‘Life along the river during the Ching-Ming Festival’

Every spring, this festival takes place in the capital city as a meeting of artists of all kinds from China and countries worldwide, a cultural exchange covering everything from music - classical, pop and more - to dance, exhibitions and drama, ... expect the unexpected : ) In 2016, the festival runs from April 25 to May 30. Now in its 16th year, the festival will bring together nearly 400 Chinese artists and more than 400 international artists from 25 countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain and France. Canada will be this year's guest country of honor. As a taster, here are two wonderful performances from 2014 - first, a steel band in ChaoYang Park, second an unusual 'quartet' at the National Center for the Performing Arts (don't miss this if you love music) ... Live more !

PingYao (平遥) is a county in ShanXi province, central China. PingYao is located approximately 700 kilometres (400 miles) southwest of Beijing and 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the provincial capital TaiYuan. PingYao is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional Han Chinese city, founded in the 14th century. This ancient city, which is renowned for its well-preserved city walls and outlying temples, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Born in TianMen, near ZhangJiaJie (think of the movie Avatar), HuBei province, she became interested in the guitar and started lessons at age six, with a penchant for heavy metal ! PinXi made her public debut in October 2015, at the China (ShangHai) Musical Instruments Exhibition, invited by the JOYO company as a guest performer; this is the first clip seen here - playing Cross-Ozielzinho. This montage also includes 'Angel of Darkness' by Andy James (age 9; PinXi, not Andy ;). Don't miss it ... Her favorite quote : Believe in yourself. PinXi exhibits that no-hesitation / no force expression strived for in the finest calligraphy, in which the hand and brush are as one. In Chinese this is known as Wu Wei or Wu Wei Wu - loosely translatable as action without effort.

Bonus film - ZhongShan Park ...

Begiining with three songs in English : Mad World - Cui TianQi (崔天琪), Yellow - Li WenHui (李文慧), and Still Loving You - Tan XuanYuan (谭轩辕). Plus, Zhang JingYi (张婧懿) - "玫瑰" (Rose - no votes, but beautiful imo); Yao BeiNa (姚贝娜) - "也许明天" (Maybe Tomorrow), July 2013 ### and Taskyn (塔斯肯) - "Dudarai" (Дударай). ### Yao BeiNa (aka Bella Yao), 姚贝娜, 26 September 1981 – 16 January 2015 (aged 33; breast cancer). Among much more, she sang in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala twice, and the pop version of Let It Go in the Disney film Frozen for the Mandarin Chinese dub when the film was released in China. Much more music : click here ! You, you're skin and bones; Turn that into - something beautiful ... ... Look at the stars, See how they shine for you ! Live more ...

昆明~石林…奇峰異石 Approximately 90 km (55 miles) from the provincial capital of YunNan, KunMing.

Nán Lián Yuán is a fine and beautiful example of Chinese garden arts ...

Though some are bad - the highly processed 'healthy' polyunsaturate oils; much better to avoid these completely and use butter / ghee, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil. How we arrived at the obesity and diabetes epidemic ...