Undercurrent, a twenty-foot-tall stainless-steel sculpture by Beijing-based artist Zheng Lu, is【小题1】display until August 2024 in the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 【小题2】 is just outside the United Nations complex (建筑群) in New York. The sculpture, 【小题3】 (weigh) nearly 2.5 tons, was more than two years in the making. Zheng is the first Chinese artist 【小题4】 (have) his work exhibited there.

The public art project, initiated by Sundaram Tagore, is supported by the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations, a nonprofit organization 【小题5】 (found) in Europe after World War II, which is dedicated to facilitating international partnerships that promote awareness and implementation of UN goals.

The sculpture is created 【小题6】 (specific) for the site and relates to the United Nations’ recent action initiatives on clean water and climate change. Part of the 【小题7】 (artist) acclaimed Water in Dripping series, Undercurrent emphasizes the 【小题8】 (significant) of water. As a student of Chinese philosophy, Zheng views water as symbolic of change, the passage of time 【小题9】 self-reflection.

Zheng Lu’s sculptures 【小题10】 (exhibit) around the world in the past few years, including, most recently, in Summoning Memories: Art Beyond Chinese Traditions at the Asia Society Texas.

What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of wheat straw? Most people would probably just see 【小题1】 as a pile of waste in a farmer’s field. However, Wu Cui, 【小题2】intangible (无形的) cultural inheritor, can turn the straw into beautiful and eye-catching functional artworks. The earliest straw-weaving products 【小题3】(discover) at Hemudu Cultural Ruins in Zhejiang province. In 2008, straw weaving was listed 【小题4】 a national intangible cultural heritage.

Wu explains the process of straw weaving: selection of materials is the first step of a complicated, time-consuming and labor-intensive process that can take 【小题5】 (week) or even months to complete. You need to sketch the piece on paper, 【小题6】 requires drawing skills. Next comes weaving, shaping and 【小题7】 (preserve) of the work. Even by finishing that process, it does not mean that you will always create a good piece of work, and the hardest part is 【小题8】(make) it lifelike.

When 【小题9】(ask) about her plans, Wu says she wants to dig 【小题10】(deep) into local traditional culture and create more cultural creative products by developing the straw-weaving technique.

Not far away from 【小题1】 Tang Yin was born, a special exhibition (展览) featuring the original paintings and calligraphy of the famous master from the Ming Dynasty (1368—1644) was held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in April, 2024.

In the exhibition showing the works of Tang, one particular painting stood out as the centerpiece— “two sparrows (麻雀) on a tree”. The masterpiece (杰作) shows the 【小题2】 (peace) beauty of spring.

【小题3】 (remember) the 500th anniversary (周年纪念) of Tang’s passing, the Suzhou Bay Museum specially held this exhibition, marking the masterpiece’s 【小题4】(one) public exhibition since 2010.

“It’s considered 【小题5】 treasure of our museum, and rightly so. Fewer than 200 【小题6】 (piece) by Tang Yin are known to exist. Among these, the works describing flowers and birds are especially valuable, with only two such paintings confirmed to be in 【小题7】 (exist) today,” said Ru Yuelai, director of the Suzhou Bay Museum. According to the museum, this masterpiece 【小题8】 (find) in the late 1970s once again. It reflects the skills of Song Dynasty (960—1279) artists.

Tang, better known by his name Bohu, was famous 【小题9】 his great talents in painting, calligraphy. and poetry. His works 【小题10】 (main) reflect the beauty of “Jiangnan”, the attractive region south of the Yangtze River where he was living.