fluktor -|||- study - office - newsletter August 10, 2005

Reuters, 14 Jul 2005
China Communists reassess World War Two victory
By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING, July 14 (Reuters) - Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two, China's Communists have qualified their claim that the Nationalists, who ruled the country at the time, had little to do with fighting the invading Japanese.

The Communist Party, whose legitimacy rests in a large part on its assertion that it fought and won the 1937-45 war against Japan, has stopped accusing the Nationalists, or Kuomintang (KMT), of being "passive" and reluctant to take on the Japanese imperial army.

The KMT is now the biggest opposition party in self-ruled, democratic Taiwan, which Beijing still claims as its own.

Beijing's more conciliatory tone comes on the heels of an historic visit by Taiwan's KMT Chairman, Lien Chan, to China in April which ended decades of animosity when he shook Communist Party chief Hu Jintao's hand.

The Communists issued a circular in May, acknowledging that the "entire nation" defeated Japan, departing from past propaganda.

"The spirit of this year's commemorations has been changed to: all the people fought the war. No mention has been made of the KMT refusing to fight," said a political commentator who writes under the pseudonym Liang Kezhi.

But the Communists are not about to give full credit to the KMT, who lost the Chinese civil war in 1949 and fled to Taiwan where they ruled for more than five decades until losing the presidential elections in 2000.

The Communists still insist they were "the firm rock in midstream which united the people in resistance", the official Xinhua news agency quoted the circular as saying.

The subtle shift in policy appeared to be part of China's divide-and-rule tactics to woo the Nationalists and isolate Taiwan's independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian.

The policy change has led to Chinese state television profiling KMT generals who were killed during the war.

"Martyrs Who Died For The Nation," a book describing the heroism of KMT troops resisting the Japanese, quietly reappeared on the shelves of Xinhua bookshops in May, the online edition of the Heilongjiang Daily said.

The book was first published in 1994 under the title "Burning Sun", but reprints had been banned.

Lifeweek magazine has profiled some of the more than 200 KMT generals killed and given the KMT credit for the battles it won.

GROUND-BREAKING MUSEUM

Japan occupied parts of China from 1931, but KMT Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had been slow to confront the much stronger Japanese army until all-out war broke out in 1937. Most historians agree the KMT did most of the fighting after that.

Communist China marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the war on Aug. 15, but ignores commemorating Sept. 9 when Chiang's China formally accepted Japan's surrender to avoid the embarrassment of having to explain why the Japanese did not surrender to the Communists.

A private World War Two museum is due to open in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan province, on Aug. 15, built on 33.3 hectares (82.4 acres) and breaking new ground with a statue of Chiang, who until recent years had been described as "the common enemy of the people", on display.

"As time went by, the size of my collection grew larger and larger and I felt I have a responsibility to do this work," Fan Jianchuan, the museum owner and a real estate developer, said.

"I have to make it clear that I am not building the museum for the KMT ... I am building the museum for the KMT's anti-Japanese efforts," the 48-year-old told Reuters, underlining political sensitivities. (Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng and Vivi Lin)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK296754.htm

++++++++++++

Largest Museum to Commemorate Anti-Japanese War to Be Unveiled
A museum to commemorate the 60th anniversary of victory over the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, believed to be the country's largest non-governmental museum, is scheduled to be unveiled on August 15 in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The museum, covering 33 hectares of land with a floor space of 15,000 square meters, was built with funds provided by Fan Jianchuan, an entrepreneur of a local privately owned company.

Designed by three domestic and foreign architects, the museum will be divided into eight parts, displaying exhibits portraying the victory achieved by the army led by the Communist Party of China, and by the army led by Kuomintang (KMT).

"Chinese Warriors 1931-1945," a group sculpture composed of 200 anti-Japanese heroes, will be staged on the square outside the museum. The V-shaped square is 81.5 meters long with the narrowest section of 31 meters and the maximum width of 45 meters. It signifies that the invading Japanese troops surrendered on August 15, China was invaded by the Japanese in 1931 and that China won the war in 1945.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2005)

http://www.china.org.cn/english/fetures/WWII/133453.htm

++++++++++++++

Design Maestros Help Build Historical Museums
Twenty noted architects have gathered in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, to help design a cluster of private museums on modern Chinese history.

Fan Jianchuan, a private collector, is building the museums which will be the country's biggest on completion next year.

Among the architects involved are academics from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, professors from Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nanjing University.

Also in the group is Li Xinggang, chief designer of the 2008 Olympic sites in Beijing.

Fan's project, in Anren Town of Dayi County, will include eight museums commemorating different periods of the Chinese revolution.

Twelve others will deal with the 10-year "cultural revolution," initiated by the late leader Mao Zedong in 1966.

Fan's museums would epitomize China's history throughout the past century, said Prof Zhang Yonghe of Peking University.

Fan said he would display more than 200,000 historic photos, posters, stamps, chinaware, letters, uniforms, badges and other antiques from the Mao era.

The museums would also house his collection of more than 10,000 paintings, manuscripts and other antiques from wars in China's modern history, before the People's Republic was founded in 1949.

One of the museums will feature more than 100 pieces of classical furniture.

Fan's collection of more than 300 dainty pencil vases, made of porcelain, bamboo, marble, white jade, ivory and cloisonne, will also be exhibited.

Fan has spent 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) over the past 20 years collecting the antiques. His museums, covering 33 hectares, will cost another 100 million yuan.

Fan said he wanted to revive China's modern history.

Fan, 47, had been a soldier, a teacher and vice mayor of his hometown Yibin City for two years before he stunned the public in 1993 by resigning to take up junior positions at companies in Chengdu.

A year later, he set up the Chengdu-based Jianchuan Group, which is involved in real estate, hotels and cultural projects.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2004)

http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/87820.htm

++++++++++++++

PLA Daily 2004-07-08
Joint efforts made to tell the truth (IV)
　　Chengdu: Fan Jianchuan (interviewee)

　　Fan has the experience of living and working as a member of a production team in the countryside when he was in his teens and later has been a soldier, teacher, writer, collector, government official and businessman, making his experiences full of legendary colors. He has written a book entitled One Person's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Presently, he is in Chengdu City making preparations for the establishment of the Chinese Museum of Anti-Japanese Aggression".

　　Collecting war relics for the sake of seeking for peace

　　I started to collect relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ever since 1993 when I resigned the post as the deputy mayor of Yibin City, Sichuan Province and plunged himself into the commercial sea.

　　I have 11 years of experience of being a serviceman. I possessed the hobby of collection since my childhood. The experience of being a serviceman has made me love the collection of war-related relics in particular and settled down with the collection of relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Over the past 10 years, I have gathered, regardless of the cost, over 10, 000 pieces of relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression from all over the country .

　　In recent days, I have been raising fund to establish the Chinese Museum of Anti-Japanese Aggression in Anren Town, Dayi County in the suburb of Chengdu. I want to make it China's biggest non-governmental museum of anti-Japanese aggression.

　　When collecting relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, I am often touched by the story behind the relics. It can be safely said that these relics are evidences of that period of history, they will remind the Chinese of the dauntless spirit of the Chinese servicemen's unflinching courage in fighting against the Japanese invaders. This has dawned on me that a museum should be built specially for exhibiting these relics and that will help the off springs of the Chinese to remember and recall, in a more vivid way, the broad patriotic officers and men who fought bravely in bloody battles against Japanese invaders during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

　　In order to enrich the collection of relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, I went to Japan in 2002 specially to gather relics from veterans of the Japanese invaders, which was well paid off. That trip also gave me the impression that most of the Japanese veterans who participated in the war hold a positive attitude towards that part of the history. However, due to the influence and cheating of the Japanese right wing forces, many people of the younger generation have little knowledge of what really happened then and even more, have wrong understanding about that period of the history.

　　A nation which knows nothing about introspection and dare not face history squarely will never be able to play a responsible role in the international community. The fundamental reason for me to collect relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and establish the museum of Anti-Japanese Aggression is to expect all peace-loving people (including the Japanese) to draw lessons from history. Just like the foreword, contributed by General Lu Zhengcao, to One Person's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression: Collect war relics for the sake of seeking for peace; remember the national humiliation and rejuvenate China.

　　(July 8, PLA Daily)

http://english.chinamil.com.cn/site2/columns/2004-09/08/content_9787.htm

+++++++++++

Japanese Vet. Apology
A former soldier in the invading Japanese army recently visited Beijing, en route to Chengdu, Sichuan province, to express his regret and deep guilt over Japan's atrocities against the Chinese.
Mr Yangu Baofan, an 83-year-old veteran, was stationed in Shandong province for four years of the invasion. As the head the Sino-Japanese Friendship Alliance, this was his 13th trip to the Chinese mainland to apologize to the nation.
He chose to make this trip to Chengdu after being greatly moved by the book One Person's Anti-Japanese War by Fan Jianchuan. He decided he wanted to meet the author, and will also visit a museum dedicated to Fan Jianchuan while he is in Sichuan
According to Yangu Baofan's reports, between June 1939 and December 1941 the Japanese aggressor dispatched over 500 planes in 18 bombing raids on Chengdu. Casualties reached in excess of 3,000. Even at the time, Yang Baofan was aware the trauma being inflicted on the Chinese people exceeded his own physical pain. "I was against the war before it happened," he said. "In order to escape the shameful war, I once injured a finger on my left hand. But I was still recruited." He also said that many Japanese people at the time did not see the sense in invading China.
Yangu Baofan made his first visit to China after the invasion in 1985 when he accompanied 65 other veterans on a trip organized by the Sino-Japanese Friendship Alliance.
He believes it a great pity that the Japanese government continuously and stubbornly denies its aggression crimes. "I do not have any other wish except the desire for good Chinese-Japanese friendship," says Yangu Baofan. "To the Japanese young people, I want to say firmly that Japan did once invade China and massacred the kind nation in a really evil war!"
www.sina.com.cn Nov 23
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/en/beijing/stories/news_2000_11

++++++++++++++

Fan Jianchuan: a collector of relics on anti-Japanese war
　PLA Daily 2003-07-14

　　In August, 2000, Fan Jianchuan selected 500 of his collection of relics on anti-Japanese war and took photos of them. With related background materials, Fan compiled a book entitled "One man's Anti-Japanese War", which won the prize of the 13th China Book Award.

　　In order to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the breaking out of the anti-Japanese war, cooperating with the Chinese Anti-Japanese War Historic Society, Fan raised some funds and constructed a group sculpture named "Flesh and blood of the Great Wall"in a museum of Sichuan Province.

　　Fan Jianchuan, who is dubbed as "the No.1 civilian in collecting relics on anti-Japanese war in China", has a mysterious experience. He has been a soldier, teacher, civil servant, businessman, writer and collector.

　　At the "Symposium on Historical figures in China's Anti-Japanese War"held in Chengdu July 11-13, during an interview, Fan said : "I have been an army man for 11 years, and when I was a child I had the interest of collecting. The background of service make me interested in the theme of war, therefore, I selected anti-Japanese war relics as the object of collection. Since I engaged myself in business in 1993, I was economically affordable in collecting relics on anti-Japanese war. From 1993 to 2003, I collected more than 10 thousand relics, including weapons, telescope, helmet, gas mask, military atlas. With the authentication of the State Cultural Relics Bureau, 14 cases of them belonged to first-grade cultural relics.

　　"The reason for my collection of relics on anti-Japanese war is to let all peace-loving people (including the Japanese people) to learn lessons from history", said Fan, "I hope this will enhance the unity of the Chinese people to make our country more prosperous and strong, which is conducive to avoiding the recurrence of the historical tragedy. Meanwhile, to the Japanese, I also hope this could help them rethink the history sincerely and take warning from it."

　　By Ding Zengyi

　　(July 14, PLA Daily)

http://english.pladaily.com.cn/english/pladaily/2003/07/14/20030714001013_TodayHeadlines.html

++++++++++

Fan Jianchuan: WENGE CIQI TUJIAN. The Cultural Revolution Porcelain Wares. Beijing, 2002. 331 pp. Colour plates throughout, one folding. 29x23 cm. Cloth.
GBP 55.00
An excellent survey of the ceramic wares produced during the Cultural Revolution from figurines to plaques, teapots and mugs to hanging plates and vases. Hundreds of pieces are illustrated in colour. Near dual text in Chinese and English including captions to all pieces.

http://www.hanshan.com/f/FANWC1.HTM

++++++++++

樊建川，蜀人，57年出生于中国四川省宜宾市。
经历丰富，集农民、士兵、教师、官人、商人、收藏家、作家于一身。
喜收藏，建川博物馆主人，四川省收藏家协会副主席；
能著述，畅销书《一个人的抗战》、《文革瓷器图鉴》的作者；
善经营，建川公司文化创建人，主要经营者。

Fan Jianchuan,a native of Sichuan,was bom in Yi Bin in 1957.
Rich in social experience-a multi-image of a farmer,soldier,teacher,official,merchant,collector and writer.
Fond of collecting-the owner of Jianchuan Museum and Vice Chairman of Sichuan Collectors'Committee.
Capable of writing- the writer of The Only Soul's Resistance War and Appreciation of Porcelain during Cultural Revolution.
Good at business operation, founder and manager of Jianchuan.
http://www.jcfw.com/htm/founder.htm

++++++++++++

Architect Jianchuan Museum Town:
Yung Ho Chang + Atelier FCJZ

http://www.architecture-trend-press.net/Data/_archi/Print.php?time=1093869328&year=2004-2005

www.fcjz.com

__________________

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

__________________________________________

An archive of this list as well as an subscribe/unsubscribe facility is
available at:
http://listserv.uni-heidelberg.de/archives/art-eastasia.html
For postings earlier than 2005-02-23 please go to:
http://www.fluktor.de/study/office/newsletter.htm


	August 10, 2005: [achtung! kunst] Anren/Chengdu (Sichuan): Fan Jianchuan's Museum of Anti-Japanese War

	Reuters, 14 Jul 2005 China Communists reassess World War Two victory By Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING, July 14 (Reuters) - Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two, China's Communists have qualified their claim that the Nationalists, who ruled the country at the time, had little to do with fighting the invading Japanese. The Communist Party, whose legitimacy rests in a large part on its assertion that it fought and won the 1937-45 war against Japan, has stopped accusing the Nationalists, or Kuomintang (KMT), of being "passive" and reluctant to take on the Japanese imperial army. The KMT is now the biggest opposition party in self-ruled, democratic Taiwan, which Beijing still claims as its own. Beijing's more conciliatory tone comes on the heels of an historic visit by Taiwan's KMT Chairman, Lien Chan, to China in April which ended decades of animosity when he shook Communist Party chief Hu Jintao's hand. The Communists issued a circular in May, acknowledging that the "entire nation" defeated Japan, departing from past propaganda. "The spirit of this year's commemorations has been changed to: all the people fought the war. No mention has been made of the KMT refusing to fight," said a political commentator who writes under the pseudonym Liang Kezhi. But the Communists are not about to give full credit to the KMT, who lost the Chinese civil war in 1949 and fled to Taiwan where they ruled for more than five decades until losing the presidential elections in 2000. The Communists still insist they were "the firm rock in midstream which united the people in resistance", the official Xinhua news agency quoted the circular as saying. The subtle shift in policy appeared to be part of China's divide-and-rule tactics to woo the Nationalists and isolate Taiwan's independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian. The policy change has led to Chinese state television profiling KMT generals who were killed during the war. "Martyrs Who Died For The Nation," a book describing the heroism of KMT troops resisting the Japanese, quietly reappeared on the shelves of Xinhua bookshops in May, the online edition of the Heilongjiang Daily said. The book was first published in 1994 under the title "Burning Sun", but reprints had been banned. Lifeweek magazine has profiled some of the more than 200 KMT generals killed and given the KMT credit for the battles it won. GROUND-BREAKING MUSEUM Japan occupied parts of China from 1931, but KMT Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had been slow to confront the much stronger Japanese army until all-out war broke out in 1937. Most historians agree the KMT did most of the fighting after that. Communist China marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the war on Aug. 15, but ignores commemorating Sept. 9 when Chiang's China formally accepted Japan's surrender to avoid the embarrassment of having to explain why the Japanese did not surrender to the Communists. A private World War Two museum is due to open in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan province, on Aug. 15, built on 33.3 hectares (82.4 acres) and breaking new ground with a statue of Chiang, who until recent years had been described as "the common enemy of the people", on display. "As time went by, the size of my collection grew larger and larger and I felt I have a responsibility to do this work," Fan Jianchuan, the museum owner and a real estate developer, said. "I have to make it clear that I am not building the museum for the KMT ... I am building the museum for the KMT's anti-Japanese efforts," the 48-year-old told Reuters, underlining political sensitivities. (Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng and Vivi Lin) http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK296754.htm ++++++++++++ Largest Museum to Commemorate Anti-Japanese War to Be Unveiled A museum to commemorate the 60th anniversary of victory over the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, believed to be the country's largest non-governmental museum, is scheduled to be unveiled on August 15 in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province. The museum, covering 33 hectares of land with a floor space of 15,000 square meters, was built with funds provided by Fan Jianchuan, an entrepreneur of a local privately owned company. Designed by three domestic and foreign architects, the museum will be divided into eight parts, displaying exhibits portraying the victory achieved by the army led by the Communist Party of China, and by the army led by Kuomintang (KMT). "Chinese Warriors 1931-1945," a group sculpture composed of 200 anti-Japanese heroes, will be staged on the square outside the museum. The V-shaped square is 81.5 meters long with the narrowest section of 31 meters and the maximum width of 45 meters. It signifies that the invading Japanese troops surrendered on August 15, China was invaded by the Japanese in 1931 and that China won the war in 1945. (Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2005) http://www.china.org.cn/english/fetures/WWII/133453.htm ++++++++++++++ Design Maestros Help Build Historical Museums Twenty noted architects have gathered in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, to help design a cluster of private museums on modern Chinese history. Fan Jianchuan, a private collector, is building the museums which will be the country's biggest on completion next year. Among the architects involved are academics from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, professors from Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nanjing University. Also in the group is Li Xinggang, chief designer of the 2008 Olympic sites in Beijing. Fan's project, in Anren Town of Dayi County, will include eight museums commemorating different periods of the Chinese revolution. Twelve others will deal with the 10-year "cultural revolution," initiated by the late leader Mao Zedong in 1966. Fan's museums would epitomize China's history throughout the past century, said Prof Zhang Yonghe of Peking University. Fan said he would display more than 200,000 historic photos, posters, stamps, chinaware, letters, uniforms, badges and other antiques from the Mao era. The museums would also house his collection of more than 10,000 paintings, manuscripts and other antiques from wars in China's modern history, before the People's Republic was founded in 1949. One of the museums will feature more than 100 pieces of classical furniture. Fan's collection of more than 300 dainty pencil vases, made of porcelain, bamboo, marble, white jade, ivory and cloisonne, will also be exhibited. Fan has spent 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) over the past 20 years collecting the antiques. His museums, covering 33 hectares, will cost another 100 million yuan. Fan said he wanted to revive China's modern history. Fan, 47, had been a soldier, a teacher and vice mayor of his hometown Yibin City for two years before he stunned the public in 1993 by resigning to take up junior positions at companies in Chengdu. A year later, he set up the Chengdu-based Jianchuan Group, which is involved in real estate, hotels and cultural projects. (Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2004) http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/87820.htm ++++++++++++++ PLA Daily 2004-07-08 Joint efforts made to tell the truth (IV) 　　Chengdu: Fan Jianchuan (interviewee) 　　Fan has the experience of living and working as a member of a production team in the countryside when he was in his teens and later has been a soldier, teacher, writer, collector, government official and businessman, making his experiences full of legendary colors. He has written a book entitled One Person's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Presently, he is in Chengdu City making preparations for the establishment of the Chinese Museum of Anti-Japanese Aggression". 　　Collecting war relics for the sake of seeking for peace 　　I started to collect relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ever since 1993 when I resigned the post as the deputy mayor of Yibin City, Sichuan Province and plunged himself into the commercial sea. 　　I have 11 years of experience of being a serviceman. I possessed the hobby of collection since my childhood. The experience of being a serviceman has made me love the collection of war-related relics in particular and settled down with the collection of relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Over the past 10 years, I have gathered, regardless of the cost, over 10, 000 pieces of relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression from all over the country . 　　In recent days, I have been raising fund to establish the Chinese Museum of Anti-Japanese Aggression in Anren Town, Dayi County in the suburb of Chengdu. I want to make it China's biggest non-governmental museum of anti-Japanese aggression. 　　When collecting relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, I am often touched by the story behind the relics. It can be safely said that these relics are evidences of that period of history, they will remind the Chinese of the dauntless spirit of the Chinese servicemen's unflinching courage in fighting against the Japanese invaders. This has dawned on me that a museum should be built specially for exhibiting these relics and that will help the off springs of the Chinese to remember and recall, in a more vivid way, the broad patriotic officers and men who fought bravely in bloody battles against Japanese invaders during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. 　　In order to enrich the collection of relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, I went to Japan in 2002 specially to gather relics from veterans of the Japanese invaders, which was well paid off. That trip also gave me the impression that most of the Japanese veterans who participated in the war hold a positive attitude towards that part of the history. However, due to the influence and cheating of the Japanese right wing forces, many people of the younger generation have little knowledge of what really happened then and even more, have wrong understanding about that period of the history. 　　A nation which knows nothing about introspection and dare not face history squarely will never be able to play a responsible role in the international community. The fundamental reason for me to collect relics of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and establish the museum of Anti-Japanese Aggression is to expect all peace-loving people (including the Japanese) to draw lessons from history. Just like the foreword, contributed by General Lu Zhengcao, to One Person's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression: Collect war relics for the sake of seeking for peace; remember the national humiliation and rejuvenate China. 　　(July 8, PLA Daily) http://english.chinamil.com.cn/site2/columns/2004-09/08/content_9787.htm +++++++++++ Japanese Vet. Apology A former soldier in the invading Japanese army recently visited Beijing, en route to Chengdu, Sichuan province, to express his regret and deep guilt over Japan's atrocities against the Chinese. Mr Yangu Baofan, an 83-year-old veteran, was stationed in Shandong province for four years of the invasion. As the head the Sino-Japanese Friendship Alliance, this was his 13th trip to the Chinese mainland to apologize to the nation. He chose to make this trip to Chengdu after being greatly moved by the book One Person's Anti-Japanese War by Fan Jianchuan. He decided he wanted to meet the author, and will also visit a museum dedicated to Fan Jianchuan while he is in Sichuan According to Yangu Baofan's reports, between June 1939 and December 1941 the Japanese aggressor dispatched over 500 planes in 18 bombing raids on Chengdu. Casualties reached in excess of 3,000. Even at the time, Yang Baofan was aware the trauma being inflicted on the Chinese people exceeded his own physical pain. "I was against the war before it happened," he said. "In order to escape the shameful war, I once injured a finger on my left hand. But I was still recruited." He also said that many Japanese people at the time did not see the sense in invading China. Yangu Baofan made his first visit to China after the invasion in 1985 when he accompanied 65 other veterans on a trip organized by the Sino-Japanese Friendship Alliance. He believes it a great pity that the Japanese government continuously and stubbornly denies its aggression crimes. "I do not have any other wish except the desire for good Chinese-Japanese friendship," says Yangu Baofan. "To the Japanese young people, I want to say firmly that Japan did once invade China and massacred the kind nation in a really evil war!" www.sina.com.cn Nov 23 http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/en/beijing/stories/news_2000_11 ++++++++++++++ Fan Jianchuan: a collector of relics on anti-Japanese war 　PLA Daily 2003-07-14 　　In August, 2000, Fan Jianchuan selected 500 of his collection of relics on anti-Japanese war and took photos of them. With related background materials, Fan compiled a book entitled "One man's Anti-Japanese War", which won the prize of the 13th China Book Award. 　　In order to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the breaking out of the anti-Japanese war, cooperating with the Chinese Anti-Japanese War Historic Society, Fan raised some funds and constructed a group sculpture named "Flesh and blood of the Great Wall"in a museum of Sichuan Province. 　　Fan Jianchuan, who is dubbed as "the No.1 civilian in collecting relics on anti-Japanese war in China", has a mysterious experience. He has been a soldier, teacher, civil servant, businessman, writer and collector. 　　At the "Symposium on Historical figures in China's Anti-Japanese War"held in Chengdu July 11-13, during an interview, Fan said : "I have been an army man for 11 years, and when I was a child I had the interest of collecting. The background of service make me interested in the theme of war, therefore, I selected anti-Japanese war relics as the object of collection. Since I engaged myself in business in 1993, I was economically affordable in collecting relics on anti-Japanese war. From 1993 to 2003, I collected more than 10 thousand relics, including weapons, telescope, helmet, gas mask, military atlas. With the authentication of the State Cultural Relics Bureau, 14 cases of them belonged to first-grade cultural relics. 　　"The reason for my collection of relics on anti-Japanese war is to let all peace-loving people (including the Japanese people) to learn lessons from history", said Fan, "I hope this will enhance the unity of the Chinese people to make our country more prosperous and strong, which is conducive to avoiding the recurrence of the historical tragedy. Meanwhile, to the Japanese, I also hope this could help them rethink the history sincerely and take warning from it." 　　By Ding Zengyi 　　(July 14, PLA Daily) http://english.pladaily.com.cn/english/pladaily/2003/07/14/20030714001013_TodayHeadlines.html ++++++++++ Fan Jianchuan: WENGE CIQI TUJIAN. The Cultural Revolution Porcelain Wares. Beijing, 2002. 331 pp. Colour plates throughout, one folding. 29x23 cm. Cloth. GBP 55.00 An excellent survey of the ceramic wares produced during the Cultural Revolution from figurines to plaques, teapots and mugs to hanging plates and vases. Hundreds of pieces are illustrated in colour. Near dual text in Chinese and English including captions to all pieces. http://www.hanshan.com/f/FANWC1.HTM ++++++++++ 樊建川，蜀人，57年出生于中国四川省宜宾市。经历丰富，集农民、士兵、教师、官人、商人、收藏家、作家于一身。喜收藏，建川博物馆主人，四川省收藏家协会副主席；能著述，畅销书《一个人的抗战》、《文革瓷器图鉴》的作者；善经营，建川公司文化创建人，主要经营者。 Fan Jianchuan,a native of Sichuan,was bom in Yi Bin in 1957. Rich in social experience-a multi-image of a farmer,soldier,teacher,official,merchant,collector and writer. Fond of collecting-the owner of Jianchuan Museum and Vice Chairman of Sichuan Collectors'Committee. Capable of writing- the writer of The Only Soul's Resistance War and Appreciation of Porcelain during Cultural Revolution. Good at business operation, founder and manager of Jianchuan. http://www.jcfw.com/htm/founder.htm ++++++++++++ Architect Jianchuan Museum Town: Yung Ho Chang + Atelier FCJZ http://www.architecture-trend-press.net/Data/_archi/Print.php?time=1093869328&year=2004-2005 www.fcjz.com __________________ with kind regards, Matthias Arnold (Art-Eastasia list) http://www.chinaresource.org http://www.fluktor.de __________________________________________ An archive of this list as well as an subscribe/unsubscribe facility is available at: http://listserv.uni-heidelberg.de/archives/art-eastasia.html For postings earlier than 2005-02-23 please go to: http://www.fluktor.de/study/office/newsletter.htm