Qifenglou.info

WITH an influx of 300,000 rural migrants back from cities in the past two months, Hubei Province has ordered some companies to seek approval for job cuts ?? to stabilize the job market.

Under an emergency program to deal with rising unemployment, large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Hubei this month were required to reduce salaries first before dismissing staff.

With production cutbacks and closures of export-oriented companies on the east coast reflecting falling demand, Hubei, which had a yearly rural labor outflow of 7 million people, was the first of the central and western provinces to respond. About 200,000 returning workers have been re-employed locally in two months.

China’s migrant laborers, estimated at between 130 million and 150 million, are a significant economic indicator as their migration from poverty-stricken rural areas to the cities since the early 1980s was voluntary and powered by their simple longing for a better life.

One sign of trouble was the suspension of plans to raise the minimum wage by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS).

In an effort to “stabilize labor and management relations”, the ministry this week allowed some service-oriented companies to adopt flexible working hours and pay.

Small loans

Local labor and social security authorities were ordered to monitor the operations of struggling enterprises and be alert to potential job cuts so as to defuse large cutbacks.

The ministry stipulated that migrant workers who lost jobs after having worked continuously for at least six months must receive one-off subsistence benefits and government-funded vocational training.

From next year, the Hubei Provincial Government will evaluate officials on whether they meet targets for new self-employment posts and businesses.

In the next five years, the province hopes to help 50,000 people start their own businesses and create 200,000 new jobs every year.

To that end, the small loan ceiling for individuals has been more than doubled from 20,000 yuan (US$2,926) to 50,000 yuan, while that for labor-intensive companies is up from 2 million to 3 million yuan.

Commercial banks will receive government rewards, with the amount designated at 1 percent of their total small loans.

(The author is a senior writer at Xinhua news agency.)

IT is a truth universally accepted that food and wine are made to go with each other. Local distributor Torres China is paying homage to this adage with a series of initiatives aimed at bringing dining experiences, paired with drops from its extensive portfolio, to the discerning consumer besides aligning itself with the luxurious LAN Club, it also established its own wine bar, La Vinoteca Torres, in Xuhui District.

The role of wine as merely a status symbol is far from being played out here, but that doesn’t mean restaurant goers can only gaze wistfully at lists of the first growths and their five-digit price tags.

Wine lists up and down the city are steadily improving as the big boys bring in established brands while others tackle the boutiques. It isn’t perfect, and improvement is still at snail’s pace, but any progress is still progressed to be cheered.

The recently opened LAN Club Shanghai has already made the press for its immaculate decor and exquisite art work the Guangdong Road property looks to replicate the success of its Beijing flagship in giving the South Beauty Group greater presence in the international scene.

Four months into operations, many foreigners are still puzzled by the luxury food and beverage outlet to many, the Western model of a successful venue is the only one acceptable in the natural order of things. LAN’s plan is to turn this idea on its head and to offer the world a glimpse at what it perceives as a Chinese approach to enjoying life.

While the 5,000-square-meter club essentially caters to its local clientele, with privacy paramount and service anonymous, LAN also incorporates Western elements to supplement the experience, which partnerships with a Michelin-starred chef and of course, the cornerstone of every European meal, fine wines from Torres China.

Michelin two-star chef Yves Mattagne has been eying a spot in the Far East since his visit two years ago and has found a right match just off the Bund. His outpost, which occupies the top floor of the four-story building, has raised some eyebrows among the expat mag food writers many were left wondering just how Western or Chinese the fare really wanted to be.

The Belgian’s visit at the start of the month provided local gourmets a taste of where his fame stemmed from. A master of seafood, his dishes often tap the treasures of the sea and make every morsel dance for him.

Unfortunately, his fare seemed better two years ago when he was hosted by the Hilton Shanghai while catering to a bigger crowd. Some of his dishes, like the roasted langoustines with nantua sauces and lemon leaves foam were simply too “Asian,” which is all the rage in Europe these days but old hat over here.

The same went for his sole fish, oysters and aromatic herbs tartate with parsley cream and ginger infusion. Thai food may have its detractors but not in these pages still, the ginger was singularly jarring.

In these circumstances the wines were given a chance to show. The portfolio was deep enough to muster matches for the predominantly seafood menu, and notable pairings were the 2007 Peter Lehmann Eden Valley Riesling with the aforementioned langoustines and the 2005 Jean Leon Terrasola Tempranillo with pigeon and foie gras, ceps foam, hazelnuts, chicory and wild mushrooms.

In dire economic times, Torres China is not forgetting the mid-market, and La Vinoteca Torres offers something for everyone. Set within the acclaimed and super-popular El Willy restaurant, the small enclave is offering a large selection of Torres and Primum Familiae Vini (first family of wines), as well as a Champagne.

Guests can sup on the extraordinary fare by Spanish savant, “Crazy” Willy Trulas while enjoying the fine selection. The bar also houses an Enomatic machine - the much-touted storage cabinet that replaces oxygen with pumped nitrogen in open bottles and ensures wine stay fresh for longer. This way the bar can offer premium labels by the glass, such as top drop Mas la Plana.

LAN Club

Address: 102 Guangdong Rd

Tel: 6323-8029

La Vinoteca Torres

Address: 20 Donghu Rd

Tel: 5404-5757

KYLIE Minogue has been dazzling audiences for more than 20 years and now, on the comeback from a life-threatening illness, she is sweeping all before her on a world tour set to hit Shanghai, writes Michelle Zhang.

Kylie Minogue has survived cancer, been honored by the Queen of England, starred in Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies, achieved a string of hits and sold more than 60 million records worldwide over the past two decades.

And now the Australian “Queen of Pop” is heading to Shanghai for her first concert on the Chinese mainland on November 29.

The pint-sized pop diva will perform at the Hongkou Football Stadium as part of her “Kylie X 2008″ world tour this year. The tour, which kicked off in Paris in May, is an enormous US$16 million production that has already traveled through more than 21 countries across Europe.

More than 500,000 people have been stunned by Minogue’s glittering performance, the first-class production and dazzling Jean Paul Gaultier wardrobe.

“The eclectic mix of sounds on ‘Kylie X 2008′ has afforded me the opportunity to explore and develop a new live show that is fresh, exhilarating and innovative,” Minogue says. “It is a look to the future but definitely includes favorites alongside the new.”

It will be Minogue’s second visit to Shanghai - she has appeared here last year to help launch her beachwear collection designed by Swedish fashion chain H&M.

Her show promises a good balance of old and new covering almost all her classic hits, including “I Should Be So Lucky,” “Confide in Me” and “Spinning Around” as well as material from her latest, much-discussed comeback album “X.”

With lavish stage design, a great cast of dancers, acrobats and musicians, not to mention outlandish Jean Paul Gaultier-designed costumes, ultimate showgirl Minogue promises this will be her most spectacular show ever.

“I think the show is really dynamic,” she says. “The team who helped me put the show together have worked with me on many tours and I think our experience, individually and collectively, has helped make this show, maybe the best tour I’ve done.

“I like every section of the show for different reasons but a favorite is the ‘Heartbeat Rock’ section - the cheerleading section.

“It is so vibrant and it’s where the brass players march on stage and the girls come out in their cheerleading outfits. It’s absolute fun. I love it.”

Minogue rose to fame in the late 1980s through her role in the Australian television soap opera “Neighbors” in which the then-18-year-old played Charlene, one of the most popular characters in Australian TV history.

An episode featuring Charlene’s marriage to the character played by Jason Donovan attracted a massive TV audience and made Minogue become the first person to win four Logie Awards in the same year. The Logies are the Oscars of Australian television.

A year later in 1987, Minogue made the inevitable transition into music, covering Little Eva’s “Locomotion.” The single went to the top of the UK and Australian charts, and a year later she achieved three top 10 singles and a platinum album in the UK.

Minogue has gone on to enjoy a stellar career becoming the second most successful woman on the British singles charts, second only to Madonna.

In 2005 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and forced to put her career on hold as she battled the disease. But with “Kylie X 2008,” the heroic star has firmly put her illness behind her, proving once again she is the undisputed queen of the pop landscape.

“I like to challenge myself,” she says. “I don’t know if I would say I challenge the audience but at least I like to surprise them and hopefully inspire them and just take them away from the outer world.”

Date: November 29, 7:30pm

Venue: Hongkou Football Stadium, 444 Dongjiangwan Rd

Tickets: 180-1,680 yuan

Tel: 962-388, 6289-3919

CUTTING-EDGE theater from around the world and innovative Shanghai productions of classics are underway in the Asia Contemporary Theater Festival, writes Yao Minji.

Award-winning “fringe” plays, avant-garde musicals, monologues, puppetry, physical theater and a women’s play are among the offerings in a contemporary theater extravaganza running through December 7.

The Asia Contemporary Theater Festival (ACT 08) features nine plays from around the world, and three from the Shanghai Drama Arts Center, where it is being staged. Foreign productions come from the UK, Spain, Israel, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

Theater workshops and “Fringe Shanghai” also invite participation by audiences and the public.

This fourth annual festival has three parts - four award-winning plays by the renowned Edinburgh (Scotland) Fringe Festival, plays from various countries and regions, and three adapted foreign classics by the Shanghai Drama Arts Center.

The Edinburgh offerings include the witty 60-minute comedy “Hysteria” about the anguish of modern life, played out in an awkward dinner engagement at Table No. 9. The three protagonists: an academic who researches modern-day neuroses and struggles to hang on to his own sanity, a woman event manager obsessed by fear of “missing the party,” and the mortified waiter haunted by fears of global catastrophe.

Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem of the same name, the play explores panic, the apocalypse and table manners through sharp dialogues, energetic physicality and intelligent comedic timing. The play won the 2007 Argus Angel Award and 2006 Total Theater Award, among other honors.

“Low Life,” also an Edinburgh play, inspired by the short stories and poems of Charles Bukowski, creates a cabaret where puppets are the central characters. People with hang-ups and puppets with hangovers act out a mad and magical stage full of downbeats and losers. A man dances a love duet with a beer glass, a diva drinks to forget, and a plumber drowns behind the bar.

Its production team Blind Summit applies a style of Bunraku (a traditional Japanese puppet theater)-inspired puppetry to explore the relationship between puppeteers and puppets. Inside their alcohol-soaked world, people interact with puppets and even fall in love with them.

ACT 08 also include various kinds of stage performances from Israel, Spain, Germany and Japan.

“La Mariposa” (”Butterfly”) from Israel is a 50-minute dance theater with no dialogue. The butterfly image is drawn from the book of psychologist Clarissa P. Estes, “Women Who Run with the Wolves.”

A women’s play performed by women, choreographer Galia Fradkin and the actress-dancers explore the world of women through graceful physicality and a stage that is neither quite cellar nor a bomb shelter. They take spectators on a life-cycle tour.

Japan’s Dougeze Theater is renowned for emotional plays of ghost stories with realistic backgrounds. “Live with Father” goes back to 1945, when many Japanese lost their families to US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It’s a story about a daughter and her father’s ghost, and its message is peace.

The girl Fukuyoshi has lost her entire family and herself lives virtually as a ghost, suffering overwhelming survivor’s guilt. She cannot enjoy the feeling of love, even though she has a crush on someone.

Then her father’s ghost appears.

Spanish play “Solala” is a 65-minute monologue about the life of a poor woman, a mother of five children, whose husband is at war. She tells her life story though a flamenco number, theater of shades and a magic show.

The organizer, Shanghai Drama Arts Center, presents three classic plays - the French thriller “8 Femmes,” the Chinese version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Faust.”

Next Sunday, the center will launch a workshop titled “One Day, the World.” Ten drama groups will stage 12 plays continuously over 12 hours, each with a small audience of around 200.

ACT 08

Date: through December 7, 7:30pm

Venue: Shanghai Drama Arts Theater, 288 Anfu Rd

Tel: 6473-0123, 6473-4567

Check www.fringeshanghai.com for program details

On the fringe

Fringe Shanghai” presents outreach workshops, talks and visual arts events through December 7. All free programs try to bring artists closer to the community and encourage the public to participate in the arts.

Started in 2006, “Fringe Shanghai” gives emerging artists an opportunity to show cutting-edge, experimental and visionary works that need not be commercially viable.

This year features more outreach programs such as “Fringe on Campus.” It’s a long-term educational project tailor-made for young people in the city to promote their interest in the arts.

From December 12 to 20, All Theater from Hong Kong will perform an hour of mask theater at the Songjiang University Town and Yangpu University Town, plus some high schools and international schools.

Programs include an Artwalk through non-mainstream art venues such as Image Tunnel, Fei Contemporary Art Center and Cinema of Truth. There’s an art jam for children and a pottery workshop in which everyone must wear a blindfold.

FOR all its amazing modern skyline, perhaps the real jewels of Shanghai can be found at street level, away from the hustle and bustle in the captivating back alleys, writes Nancy Zhang

One of the most charming things to do in Shanghai is to explore the backstreets, either on foot or by bike. The narrow lanes behind the main streets offer a unique glimpse into local life.

Featuring both post-1949 buildings and early last century architecture that mixes Chinese and Western styles, these alleyway communities have housed generations of ordinary lives.

As autumn draws to a close, now is the perfect time to investigate.

Old Town

The area has the oldest type of alleyways you’ll find in Shanghai. The small area around Yuyuan Garden existed before foreigners arrived in the mid-1800s.

The sense of local life here is also strongest, but you have to leave the touristy Yuyuan complex behind. Follow Shanghai Old Street in the direction of the Bund, passing Yuyuan Garden on the left and the new shopping mall on the right.

In front is the heart of the Old Town which, though now filled with tourist shops, has some hidden treasures. One of these is Sipailou Street which is filled with local snacks and meals of every variety imaginable. It’s cheaper and more authentic than inside Yuyuan.

Turn down any of the side streets to start an adventure into old Shanghai. Alleys such as Danfeng Road and Mayuan Street offer rich rewards. Though lacking many amenities, people still live here, going about their lives, brushing their teeth, hanging up laundry, chatting and chopping vegetables for dinner.

Warning: Toilets are outdoors and it can be smelly, so don’t wear your best shoes. The very narrow streets are best explored on foot.

Disappearing lifestyle

The Bund is home to magnificent Western-style architecture, but in areas closer to the Old Town there are unique alleyways housing local life.

Often adapted to the fishing industry, this lifestyle is disappearing.

From Dongmen Road walk toward the Bund and turn down Waixiangua Road, a little street on the right. Literally translated as “salty melon street,” rumor has it the name came from people selling wares from the sea.

Sea products are still sold here, with seaweed spread out to dry on the street, and fish nets spread out to dry on the balconies. But customers are few and far between.

Behind Waixiangua Road are sizable pockets of old-style communal alleyways. These are in the process of being demolished and most residents have moved out.

But the buildings are still standing, albeit in eerie silence. It’s a great place to explore early-style shikumen (stone-gated) houses.

Behind neon lights

The glitzy lights of Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall belie its proximity to humbler parts of town. But there are interesting side streets to be found if you dig, like Shitan Lane which starts on Beijing Road E.

Opposite the intersection between Beijing Road E. and Fujian Road M., the tiny lane offers a wealth of local life and a surprise at the end. Unlike lilong - residential compounds built by foreigners for Chinese from the mid-1800s onwards - the buildings here were built after liberation.

Winding between low-rise apartments, the street contains tiny restaurants, people playing mahjong, selling wares and patches, and extensive bamboo scaffolding.

At the end you’ll find a treat - the Hong Miao Gallery, a free art gallery that used to be an ancient temple. With bright red walls, its heyday was in the 1930s. After 1949 it went through a series of uses from being sealed for 10 years to a local administrative center.

After enjoying the quietness of the gallery step back into modern Shanghai as Nanjing Road E. is just on the other side.

Beijing Road is now a bustling area selling electronic parts, but it contains pockets of early-style lilong built around 1900. Crowded and extremely narrow, these are very much still lived in and well preserved. Look for No. 756 and No. 803 on Beijing Road.

Sharp contrasts

Downtown Shanghai is dotted with alleyways of Western-style garden villas and other turn-of-the-century architecture. Luxurious and built to a high standard, these residences are easier to preserve.

But as all property was divided in the 1950s to provide housing for the poor, today these villas house several families and have been worn down over the decades. The contrast between the building and its residents is characteristic of Shanghai.

Shaanxi Road S. has many side streets in the stretch between Huaihai and Changle roads which offer great examples of garden villas. Large, detached and semi-detached houses show off the Western architectural influence.

A 20-minute walk from Shaanxi Road S. is Nanjing Road W. Opposite gleaming modern malls such as Citic Square, lanes lead to handsome old apartment blocks in classical Western style. Lanes No. 1113 and No. 1025 are good examples.

Be sure to explore behind Nanjing Road W. along streets such as Weihai Road and Shimen No. 1 Road for more 20th-century apartment blocks in different styles.

Further away, Hengshan and Yongjia roads have Spanish-and Mediterranean-style villas. Also built before 1949, these variations on the Western classical style display ever more opulent tastes in the rich of old Shanghai.

More backstreets

Zhoushan Road: At the heart of the Jewish ghetto of the first half of 20th-century Shanghai, the road has been dubbed “Little Vienna” as it is flanked by Viennese-Jewish buildings.

Kunming Road: Home to flower markets set up by local farmers. Also has the Xiahai Temple where people used to come to worship the Goddess of the Sea.

Kele Road: A backstreet behind the Shanghai Zoo, it contains a catholic church designed by Ladiszlo Hudec with an innovative Byzantine roof.

Jinxian Road: A street full of antique shops, little boutiques and old restaurants.

More lilong (old neighborhoods)

Cite Bourgogne, corner of Shaanxi Road S. and Jianguo Road W. (built in 1930)

Garden Villas, 852 Julu Road (built in 1930)

Clements Court, 1363 Fuxing Road M. (built in 1929)

506 Jianguo Road W. (built in 1941)

45 Taiyuan Road (built in 1936, Spanish-style lilong)

FEMALE conductors are rare in the classical music world. It’s even more unusual when a pregnant conductor declined to conduct concert for health reasons and pass the baton to another female conductor.

Zhang Xian, the first woman associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, planned to conduct the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in Sibelius’ “Symphony No. 2″ and Rachmaninov’s “Piano Concerto No. 3,” two of her favorites, next Saturday.

The 35-year-old, who is now in the United States, recently found herself pregnant, however, and her physician persuaded her to cancel long trips as she awaited her first child.

As tickets have already been selling, the concert can’t be canceled. So another excellent female conductor, Yip Wing-sie, from Hong Kong, steps in.

Yip will conduct the original program to show respect for Zhang and guest soloist, Japanese pianist Michie Koyama.

“We invited Yip because she is an equally well-known female conductor and has directed our orchestra three times in the 1990s,” says Chen Guangxian, general manager of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Yip studied at the Royal College of Music in London and Indiana University in the States. In 2002 she was appointed music director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. She is also the principal guest conductor of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.

Yip, a creative musician, promotes music in varied ways, from publishing her own music diaries to starring in popular comedies.

Last April she conducted the Hong Kong Sinfonietta playing Chan Hing-yan’s “There’s Something in the Wind” at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

“Yip is probably the most renowned female Chinese conductor of her generation,” says music critic Li Yanhuan. “She is good at 20th-century works and famous for her knowledge of string instruments.”

Date: November 29, 7:30pm

Address: 523 Yan’an Rd E.

Tickets: 80-300 yuan

MEN are from Mars, women are from Venus - men and women are as different as beings from other planets.

“Yin & Yang,” an intriguing comedy, makes a bold supposition: Suppose these male and female beings exchange their bodies, but not their spirits?

A woman’s soul in a man’s body, a man’s soul in a woman’s body. We’ve heard that concept before.

The production opening today stars well-known dancer/choreographer Jin Xing, a former army colonel who underwent a sex-change operation in China in 1995. She has said that she felt her woman’s spirit was trapped in a man’s body.

The play at the Lyceum Theater tells the story of a dandy “pretty boy” and an “Ugly Betty” kind of spinster (unattractive but strong minded) who are both murdered at the same time and place.

Good news: English subtitles.

Instead of perishing, however, their spirits have migrated to the other person’s body, which has miraculously healed.

Just imagine what happens when a pretty boy gets to wear high heels and the plain jane turns heads as a man.

A series of funny things happen as these very different characters find themselves in each others’ very different jobs, circle of friends and family. Their interactions reveal the tensions and frictions between men and women, and the play has something to say about beauty and ugliness, virtue and evil, love and hatred.

“Maybe people can only start to question who they are and think about what they want when they cannot control their bodies and soul,” says young director Yu Yadong. “It’s not just a light-hearted play to make people laugh but also a black comedy to guide them in looking for deeper meaning in life.”

Leading actress Jin, performing the role of the older spinster, says no one is better suited to the role than she is.

“I was deeply touched by the story,” she says. “It is about the passion of life. I hope through my performance, the audience will get to know the different sides of Jin Xing, not just that talented dancer on the stage.”

Her last drama work as a choreographer goes back five years when she successfully played the role of a lovely dog in “Sylvia,” a romantic comedy by contemporary American writer A.R. Gurney.

The role of the handsome young man will be performed by American-Chinese actor Zhang Lei.

Date: November 26-30, 7:30pm

Venue: Lyceum Theater, 57 Maoming Rd S.

Tickets: 100-380 yuan

Tel: 6248-7255 ext 802

In Chinese with English subtitles

USA Gymnastics has never received a complaint about Bela or Martha Karolyi in the nearly 30 years they have been coaching in the United States, it said on Wednesday, a day after a Romanian gymnast alleged the two had abused her.

Trudi Eberle Kollar, a double silver medalist at the 1980 Olympics, said the Karolyis hit her when she was at the Romanian national training center in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She now coaches in Sacramento, California. The Karolyis coached Romania before they defected to the United States in 1981.

“USA Gymnastics has not received a complaint concerning their conduct from an athlete or parent,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “The gymnasts the Karolyis personally coached in the States include Mary Lou Retton, Kim Zmeskal and Kerri Strug, all of whom have spoken positively about their experiences with the Karolyis.”

Neither of the Karolyis could be reached for comment Martha Karolyi, the coordinator of the US women’s team, is in Argentina, and Bela Karolyi is in Houston. Bela has no official role with the US team.

But in an interview with Romanian daily Cotidianul, Bela Karolyi did not deny Kollar’s allegations, but said he feels no guilt for anything he did.

“Some of the girls have bad memories. Perhaps others say it was the best time of their lives,” Bela Karolyi told the Cotidianul.

“I tried to be a father before being a coach,” he said, adding he had “a parental attitude” to the Romanian gymnasts.

The International Gymnastics Federation said it has not received any complaints about the Karolyis.

Kollar, who won silvers in the team competition and the uneven bars in 1980 when she was known as Emilia Eberle, said most of the abuse came at the hands of Bela Karolyi. He would hit her on the side of her neck or the back of her head, sometimes drawing blood, and also kick her, Kollar said.

Martha Karolyi slapped her, Kollar said, and dug her fingernails into her neck.

“We had better days. But when the beatings came, it was very, very, very harsh,” Kollar said.

Horrible thing

Kollar’s accusations were supported by Geza Pozsar, a choreographer who worked with the Karolyis from 1974 until 2002. Pozsar said he remembered one particular instance before the 1980 Olympics, when Kollar was having trouble with a vault.

“When she was missing her vault, he just beat her over her head, her back. Just, ‘Boom!’ It made a noise, a big noise, a very horrible thing,” Pozsar said. “His explanation was, after he calmed down, was to say, ‘That’s the only way she gets it. That’s the only way to work with her.’

“The brutality was there,” Pozsar added. “I know she’s not lying.”

Kollar said she had never spoken publicly about the abuse because she was too scared. She considered writing a book several years ago, but dropped the idea after she and Pozsar said Bela Karolyi called her at Pozsar’s gym.

“He told me, ‘You better think twice about doing this,”‘ Kollar said.

Kollar said she spoke out for her own peace of mind.

“I did not do this to hurt the Karolyis,” she said. “I know they were good technicians, but the methods they used to show that, it is not OK.”

IN ancient times, a royal seal was revered - a powerful symbol of authority not to be taken lightly. They were also works of art reflecting both history and culture as a new exhibition reveals, writes Nie Xin.

The Palace Museum in Beijing is a treasure trove of Chinese ancient history and culture boasting many precious collections. But few are as representative of supreme imperial power as the array of imperial seals.

Emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), in particular, had many royal seals made from a diverse range of materials, delicately engraved and representing the highest technology of the time.

Seals were among the most important cultural relics in a palace, used by emperors as a mark of appreciation and for stamping important letters and documents.

The exhibition “Historical Traces ?? Imperial Seals of the Qing Dynasty at the Palace Museum” brings many Palace Museum treasures to Shanghai at Yuyuan Garden.

A total of 110 sets of seals ?? including 170 royal seals ?? are currently on display.

They not only reflect the feudal system of the Qing Dynasty, but also showcase the artistic values of calligraphy, painting, literature, poetry and verse.

Today, these seals have become a window allowing modern people to look into the imperial lives of Qing emperors.

A greenish-blue jade seal, “Imperial Seal of the Room of Three Rarities,” was made during the Emperor Qianlong’s reign and was used by the emperor on qualified paintings. The set consists of two seals in a small box.

“Emperor Qianlong himself was an artist, good at calligraphy and painting. His comments on paintings had particular meaning, and this seal set is very special,” says Zhu Peimin, from the Shanghai Yuyuan Garden management committee.

In China, dragons are regarded as the symbol of imperial power. Among imperial seals, one of the most precious carving patterns is “interwound dragons” featuring two dragons carved together tail to tail.

In the Shanghai exhibition, there are several jade seals with handles featuring interwound dragons, such as the “Seal of Perfect Elder” and “Seal of Almighty Empress” from Emperor Daoguang’s reign “Seal of Peace and Longevity” and “Seal of Mind-Fostering Palace” from Emperor Qianlong’s reign and the “Seal of Almighty Empress Ci’an” from Emperor Tongzhi’s reign.

The carved Qingtian stone seal set, “Honor His Majesty’s Longevity,” also created during Emperor Qianlong’s period, features 60 seals to celebrate the emperor’s 73-year-old birthday. Every seal is carved in a different term about “longevity.”

Other interesting seals include the wood-plated “City Gate” featuring both relief and intaglio characters from the Emperor Tongzhi’s period.

“They are entrance permission to get in and out the palace gate in the Qing Dynasty,” explains Zhu.

There are also touching stories behind some seals like the gilded bronze “volume” of Princess Rong’an Kulun. The “volume” was the title given to honor an empress or princess when she died.

“Rong’an was the daughter of Emperor Xianfeng and her place is important because she was the last daughter in the Qing Dynasty,” says Zhu.

Princess Rong’an passed away just a year after she got married. Her mother was so sad she made this volume to give her a title in the 12th year of Emperor Tongzhi’s reign.

Date: through December 7, 9am-5pm

Venue: Tingtao Exhibition Hall of Yuyuan Garden

Admission: 30 yuan

HOUSTON center Yao Ming sat out the Houston Rockets’ game against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday because of a sore left foot, an injury the six-time NBA All-Star said wasn’t serious.

Yao was hurt against Oklahoma City on Monday. He underwent tests on Tuesday and Wednesday that revealed no structural damage.

“It’s nothing bad,” said Yao, the Rockets’ leading scorer, averaging 17 points. “I’m all right, actually. I’ll maybe take a few days, maybe one day.”

The Chinese star is expected to play at Washington today.

But injuries have cut short Yao’s last three seasons and he got a scare on Tuesday when doctors said he might be out for “a couple weeks.” They gave him a much less severe diagnosis on Wednesday, he said.

“My experience from the last three years has scared me,” Yao said. “From what I’ve learned, if I feel any pain or hurt, tell the doctor and take a look at it. We need to find out early, get treatment early.”

Yao broke his left foot last February and missed the final 26 games of the regular season. He had surgery and said he was fully recovered when training camp began.