For County Officials, Poverty Is A Mask For Corruption

Malipo County
The China Dream is in trouble according to a recent report by The Mirror. The investigative report, published on February 7, said the number of impoverished counties in China rose from 331 in 1985 to 592 in 2012. This purported slide into poverty runs contrary to three decades of explosive economic growth and seriously clashes with the government’s official reporting of 98.9 million people in poverty nationwide. But rather than unmasking a hidden class of impoverished citizens...

Ma Haifang’s Art Brings Old Beijing To Life

Ma Haifang’s art
No one can doubt Ma Haifang’s Beijing credentials. Born in the city in 1956, Ma studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and graduated in 1981 with a degree in traditional painting. Like many masters in his field, he has spent the years since working at People’s Art Publishing House as a supervisor. Ma obsesses about Beijing life. Each of his works capture daily life in Old Beijing and festival celebrations.

Love In The Digital Age: The Turmoil – And Love – In Sheng Tianhong’s Paintings

“Old Injury, New Love” by Sheng Tianhong
Our friends at Beijing Today will sporadically swing by to introduce art and culture in the city. This week, a man who paints of and with love. Sheng Tianhong’s heart is wholly devoted to painting. Born in Zhejiang Province in 1973 and a graduate from the Chinese Central Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to Dusseldorf, Germany at the age of 24 to travel and develop his career.

A Storied Comic On Display At National Art Museum of China

Sanmao as drawn after the revolution of 1949
In 1935, cartoonist Zhang Leping created one of Asia’s most enduring characters: Sanmao. The emaciated boy, named for the three hairs on his head, lent a friendly face to Shanghai’s nameless street urchins and children orphaned by Japanese attacks. But more importantly, Sanmao’s bitter adventures captured the spirit of social injustice in the city’s “golden era.”