Master Yun Speaks At The Joint Art Exhibition of Singaporean and Chengdu Artists in Chengdu China, "诗婢家 Shi Bi Jia"

Master Yun 云大师:  

 

在"诗婢家"，《荣耀狮城，感知成都》画展开幕式上的致辞：

My speech, in the joint art exhibition of Singaporean and Chengdu Artists in Chengdu China, "Shi Bi Jia":

 

尊敬的长官、尊敬的老师、尊敬的老前辈，尊敬的新朋友与好朋友。
Respectable Excellencies, Respectable Teachers, Respectable Elders, dear friends new and old,

非常荣幸，我今天能上这在中国四大文化老字号之一，成都的"诗婢家"，与大家一起看着古色、闻着古香、诉着诗情，赏着画意。

I am very honored to be here in the beautiful city of Chengdu, in one of the four oldest cultural brand of China, "Shi Bi Jia", appreciating art and poetry with you.

 

我的个人画展在新加坡、曼谷、欧洲的荷兰展过。这个月尾在西班牙的巴塞罗那会展出。明年年尾在柬埔寨的吴哥窟里，应布拜德威长公主之邀，展览个人画展。就是未曾有机会在美丽雄伟祖国中国大陆展出，实为汗颜。
My personal art exhibition has traveled from Singapore to Bangkok, and The Netherlands. End of this month, I shall have it in Barcelona. And next year, with the invitation of Her Royal Highness Princess Buppha Devi, to exhibit my art at one of the greatest wonder of the world, Angkor Wat of Cambodia.
It’s ashamed that I have not exhibited in China yet.

不过，我很高兴，最近与中国，及中国人特别有缘分。 

But I am very happy because, my affinity with China and Chinese is very strong recently. 

 

今年中国建国七十年。中国中央电视台评选海內外七十个炎黄子孙，作为《华人楷模》的代表。告诉世界："中华有人"！

This year is the 70th anniversary of the establishment of People Republic of China. The China CCTV has chosen seventy Chinese to be representatives of "Chinese Pioneers", to show the world that "Chinese has great people". 

非常荣幸，几天前的中央电视台《华人楷模》的拍摄小组，飞到新加坡，到云龙子旺财館及我家，对我进行了两天的采访。主题是：像我这样的海外华侨，如何肩负艺术文化的使命，建立艺术与文化的丝绸之路，与世界交流结合，配合祖国的一带一路。

A great honor, China CCTV filming team has flown to Singapore a few days ago to visit me in Lotus on Water Galleries and in my house. The theme is to show how Chinese like me, bearing artistic and cultural mission, is building the silk route of art and culture, to establish connections with the rest of the world.

 

拍摄组知道我结业论文研究的是唐诗，便让我用一首唐诗，来写照我与我们华侨的艺术使命。

They asked me to use a poem to reflect the souls and spirits of overseas Chinese like myself.

我就用王翰的绝句，家喻户晓的《凉洲词》，给予自己的诠释。

I quoted the four verses of "Lyrics at Liang Zhou". A poem written in Tang Dynasty. Adding in my own interpretations.

第一句："葡萄美酒夜光杯。"
葡萄酒不是中土生产的东西。离开中土，才能见到。中土以外的酒香美色，多令人羡慕呀！ 

"Fine wine grapes, in a luminous glass,"
Wine of grapes is not something found in the homeland of China. And the beauty of it is to be so envied.

第二句："欲饮琵琶马上催。"

这一句提醒了我们，能尝到这种家土以外的美，多少是带着无奈的情况。不是形势所逼，谁愿离乡背井。 

“One wants to drinking make merry, but the pipa piper on a rushing horse is hurrying us onwards.”

Most of the time, we move on not out of free will, but out of the situation of the time. Just like how and why our ancestors have left their hometowns in China to different parts of the world. 

最后两句："醉卧沙场君莫笑，古来征战几人回。"

"If we are drunk, crouching on the battlefield, do not laugh;

since old times, how many men return from war?"
 

到了东南亚，我们祖辈们的心愿是落叶归根。谈何容易？别说那一代，我们这一代也难以落叶归根。

The dreams of our ancestors were to return to the motherland like leaves falling back to the roots in autumn. Would that be easy? No of course. Not in their generation, nor in our generation. 

不过，在肉身虽然不能落叶归根，在文化与艺术里面，我们却能夠落叶归根。

But while our bodies are not able to return to the roots like the fallen leaves, our spirit can. Our spirit can return to the vast ocean of art and culture, of which we all do have a common memory to share with. 

有首词："落红不是无情物，化作春泥更护花！"

Another popular verse says, 

"The falling of the red petals is not a depart of love,

It is to be transformed into the soil of spring to nourish more flowers." 

许多人把新加坡这个美丽的岛国形容成"小红点"。不！我们是化作春泥的落红。

A lot of people describe Singapore as a "little red dot". No! We are the red petal that is transforming into the nourishing spring soil.

 

这片落红上多数的艺术家，都是"新加坡教师美术協会"的教师们培养出来的。我也是其中一位。我的中学美术老师便坐在那里。 

And on this piece of red petal are many artists, most of them are taught and groomed by the teachers in "Singapore Teachers Art Society". I am one of them. And my art teacher since I was thirteen years old, is sitting right there. 

我很高兴，今天新加坡的艺术家及艺术家的老师们与中国的艺术家们齐聚一堂，一起爱护、保护，维护这朵艺术之花。

I am very happy because the Singaporean artists and Singaporean art teachers and sitting in the same hall with the Chinese artists, nourishing the flowers of arts and culture together.

 

我们共同护有的艺术之花，昨日含苞待放，今天灿烂开花。

May this flower of arts and culture, having taken a long time waiting in buds, shall bloom in full glory today.

-- Master Yun, 15 September 2019, at Chengdu Shi Bi Jia 诗婢家