Looking into the Village of Oils
By Lily Wen
Photos by Yao Fan

6月18日上午, 部份厦门日报读者走进闻名遐迩的油画村--湖里乌石浦, 探访画室画廊, 交友画商画家. 双语周刊的读者们, 也随我们去亲身体验厦门这一独特的文化现象吧.

On June 18, Saturday, some Xiamen Daily readers, many of them art hobbyists, went on a trip organized by Xiamen Daily Press to Wushipu, the village of oil paintings in Huli District. There, they visited the studios and a 100-meter-long art gallery and had face-to-face talks with painters and oils dealers.



According to statistics, there are approximately 3,500 people working in the oil painting industry in Wushipu at this time. The very first group of artists settled there in 1992. Since then, art dealers from South Korea, the USA and Europe have been coming to purchase oils, and now the village has become a powerful magnet for painting dealers. According to a survey done by the government of Huli District, Wushipu has become one of the top three oils producing bases of the world, with annual sales of RMB 200 million. The other two locations are Putian in Fujian and Dafen near Shenzhen. Wushipu's output accounts for 18% of the world's total, and 95% of its production goes to foreign markets.



Huang Dadao, a 35-year-old painter from Putian, rented a studio in Wushipu two years ago. According to Huang, some domestic art galleries, such as those in Shanghai for example, have started to make purchases in Wushipu, and the prices they offer are no lower than those offered by foreign buyers. Wushipu is a very good place for oils transactions, and with more convenient transportation and more fellow painters, it is more appealing than Huang's hometown, Putian.



Currently, there are still some painters in the village who haven't received much professional training. It will be necessary to raise their professional competence, as well as enhance citizen awareness of "artistic vision" and of commercial arts in general, so as to develop both domestic and foreign markets. Meanwhile, the competition for a share in the painting market is getting fierce, as people in other parts of the country have likewise realized the importance of the visual art industry. According to a senior art dealer, local "tinfoil painting" enjoyed a decade of prosperity in the 1980s, even though exports at that time could only be made through one appointed foreign trade company. Nevertheless, the annual output reached over several million RMB. Later, however, the market was lost and local "tinfoil painting" has recently reached an all-time low.



"The visual art industry is the newest accelerator for developing China's economy," said Chen Yifei, a late master of visual art. His vision has been confirmed by the prosperity of Wushipu. According to Chen, visual arts should be applicable to daily life, so they will be appreciated by common people. Compared to countries like Italy and Japan, where the visual art industry is well developed, China still has a long way to go. We have to go through a "catch-up period," especially in designing.



Wushipu's oil paintings can easily be classified into three quality levels: high, medium and low. The present goal for "catch-up" is to increase the proportion of upper-medium and higher levels. It is apparent that local governments at the city, district, and sub-district levels have all attached great importance to the development of Wushipu, the village of oils. The local leaders often come down to do investigations and surveys, even on weekends. On May 16th, Huli District founded a trade union for the oil painting industry in Wushipu and is now busy planning construction of an Oils Street and a website in order to promote an art exhibition and auction and to enlarge the platform for oil transactions in general.

 

 

Lionel Richie



被Rolling Stone杂志称为"流行歌曲排行榜之王"的Lionel Richie, 从18岁开始就与自家兄弟一同组建了"Commodores"乐队, 曾缔造了无数天下闻名、轰动世界的流行佳作, 是80年代美国摇滚乐坛最耀眼的歌星之一. 而"Endless Love"这首曾被无数知名歌手翻唱过的经典曲目, 就是由Lionel Richie制作并与60--70年代的红歌星合唱的一首动听异常的歌曲.

这首被同名电影作为主题曲的歌曲, 通过两位音色特别的唱将--Diana Ross沙哑的嗓音加上Lionel Richie喉音加鼻音的唱腔演绎, 令每一位听过这首歌的人都无法忘怀. "Endless Love"这首歌不仅在当时创下蝉联九周冠军的记录, 而且至今还保有最受欢迎电影插曲的称号. 这真应了一句话--此爱绵绵无绝期!

Endless Love
无尽的爱

My love, there's only you in my life
The only thing that's bright
My first love
You're every breath that I take
You're every step I make

And I want to share
All my love with you
No one else will do
And your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes
They tell me how much you care
Ooh yes
You will always be my endless love

Two hearts, two hearts that beat as one
Our lives have just begun
Forever Ohhhhh
I'll hold you close in my arms
I can't resist your charms

And love, oh, love
I'll be a fool for you, I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh, you know I don't mind
‘Cause you, you mean the world to me
I know, I know
I've found in you
My endless love

Vocabulary
magnet 磁铁
likewise 同样地
tinfoil 锡箔
accelerator 加速器
classify 归类
auction 拍卖