Shanghai Daily News

Bamboo has always been popular throughout history, particularly with Jiading poets, artists and craftsmen. Between the late 16th century and the early 20th century, the district was the country's bamboo carving center.

At that time, the Jiading School was formed to cultivate the art and featured more than 130 artists. Today, however, with the decreasing number of carvers in recent years, the art is fading and few people know about it.

This week's District Special explores Jiading's Lu Yanshao Art Museum, discovers the unique beauty of nature and a famed painter and gets into the swing of things on the golf course.

History of Jiading bamboo carving

China has a long history of bamboo carving, especially in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It was during this time that craftsmen carved bamboo roots and bamboo trees in their original structure, texture and colors, into beautifully-shaped figures and animals or furniture and decorative items.

Bamboo gives off a sense of transcendent beauty and collecting the carvings has been the hobby of many Chinese people for a long time.

Jiading District and Jinling areas are two places that teemed with bamboo and were the main bamboo-carving centers for more than 500 years.

The Jiading School was represented by Zhu He, Zhu Ying and Zhu Zhizheng - three generations from the same family. They were all good at painting, embossing and round carving. The embossment consists of bass and high embossments.

The carving techniques taught at the Jiading School features light carving (carving in intaglio), low relief and high relief, pit carving, hollowing-out carving and three-dimensional carving.

The masterpieces of the aforementioned artists have been preserved in museums around the world.

Last year, a bamboo carving association was established in the district to honor the artists and also to uphold the carving art.

Bamboo carving exhibit

This exhibition of these exquisite Chinese bamboo carvings is sponsored by the Jiading government to promote its long history in carving art.

More than 200 works by 132 Jiading artists are being displayed at the show. Easily the most interesting exhibit is an ancient brush pot valued at more than 50 million yuan (US$6.3 million).

The pot is carved with minute details depicting scholars meeting in a mountain landscape and bearing no signature. More than 30 characters can be found on the 15.5-centimeter high brush pot, each with a different pattern and expression. Some of the characters are playing the zither and chess, while others are painting under a tree. More than 10 techniques in bamboo carving were used to create this carved pot, including light carving, low-relief and high-relief carving.

A carving of a bamboo root depicts a wrestling scene between two young monks, the smallest of the displays in this show, measuring only 3.5 centimeters in height. The root has proven a big hit among visitors for its novelty and colorful animation.

Lu Yanshao Art Gallery

This gallery in poetic and picturesque Chinese Jiangnan Garden is a memorial to Lu Yanshao (1909-1993), a famous landscape painter whose vigorous style received critical acclaim in the late 20th century.

The natural scenery of hills and water outside the gallery is as charming as its delicate beauty. Small bridges and white exterior walls and dark gray roof tiles match one another in tranquil elegance.

The gallery, situated on the second floor, features more than 20 ink paintings and a replica of his reading room.

Lu used to be a professor at Zhejiang Fine Arts Academy and the head of Zhejiang Painting Academy. He excelled at landscapes by adopting techniques he invented himself. Examples of this can be found in his book "My Meager Opinion about Landscape Painting," copies of which can be found at the gallery.

Address: 358 Dongda Street, Jiading Town

Tel: 5952-9530, 5952-7465

Swinging the Jiading way

If Tiger Woods' recent appearance in Shanghai has you thinking golf and a desire to take up this fast-growing sport, Shanghai Riviera Golf Resort has just the thing to get you in the swing.

Unlike many local clubs which have exorbitant joining fees, Shanghai Riviera in Nanxiang Town has an annual individual membership for 5,880 yuan that allows for unlimited play. The only additional cost is the 100 yuan caddie fee each time 18 holes are played. The price also includes discount balls at the driving range and free use of its practice facilities.

The par-61 layout is admittedly a beaten track made of up of par-threes and par-four holes, but it provides an excellent opportunity to learn inexpensively and get your game up to the level it should be for playing the big courses. For serious players, it is also a good place to hone your game.

The club's moniker, however, is misleading as the 3,507-yard layout boasts no resort features, only minimal clubhouse facilities, and in general, is very run down overall. With the land owned by a Hong Kong property developer, and apartment towers encroaching in the distance, it is likely that this course isn't long for the world.

But that said, the city's only executive course does have its charms. It was designed by the late Bob J. Martin, a former US PGA Tour pro who worked under Jack Nicklaus' fledging design company as a course construction supervisor in Taiwan. He then came to Shanghai and designed Riviera and Shanghai Silport, the only two courses he would ever create before passing away.

Address: 277 Yangzi Road, Nanxiang Town

Tel: 5912-6888