Monument for ancient navigator

East China's Jiangsu province will build a tower to commemorate China's renowned navigator Zheng He and his seven voyages to destinations in the South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Africa during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The monument will stand at the ruins of the dockyard where Zheng's ship was built more than 600 years ago. Currently, 100 designs have been made for the selection, said Zhao Zhigang, who is in charge of the project.

A replica of Zheng's ship is under construction and is scheduled for completion by September. The ship is expected to repeat Zheng's journeys in 2014.

Centenary of 1911 Revolution

The museum in honor of the 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution, will be closed for renovation. The renovation is in preparation for the centenary of the uprising at Wuchang, Hubei province.

The renovation will last from Feb 18 to Sept 8, as experts sort historical data, according to the museum.

Located near the famed Yellow Crane Tower, the museum was once the seat of the revolutionary government. The movement's leader, Sun Yat-sen, overturned the ruling Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) after the revolution on Oct 10, 1911 and founded the Republic of China in 1912.

Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo park to open

The International Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Expo Park will open in May in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.

Located in Qingyang district, the park covers 113 hectares, with five architecture groups. There will also be an ICH square, a parade avenue, an exhibition and sales center and a performance center and museum, according to the city's cultural bureau. The park is expected to receive more than 8 million tourists annually.

Museum for "emperor wood" furniture

China's first museum to showcase furniture and artworks made of the rare and expensive Phoebe sheareri, also known as "emperor wood" in ancient China, has opened its doors to the public in Beijing.

Pheobe sheareri is a rare tree native to the southern Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei and Hunan. The wood is highly resistant to decay and has a faint but pleasant fragrance, said Ma Zhiyong, curator of the museum.

Emperor wood was used to build palaces, royal temples as well as furniture reserved for the royal family in ancient China, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), according to Zhou Jingnan, a researcher with the Palace Museum.

The museum, covering more than 2,000 square meters, displays over 300 pieces of luxurious furniture and crafts, of which six pieces are estimated to be worth more than 100 million yuan ($15 million) each, Ma said. Visitors should make a reservation in advance as the museum can only receive a limited number of visitors each day.

Ancient handicraft workshops found

A handcraft workshop cluster dating back to the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) has been unearthed in Shaanxi province, archaeologists said on Monday.

They have excavated a large amount of pottery items, porcelain tiles and ruins of kilns since April 2010 in the 3,000-square-meter Raoshang Site near Meixian county, which they believe was a handcraft workshop district that used to produce construction materials and porcelain articles for local people's daily use. According to the archaeologists, the workshops operated for more than 500 years through the late Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220).

Xinhua

(China Daily 02/16/2011 page20)