In this newsletter:Bright and Clear Come April 4 in the traditional Chinese calendar will be the Clear and Bright Festival (清明节, Qingming Jie), some sort of a Spring Solstice celebration to the Chinese people; weather turns bright and clear around this time. Customarily people will travel to the country side for a Spring picnic and visit their ancestor's graves to pay homage. In keeping with the traveling spirit of the holiday, here are some splendid photography and travel titles that showcase the beautiful and lessor-known splendid scenery of China.
Wikipedia: Along the River During the Qingming Festival 
One of the most famous Chinese paintings in history is this one titled Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河图), a Song-Dynasty panoramic painting (9.8" x 208.1") that depicts the celebration of the Qingming Festival. "The entire piece was painted in hand scroll format and the content reveals the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city.
It offers glimpses of period clothing and architecture. As an artistic creation, the piece has been revered and court artists of subsequent dynasties have made several re-interpretive replicas." You can browse the complete masterpiece on Wikipedia.
For this and pictures of other Song-Dynasty paintings, you can find them in Selected Poems and Pictures of the Song Dynasty. (30% off)
Language/History Corner: Ming and Qing Astute readers such as yourself may have noticed that both Chinese characters of the Qingming Jie are the names of China's two final dynasties - the Ming (明) Dynasty and the Qing (清) Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) has most famously brought us the Forbidden Palace, the rebuilt Great Wall, Zheng He and his voyages, and two of China's Four Great Classical Novels. And the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) of course has given us the Last Emperor.
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