Visitors to the studio of Yan Jiyuan, a 107-year-old traditional Chinese painter, in a tranquil, wooded Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) courtyard in the Rongcheng Hotel here, are impressed by an art exhibition.
Titled "29 Paintings after Surviving the Earthquake and Two Artists", the exhibition, which ends tomorrow, is sponsored by the Sichuan provincial artists association and aims to find buyers for the paintings that depict the beautiful scenery of the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture in Sichuan before the May 12 earthquake and the unique lifestyle of its Tibetan and Qiang inhabitants.
The exhibition is being held for the paintings' owner Datang Zhuoma and her husband Yang Ruihong to help them rebuild their home, which was destroyed in the quake.
Datang, a 45-year-old art teacher at Aba Teacher's College, and 46-year-old Yang, vice-chairman of the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture artists association, braved aftershocks to salvage the 29 paintings from their studio in Wenchuan county.
The couple said it will give half the earnings from the sale of the paintings, which are worth 900,000 yuan ($130,000), to help local Qiang people and children.
With a history of 3,000 years, Qiang people are known for their houses made of rocks.
Despite having no written language, the Qiang people have created a unique culture that includes a New Year, embroidery, dance and religion.
Qiang culture suffered a heavy blow in the earthquake, as all the houses in Luobo, Wenchuan's largest village inhabited by the Qiang people, were toppled, while Beichuan, the country's only Qiang autonomous county, was razed to the ground.
The Beichuan Qiang Nationality Museum and its 500-plus exhibits were also destroyed in the earthquake.
"All the written information about the Qiang New Year, embroidery, dance and religion in the museum has been buried," Luo Shengli, former deputy chief of the Beichuan county culture and sports bureau, said.
Eight Qiang drum and dance performers and a Qiang folk singer died in the quake in Beichuan, he said.
More than 80 percent of the Qiang people, whose numbers total 306,000, live in Maoxian, Wenchuan and Lixian counties in Aba and Beichuan.
When the earthquake struck, Datang and Yang were drinking tea in a village in Lixian county, 16 km from Wenchuan. They trekked for four hours to reach the Aba Teachers' College in Wenchuan to relocate their students.
After sending the last students home on May 26, the couple braved aftershocks to enter their studio, but were able to save only 29 of their paintings.
"In the studio is my earliest paintings and many embroidered works and articles of daily use to the Qiang people," Datang, whose real name is Tang Ping, said.
Tang, who is also a fan of Tibetan culture, got her Tibetan name five years ago from a monk.
Thanks to Qiu Xiao'ou, a truck driver in Shehong county, Sichuan who had sent relief materials to Wenchuan, the 29 paintings were transported to Chengdu the next day.
In less than a week, the artists association sponsored the exhibition.
According to Cong Linzhong, director of Yan Jiyuan's studio, visitors to the exhibition have reserved most of the paintings.
"We will spend at least half the money helping Qiang people," Datang told China Daily.
"We also plan to visit Qiang religious practitioners who pass down records of the feats of Qiang ancestors as well as astronomy geography, history and medicine orally," he said.
Source: China Daily
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