from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704082104575516082963460938.html
Spurred by separate pushes by the U.S. and Chinese governments, more schools in Greater New York have begun offering—even requiring—the study of Mandarin at the elementary level.
Starting this month, Manhattan's New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math, or NEST+m, replaced Spanish with Mandarin for kindergarten through fifth grades. Some city elementary schools, such as PS 310 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, have launched Chinese bilingual programs aimed at native Chinese speakers. Others, such as as PS 20 on the Lower East Side, have opted for dual-language programs, where half of the class is fluent in English and the other half is fluent in Mandarin. The programs this year add to about 25 bilingual and dual-language ones that already existed in the city, according to Matthew Mittenthal, city Department of Education spokesman.
"Mandarin is a language that has symbols that are very different than our written language," said Olga Livanis, the principal of NEST+m, a K-12 gifted-and-talented school on the Lower East Side. "The more difficult, the earlier a child needs to learn it."
The rise in Mandarin comes amid increased federal funding for programs that teach it and from school administrators' recognition of China's growing influence in the global economy. China is also cultivating the study of Mandarin abroad, sponsoring teachers, materials and visits to China.
As of the end of 2008 school year, about 50 public and two dozen private schools in New York City had Chinese classes, according to Robin Harvey, coordinator of a Chinese-language teachers program at New York University. Since then, the number has increased by 5% to 10%, she said.
Several new programs certifying teachers in instruction of Chinese as a second language are launching around the city. NYU, for example, had more than 42 graduates from its master's program over the past three years, said Ms. Harvey. "Most of our teachers once they graduate find work in the New York metropolitan area," she said.
Chinese is one of of the languages considered to be critical to the U.S. national security by the U.S. Department of Education, which helps schools secure funding if they agree to teach the languages.
Last year, New Rochelle began offering Mandarin in its middle and high schools, and this year the language is offered to some kindergarteners and fourth-graders. Being aware that "we could possibly get support to introduce" Mandarin played a role in starting the language up throughout the school system, said Richard E. Organisciak, the Westchester County district's superintendent. New Rochelle received about $1.5 million in federal grants, and the approval for the money came within weeks of application, said Mr. Organisciak.
Support from China is also helping Chinese instruction grow around the country. U.S. schools are able to get a guest teacher for two years sponsored by the Chinese government via a program with the College Board.
In New York State, only two schools have guest teachers, whose stipends and international travel is sponsored by the Chinese government, while housing and administrative fees are taken on by school districts. Both New York guest teachers starting this school year at Medgar Evers College Preparatory school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and the Brewster School District, about 50 miles north of the city. In Connecticut, nine guest-teachers are working, all having started in 2009 or this year, according to the College Board. New Jersey has two guest teachers, who also arrived in the past year or so.
But Rocco Tomazic, superintendent of Linden, N.J., school district, said that he chose to decline and find permanent teachers. NEST also found a teacher on its own and is paying for the teacher out of its own budget.
Several schools in Greater New York are part of a new grant program called the Confucius Classroom, sponsored by the Chinese government through the New York-based Asia Society, which selects programs that could serve as models for Chinese-language instruction. These classrooms are matched with partner schools in China for joint projects and exchanges and are provided with teacher development.
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Julie Platner for The Wall Street Journal
Students work on pronunciation and geography of cities in China by coloring in their own maps.
.Offering Chinese was a leap of faith, said Linden's Mr. Tomazic, "in a working-class town that has no significant number of Chinese." But a recent "China night" filled a school auditorium for students singing in Mandarin, he said. Now about 400 elementary-school children in the Linden school district are learning Mandarin.
For James Lee, principal of PS 20, a public school on the Lower East Side, introducing a dual-language program this year in two kindergarten classes was a matter of satisfying the needs of the growing number of children learning English in the district the school serves, he said. About 47 children, mixed English and Mandarin speakers, are enrolled this year, studying a full-day in Mandarin, followed by a day in English.
PS 20 received applications from English-speaking students in upper Manhattan and Brooklyn, said Mr. Lee. "The interest is huge," he said. Preference was given to children in District 1.
Two weeks into the program, things are going well, said Mr. Lee. He called the program, "a fairly challenging setting." "To be taught in a language that you only comprehend in small amounts, that's a lot to ask of a five year old."
Write to Yuliya Chernova at yuliya.chernova@dowjones.com
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
NBC Today Show Hosts Chinese Language Learning Segment
NBC's Today Show sponsored a segment on the importance of learning Mandarin Chinese.
According to Daniella Montalto, NYU's Institute of Learning and Achievement, learning a language at a very young age can help improve children's reading, writing, math and IQ scores.
Watch it here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39154226/vp/39418545#39418545
According to Daniella Montalto, NYU's Institute of Learning and Achievement, learning a language at a very young age can help improve children's reading, writing, math and IQ scores.
Watch it here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39154226/vp/39418545#39418545
Beijing's First Confucian Temple Service in 60 years
Confucius' birthday, celebrated in China. Photograph: Wu Hong/EPA
When a man has reached 2,561 years, it is hard to distinguish each birthday from the last. But anniversary celebrations for China's best-known philosopher included one notable change today: the first service at Beijing's Confucian temple since the Communists took power in 1949.
Once reviled as backwards and feudalist, Confucius has made a comeback since the 1990s, his work again openly a source of moral instruction and social debate – although it is also used to legitimise a party that once denounced him, to bolster tourism, and to soothe the souls of stressed workers.
Today hundreds of schoolchildren gathered to pay their respects. Dancers in red robes and students in flowing black drifted through the courtyards of the 14th century temple complex in central Beijing.
For Confucian teacher Yang Ruqin, the event was a welcome sign of renewed interest in the philosopher's thought.
"Confucianism has always been in Chinese people's blood. Although negated for many years, it is still there and when the environment is right, it will come back. I think it is a very good thing, especially in today's materialistic society," he said. "Most people now are just curious about it instead of really understanding the theory, but that's okay: as time goes on, they will know better. Plus Confucianism is something really suited to the Chinese people."
Although celebrations of Confucius have become a valuable money-spinner in Qufu, his birthplace, Yang said it was the first officially-approved service at the Beijing temple for six decades.
Disapproval of Confucianism, and destruction of temples during the cultural revolution, had made people cautious, he said.
"But people started to understand the core values, the true concepts, and started to find that those values are not completely irrelevant to their lives," he said.
Virtue, filial duty, obedience to rulers and benevolence from them are all key themes. But like most influential schools of thought, Confucianism can be interpreted in apparently limitless ways.
A Taiwanese speaker described Confucianism's relevance to cross-Straits ties.
Yu Dan – China's best known populariser of the philosopher's work – made him sound more like a self-help guru. "Now that everyone is busy, it seems that the things that actually make people happy are drifting further away from us. A child should have a dream. This is all related to what Confucius says in ethics."
The country's leaders too have co-opted the thinker. He has reappeared in school textbooks, and President Hu Jintao drew on Confucius in establishing his vision of the "harmonious society".
Dr Daniel Bell, a scholar at Tsinghua University and author of China's New Confucianism, said: "[Historically] it was part of political legitimation – and maybe that helps to explain the revival now to the extent [China's leaders] appeal to Confucianism for legitimacy. Obviously they don't want to become liberal democrats, but Marxism does not really grab people any more."
But he added: "The revival is happening at different levels of society, with some [Confucian theorists] having a much more critical way of thinking. In Imperial China it was a conservative tradition, but always had a critical edge; Confucius and Mencius were social critics."
Li Gengwu, a retired newspaper employee attending the service, studied Confucius as a child before the revolution. "All the good traditional values were abandoned. Now it seems more people are interested. Confucius advocates loyalty and trust and caring for others. In today's society, all people care about is money, so it's good to promote these values."
Younger people were less enthusiastic.
"Confucius is an important part of Chinese culture, related to everyone," said Han Bing, 30, a musician at the event. But she was "not really sure" how he was relevant.
Xue Wenjuan, 23, was swift to quote "Learning is our belief," but added: "That's a commercial for a language training centre."
Additional research by Lin Yi
Monday, September 27, 2010
Parents Debate the Merits of Chinese
Maybe they should sign their youngest children up for toddler league T-ball, instead?
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/09/27/parents-debate-the-rise-of-mandarin-at-elementary-schools/
By Yuliya Chernova
The growth of Mandarin classes at elementary schools in and around New York City stirred debate at UrbanBaby.com, a popular forum website for parents.
As The Journal reported, more schools around the city this year started offering — and in some cases requiring — Mandarin instruction, including New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math (known as NEST+m), PS 20 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and PS 310 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The rise of Mandarin stems, in part, from separate programs backed by the U.S. and Chinese governments that offer resources for the classes.
The UrbanBaby discussion took on the issue of whether Mandarin is appropriate for elementary-school children. Some writers on the anonymous forum suggested that there is no need to introduce a difficult language so early on, arguing that children won’t gain proficiency anyway when taught just once a week. As one commenter put it:
anyone who has tried to teach toddlers a foreign language that no one in their household speaks (inc nanny) will realize that the classes are just not enough - you need to either live there and immerse or have the immersion at home for it to take hold.
Other commenters suggested that it’s harder to find Mandarin practice outside of school, making it even more unlikely that the language would stick for young students. Some contributors to the forum argued that Spanish will be the predominant and most useful second language in the U.S. for years to come, so schools should focus on it. One commenter was skeptical about language instruction in general for elementary students: “But is it really necessary for a child at the age of 5 to be taught some random language? I can think of 10 other things that could be done with that time.”
Some contributors spoke out in support of early exposure to Mandarin. One person, identified as a NEST+m parent, argued that “the daytime class gives you a place to start if you decide to embrace it. Otherwise just do the minimum and treat it like on of the other non-core subjects e.g. dance.”
Another self-identified parent of a student in the NEST+m Mandarin program said the once-a-week class was “more about the culture/geography so far and less about the language,” which served as an important introduction to China generally.
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/09/27/parents-debate-the-rise-of-mandarin-at-elementary-schools/
By Yuliya Chernova
The growth of Mandarin classes at elementary schools in and around New York City stirred debate at UrbanBaby.com, a popular forum website for parents.
As The Journal reported, more schools around the city this year started offering — and in some cases requiring — Mandarin instruction, including New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math (known as NEST+m), PS 20 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and PS 310 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The rise of Mandarin stems, in part, from separate programs backed by the U.S. and Chinese governments that offer resources for the classes.
The UrbanBaby discussion took on the issue of whether Mandarin is appropriate for elementary-school children. Some writers on the anonymous forum suggested that there is no need to introduce a difficult language so early on, arguing that children won’t gain proficiency anyway when taught just once a week. As one commenter put it:
anyone who has tried to teach toddlers a foreign language that no one in their household speaks (inc nanny) will realize that the classes are just not enough - you need to either live there and immerse or have the immersion at home for it to take hold.
Other commenters suggested that it’s harder to find Mandarin practice outside of school, making it even more unlikely that the language would stick for young students. Some contributors to the forum argued that Spanish will be the predominant and most useful second language in the U.S. for years to come, so schools should focus on it. One commenter was skeptical about language instruction in general for elementary students: “But is it really necessary for a child at the age of 5 to be taught some random language? I can think of 10 other things that could be done with that time.”
Some contributors spoke out in support of early exposure to Mandarin. One person, identified as a NEST+m parent, argued that “the daytime class gives you a place to start if you decide to embrace it. Otherwise just do the minimum and treat it like on of the other non-core subjects e.g. dance.”
Another self-identified parent of a student in the NEST+m Mandarin program said the once-a-week class was “more about the culture/geography so far and less about the language,” which served as an important introduction to China generally.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Black Market For Mooncakes.
From NPR: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/21/a-black-market-for-mooncakes-in-china/
A black market for mooncakes in China
China's mid-Autumn Festival and its tradition of eating mooncakes has lent itself to an underground economy worth billions.
KAI RYSSDAL: There's a big festival coming up on the Chinese calendar tomorrow: It's called the mid-Autumn festival. For the past week or so, stores over there have been stocking up on the traditional gift of the season: Mooncakes. They're pastries, small but rich, with a flaky crust and a sweet filling, usually made of lotus paste.
More than a billion people wanting the same thing on the same day? Smells like a business opportunity to me. Our Shanghai Correspondent Rob Schmitz takes us inside the mooncake economy
ROB SCHMITZ: Mooncakes have been likened to pastry hockey pucks. At around a thousand calories, they're almost as dense. This helps explain why the Chinese don't buy mooncakes for themselves. They gift them.
Shaun Rein is a strategy consultant in Shanghai.
SHAUN REIN: It's a way of showing respect to business partners and people you want to be close to, and it's also a way to give them outright bribes.
Yes, bribes -- and we're not talking about briefcases full of mooncakes, but their paper representations, mooncake vouchers.
Here's how it works: Buy a voucher from a company that makes mooncakes. Give it to your friend, client, local government official. And they, in theory, redeem the voucher for mooncakes. What most people do, though, is sell the vouchers on the black market for cash.
REIN: There's no embarrassment about saying, "We don't want this mooncake." Let's be pragmatic and get some money out of it.
And when a fifth of the world is in on this, that money becomes an underground economy worth billions.
Dozens of workers pack boxes of mooncakes at a Haagen-Dazs redemption center in Shanghai. Thirteen years ago, the company had an epiphany: They realized the Chinese give mooncakes, but many don't eat them. It's like the Christmas fruitcake dilemma in the West. So they thought: Why not make ice cream mooncakes? The ice cream mooncake was born.
Gary Chu manages the company's China operation.
GARY CHU: It's huge business. It's a very important business for us. It's growing at double digits every year.
Soon after, Starbucks, Nestle and Dairy Queen got into the business. This year, Haagen-Dazs sold 1.5 million boxes. To buy one, you'll need $50 to $100 worth of vouchers. Want an ice cream mooncake this year? Sorry. Vouchers are sold out. Your only option is the black market.
A back-alley vendor named Yin Jing wears a fanny pack full of Haagen-Dazs mooncake vouchers. They're made of thick paper; each one has a laser engraved hologram, just like currency. They float like currency, too. Last week, their price peaked. Now with just days to go before the festival, Mr. Yin is looking to unload.
YIN JING: After the festival's over, all these vouchers will be expired. So I have no choice. I've got to start dropping the price.
This selling frenzy reaches the highest levels of society. Just blocks away, a vendor who only gives his surname -- Zhang -- just negotiated a deal on reams of vouchers.
ZHANG: These are all from government officials. They get so many as gifts, and they feel too embarrassed to sell them to me in person, so they ask their wives to meet me in a coffee shop.
Fresh from his secret government rendezvous, Zhang's got his game face on, trying to sell all these vouchers before time runs out. If he fails? He'll be forced to succumb to the spirit of the season by giving away dozens of boxes of mooncakes and keeping a few for himself, at which point the giving will stop, and the losers of this annual game will be forced to eat.
In Shanghai, I'm Rob Schmitz for Marketplace.
A black market for mooncakes in China
China's mid-Autumn Festival and its tradition of eating mooncakes has lent itself to an underground economy worth billions.
KAI RYSSDAL: There's a big festival coming up on the Chinese calendar tomorrow: It's called the mid-Autumn festival. For the past week or so, stores over there have been stocking up on the traditional gift of the season: Mooncakes. They're pastries, small but rich, with a flaky crust and a sweet filling, usually made of lotus paste.
More than a billion people wanting the same thing on the same day? Smells like a business opportunity to me. Our Shanghai Correspondent Rob Schmitz takes us inside the mooncake economy
ROB SCHMITZ: Mooncakes have been likened to pastry hockey pucks. At around a thousand calories, they're almost as dense. This helps explain why the Chinese don't buy mooncakes for themselves. They gift them.
Shaun Rein is a strategy consultant in Shanghai.
SHAUN REIN: It's a way of showing respect to business partners and people you want to be close to, and it's also a way to give them outright bribes.
Yes, bribes -- and we're not talking about briefcases full of mooncakes, but their paper representations, mooncake vouchers.
Here's how it works: Buy a voucher from a company that makes mooncakes. Give it to your friend, client, local government official. And they, in theory, redeem the voucher for mooncakes. What most people do, though, is sell the vouchers on the black market for cash.
REIN: There's no embarrassment about saying, "We don't want this mooncake." Let's be pragmatic and get some money out of it.
And when a fifth of the world is in on this, that money becomes an underground economy worth billions.
Dozens of workers pack boxes of mooncakes at a Haagen-Dazs redemption center in Shanghai. Thirteen years ago, the company had an epiphany: They realized the Chinese give mooncakes, but many don't eat them. It's like the Christmas fruitcake dilemma in the West. So they thought: Why not make ice cream mooncakes? The ice cream mooncake was born.
Gary Chu manages the company's China operation.
GARY CHU: It's huge business. It's a very important business for us. It's growing at double digits every year.
Soon after, Starbucks, Nestle and Dairy Queen got into the business. This year, Haagen-Dazs sold 1.5 million boxes. To buy one, you'll need $50 to $100 worth of vouchers. Want an ice cream mooncake this year? Sorry. Vouchers are sold out. Your only option is the black market.
A back-alley vendor named Yin Jing wears a fanny pack full of Haagen-Dazs mooncake vouchers. They're made of thick paper; each one has a laser engraved hologram, just like currency. They float like currency, too. Last week, their price peaked. Now with just days to go before the festival, Mr. Yin is looking to unload.
YIN JING: After the festival's over, all these vouchers will be expired. So I have no choice. I've got to start dropping the price.
This selling frenzy reaches the highest levels of society. Just blocks away, a vendor who only gives his surname -- Zhang -- just negotiated a deal on reams of vouchers.
ZHANG: These are all from government officials. They get so many as gifts, and they feel too embarrassed to sell them to me in person, so they ask their wives to meet me in a coffee shop.
Fresh from his secret government rendezvous, Zhang's got his game face on, trying to sell all these vouchers before time runs out. If he fails? He'll be forced to succumb to the spirit of the season by giving away dozens of boxes of mooncakes and keeping a few for himself, at which point the giving will stop, and the losers of this annual game will be forced to eat.
In Shanghai, I'm Rob Schmitz for Marketplace.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Promoting Multi-Culturalism in our Schools
From: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/119031-we-must-promote-multilingualism-in-our-schools-rep-judy-chu?sms_ss=facebook
We must promote multilingualism in our schools (Rep. Judy Chu)
By Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) - 09/15/10 04:31 PM ET
Yesterday, President Obama gave his second annual back-to-school address. In a speech to students at Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia, he urged them to take responsibility, work hard and dream big.
The words that really stood out to me, however, came at the end of his remarks when he said, “I want you to take away the notion that life is precious, and part of what makes it so wonderful is its diversity, that all of us are different.” I couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately, the current system too often limits our students’ exposure to other cultures and languages. If we’re to fully embrace life’s wonderful diversity, this must change.
About a year ago, the President set a goal for our country to reclaim the highest college graduation rate in the world. It’s a worthy goal and one I strongly support, but it’s not enough. We don’t just need college graduates. We need college graduates ready to compete on the world’s stage.
Years ago, my mother immigrated to America at the age of 19, right before our country prohibited travel to China. For the next 25 years, she had virtually no contact with her family. But what isolated her even more was her inability to use English. Until she went to an adult education program to learn her second language, she never fully integrated into American society.
Today, the lack of a second language doesn’t just isolate people. It makes them less competitive. There’s a Spanish proverb that says, “The person who speaks two languages is worth two." And that’s why neglecting foreign language instruction prevents students from realizing their full worth.
Lacking international knowledge and experience, many of today’s young Americans aren’t prepared for the increasingly global economy of tomorrow. This shortcoming limits our ability to address future international challenges. It restrains our relationships with other nations and could someday threaten our national security.
Moreover, studies show that learning a second language improves cognitive flexibility. Because dual language learners naturally consider multiple meanings for words, they’re better able to manage complex situations. And that’s a skill our next generation of supervisors and executives can all use.
That’s why legislation that creates a multilingual society is so important. These programs don’t just promote a second language; they advance the American workforce. Unfortunately, current instruction in our country lags behind our global competitors’. In Asia and Europe, the question is not whether you speak another language – it’s how many.
That’s why I strongly support the Providing Resources to Improve Dual Language Education (PRIDE) Act, which establishes and expands language programs in classrooms across the country, closing this gap. And since children more easily absorb foreign languages than older students and adults, I’ll soon introduce the Global Languages Early Education (GLEE) Act to focus funds on early education. Because, developing our youngest minds is the best path toward increased fluency now and improved competitiveness later.
I’ll be pushing for a greater focus on foreign and dual-language programs in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this effort.
Promoting multilingualism in our nation’s schools ensures that the next generation of American students won’t just travel the globe, they’ll shape it.
We must promote multilingualism in our schools (Rep. Judy Chu)
By Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) - 09/15/10 04:31 PM ET
Yesterday, President Obama gave his second annual back-to-school address. In a speech to students at Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia, he urged them to take responsibility, work hard and dream big.
The words that really stood out to me, however, came at the end of his remarks when he said, “I want you to take away the notion that life is precious, and part of what makes it so wonderful is its diversity, that all of us are different.” I couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately, the current system too often limits our students’ exposure to other cultures and languages. If we’re to fully embrace life’s wonderful diversity, this must change.
About a year ago, the President set a goal for our country to reclaim the highest college graduation rate in the world. It’s a worthy goal and one I strongly support, but it’s not enough. We don’t just need college graduates. We need college graduates ready to compete on the world’s stage.
Years ago, my mother immigrated to America at the age of 19, right before our country prohibited travel to China. For the next 25 years, she had virtually no contact with her family. But what isolated her even more was her inability to use English. Until she went to an adult education program to learn her second language, she never fully integrated into American society.
Today, the lack of a second language doesn’t just isolate people. It makes them less competitive. There’s a Spanish proverb that says, “The person who speaks two languages is worth two." And that’s why neglecting foreign language instruction prevents students from realizing their full worth.
Lacking international knowledge and experience, many of today’s young Americans aren’t prepared for the increasingly global economy of tomorrow. This shortcoming limits our ability to address future international challenges. It restrains our relationships with other nations and could someday threaten our national security.
Moreover, studies show that learning a second language improves cognitive flexibility. Because dual language learners naturally consider multiple meanings for words, they’re better able to manage complex situations. And that’s a skill our next generation of supervisors and executives can all use.
That’s why legislation that creates a multilingual society is so important. These programs don’t just promote a second language; they advance the American workforce. Unfortunately, current instruction in our country lags behind our global competitors’. In Asia and Europe, the question is not whether you speak another language – it’s how many.
That’s why I strongly support the Providing Resources to Improve Dual Language Education (PRIDE) Act, which establishes and expands language programs in classrooms across the country, closing this gap. And since children more easily absorb foreign languages than older students and adults, I’ll soon introduce the Global Languages Early Education (GLEE) Act to focus funds on early education. Because, developing our youngest minds is the best path toward increased fluency now and improved competitiveness later.
I’ll be pushing for a greater focus on foreign and dual-language programs in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this effort.
Promoting multilingualism in our nation’s schools ensures that the next generation of American students won’t just travel the globe, they’ll shape it.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Peabody Essex Museum the First to Show Off Hidden Works
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist/2010/07/peabody_essex_m.html
By Geoff Edgers
Globe Staff
A special international partnership will make the Peabody Essex Museum the first place in the world to display a group of 90 imperial objects from a hidden Chinese palace complex inside Beijing's Forbidden City.
Related
Photos
Rare art on display
•Video A preview of the show in Salem
For nearly 500 years, the sprawling Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors. When the last emperor was forced out in 1924, the government closed the doors on a two-acre compound deep within the Forbidden City, filled with magnificent 18th-century artworks and other objects.
Now the US public will see those works for the first time in a show called "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City." The objects, which range from paintings and murals to exquisite pieces of furniture and jades, will make up an exhibition running Sept. 14-Jan. 9 at the Salem museum. Organized by PEM with the Palace Museum, Beijing and the New York-based World Monuments Fund, the show will then travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Milwaukee Art Museum.
“These are objects created by the finest artists at the time, and they’ve never been seen before,” said PEM curator of Chinese art Nancy Berliner, speaking by phone this week from the Forbidden City, where she and a group of museum workers are readying the objects that will be brought to Salem for the show.
It is extremely unusual for China to send cultural objects abroad, and the museum will be the first place anywhere -- including China -- that these pieces will be shown to the public.
The partnership springs from an ambitious $25 million project to renovate the palace garden complex, a project that began in 2001 and won’t be complete until 2019. Officials from the World Monuments Fund overseeing the restoration were impressed by PEM’s installation of Yin Yu Tang, a late Qing dynasty merchants' house, at the museum. After viewing the house in 2004, the nonprofit organization hired Berliner as a consultant.
That led to the Salem museum's coup.
This week, as temperatures in Beijing have risen to 104 degrees, Berliner and four other museum staffers have been meticulously packing up the objects in the palace compound created by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century and last occupied by Emperor Puyi. It is a quiet, contemplative space, Berliner said, where there is often only room to walk single file because the emperor never intended it to be experienced by groups. Of the
27 buildings in the garden complex, just one has been restored so far.
Speaking by phone from a building that had not yet been restored, Berliner said she was holding a flashlight because there were no lights.
“The feeling inside these buildings and in the garden as a whole is a little bit like being in an incredibly luxurious and contemplative playground,” said Berliner, who noted that she has visited the Forbidden City hundreds of times since her first visit in 1980 but only gained access to Qianlong's complex in recent years.
The museum has great expectations for the exhibition, projecting that it will draw as many as 85,000 visitors. That would make it the second most attended at the museum since its reopening after a major expansion in 2003.
But bringing “The Emperor’s Private Paradise” to Salem is not cheap. The exhibition will cost $1.8 million, or more than the museum spent on exhibitions for all of 2009. All but $300,000 is being covered through support from the Carpenter Foundation, American Express, Mandarin Oriental, and other sponsors.
“This is once-in-a-lifetime material,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, the museum’s chief curator. “This truly is one of those shows where a lot of stars have aligned to make this possible.”
In Salem, Berliner hopes to use architectural flourishes to re-create the feel of the 18th-century garden complex. The works on hand will provide a stunning window into the private universe crafted by China’s rulers. A Buddhist shrine painted on silk shows a series of holy and supernatural figures with Qianlong, depicted in gold, at the center. A carved wooden throne features bamboo thread marquetry, gold paintings, and a jade inlay. And then there is the jade screen depicting the 16 disciples of the Buddha. Only recently did restorers discover that Qianlong, who commissioned the work, had the screen installed in a way that hid the golden images painted on its reverse side. Conservators never knew of that other side.
“He installed it so the panels were actually up against walls," Berliner said. "When they took it out, they discovered that on the side of the panels that faced the walls were these incredibly beautiful paintings of botanical motifs that had never been seen before.”
The Forbidden City is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than seven million people a year. None of the buildings in Qianlong garden complex, however, have been open to the public.
Peabody Essex Museum director Dan Monroe said that he was moved, walking through the hidden space for the first time.
"There are several gates and doors and pathways, but it shocks you with its immensity," he said. "It’s full of large monumental buildings and small buildings and water features and bridges. And it’s a spectacular space that was designed for tranquility and harmony."
Henry Ng, executive vice president of the World Monuments Fund, said that the Palace Museum's trust in Berliner made it possible to bring the works to the United States.
"I don't think it could be done anywhere else," said Ng. "Nancy is the reason they're letting them go."
Hartigan emphasized the beauty of the works that will be on display.
"The fact that the garden itself is this exquisite combination of art, architecture, and nature and that this comes across so clearly in the exhibition is another important aspect of this," she said. "The notion that not even the Chinese themelves have seen these artworks is really remarkable."
Berliner believes it is unlikely that works from the garden complex will ever be allowed out once the restoration is complete. That means, she says, this will be the first and last time these objects will be seen in the United States.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com
By Geoff Edgers
Globe Staff
A special international partnership will make the Peabody Essex Museum the first place in the world to display a group of 90 imperial objects from a hidden Chinese palace complex inside Beijing's Forbidden City.
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Rare art on display
•Video A preview of the show in Salem
For nearly 500 years, the sprawling Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors. When the last emperor was forced out in 1924, the government closed the doors on a two-acre compound deep within the Forbidden City, filled with magnificent 18th-century artworks and other objects.
Now the US public will see those works for the first time in a show called "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City." The objects, which range from paintings and murals to exquisite pieces of furniture and jades, will make up an exhibition running Sept. 14-Jan. 9 at the Salem museum. Organized by PEM with the Palace Museum, Beijing and the New York-based World Monuments Fund, the show will then travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Milwaukee Art Museum.
“These are objects created by the finest artists at the time, and they’ve never been seen before,” said PEM curator of Chinese art Nancy Berliner, speaking by phone this week from the Forbidden City, where she and a group of museum workers are readying the objects that will be brought to Salem for the show.
It is extremely unusual for China to send cultural objects abroad, and the museum will be the first place anywhere -- including China -- that these pieces will be shown to the public.
The partnership springs from an ambitious $25 million project to renovate the palace garden complex, a project that began in 2001 and won’t be complete until 2019. Officials from the World Monuments Fund overseeing the restoration were impressed by PEM’s installation of Yin Yu Tang, a late Qing dynasty merchants' house, at the museum. After viewing the house in 2004, the nonprofit organization hired Berliner as a consultant.
That led to the Salem museum's coup.
This week, as temperatures in Beijing have risen to 104 degrees, Berliner and four other museum staffers have been meticulously packing up the objects in the palace compound created by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century and last occupied by Emperor Puyi. It is a quiet, contemplative space, Berliner said, where there is often only room to walk single file because the emperor never intended it to be experienced by groups. Of the
27 buildings in the garden complex, just one has been restored so far.
Speaking by phone from a building that had not yet been restored, Berliner said she was holding a flashlight because there were no lights.
“The feeling inside these buildings and in the garden as a whole is a little bit like being in an incredibly luxurious and contemplative playground,” said Berliner, who noted that she has visited the Forbidden City hundreds of times since her first visit in 1980 but only gained access to Qianlong's complex in recent years.
The museum has great expectations for the exhibition, projecting that it will draw as many as 85,000 visitors. That would make it the second most attended at the museum since its reopening after a major expansion in 2003.
But bringing “The Emperor’s Private Paradise” to Salem is not cheap. The exhibition will cost $1.8 million, or more than the museum spent on exhibitions for all of 2009. All but $300,000 is being covered through support from the Carpenter Foundation, American Express, Mandarin Oriental, and other sponsors.
“This is once-in-a-lifetime material,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, the museum’s chief curator. “This truly is one of those shows where a lot of stars have aligned to make this possible.”
In Salem, Berliner hopes to use architectural flourishes to re-create the feel of the 18th-century garden complex. The works on hand will provide a stunning window into the private universe crafted by China’s rulers. A Buddhist shrine painted on silk shows a series of holy and supernatural figures with Qianlong, depicted in gold, at the center. A carved wooden throne features bamboo thread marquetry, gold paintings, and a jade inlay. And then there is the jade screen depicting the 16 disciples of the Buddha. Only recently did restorers discover that Qianlong, who commissioned the work, had the screen installed in a way that hid the golden images painted on its reverse side. Conservators never knew of that other side.
“He installed it so the panels were actually up against walls," Berliner said. "When they took it out, they discovered that on the side of the panels that faced the walls were these incredibly beautiful paintings of botanical motifs that had never been seen before.”
The Forbidden City is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than seven million people a year. None of the buildings in Qianlong garden complex, however, have been open to the public.
Peabody Essex Museum director Dan Monroe said that he was moved, walking through the hidden space for the first time.
"There are several gates and doors and pathways, but it shocks you with its immensity," he said. "It’s full of large monumental buildings and small buildings and water features and bridges. And it’s a spectacular space that was designed for tranquility and harmony."
Henry Ng, executive vice president of the World Monuments Fund, said that the Palace Museum's trust in Berliner made it possible to bring the works to the United States.
"I don't think it could be done anywhere else," said Ng. "Nancy is the reason they're letting them go."
Hartigan emphasized the beauty of the works that will be on display.
"The fact that the garden itself is this exquisite combination of art, architecture, and nature and that this comes across so clearly in the exhibition is another important aspect of this," she said. "The notion that not even the Chinese themelves have seen these artworks is really remarkable."
Berliner believes it is unlikely that works from the garden complex will ever be allowed out once the restoration is complete. That means, she says, this will be the first and last time these objects will be seen in the United States.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com
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