Emperor Cuckoo: Human interest in China

On March 25, the prizewinners of the 8th China International Press Photo Contest were announced in Hangzhou. The work entitled "Sandstorm hits" won the bronze in the nature and environmental news categories for individual photography. 
3月25日,第八届国际新闻摄影比赛(华赛)获奖作品在杭州揭晓。作品《沙尘暴来了》获得自然及环保类新闻单幅铜奖。
3 yuè 25 rì, dì-bā jiè Guójì Xīnwén Shèyǐng bǐsài (Huá sài) huòjiǎng zuòpǐn zài Hángzhōu jiēxiǎo. Zuòpǐn 《Shāchénbào lái le》 huòdé zìrán jí huán-bǎo lèi xīnwén dānfú tóng jiǎng.

On the afternoon of February 6, 2011, a sandstorm suddenly hit in the Xihaigu area of Ningxia.  In Tongxin county, Xilong town, Huanggu village, a few children at play nearly were blown down by a sudden gust of wind in the sandstorm.
2011年2月6日下午,一场沙尘暴袭击了宁夏西海固地区。同心县兴隆乡黄谷村几名正在玩耍的孩子被突然刮起的风沙几乎吹倒。
2011 nián 2 yuè 6 rì xiàwǔ, yī chǎng shāchénbào xíjīle Níngxià Xīhǎigù dìqū. Tóngxīnxiàn Xīnglóngxiāng Huánggǔcūn jǐ míng zhèngzài wánshuǎ de háizi bèi tūrán guāqǐ de fēngshā jīhū chuīdǎo.

Source:《大众日报 》 2012-03-26  第01版: "第八届华赛评选揭晓"  online    

"As the temperatures gradually warm up, the ice is beginning to thaw, and in the process of being exposed to the elements, the ice appears to people to take on all kinds of shapes; if I call them "ice spirits," it's because I believe they have a certain spiritual influence ... Photo taken at Lake Cuiping, Jixian..."

“随着气温的逐渐变暖，冰开始融化了，在风吹日晒逐渐融化的过程中，冰形成各种姿态呈现给人们，我管他们叫冰灵儿，是因为觉得他们有了一些灵气................拍摄于蓟县翠屏湖...”

"Suízhe qìwēn de zhújiàn biàn nuǎn, bīng kāishǐ rónghuà le, zài fēngchuīrìshài zhújiàn rónghuà de guòchéng zhōng, bīng xíngchéng gèzhǒng zītài chéngxiàn gěi rénmen, wǒ guǎn tāmen jiào bīnglíngr, shì yīnwèi juéde tāmen yǒule yī̠xiē língqì................Pāishè yú Jìxiàn Cuìpíng Hú..."

Source: bbs.jwb.com.cn online

Blind Chinese Folk Singer Zhou Yunpeng interviewed; performs Hai Zi's "September"

First clip is part of a recent interview with CCTV1; the second clip is the opening few minutes of Zhou Yunpeng's performance of Hai Zi's poem): 

[0:00 - 0:15]  Reporter: You are unable to see, how is it that you are on trains traveling from place to place?  Zhou Yunpeng:  After I went blind, I had an even greater thirst for travel, this gives my body endless exercise, and I get a little news from the outside world, experience new things ...

[0:15 - 0:48]  Reporter:  People who don't get it might say: When you arrive in a city, what new things you experience are you able to talk about, for example, you don't have any visual stimulus ...  Zhou Yunpeng:  But there are ... at the very least I'm on a new road, when I come to a new city, the name of the road is different from others, the way people speak, those are all new things -- this is the Qiantang River, I guess -- Reporter:  How did you know? --  Zhou Yunpeng: We're crossing a bridge ... I can tell from the sound ... There's a kind of hollowness, an emptiness ... 

[0:48 - end]  Reporter: From 1995, when he went to Beijing, to 2004, before he published his first music, for those ten years, according to his own account Zhou Yunpeng was penniless and wandered about living a vagrant's life ... Reporter:  When you were ill, didn't you have anyone to rely on? ... Zhou Yunpeng: Falling ill ... I didn't get sick all that much .... Isn't it true that if you don't want to give yourself an excuse or a reason to fall ill, it's really hard to fall ill ... It's not sudden anxiety but a kind of continual feeling of being ill at ease ... The feeling of being an underground river ... Reporter: Back then, his friend "Desert Boat" wrote about what Zhou Yunpeng's life was like ... He was drunk and sitting on the ice-cold concrete ground, he didn't want come into the room, he was banging his blindman's cane on the ground...   Zhou Yunping: I think the first thirty years of my life were really stressful ...  
.
Source: For the interview with CCTV-1 [YouTube]
Source: For Zhou Yunpeng's full performance of Hai Zi's "September"  [YouTube]

* * * 
Background for Zhou Yunpeng
Born in 1970, in Liaoning (Shenyang), Mainland Chinese folk singer and poet; in his early childhood, an eye disease led to total blindness at the age of nine.  He attended schools for the blind; in 1994, he graduated from Changchun University with a major in Chinese.  In 2005, his musical career began to take off, in 2007 he released "Chinese Children" (《中国孩子》"Zhōngguó háizi"), featuring sad and sentimental songs about children lost in natural disasters in China. 

Background for Hai Zi
[From the Wiki]  Hai Zi (Chinese:海子, March 1964 - 26 March 1989) is the pen name of the Chinese poet Zha Haisheng (Chinese:查海生). He was one of the most famous poets in Mainland China after the Cultural Revolution. He committed suicide by lying on the path of a train at the age of 25.

In a loving mother's embroidery ... money to treat her son's illness
慈母手中线　儿子治病钱 Címǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn　érzi zhìbìng qián

As she listened to the auctioneer's call for bids, Wang Xiaowei held her son's hand tightly, and her hands were sweating.  Yesterday, after the auctioneer's hammer fell, the huge embroidery that took her three years to finish, "Portrait of Ladies and the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar," sold for 70,000 yuan [$11,000.00]
听着拍卖师一遍遍询价，王晓伟紧紧攥着儿子的手，手心里全是汗。昨天，拍卖槌落下，王晓伟绣了三年的巨幅十字绣《琴棋书画仕女图》，拍出7万元。
Tīngzhe pāimài shī yī biàn biàn xún jià, Wáng Xiǎowěi jị̌njǐn zuànzhe érzi de shǒu, shǒu xīnli quán shì hàn. Zuótiān, pāimài chuí làxia, Wáng Xiǎowěi xiùle sān nián de jùfú shízìxiù 《Qín-qí-shū-huà shìnǚtú》, pāichū 7 wàn yuán.

[Photo: Yesterday, at the auction house, mother and son Gao Shang, who suffers from congenital heart disease, hold hands and stand next to the embroidery  昨天，拍卖现场，先心病患儿高尚和母亲手握手，站在十字绣作品旁  Zuótiān, pāimài xiànchǎng, xiān xīnbìng huàn ér Gāo Shàng hé mǔqin shǒu wòshǒu, zhàn zài shízìxiù zuòpǐn páng]

"Everything looks rosy now, my son's life has been saved!" This was Wang Xiaowei's first reaction, as she bent down and hugged little Gao Shang.
“眼前一下明媚了，我的孩子有救了！”王晓伟的第一个反应，是弯腰把小高尚紧紧搂在怀里。
“Yǎnqián yị̄xià míngmèi le, wǒ de háizi yǒujiù le!” Wáng Xiǎowěi de dì-yī ge fǎnyìng, shì wānyāo bǎ xiǎo Gāo Shàng jị̌njǐn lǒu zài huái lǐ.

Last Tuesday, our paper reported that Wang Xiaowei, who was born in the 1980s, in order to raise money for life-saving surgery for her son who suffers from complications from congenital heart disease, spent three years creating a cross-stitch embroidery, which she hoped to auction off.
上周二，本报报道80后母亲王晓伟为给患有复杂先心病的儿子筹集救命的手术费，坚持三年绣十字绣希望拍卖的事情。
Shàng zhōu'èr, běnbào bàodào 80 hòu mǔqīn Wáng Xiǎowěi wèi gěi huànyǒu fùzá xiān xīnbìng de érzi chóují jiùmìng de shǒushù fèi, jiānchí sān nián xiù shízìxiù xīwàng pāimài de shìqing.

Yesterday afternoon, at an auction held at the China Siyuan Foundation for the Alleviation of Poverty, a segment was devoted to an auction "for Wang Xiaowei's Cross-stitch Embroidery." 
昨天下午，中华思源工程扶贫基金会的一场拍卖会上，加入了“为王晓伟的十字绣作品义拍”环节。
Zuótiān xiàwǔ, Zhōnghuá Sīyuán Gōngchéng Fúpín Jījīnhuì de yī chǎng pāimàihuì shàng, jiārù le “Wèi Wáng Xiǎowěi de shízìxiù zuòpǐn yì pāi” huánjié.

Biddding for the work, "Portrait of Ladies and the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar," began at 50,000 yuan. The auctioneer gave a special introduction: "In every stitch is a mother's determination to overcome difficulties to save her son's life, her heart filled with disappointment and hope," while in the audience dozens of bidders put down their numbered paddles and stood up to applaud Wang Xiaowei, who was standing next to the embroidery.
作品《琴棋书画仕女图》从5万元起拍。拍卖师特别介绍说，“每一针都包含着母亲这三年来，为救儿子那种艰难和坚持，失望和希望交融的心情”，台下几十位竞拍者放下手中的号牌，向站在十字绣前的母亲王晓伟鼓掌致敬。
Zuòpǐn 《Qín-qí-shū-huà shìnǚtú》 cóng 5 wàn yuán qǐ pāi. Pāimài shī tèbié jièshào shuō, “Měi yī zhēn dōu bāohánzhe mǔqin zhè sān niánlái, wèi jiù érzi nà zhǒng jiānnán hé jiānchí, shīwàng hé xīwàng jiāoróng de xīnqíng”, táixià jǐshí wèi jìng pāi zhě fàngxia shǒuzhōng de hàopái, xiàng zhàn zài shízìxiù qiánde mǔqin Wáng Xiǎowěi gụ̌zhǎng zhìjìng.

During the auction, when the auctioneer asked a price of 70,000 yuan, the auction hall fell silent, Wang Xiaowei was on stage holding her son's hand and biting her lip, little Gao Shang had his head bent slightly down, and his face reddened; at long last, a man in the audience agreed to buy it for 70,000 yuan.
拍卖开始后，当拍卖师叫出7万元的询价后，拍卖大厅沉默下来，王晓伟拉着儿子的手站在台前，一直紧咬着嘴唇；小高尚微微低着头，脸上红红的。最终一位先生愿意出价7万元。
Pāimài kāishǐ hòu, dāng pāimài shī jiàochū 7 wàn yuán de xún jià hòu, pāimài dàtīng chénmò xiàlai, Wáng Xiǎowěi lāzhe érzi de shǒu zhàn zài tái qián, yī̠zhí jǐn yǎozhe zuǐchún; xiǎo Gāo Shàng wēiwēi dīzhe tóu, liǎn shàng hónghóng de. Zuìzhōng yī wèi xiānsheng yuànyi chūjià 7 wàn yuán.

"Any money left over will be donated to charity."“多余的钱将捐出”   "Duōyú de qián jiāng juānchū"

Village, art, life
(农村, 艺术, 人生  Nóngcūn, yìshù, rénshēng)

Seen from the outside, Xiong Qinghua's house is not very different from the ordinary farmer's house on the Jiang Han flatlands ... But when you step into the central room, it's like entering another universe: the four walls are covered with murals done by the master's own hands ... 
(从外面看，熊庆华的家与江汉平原的普通农家没有二样。踏进堂屋，俨然换了一片天地：四周墙上满是主人亲手绘制的壁画 Cóng wàimiàn kàn, Xióng Qìnghuá de jiā yǔ Jiāng Hàn píngyuán de pǔtōng nóngjiā méiyǒu èr yàng ... Tà jìn tángwū, yǎn rán huàn le yí piàn tiāndì: sìzhōu qiángshàng mǎnshì zhǔrén qīnshǒu huìzhì de bìhuà) ...
Outside the room there is the smell of fragrant earth; inside the room, all is elegantly and richly done ...
(屋外，泥土芬芳。屋内，雅趣盎然。Wūwài, nítǔ fēnfāng; wūnèi, yǎqù àngrán)...
    
[Photo] Xiong Qinghua, "farmer painter," paints life in all its brilliance (“农民画家”熊庆华“画”出精彩人生 "Nóngmín huàjiā” Xióng Qìnghuà “huà” chū jīngcǎi rénshēng)]

Xiong Qinghua is a 35-year-old villager whose 20-year obsession has never changed; on the wide expanse of the open fields, he "draws" his own brilliant life  (熊庆华，一位35岁的农村汉子，20多年痴心不改，在广袤的田野上“画”出自己的精彩人生。Yíwèi 35 suì de nóngcūn hànzi, 20 duō nián chīxīn bù gǎi, zài guǎngmào de tiányě shàng "huà" chū zìjǐ de jīngcǎi rénshēng) ... . 

As many of his fellow villagers know, the Xiong family had a child who loved to draw, and was so infatuated by it that he'd stay in his room drawing all day long  (很多乡亲都知道，熊家有个喜欢画画的儿子，甚至还有点入迷，有时候在屋子里画画一呆就是一整天 Hěn duō xiāngqīn dōu zhīdào, Xióng jiā yǒu gè xǐhuan huàhuà de érzi, shènzhì hái yóu diǎn rùmí, yǒu shíhou zài wūzi lǐ huàhuà yì dāi jiù shì yìzhěngtiān)... 

The village Party secretary, Zhou Houlong, once served as the village's primary school headmaster; he told the reporter that in those days, the school didn't have art classes, but Xiong Qinghua had so much innate talent, he was able to acquire skills without being taught, everyone knew his pictures were well laid out  ...
(村支书周后龙曾当过村小的校长，他告诉记者，那时候村小还没有正式开过美术课，熊庆华很有天赋，无师自通，大家都知道他画画有板眼。Cūn zhīshū Zhōu Hòulóng céng dāngguò cūn xiǎo de xiàozhǎng， tā gàosu jìzhě, nà shíhou cūn xiǎo hái méiyǒu zhèngshì kāi guò měishù kè, Xióng Qìnghuá hěn yǒu tiānfù, wúshīzìtōng, dàjiā dōu zhīdào tā huàhuà yǒu bányǎn)... 

When his junior middle school began offering art classes, Xiong Qinghua always got first place in drawing, and often earned the praise of his art teacher; then he went on to immerse himself in drawing 
(初中开始有了美术课，熊庆华的绘画作业每次都是 “甲”，多次得到美术老师的表扬，这之后他就沉迷于画画之中。Chūzhōng kāishǐ yǒu le měishù kè, Xióng Qìnghuá de huìhuà zuòyè měi cì dōu shì "jiǎ," duōcì dédào měishù lǎoshī de biǎoyáng, zhè zhīhòu tā jiù chénmí yú huàhuà zhīzhōng) ... 

When he was sixteen, he dropped out of school, and apart from doing a bit of simple work around the farm, he shut himself up in his room writing and painting ... His family members began to object, and some people outside the family ridiculed him (16岁那年，熊庆华辍学了，除了做一些简单的农活，一有时间就关在屋子里写写画画，家里人开始有意见了，外人也开始冷嘲热讽。16 suì nànián, Xióng Qìnghuá chuòxué le,  chúle zuò yìxiē jiǎndān de nónghuó, yìyǒu shíjiān jiù guān zài wūzi lǐ xiěxiě huàhuà, jiālǐ rén kāishǐ yǒu yìjiàn le, wàirén yě kāishǐ lěngcháorèfěng)... 

"Other people have kids who feel good working the land, they get out and have jobs, you stay in the house and don't know how to do anything" ... During the busiest farming seasons, his mother would nag him about this endlessly ... Fortunately, his father, Xiong Guangyuan, supported him, and as in the past often gave him money for art supplies ...
(“别人的孩子要么在家安心种地，要么出去打工，你呆在家里不晓得搞些么事。 农忙时节，母亲经常在他面前唠叨。幸亏父亲熊光元还比较支持，依旧掏钱给他买画画用的材料。 "Biérén de háizi yàome zàijiā ānxīn zhòngdì, yàome chūqu dǎgōng, nǐ dāi zài jiālǐ bù xiǎodé gǎo xiēme shì" ...  Nóngmáng shíjié, mǔqīn jīngcháng zài tā miànqián láodāo。 Xìngkuī fùqīn Xióng Guāngyuán hái bǐjiào zhīchí, yījiù tāoqián gěi tā mǎi huàhuà yòng de cáiliào)... 

"In those day it was really hard to buy art supplies, you had to go all the way to the city," Xiong Qinghua said ... "In order to save on carfare, I would ride my beat-up old bike into the city, wander around the bookstores, buy materials; each trip took about three hours."  Because life was hard, the art supplies he used always were the cheapest, and he made his own drawing table ...
(“那时候真是辛苦啊！买材料还要跑到市区去买。”熊庆华说，“为了节约车费，我经常骑着一辆破自行车到城区逛书店，买材料，去一趟就得三个多小时。”因为生活艰辛，熊庆华用的画具都是最廉价的，还自己动手做画板。“Nà shíhou zhēn shì xīnkǔ ā！Mǎi cáiliào hái yào pǎodào shìqū qù mǎi。 ” Xióng Qìnghuá shuō， “Wèile jiéyuē chēfèi, wǒ jīngcháng qízhe yí liàng pò zìxíngchē dào chéngqū guàng shū diàn, mǎi cáiliào, qù yí tàng jiù děi sān gè duō xiǎoshí 。 ” Yīnwèi shēnghuó jiānxīn, Xióng Qìnghuá yòng de huàjù dōu shì zuì liánjià de, hái zìjǐ dòngshǒu zuò huàbǎn)... 

In 1999, he started a family, and his wife Fu Aijiao fully supported him ... Naturally, their home was extremely poor, but she always found a way to squeeze out  money for art supplies (1999年，熊庆华成了家，妻子付爱娇对他很支持。家里虽然很清贫，但总是挤出钱来给他买材料。1999 nián, Xióng Qìnghuá chéng le jiā, qīzi Fù Àijiāo duì tā hěn zhīchí。Jiā lǐ suīrán hěn qīngpín, dàn zǒng shì jǐchū qián lái gěi tā mǎicái liào)... 
   
In 2003, in order to make a living, he and his wife went to Shenzhen to find temporary work; not long after that, Xiong Qinghua returned to his home town, and took a job as a milkman: "A morning's work took about two to three hours, in the remaining time I painted" ... During the busy farming season, he helped out a little on the farm  (2003年，为了生活，熊庆华和妻子一起去深圳打工，没多久，熊庆华就回到老家，在镇上做了一名送奶工。“早上工作两三个小时，剩下的时间就全部画画。”农忙时节，他还帮家里做些农活。2003 nián, wèile shēnghuó, Xióng Qìnghuá hé qīzi yìqǐ qù Shēnzhèn dǎgōng, méi duō jiǔ, Xióng Qìnghuá jiù huí dào lǎo jiā, zài zhèn shàng zuò le yì míng sòngnǎigōng. "Zǎoshang gōngzuò liǎng sān gè xiǎoshí, shèng xià de shíjiān jiù quánbù huàhuà." Nóngmáng shíjié, tā hái bāng jiālǐ zuò xiē nónghuó)... 

Despite the heavy pressures of daily life, Xióng Qìnghuá never once abandoned his life's pursuit ...
(在沉重的生活重压下，熊庆华始终没有放弃自己的追求。Zài chénzhòng de shēnghuó zhòng yāxià, Xióng Qìnghuá shǐzhōng méiyǒu fàngqì zìjǐ de zhuīqiú) ...

One day in 2006, he saw his son squatting at play by a chair, and on a whim he made a sketch, and later copied the drawing onto canvas, colored it with oils, painted in a background, and that became an oil painting called "A Child's Fear"  (2006年的一天，他看到儿子蹲在椅子边玩耍，就心血来潮地给儿子画了一幅素描，之后，他又将这幅素描临摹在油画布上，加上油彩，画上了背景，成了一副“幼子恐惧图”。2006 nián de yì tiān, tā kàndào érzi dūn zài yǐzi biān wánshuǎ, jiù xīnxuèláicháodì gěi érzi huà le yì fú sùmiáo, zhīhòu, tā yòu jiāng zhè fú sùmiáo línmó zài yóuhuàbù shàng, jiāshàng yóucǎi, huàshàng le bèijǐng, chéngle yí fù “Yòuzǐ kǒngjù tú”)... 

Xiong Qinghua's paintings mainly are realistic, he paints life in the local village, such as kite flying, dragon lantern dancing, catching fish, and so on ...  He also is capable of painting scenes around his home, such as the landscape and the people; for example, his neighbor's house, the flowers at the front door, the peonies, and so forth ... 
(熊庆华的原创画多以写实为主，描绘一些乡村的风土人情，如放风筝、玩龙灯、拖鱼等。他还会画一些自己家门口的风景和人物，比如邻居的房子、门口的夜来香、牡丹等。他十分怀念儿时的时光，所以在他的画里也可以看到一些儿时的回忆，比如踢毽子、跳皮筋、老鹰捉小鸡、捅马蜂窝等。Xióng Qìnghuá de yuán chuàng huà duō yǐ xiěshí wéizhǔ, miáo huì yìxiē xiāngcūn de fēngtǔ rénqíng, rú fàng fēngzheng, wán lóngdēng, tuōyú děng.  Tā hái huì huàyì xiē zìjǐ jiāménkǒu de fēngjǐng hé rénwù, bǐrú línjū de fángzi, ménkǒu de yèláixiāng, mǔdān děng) ...
 
Having gone through so many techniques, Xiong Qinghua has created his own style:  "Now I am mainly an oil painter; I think my greatest strength is having a sense of movement, and the 'country' atmosphere is especially rich" ...(经过多年的积淀，熊庆华逐步形成了自己的创作风格，“我现在主要以画油画为主，个人觉得我最大的特点就是有动感，有张力，乡土气息特浓。”Jīngguò duōnián de jīdiàn, Xióng Qìnghuá zhúbù xíngchéng le zìjǐ de chuàngzuò fēnggé, “Wǒ xiànzài zhǔyào yǐ huà yóuhuà wéizhǔ, gè rén juédé wǒ zuì dà de tèdiǎn jiùshì yǒu dònggǎn, yǒu zhānglì, xiāngtǔ qìxī tè nóng)...

In the spring of 2010, Xiong Qinghua invited a junior high school classmate, who is now a designer in Shenzhen, to come and view his works; his friend really admired him, and suggested he put his works online and show the world his artwork (2010年春节，熊庆华邀请在深圳做设计师的一位初中同学去观摩自己的画，该同学对他十分钦佩，并建议他通过互联网向外界展示自己的作品。2010 nián chūnjié, Xióng Qìnghuá yāoqǐng zài Shēnzhèn zuò shè jì shī de yíwèi chūzhōng tóngxué qù guānmó zìjǐ de huà, gāi tóngxué duì tā shífēn qīnpèi, bìng jiànyì tā tōngguò hùliánwǎng xiàng wàijiè zhǎnshì zìjǐ de zuòpǐn)... 

So he bought a computer, and a camera, and by himself began to put up his artwork on Tianya, Dongfang Net, Red Net and similar forums, and on his own blog, and he organizes online exhibitions, has gotten rave reviews, and post after post ... (于是，熊庆华买了电脑、照相机，把自己的作品上传至天涯、东方网、红网等论坛和自己的博客，在网上办油画展，受到网友热捧，纷纷跟帖。Yú shì, Xióng Qìnghuá mǎi le diànnǎo, zhàoxiàngjī, bǎ zìjǐ de zuòpǐn shàng chuán zhì Tiānyá, Dōngfāng wǎng, Hóng wǎng děng lùntán hé zìjǐ de bókè, zài wǎngshàng bàn yóuhuà zhǎn, shòudào wǎngyǒu rèpěng, fēnfēn gēn tiē)... 

He has received many compliments online for his work;  at the same time, people are endlessly calling him, asking to buy his works at high prices  (同时，不断有人打电话联系，要求高价购买他的作品  tóngshí, búduàn yǒu rén dǎ diànhuà liánxì,  yāoqiú gāojià gòumǎi tā de zuòpǐn)... 

Last April, he sold many works online; the highest price was 10,000 yuan [about $1,600.00] ... As of September of this year, he has sold artworks for tens of thousands more yuan (去年4月，他通过网络卖出了 [一些] 作品 ... 今年元至9月，他又卖出了几万块的作品。Qùnián 4 yuè, tā tōngguò wǎngluò màichū le [yixie] zuò pǐnjīn; jīnnián yuán zhì 9 yuè, tā yòu màichū le jǐ wàn kuài de zuòpǐn)... 

"More and more people are getting to know my work, and are endorsing it, so I am realizing my own sense of worth"  ... Xiong Qinghua is growing more and more passionate about his creations... (“越来越多的人了解了我的画，认可我的作品，感觉到自己的人生价值得到实现。”熊庆华的创造热情越来越高。"Yuèláiyuè duō de rén liáojiě le wǒde huà, rènkě wǒ de zuòpǐn, gǎnjué dào zìjǐ de rénshēng jiàzhí dé dào shíxiàn," Xióng Qìnghuá de chuàngzào rèqíng yuèláiyuè gāo)... 

People have invited him to the city to exhibit, but he has politely declined:  "I don't like the noises of the big city, I like the life of peace and quiet of the open fields" ... He says he will continue with his own life as an artist in the village ...
(“我不喜欢城市的喧闹，还是喜欢现在这种宁静的田园生活。”熊庆华表示，他将会在农村继续自己的艺术人生。”  "Wǒ bù xǐhuan chéngshì de xuānnào, háishì xǐhuan xiànzài zhèzhǒng níngjìng de tiányuán shēnghuó..." Xióng Qìnghuá biǎoshì, tā jiāng huì zài nóngcūn jìxù zìjǐ de yìshù rénshēng)...

Source: 《农村新报》2011-10/15: " 农村新报讯 图为：熊庆华在简陋的画室作画" online