RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 302 Mind Landscapes enables C. C. Wang to describe the challenges he faced to see paintings in a land without public museums; "There were no good museums in China at that time and you couldn't see the work of a contemporary painter in a museum or gallery. But since they had to be mounted or remounted, they could be seen in a mounter's shop. Suzhou was famous for its mounters. They would paste the paintings to be mounted on the walls of their shops, and if you walked around every few days, you could always see new paintings.” (p. 15). Mr. Wang also talks about his teachers and how he was able to view various private collections: "For me, as well as for painter-scholars of the past, friendships with other painters and collectors were extremely significant. Each new meeting meant a new collection to see. In those days private collectors were never publicly displayed. To see a particular painting you had to know the owner.” (p. 17). When the great Chinese Imperial Collection was being prepared for the London Exhibition at Burlington House in 1936, C. C. Wang was a consultant and had a chance to study all those great paintings another significant step in his development into a connoisseur-collector-painter. Collecting as well as creating paintings soon became young Mr. Wang's principal preoccupation. However, he supported his collecting and his family by some real estate ventures because he was not able to make enough money through the sale of his paintings. The story of C. C. Wang's journey to the West (New York) and attending classes at the Art Students League, his explorations of modern Western art and his artistic evolution is marvelously told through well written prose of Jerome Silbergeld, Professor of Art History at the University of Washington in Seattle. Professor Silbergeld comes to his subject with a deep knowledge and background in classical Chinese painting and provides a sinological, art historical perspective of C. C. Wang's work. But the author does not avoid his role as contemporary critic, analyzing the relationship of the artist and modern art. When C. C. Wang's breakthrough to his mature style comes in 1971-2, the author allows the events to unfold like high drama. Moreover, throughout the text, the artist is permitted to state his own views on the elements of his art such as line, color, composition, dots, texture, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 412 significant step in his development into a connoisseur—collector-painter. Collecting as well as creating paintings soon became young Mr. Wang's principal preoccupation. However, he supported his collecting and his family by some real estate ventures because he was not able to make enough money through the sale of his paintings. The story of C.C. Wang's journey to the West (New York) and attending classes at the Art Students League, his explorations of modern Western art and his artistic evolution is marvelously told through the well-written prose of Jerome Silbergeld, Professor of Art History at the University of Washington in Seattle. Professor Silbergeld comes to his subject with a deep knowledge and background in classical Chinese painting and provides a sinological, art historical perspective of C.C. Wang's work. But the author does not avoid his role as contemporary critic, analyzing the relationship of the artist and modern art. When C.C. Wang's breakthrough to his mature style comes in 1971-2, the author allows the events to unfold like high drama. Moreover, throughout the text, the artist is permitted to state his own views on the elements of his art such as line, colour, composition, dots, texture, cultivation of controlled accidents, synthesis of East and West: "Chinese brushwork is really individual, like Western color. Good brushwork is so beautiful. It can make you look at it many times... It's just like with voice when I hear one song, if the voice is good I want to hear another song. It's the same voice, but each time it's a little bit different: that attracts me so much. . .', (p. 42). Other notable scholars and critics who have written about artist-collector-connoisseur Wang have also been allowed to speak with their own voices, which gives the story a clarity and authenticity rarely achieved in a scholarly book. Moreover, the book is lavishly illustrated with not only Mr. Wang's works of all periods but also with the paintings that were most influential in building his style. In addition, Professor Silbergeld recounts the long history of C.C. Wang as collector, and how he has been a central figure in influencing the growth of major collections of Chinese art in the West, notably that of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, through the sale of his own collections. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 78 reporting has still not been up to desired standards Doubts over the performance of some non-party-member journalists are hinted as the cause of the unachieved standards (Zhongguo Xunwen Nianjian, 1985–99) 16 Training Journalists into self-conscious mouthpieces of party and people is a principle laid down by the education authorities (Zhongguo Xinwen Nianjian 1986 8) The New China News Agency has carried out a campaign on political-ideological background of press cadres to promote a sense of responsibility in them towards the evolutionary targets of the Party, so that they would concur with central party policies, and act as mouthpieces of the Party (Zhongguo Xinwen Nianjian 1987 5) Although recently, advertisements do appear in the various provincial as well as nationwide papers and also on television etc, the small amount of them in comparison to the gigantic media labour machinery and the low price charged to users suggest that a large proportion of the revenue must come from the producers themselves In fact, many scholars have argued and confirmed that sport closely portrays real life Sport is closely related with the social order, and if sports does not represent the real social order, it represents idealized versions of that order, and as such it takes on for them an aura of the sacred" (Hargreaves, 1982 33) Sport has the potential to expand our knowledge of a form of human behaviour that spans the gap between the playful, spontaneous, and expressive and the formal, institutionalized, bureaucratic, and work-like dimensions of life. [Also, it helps disclose] several layers of reality and thus has the potential to further our understanding of this segment of society (Snyder & Spreitzer, 1983. Epilogue) 19 The author exemplified these functions by citing evidence from international sporting events Taiwan gained a place in international affairs by getting the Little League Baseball world title. The Commonwealth Games, the Pan-American Games all strengthened regional ties and national identities Since those who have achieved something displayed dominance, nations are seen striving to become the best International propaganda could be launched by emphasizing the success a nation has achieved. The Chinese Ping Pong diplomacy and the African boycott in 1976 Olympics are two diverse branches of sport policies that shoulder political errands Sports as international events could pose as a stage for nations to show their ideologies. The massacre of Mexican students, the Israeli massacre are good examples Politicians could reinforce their humanity and reduce their distance with commoners by relating themselves to sports, an activity widely practised among people 20 Although sports events appear to be without the political circle, they are actually not Sports is closely related with politics Political battles are often transcended to the sport arena But sport is not inherently political, [rather] it becomes [so] because of its utility as a widely observed medium for ideological expression' (Figler, 1981. 229) As such, sports events as data for the present study could avoid losing argumentative power for face, a social-psychological matter, to political considerations while still maintaining a glimpse of the total life conditions 21 The second largest paper, Gongren Ribao has a total distribution of 808,821,000 (average 2,221,700 per issue) in 1986, less than half of those for People's Daily All figures quoted here are released in the 1987 Zhongguo Xinwen Nianjian ================================================================================