The 2008 Beijing Olympics games opening ceremony
a huge “He” character attracted the worlds attention
This character through the use of different fonts and
images showed the historical evolution of
Chinese civilization
As well as their pursuit for peace and harmony
The olympics games made chinese characters
more fashionable
In China, the most representative of
Chinese character art is Chinese calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy through the ages
has shown beauty of Chinese characters
Next we will visit a Chinese calligrapher
to learn more about the secrets behind
Chinese Calligraphy fashion
Calligrapher Xujing is from Jiangsu province
began learning calligraphy from a very young age
She and many other Chinese calligraphers are
committed to finding more ways to make calligraphy
and the charm of Chinese characters
known to the world
Many famous films in both China and abroad have used
Xu Jing’s pen so that many can enjoy the beauty
of Chinese calligraphy
This person is familiar
Yes, it’s Tony Leung Chiu-wai
We took this in the year 2000 when we worked together
on the Hero movie
In Dun Huang I taught him calligraphy
There were some scenes in the film which he needed
be able to write calligraphy
Do you still remember what character you taught him?
I think it was the character for Sword
In the film there was a gigantic Sword character
Calligraphy is slowly spreading across the world
it can meet a lot of friends from all sorts of different
industries and carries out exchanges
with different types of artists
Chinese calligraphy as the representative of
Chinese language and learning has not only become
needed in exchange between people
but is also a current international fashion trend
Politicians and celebrities alike both practice Chinese
calligraphy and enjoy getting tattoos of Chinese characters
David Beckham
Allen Iverson
Marcus Camby
As of 2014 61 countries around the world have
incorporated teaching Chinese into their
national education system
Overseas Chinese learners have climbed to
100 million people from less than
30 million people 10 years ago
A Chinese character which I particularly like is the
character for "home" because it brings
happy childhood memories to mind and
warmth to my heart
but when we see the character written in it's
oracle writing form
it looks like this
what I find interesting
its outer edge which is like a house
It has only four strokes
what exactly does this represent?
In Oracle script form we can seen that ancient Chinese
houses had a wooden structure
house was made of two pillars and a cross-surface
When you walk the streets of China,
you can also find buildings combined with
interesting cultural meanings
It’s eyebrows are so cute
makes me think of what my father had previously told
me, and that is that the Chinese do not cut their
eyebrows
This is due to eyebrows reperesenting long life
the longer they are the longer life one will have
One time at the hair dressers
he was asked if he would like to have his eyebrows trimmed
unfortunately he hadn’t carefully listened to the question
and answered ok
but with one trim, he felt he’d lost 10 years
good heavens
Ingenuity of the door of the eaves is just one small
example of how architecture combined with
traditional Chinese culture
In truth
China's ancient architecture from the material used,
the forms and colours chosen to its
best feng shui location were all researched
People in the world today have some material wealth
and instead seek spiritualy
China's traditional culture of living is therefore
getting more and more recognition
In addition Chinese people since ancient times have
passed down wisdom through generations what
wonderful modern architectural ideas will we
encounter in China today
and what kind of inspirations will t
they make in the fashion world
This unique building is located in the
city of Mississauga, Canada
After it's completion in 2012 the building won an award
for one of the best USA skyscraper designs
This building was designed by
Chinese Chinese designer Mr Ma Yansong
Nice to meet you Mr Ma yansong
Hello and welcome
Let me show you around
In the studio we saw the model of a building called
"Monroe Building" because of its enchanting modeling
curves which have been compared to the beautiful
American actress Marilyn Monroe
and thus had its name
What’s strange is that after the completion of the
"Monroe Building” people in the East think it has a very
Western style and yet in the eyes of Westerners it is
an authentic Oriental architecture
I think from the architectural point of view，
due buildings in the past being higher and
thus more powerful looking,
this building changed the original value of high-rise
buildings
It has a more natural feel to it,
it’s softer and shows a more human nature.
If you look at this edge
It forms the outline of the building
so that it not only has power
but also a very rounded feeling
A combination of yin and yang
Yin and yang is an important thought
in ancient Chinese philosophy
In Mr Ma Yansong designs he expresses the strength
in softness and the softness within strength
Ma Yansong's architectural design works a lot of time
absorb traditional Chinese cultural elements
In 2010 Italy，Rome,
wanted to give an old 1970s building a transformation
and so Mr Ma Yansong and his team spent four
years on the program perfecting a new design for it
finally in one fell swoop winning many bidders,
what was it that enchanted so many bidders
These houses are all hundreds of years old
and then this building is the one we designed,
our modified building project in Rome
I think this building especially stands out from the rest
It’s very eastern
It reminds me of ancient Chinese courtyards
due to its space in the center
I think that the space inside this courtyard
should be a spiritual space
Our hope was that people upon entering the courtyard,
coming from the busy roads outside
would feel a sense of quietness
Living here, the heart would feel calm
In the centre we designed a very large surface
of water to give a very quiet feeling
Mr Ma Yansong took the original closed space
and made it into an open space
He took the seemingly useless gap and changed it into
the garden and the terrace building
the building therefore acquired more natural landscape
and light
this making of the useless useful is also consistent with
Mr Ma Yansong’s use of the Ancient Chinese
“White space" Theory
Like the Chinese ink painting
there is always an empty space to give people room
to explore the meaning of the space with the use of
their own imagination
It would seem that this formal design
full of oriental charm is what made his project soar
gaining both the Rome City Council
and the government's approval
Apart from Mr Ma Yansong there are many other
architects such as Bei Yuming and Wang Shu
who are trying to find ways to incorporate
traditional Chinese culture into
trending international architecture
The identity of fashion may be a country's soft power
and has an increasingly important role in
the Chinese economy
the majestic and elegantly delicate beauty of
Chinese culture
is bound to have a huge role in the global fashion
industry leading fashion trends
Today, Chinese philosophy， literature and art,
include the essence of traditional Chinese culture
and ideas
Traditional Chinese culture is increasingly integrated into
the works of architects to creatively change the
face of today's cities in China and the world
at the same time more People have cited
Traditional Chinese culture as the source of inspiration
for their creations
and now latest fashion trends around the world are
incorporating Traditional Chinese elements
The combination of nature and architecture
is an oriental ideal.
I would like to see how these ideals can be combined
with futuristic buildings
A lot of your spirit is derived from the ancient
this is a true heritage and must be carried forward
I actually have a very bold dream
and that is to take Su embroidery's way of life
or aesthetics and pass them on to the world
These international fashion trends which are
Chinese inspired give us the feeling of traditional
Chinese style fused with international chic
There is so much i’d like to learn in China
I want to learn embroidery from Lanyu’s mother
Practise those elegant brush strokes with Xujing
I’d also like to learn so much more about the
Chinese traditional culture hidden in
Chinese architecture
having said all of this what is clear for all to see
is that only by grasping the very quintessence of
national culture can you walk at the forefront of
the fashion world
So when I return to England
I will be taking with me my newly purchased qipao
and recounting my stories of what I’ve seen
and heard here in Chna
With it’s vast size the treasures of this land
and it’s people are endless
it’s a lifelong journey of discovery that never ends