her parents’ punishment, in another view, I can say the child is fortunate, because parent really hope they could live well and make a good effect for their study or career.

So, sometimes others can take care of you even more than yourself. For ourselves, we should also try to comprehend others’ kindness.

Qu Dong
Group 5