Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum!

Facts about Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum :-) 

Invested and built by Hangzhou Municipal Government, Hangzhou Arts & Crafts Museum is located in West (Gongchen) Bridge Historic Block and is adjacent to China Knife, Scissor and Sword Museum, China Umbrella Museum on the north, Dengyun Road on the south, Xiaohe Road on the west and Grand Canal on the east. The museum is rebuilt from the old workshop of Honglei Silk Mill and is the expanded and upgraded version the three national museum, i.e. China Knife, Scissor and Sword Museum, China Fan Museum and China Umbrella Museum.

The museum covers land area of 7571 square meters, building area of 5149 square meters and overall floorage of 18930 square meters. The third floor is a 3000sqm basic display area that is divided into four categories, i.e. carving, ceramics, embroidery, weaving, metalwork, folk arts and crafts, to comprehensively display Hangzhou’s development history and outstanding achievement arts and crafts. The second floor includes the master’s workshop and temporary exhibitions halls and is the platform for art exchanges and creation research. The first floor includes public service area, boutique exhibition area and specialized recreation area. With proper layout and complete function, the hall can meet demands for visiting, appreciation, study, exchange, shopping and recreation for visitors of various levels. Meanwhile, Hangzhou Teenager Culture and Creativity Training Center on 4th floor will make use of the rich cultural resources of the museum to promote enlightenment and development of arts and crafts in Hangzhou.

Opening Hour: 9:00-16:00 from Tuesday to Sunday (closed in Monday)  

Reflection-"How to start a movement" by Derek Sivers

After watching the video on "How to start a movement' by Derek Sivers, I learnt that a movement actually just needs one's courage to step out and do it. In the video, a man was dancing in the middle of the beach shirtless. It would seem as though he is doing something really weird in the public. However, one person from the ran to him and started to do the same thing as him. He started dancing with the shirtless man. It may still seem weird now but there were more and more followers who started to join the crowd and dance along. At this time, it no longer looked weird, however if you are still sitting down there along, you would look like the odd one out. From this example, I can see that if you are brave enough, you just have to step out to show what you think is right or wrong. It may be very discouraging as all of the others was siding on the same thing and you are scared of being laughed at or failure. However, as long as you can start it, you are already halfway through it, all you are left is the followers. 

-Teo Lian Wei Vesy (20) 2E

Anhui Museum

We will be going to Anhui Museum! Our group is tasked to research on Anhui Museum and Hangzhou Art and Crafts Museum. So we will be going to explain to you about these both museums in this and the other post.

Anhui Museum 

Introuduction:The Anhui Provincial Museum (Anhui sheng bowuguan), built in 1956, is the largest and most comprehensive museum in the province. The 9000-square-meters of space here houses over 100,000 exhibits, many fossils or historical relics that date back over 2,000 years. The museum has no English, however, and so is really only good either for those into their Chinese history or Chinese readers.

 

Exhibits 

A lot of the exhibits are related to the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD), a time immortalized by the book of the same name, although exhibits mainly concentrate upon the Cao family. Calligraphists will be pleased with the mostly Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) exhibition pieces of the Four Treasures of Chinese Calligraphy.

There is an exhibition of the Four Treasures of the Scholar's Study with high-quality ink sticks, heavy carved ink stones, weaselhair brushes and multicoloured papers. 

There is a room in the Anhui Museum that houses objects that have been excavated in the Anhui region over the past decades and there are some magnificent things! The gold-rimmed amber bowl from the Song Dynasty, the silver wine vessel also from the Song Dynasty and a lacquer box from the Qing dynasty are just a few of this fantastic collection. All of us are excited about this room that we hope to visit.

Anhui Provincial Museum houses three permanent displays: exhibitions on the ancient history of Anhui, the province's revolutionary history, and ancient plants and animals

A highlight of the exhibition is the Shang bronze unearthed in Anhui Province, such as an exceptional Shang bronze pot in the shape of an animal unearthed from the Cai Marquis Tomb of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC). The ChuDing, which is 113 cm high and weighs 400 kilograms, is the biggest and heaviest extant one of its kind since the Zhou Dynasty.

A precious celadon bowl, unearthed in 1963 from a Susong County tomb of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), is a rare treasure. Luxie Painting (Reed and Crab Painting) by Liang Zaibang of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is a gem of the art of iron painting.

The Anhui Museum in Hefei, is housed in a spectacular new building over seven floors, displaying superb collections of natural history specimens. Nearby Huanshang Mountain, one of the five great mountains of China, was the centre of Huizhou culture, with its own architecture, commerce, neo-Confucianism and opera and cuisine

Architecture: The provincial artwork ,which is unique of Anhui Province, consists of two separate buildings which seems like a unified body through the poetic design of the skin.  Because it’s designed with the aim of holding international art activities, the Anhui Provincial Art Museum pays special attention to spaces’ distribution. The museum complex aims to achieve different functions such as collection, research, exhibition, education, communication, services, features; it focuses on collections. Exhibition reflects the history of art development in Anhui province and outside through artists’ works of art and literature. 

**[Tourist Information]

Address: in the middle section of Anqing Road, Hefei City

Opening hours: 08:30-10:40 & 14:00-16:00, Monday-Friday; 08:30-11:40 & 14:00-17:00, Saturday and Sunday.

Cost: RMB10 for foreigners.

[What Can We Learn]

The Museum's exhibition focuses on the local history and is arranged into three basic displays: Ancient History of Anhui, Revolutionary History of Anhui and Fossils of Ancient Extinct Life in Anhui. In addition to the annual exhibitions, the museum often organizes temporary special exhibitions at home and abroad.

Works published by the Museum include Selected Masters' Painting, Collections of Anhui Provincial Museum, and Excavations from the Cai Marquis Tomb in Shou County, etc.

 

And some questions that we are curious about! 

When we go to the museums,

-We are wondering whether we will have another tour guide to guide us when we arrive at the museum?

-Why are the exhibits related to the Three Kingdoms Period? (Anhui museum)

-How long will the trip to the museums take? 

-What do we need to bring or prepare before going to the museums? 

Hope that you have learned somehting new today! :-) 

Reflection

Derek sivers: How to start a movement 

The video is about leadership and how to make a movement. From the video, the leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed. A video is shown where a shirtless man starts dancing randomly. He appears to be the leader in this situation. Before long, a follower appears and starts dancing with him. The leader treats him as an equal. The first follower then asks people to join them in dancing. This first follower now acts as a leader, because he has the guts to stand out. After that, more and more people join the dancing, which forms a movement. Those who decide to stick with the crowd on the floor, not joining in the movement will eventually be ridiculed for not joining. So this is how you make a movement.

I learnt that even though most people would say that the shirtless man who started dancing alone would be the most important leader, in actual fact, the first follower was the one who transformed the shirtless man into a leader. I learnt that if you really start a movement,  have the courage to follow and show others how to follow. So it takes two to really start a movement.

-Gwen Su(18)

2E

Reflection- "How to start a movement"

"how to start a movement" Derek Sivers

 After watching this video, I realize movements not only need a leader, but it takes 2 people. Basically, this video is about leadership.

  Very importantly, a leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed. Being confident is one of the most important qualities in being a leader. You must have the courage and confidence to lead other people. Then Derek Sivers showed a video of a man dancing without wearing any shirt in front of many people. But what he’s doing is so easy to follow.So here’s his first follower with a crucial role; he’s going to show everyone else how to follow.

I notice that the leader embraces him as an equal. This is not about the leader anymore, but both of them. Plural. Actually, the first follower is an underestimated form of leadership in itself. And the first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader. After that, more people come to join them dancing. Now it's definitely not many nuts, but a crowd has actually formed. A public movement is formed! Something I learned that I feel it's very important : we should not just show the leader, but the followers, because the followers emulate the new followers, not the leader.

  What is the most important lesson? Leadership over glorified. Although it was the shirtless guy who first started, and he would be getting all the credit, but it was really the first follower that transformed the lone nut into a leader. It was him who started the movement with the leader.

So, as we’re told that we should all be leaders, that would be really ineffective. We shouldn't always just try to lead people and be the leaders, but to be courageous to start a movement with your followers. In this over competitive society, if everyone just wants to be the leader, then who are the followers? How are the leaders going to start a movement if there are no followers? 

-Yeo Yu Zhen (23) 2E