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A Smiling China
We are a
smiling country,
the first gift we present to you
is a smile.
You don’t have to ask me anything,
I always use a smile to answer you
because a smile does not require
translation.
A smile is a sort of rain,
a sort of noiseless rain,
which in our hearts
can open new
poplars and willows.
A smile is a sort of wind,
a sort of colored wind,
it can display buds and seeds in front of us.
A smile is a line of poetry,
deep water in the desert,
a flowing spring.
A smile is a painting,
a painting of a beautiful
distant mountain.
A smile is the laurel in mid autumn,
a lotus that is fragrant for ten miles,
a smile is a river of spring water,
sailing far away everywhere,
a smile is the white cloud
at your window,
a smile is that spring swallow
under the middle of the bridge.
A smile is a sound,
the distant camel bell,
a smile is a tree,
green young fruit,
a smile is a strip of
dark blue sky
waiting for a flock of cranes
to fly past.
We are a smiling country.
When we give you a present
it is a smile.
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Those are the smiles of morning,
those are the smiles of dusk,
those are the smiles of windows,
those are the smiles of car tires,
those are the smiles of the streets,
those are the smiles of the big gates.
Our country is all smiling,
please open your arms
and allow me to embrace you.
Although we have an ancient culture
and vast territory,
and in our hands we have swords
and arrowheads on our arrows,
but smiles are really our,
really our greatest, greatest treasure.
The Great Wall can prove
that we are a defensive nation,
in all four directions
our roads have been extended with smiles.
We smile,
and open the door,
we welcome you
and welcome the whole world
because only when you come
can you understand that besides,
besides the beautiful wine Moutai
that can make you drunk
for a thousand years,
there is nothing,
there is nothing else that can
threaten your clouds.
So please raise,
please raise the glass in front of you,
the glass of smiles,
raise that Made in China
and finish it in one shot
for harmony
and beauty.
We are a smiling country,
the first gift we present to you
is a smile.
Yan Zhen
October 1, 2006
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Fragrant Snow
2005.10
Ink and watercolor on paper
94x88cm
Ink Lotus
2011
Ink and watercolor on paper
94x88cm
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The Cool Breeze
I always remember you,
remember your lightness,
I always remember you,
remember you
cleansed my heart of purity,
how many people have written about you,
how many people could have really met you,
known you?
How many people have really tasted
your meticulous care
and your softness and smoothness?
After a long voyage
my mast has let the sail fall, the seagulls fly in the distant corners of the sky
and only you
keep me company.
Take the wrinkles and put them in the ambulance
you put your arm around my arm, when we go onto the shore the years behind us
are dimly discernible
and vast.
Do not say that you have lost
that surge and the beautiful
unrestrained style,
do not say that you have lost
clouds that are endless as soon as you see them
and that vastness.
I will tell you
a new key.
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What place distant from the sea
and the sky still has that thunderbolt and lightening
and does not retain any evidence of withering and old age.
You are using your own vision
to comfort that on my body.
that irremovable raging tide,
autumn falls from the hair on both sides of my temple, falls brilliantly,
and you take the sound of the green-sounding drums
and silently plant it on the waste land in my heart.
It is not admiration,
it is not love,
it is not adoration,
it is your natural grace and elegance softly brushing
my snow damaged skin,
lingering faintly, lightly
you use your fine rain to moist
my dry and exhausted high mountains like a glass of very dull, very dull clear wine
dissolving into very dull, pale
sorrow.
you gave me all the quiet beauty
and you took all that I possess.
Do not say that time is thin and sallow because of ten thousand memories of drifting clouds.
you should now understand
not having anything
is also a kind of wealth.
You know
the light is lustrous and transparent,
an illogical gentle smile treads on
our broken dreams everywhere,
That is only
a moment's illusion.*
Yan Zhen,
July 2001
* Portion of full text
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The Imperial Palace I
2008
Oil on canvas
157.5x157.5cm
The Imperial Palace II
2008
Oil on canvas
157.5x157.5cm
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The China Dream
We need a new dream,
we need a new
China dream.
Are you fortunate?
I'm fortunate
I'm more fortunate
than at any other time,
but good fortune is not only
owning a house,
owning a car,
owning a piece of land.
Are you beautiful?
I'm beautiful
I'm more beautiful than at any time,
but beauty is not only
trimming eyebrows,
dying hair,
putting make up on my face.
We need a new dream,
we need a new
China dream.
Many of our good fortunes
are in those
wild winds and rain storms.
Many of our good fortunes
are in that
gunfire and gunpowder smoke, many of our good fortunes are in that
thunder and lightning.
Our good fortune is in those stormy seas and terrifying waves,
is in the things we have experienced;
those wild winds and rain storms,
is in the things we have passed through;
that gunfire and gunpowder smoke,
is in the things we have accepted;
that lightning and thunder,
is in something we have conquered,
in those stormy seas and terrifying waves,
because trudging is good fortune,
because struggling is good fortune
because paying respect is good fortune,
because victory is good fortune.
We need a new dream,
we need a new
China dream.
Much of our beauty
is in our hearts,
much of our beauty
is in our veins,
much of our beauty
is in our gentle smiles,
much of our beauty
is in our souls.
It is in our hearts
that we maintain our faith,
it is in our veins
that we confirm our convictions,
it is our gentle smiles
that reveal our loving heart,
it is in our soul
that we keep our spirit,
because having faith is beautiful,
because having convictions is beautiful,
because having a loving heart is beautiful,
because having a spirit is beautiful.
We need a new dream,
we need a new
China dream.
Are you fortunate?
Do not ever be complacent and pleased with yourself,
do not ever be satisfied with yourself.
Forty years ago, America
landed on the moon.
The things we need to do in this world are many and many.
Are you beautiful?
Do not ever feel
that you are very good
do not ever feel
that you are beautiful and flawless.
This modern world has some places that are still desert wilderness.
The beauties that are awaiting us
are still very many.
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We need a new dream,
we need a new
China dream.
Is having a key that will open the door of the room, good fortune?
Is having a key that will open the door of the car, good fortune?
Although compared to the past,
we possess more,
we only have these things
and it is still not nearly enough.
We need a key that can open the sun,
we need a key that opens the moon,
we need a key that opens the stars,
we need a key that opens many suns,
we need a key that opens many moons,
we also need a key that opens many stars,
we also especially need a key that can open all those long periods of time and all those great vast spaces.
We need a new dream
we need a new
China dream.
Does trimming eyebrow make you beautiful?
does dying your hair make you beautiful?
does making up your face make you beautiful?
Although compared to the past
we are more pretty
but this is far from our dream.
What we need to pay attention to
is the beauty of a country.
What we need to pay attention to
is the beauty of a people
and we need to pay even more attention to the beauty of an era,
and we need to pay attention to
the beauty of history.
What we need is that kind of beauty
that surpasses all that is external beauty,
that sort of beauty that can stand firmly in front of the whole world,
the beauty of morality,
the beauty of personality,
the beauty of reasoning,
the beauty of emotion.
We need a new dream,
we need a new
China dream.
The Chinese people
have arrived at the most dangerous time
because that most victorious time
is also the most dangerous.
The Chinese people
have arrived at the most dangerous time
because the most successful time
is also the most dangerous.
Danger is that sense of indifference,
danger is that vulgarity,
danger is that forgetfulness,
danger is that numbness,
danger is that impulsiveness,
danger is that blindness,
danger is that self-deception.
Now we need to use
our flesh and blood to construct
out new Great Wall
out Great Wall of today is a Chinese form of victory.
Today we still need to use our flesh and blood to construct our new Great Wall.
Our Great Wall of today is
a Chinese form of success.
We now still have to use our flesh and blood to construct our new Great Wall.
our Great Wall of today is a Chinese form of good fortune.
We still need to use our flesh and blood to construct our new Great Wall.
Our Great Wall of today is a Chinese form of beauty.
We need a new dream,
we need a new
China Dream.
Yan Zhen
23 October 2012
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