Artisan Li Jing graces Chinese traditional cut silk circular fan

China

Artisan Li Jing graces Chinese traditional cut silk circular fan

2018-02-01 12:49 Last Updated At：12:50

In 2016, super models and film stars offered some stunning fashion shots with the round fans in their hands.

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Liu Wen. Photo courtesy: Bazaar

Fan Bingbing. Photo courtesy: Bazaar

Liu Wen. Photo courtesy: Bazaar

Fan Bingbing. Photo courtesy: Bazaar

Li Jing. /By CGTN

CGTN Photo

Dressed in western gown in a British castle, Chinese supermodel Liu Wen still managed to convey the charm and grace of an oriental woman holding a delicate fan.

Fan Bingbing, who played in many costume dramas, also used the round fan to connect the classical and the modern fashion.

The round fans are from the Leisure Cottage Round Fan Studio in Suzhou, east China. The studio is located inside the deep lanes, with a classical garden just like the ones in ancient poems and paintings. Li Jing is the owner of the studio. Although graduated from a design school, he wasn't a professional round fan craftsman at the beginning.

Round fans, also called circular fans, were first seen in the dynasty of Han, and became important belongings for women in the palace during the Tang and Song dynasties. Painters and poets liked to leave their works on the fans, turning them into pieces of art. Women tended to hide their faces behind the fans to show their elegance. Sometimes they would use the fans to imply the solitary life in the royal palace. All these infused the round fans with a sense of feminine grace and sorrow.

Li got to know about the round fans through traditional operas. He found them very appealing as props on stage. Later he began to collect antiques, including pieces of round fans. "Round fan was actually one of the earliest fans in China. In the poems and literature works even before the dynasty of Ming, the 'fans' all referred to round fans. It has such a long history," explains Li.

"I got some frames and handles from the antique markets. They had very beautiful carvings, which attracted me so much. I took them to Suzhou, hoping to find some craftsmen to restore them."

To his surprise, there wasn't any craftsman in the city who was able to restore the k'o-ssu fans. As a dedicated collector who always wanted to have control, Li decided to do it himself. Bringing all his savings, plus 100 thousand yuan given by his father and 50 thousand lent by friends, he came to Suzhou and established the studio. He went to every corner of the counties around on foot, searching for the craftsmen who still knew the k'o-ssu technique.

K'o-ssu fans require very sophisticated techniques. In ancient times, they were exclusive to the royal families. An old craftsman said: "K'o-ssu was as valuable as gold. If you used the wrong color here, you'll have to dismantle it and do it all over again."

It may take several craftsmen to finish a round fan inlaid with gold and silver threads. However, most of the craftsmen are in their sixties or seventies. They don't have successors. "Young people wouldn't learn it," says Li, "although I want to promote the traditional things so that people can enjoy it."

Li believes that the most attractive part in the round fans is the classical aesthetics: "The Chinese values inner spirits more than the figures. When we make a butterfly, it doesn't have to be exactly the same as a real one. How do we make it as beautiful, but not limited to the real thing? We'd have to put our own imagination and preference in it. That's why the traditional art is fascinating."

For Li, making fans is like communicating with the ancient people. The enjoyable hobby, however, has to meet the reality: "As the craftsmen, we hope that more people could appreciate its beauty and be willing to spend money on it. The art can be passed on, but not merely by preaching the love for it."

Rock pioneer Brenda Lee shines in new documentary. 'I just wanted to sing'

2024-12-17 00:48 Last Updated At：00:50

NEW YORK (AP) — Come and take a trip to the giddy birth of rock ‘n’ roll through the eyes of one of its pioneers — Brenda Lee.

The “I'm Sorry” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” hitmaker who shared stages with both Elvis Presley and the Beatles is a guide to those heady years in “American Masters — Brenda Lee: Rockin’ Around,” which premieres Monday on PBS.

“That era can never be repeated again,” she tells The Associated Press on the eve of the broadcast. “That was an era when the money wasn’t thought about, the fame wasn’t thought about. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true. The artists of that time were there to do their thing, and they loved it, whether they got paid or not.”

Lee, 80, had her first hit record in 1960 at age 15 and went on to sell more than 100 million albums. In the ’60s, she earned more Hot 100 singles in the United States — 46 — than any recording artist besides the Beatles, Presley or Ray Charles. She won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

She is the rare artist inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, moving effortlessly in her career between country, pop, rock and rockabilly sounds.

“I never classified myself as a ballad singer, as a rock singer, as a country singer or anything. I just wanted to sing,” she says in the interview. “Some artists can sing it all. Not me. I have to love what I’m singing or it’s not believable.”

The documentary draws on the commentary of musicologists and such stars as Keith Urban, Tanya Tucker, Trisha Yearwood, Jackie DeShannon, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

“I had no trouble getting people to talk about Brenda and why she matters and why we should look to her,” says director Barbara Hall. “This is what’s possible when you just get your head down and stay focused and do what you know you’re good at and don’t give up.”

Lee was the daughter of a carpenter in Atlanta who died in a construction accident when she was just 8. Her mother soon was forced to work in the cotton mill. When she was 10, country music singer Red Foley put her on his national TV program “Ozark Jubilee.” By age 12, she had appeared on various network TV variety shows.

The portrait that emerges is a rare one for the music industry, the story of a young woman who is protected and nurtured. Lee credits producer Owen Bradley; her manager, Dub Allbritten; and the musicians she worked with for looking out for her, treating her like a little sister.

“I hear horror stories about children in show business, but I certainly didn’t have that experience, and I’m grateful for that,” says Lee. “It was like I was one of the group, and that was so important to me.”

The holidays are when Lee shines most, with her hit “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in high rotation. In 2023, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time ever, 65 years after the song’s debut.

“She is in your house every Christmas,” says Hall. “She is a part of something that so many Americans celebrate. So, I’m hoping that people will embrace her story and her music once they get reintroduced to it.”

She recorded it at age 13 in July 1958, not exactly a snowy time in the South. The air conditioner was cranked up in the recording studio and there was a Christmas tree set up to get everyone in the mood. It initially was a bigger hit abroad and later got a boost in the 1990 film “Home Alone.”

“You get a wonderful song and it may lay around for a few years like ‘Rockin’’ did, but if it’s as wonderful as ’Rockin″ was, it’ll show its head sooner or later, and that’s what happened,” Lee says.

Hall, who worked on a 2017 “American Masters” documentary on Patsy Cline, says she tried to find any dirt on Lee and simply couldn't. Even when Lee broke her leg during the shoot and had to be hospitalized, she was gracious and kind.

“If my leg was broken in 10 places and I had to be in a rehab facility, I’d probably be in a bad mood the whole time," she says. "She was cracking jokes and everyone in the room felt like she was their friend.”