8 Auto special Monday, April 20, 2015 CHINA DAILY

By YANG CHENGyangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn

Song Shuixian, a 50-year-old Shui ethnic woman from Sandu coun-ty, in Southwest China’s Guizhou province, said she remembers her anxiety when she saw foreigners and visitors from other provinces buy horse tail embroidery in bulk 20 years ago.

The embroidery made of horse’s tail hair is a delicate craft that has been passed on from gen-eration to generation within the Shui ethnic group, which only has a population of 400,000. Song told a fl eet of BMW visitors who visited last July that the craft was one of the most revered ancient arts in Guizhou and a “living fos-sil” in the world of embroidery.

Song said she was worried to see visitors buying up the embroi-dery masterpieces, as she was afraid that their purchases could eventually cause the losses of the precious cultural heritage.

“For more than 2,000 years it has been used to decorate straps for carrying babies and each Shui ethnic group girl needs a strap with the delicate embroidery for marriage,” Song said.

She decided to collect ancient examples of the embroidery from every village in Sandu county and displayed them at home.

Today, her home is a fam-ily museum for the art and Song teaches local women the craft in a bid to preserve it as a cultural asset for China.

Wang Xingwu, a 19th generation inheritor of Shiqiao ancient paper making, also impressed the fl eet members of the 2014 BMW China Culture Journey.

He lives in Shiqiao village, in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, and shared the history of his craft with the BMW visitors.

“In our village senior citizens are still making the ancient paper, which is still based on techniques and tools from the ancient ency-clopedia Tiangong Kaiwu, or

The Exploitation of the Works of Nature, a book by Song Yingx-ing written in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644),” he said.

A total of 18 processes are

involved in the traditional paper making craft, including peeling, drying, soaking, dry pressing and baking tree bark.

“Each and every process

refl ects the wisdom of craftsmen over generations,” Wang said.

Yang Zhengjiang also met the group of BMW visitors and told them about the heroic epic, King

Yalu, which he said represented the ups and downs of the western Miao people, as well as their indomitable spirit.

“In some desolate and mountain-ous areas in Mashan, which borders six counties in Guizhou, there are a number of ‘Dong Lang’, or singing teachers or masters, who chant their ancestors’ epic, King Yalu, day in and day out,” he said.

Yang and his research team decided to record and translate the epic song, as even though it goes back thousands of years the plot and melody had never been written down and relied on local people to orally inherit it.

“For a minority that worships ancestors, it is their strong faith that gives us the enormous power to move forward,” he said. The great epic interprets the early civ-ilization of the Miao people and recalls the lost soul of an ancient history, Yang said.

These three stories were just some of those that members of the BMW China Culture Journey discovered.

The BMW China Culture Jour-ney has been launched since 2007, traveled more than 17,000 kilometers and visted more than 210 items of intangible cultural assets in 21 provinces, autono-mous regions and municipali-ties. The program has donated 8 million yuan ($131,147) to 77 research topics and intangible cultural items for preservation and research.

BMW was honored by the Chi-na National Center for Safeguard-ing Intangible Culture Heritage under the Chinese Academy of National Arts, the nation’s high-est intangible asset preservation and research body, when it won an award for its contribution to protection and inheritance of China’s non-material cultural assets in June 2014.

Thanks to its eD orts advocating and protecting Chinese cultural elements, the company became the nation’s fi rst auto fi rm to win the award.

By YANG CHENG yangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn

When renowned Chinese musician Feng Mantian plays the zhongruan he said he forgets everything else. The zhongruan is a medium-sized Chinese instrument, like a lute with a fretted neck, circular body and four strings.

At the Impression Chinese Music show, the string instrument was unfa-miliar to many people in the audience but still played a pivotal role.

The concert was performed by pro-fessional musicians from the Central National Music Troupe, and featured some of the best musicians of Chinese music, such as Feng Mantian, Feng Xiaoquan and Zeng Gege.

It was part of BMW’s Master Hall project, which started in July 2014 and was praised after its national tour and received widespread public recognition thanks to its eD orts to boost traditional Chinese music.

Wang Chaoge, director of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening cer-emony, directed the show, which she said took six years of preparation and three years of fi ne-tuning.

Organizers said the Impression Chi-nese Music was not just a concert but an opera or stage show in the form of conceptual and performance art. It used modern lighting techniques and its “pursuit of musical form had remarkable depth”.

The show involved 61 types of instru-ments and more than 80 of them were replicas of those in a wall painting in Dunhuang Mogao Caves, which con-tain some of the fi nest painting of Bud-dhist art, that was painted in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), more than 1,000 years ago.

A double reed flute, phoenix head shaped ruan and other ancient Dun-hung instruments brought out the beauty of the Chinese music, which shifted focus to the musicians them-selves, said organizers.

The artists not only performed, but also talked about their own stories, faith and their attitude to music. The idea was to use the perspective and feeling of performers, composers and conductors to showcase the soul of Chi-nese music.

The Impression Chinese Music is an innovative and original concept that oD ers spiritual enjoyment and it match-es BMW’s value for never ceasing eD orts to innovate and dream.

The concert echoes BMW’s emo-tional appeal to inspire innovation and encourage dreams.

According to the director, Wang, the Chinese classical aesthetic originated thousands of years ago.

She said she felt an obligation to convey modern emotions with the classical tradition.

After the first Impression Chi-nese Music show, Wang said: “In my words, the foundation of the Impres-sion Chinese Music is the spirit of self-sacrifice of all the directors and artists. Now the work created throughout their artistic lives was perfectly presented and has changed the stereotype people usually have towards the national music.”

Wang said she got involved with the project to make a breakthrough in the conventional form of folk music.

Because of the Impression Chinese Music, Wang has officially become the fourth Honorary Artistic Advi-sor of BMW Master Hall, following the famous dancer Yang Liping, the world-renowned conductor Daniel Oren, and Jazz vocalist Patti Austin.

BMW is constantly committed to the dissemination of cultural and art heritage over the last more than 40 years.

Olaf Kastner, president & CEO, BMW Brilliance, expressed:“BMW wishes that through these projects, we can bring joy and happiness to all of you, so that people can have emo-tional projections and be connected to innovation and beauty.”

Shui ethnic group women use horse tail for their embroidery.

Wang Xingwu, a 19th generation inheritor of Shiqiao ancient paper making at work.

The conditions in Shiqiao village provide the ideal climate for paper making.

Feng Mantian plays the zhongruan

By LI YANGliyang@chinadaily.com.cn

Sometimes art is found at a dis-tance, hidden at the top of a pyra-mid or locked in the chamber of a museum.

At other times art can be close, just like the fi rst free Open for All jazz concert in Shanghai last Octo-ber, sponsored by BMW.

Thousands of audience members were treated to three hours of musi-cal and spiritual virtuosity during the event.

Dozens of famous singers and musicians from around the world shared the concert stage, includ-ing renowned bass player, Marcus Miller; winner of the 56th Gram-my Award for R&B performance, Snarky Puppy; singer Laura Fygi from the Netherlands; and Aus-tralian guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel.

The excited interaction between the performers and the audience was testimony to the popularity of the concert.

More than 3,000 people attended the event, often swaying in uni-son as they were caught up in the rhythm of the artists on stage.

The jazz concert was the first event in the annual Shanghai music festival, and considered one of the best of its kind in China last year. BMW plans to make the jazz con-cert into an annual cultural event.

Twenty-time Grammy award winner Pat Metheny, a legendary jazz musician famed for his innova-tion and technical accomplishment who also took part in the Shanghai show, said he thought the concept was fantastic and really liked the stage and enjoyed the feeling of playing on it.

“I hope everyone can open up their hearts to different cultures

and to feel the varied beauty of music,” he said.

When he strummed his first chords, the audience fell silent as one. After the concert, Metheny said the free event allowed people who might not pay to attend a con-cert to experience the charms of music. “It was a unique experience for every audience member and for me,” he said

BMW has long been an active ambassador dedicated to promot-

ing cross-cultural communications and sharing both classical and modern art throughout different countries.

Music is a language that can over-come cultural diD erences and more importantly, a meaningful way to help more people enjoy the charms of the arts.

BMW has held free public con-certs for years — Opera for All in Berlin and Open Air Classics in London’s Trafalgar Square. The

company cooperates with interna-tionally renowned musicians, art-ists, performers and show agencies for the events.

The quality of the concerts, from the performers to the organization, refl ects BMW’s relentless pursuit of perfection.

Alice Mei, vice-president, market-ing, for BMW China, said: “BMW is not simply a sponsor but a partner. It starts together with the artists from an idea and helps that grow. During the process, BMW tries to oD er the artists full independence and make the art genuine with free expression.”

Thomas Girst, head of cultural engagement, corporate and inter-governmental affairs at BMW Group, said: “The general public usually believes that fi ne arts are literally high up there, with little or no access to them. BMW hopes that through the innovative ‘Open for All’ project, people can have equal opportunities to experi-ence the world’s top art. Like the experience BMW wants to oD er through its products, it is always an experience of joy.”

Thousands gather to hear lineup of globally renowned musicians

The 20-time Grammy award winner Pat Metheny joins the Open for All jazz concert in Shanghai. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Jazz fans record lasting memories at the Open for All concert in Shanghai.

Cultural journey helps promote, protect ethnic traditions, crafts

The tune of BMW echoed through Chinese music

Spreading joy through Jazz