Trees and Crows in Autumn

A native of Changshu, Jiangsu province, Wang Hui was the pupil f Wang Jian (1598-1677) and Wang Shimin (1592-1680). He was particularly noted for his landscape paintings. In 1691, when Wang Hui was about fifty-nine years old, the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662-1722) summoned him to court to paint a pictorial record of the emperor’s 1689 southern tour of inspection. He joined Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Wang Jian (1598-1677), and Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715) to be called “Four Wangs”, who were the nucleus of the orthodox movement characterized by their adherence to the painting styles of classic masters. The “Four Wangs” formalized landscape techniques and structural composition that, to some degree, limited more than expanded the horizons of landscape painting.

Painted in 1712, when Wang Hui was about eighty-one years old, this scroll was based on a poem by Tang Yin (1470-1523) describing a densely-layered scene of a dense bamboo grove, a thatched house by the water, trees, and a flock of crows. The crows are depicted fluttering or soaring-the hustle and bustle is a prelude to the profound silence to prevail over the autumn grove. Through the bustling crows, the painter successfully represented the effects described in the poem Entering Ruoye Brook (Ru ruoye xi) by early sixth century poet Wang Ji (d. after 547) to the effect that the chirp of birds renders the mountain more serene. A masterpiece of Wang Hui’s late years, this scroll demonstrates not only his consummate brushwork, but also his literati background and aesthetics in favor of a simple and unadorned style that invites leisurely contemplation. Tang Yin’s septisyllabic quatrain is written at the scroll’s upper left as Wang Hui’s self-inscription.

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3,000-year-old ceremonial wine urn

A visitor admires a 3,000-year-old ceremonial wine urn at an exhibition in Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang Province, which showcases 80 pieces of rare antiques that were collected by the National Museum of China.

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Golden Monkey

Since 1990s last century Beijing Zoo built a huge Golden Monkey (snub-nosed monkey) Hall where the Sishuan and Yunan Golden Monkeys have lived together and reproduced themselves.

The Yuannan Golden Monkeys used to live in low mountain forest in subtropical zones and have gradually migrated to the area of coniferous and broad leaves 3500 - 4000 meters above sea level in high mountains. This is a phenomenon that humans evolved so animals retreated and degenerated. Right now the Sichuan monkeys totalled about 20000. They are typical tree-perched animals eating the green parts of coniferous trees and come down to the ground to eat bamboo shoots in May - July. The Yunnan golden monkeys are the sole primates having bright red lips except humans and the lovely image of the snub-nosed monkey has been chosen as the mascot of Shanghai World Expo 2010.

The Guizhou golden monkeys have become really endangered animals and only 300-500 of them survived. These primates have never been exhibited abroad as they are the least number of primates in the world. In Guizhou Fanjingshan Mountain the fossils of this monkey were found. It proved that the golden monkeys have lived there as living fossils since ancient times. On the publicity board at the gate of Beijing Zoo you can see the three species of golden monkeys and their facial features which are most unique.

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