1、The beginning of November saw the British Museum in London open an exhibition displaying the art works of former Chinese vice premier Li Lanqing. The works include seal carvings and calligraphy by the former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPCs Central Committee. CRIs
2、 Abhijan Barua has more.Featuring over 100 seals and calligraphy broken in to 4 distinct categories, the exhibition displays part of the former vice premiers works since retiring back in 2003.The last decade has seen him create over 800 seals as well as a large number of calligraphy works.The exhibi
3、tion at the British Museum, provides a glimpse in to not just the art of Chinese seal carving itself, but a look at world culture along with contemporary China and its lifestyle.14 seals were made just for this exhibition alone, which are to be presented to the museum once the exhibition wraps up in
4、 January next year.12 of those, feature the names of renowned British figures such as William Shakespeare, Sir Isaac Newton, and the father of evolution, Charles Darwin.One of the organisers of the display, as well as Keeper of the Asia Department at the British Museum, Jan Stuart, says while these
5、works in particular have caught the eye, a broader interest in Chinese and Asian art has also been present over the last decade or so.People are definitely stopping by the cases with the display. I do see, you know, a number of galleries in London that carry contemporary Chinese artists, I do see th
6、em visited by people with Chinese heritage as well as other heritage groups. So theres definitely that kind of interest, but I think a lot of that has been going on for at least a decade.Theres no doubting the interest in Chinese art growing across not just Britain, but the world. However, the opini
7、on is divided on the pace of that growth.While Jan Stuart believes it to have occurred more steadily over decades, Anna Jackson, Keeper of Asia Department at Londons Victoria and Albert Museum, says Chinas recent rise to global prominence has enhanced the attention it gets, including from the world
8、of contemporary art.Chinese art and other asian art has always been of great fascination to the west for centuries. More recently, theres been an upsurge of interest and obviously thats to do with what is happening in China, and in the contemporary arts field thats very vibrant at the moment. As peo
9、ple are interested in China, but its still a bit of an unknown quantity to many people, who dont know much about the history of Chinese culture. So I think Chinese exhibitions like we have here in London are rousing more and more interest and I think there are British exhibitions going to China and
10、European exhibitions going to China, so its working both ways I think.The cross-cultural lines are beginning to run both ways, and Li Lanqings works itself have already been to countries such as Russia, France, Singapore and Indonesia.Now this latest venture in to British territory, looks like will only add to Chinas ever growing presence worldwide.For CRI, this is Abhijan Barua.
