In 1964 myself (René), Nelleke my wife, and our daughter Iefje emigrated from Holland to Australia. I was 29 years old and Nelleke a few years younger.

We choose to live in the tropics of Far Northern Australia, a place unknown to many people around the world.

Cold weather and a longing for adventure was the main reason to leave The Netherlands. We found a job in the tobacco fields. During that time we met a guy from Macedonia and he introduced us to a place called Agate Creek. I had never even heard the word agates before. This was my first introduction to the world of semi precious stones and in particular agates.

In later years, 1965 to 1968, we went to Agate Creek with an old Nissan Patrol. It had very primitive suspension, there were terrible road conditions and getting there took two full days.

Not many other people were there, digging for these potato looking treasures. The so called surface material was already gone by then. To dig a hole up to 3 meters with pick and shovel in dry hard soil was hard work. The heat, the millions of flies and always being short of drinking water, were the harsh circumstances we had to cope with. But the rewards were so exciting.

Digging for the agate nodules was something that was not for the so called "city slickers"! But coming home after 12 to 14 days to Atherton with bags full of agates made up for all the blisters and sorrow, despite the fact, that only 30 to 35 %, after cutting, are good for collectors world wide. We are very, very selective and sort out the ones with flaws, fractures, uninteresting patterns and large crystallizations in the center. But the ones that are good are so beautiful in colour, patterns and design, that it is not easy to find comparison with other agates elsewhere in the world. Mother Nature did a wonderful job!

A very interesting book about agates in general, including Agate Creek agates is available from http://www.agate-nodule.com/category/publications

These days Agate Creek is still a very interesting place to visit and is far more accessible than in the old days. Now, there is a camping ground, fresh water and lovely people to point out places, where you still can dig up some agates.

In 1996, Nelleke and I, with the two girls went back to The Netherlands to try and sell the rough agates. It was not a smart move at all, as the Dutch people did not know what they were and what to do with these "Rocks". What now? I decided to start making jewelry from the agates. That worked and we start making a living again. In 1969 we opened, with borrowed money, a Museum called "De Oude Aarde" (The Old Earth) in a place called Giethoorn, near Zwolle.

Although not ours anymore it is still one of Holland’s most interesting mineralogical Museums. A must if visiting in Europe.

In 1977 we returned with the 3 girls to Northern Queensland, to our beloved Atherton Tablelands. After 3 years taking it easy I decided to start another museum. This time a-dream-come-true fantasia museum, to awaken people to the phenomenon of crystal formations from around the world. With financial help from Australia’s development bank I build a spectacular semi-underground simulated cave museum, an adventure land, a fairytale for all age groups. Visitors are supplied with a miner’s helmet with light and a catalogue. To complete this mini-expedition takes about an hour. It’s been the biggest success in my life. Visitors from all over the world have visited this exciting and at the same educational cave-museum, with its incredible collection of the most spectacular specimens from around the world on display. Many of the larger specimens are free standing and can be touched. This is much appreciated as you can read regularly in our visitors book.

The creation of "The Crystal Caves" took 14 moths to complete, with the help of a dedicated group of 5 fine people. The grand opening was in 1992, when the Honorable Minister of Tourism, Mr. Bob Gibbs flew in from Brisbane to perform the opening. Television, newspapers and other media were all there to support the opening and marveled at the wonders from deep down in our Earth. You can see picture of the museum at http://www.crystalcaves.com.au/ .

The remaining agates, those that were shipped to Holland, were returned to Australia in 1977. Combined with the agates we left with friends, we are now selecting, cutting and polishing them after all those years! You will find in our new web site http://www.agatesaustralia.com only the best of Queensland agates for sale.

Matthew Sirpis
Niche News and Articles

I belong to a hamlet called ‘Konthai’ which is in South Tamil Nadu, India. Twenty years back I was there as an unemployed graduate hunting for a job. Among the competitive examination the one conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for the non-gazetted posts was popular as it was the only mass civilian recruitment by the Central Government. Even petty shops one can find the application form. So as a annual ritual, I used to appear for the examination but never bothered about the results.

One day to my surprise, I got a letter from Defence Ministry with a posting in Delhi (Capital of India). The moment I saw the letter, I felt that as if I were on the top of the world. My joy knew no bounds. Without knowing my handicaps ( I was knowing either Hindi or spoken English), I decided to accept the offer. All my relatives and friends expressed their apprehension about my ability to manage in Delhi due to its erratic weather condition as well as language problem. But the very though of ‘getting a job’ made me to push aside all the other things to the back seat.

The day when I boarded Grant Trunk Express at Madras Central Station, almost all my relatives and friends wee there to see me off as if I were going for a ‘bon voyage’. I also became nervous after seeing the hub of activities that were going there at the Central Station as it was my first visit to that place.

After arriving at Delhi, when I went through its wide roads, beautiful lawns, parks, sprawling bungalows, high rise buildings, I though that I am really luckn enough to get a job in a beautiful city. Next day when I went to join my office, I got a first jolt and exposed to the stark reality. First time I felt that I landed in a totally alien land and considered myself as a ‘foreigner’.

I was completely startled to see such a situation where everyone was talking in Hindi, cracking jokes in Hindi, exchanging greetings in Hindi. When they were talking about me I was not knowing whether they were appreciating me or abusing me. Somehow, I managed to join my duty by signing the required forms that were given to me. From that moment onwards I started working as a ‘Robot’ doing my work without communicating to anybody.

After having seen my trouble, my colleagues started speaking to me in English. Even office peons after having seen my agony tried their best to convey their feelings to me in a broken English. So in office I had managed somehow to pull on, but outside I still struggled a lot to manage without Hindi.

Once I told my friend that I am finding it difficult to board DTC bus, as the conductor asks too many questions which I don’t understand. To reduce my problem little bit, my friend advised me that whenever you board a DTC bus ask the conductor a ticket by tendering the exact coins. So the conductor would give the ticket and would not ask any questions. According to his advice, when I boarded a DTC bus asked the conductor a ticket by tendering the exact fare. But to my shock, the conductor asked me ‘Kahan Jana Hai? Since I was not prepared for the question I started blinking. But fortunately one of my fellow passenger who happened to be a Tamilian came to my rescue and saved me from embarrassment.

After so many years of service, having exposed to Delhi’s climate, life style & language when I walk back the memory land – I really feel the difference me.

Today, almost 2000 kms away from my home district in South Tamil Nadu - I really feel at home.

V. Ramasamy

It is funny how web site promotion can suddently plunge you into literary exploits…

I am currently at work, my bosses left for the meeting so I can relax a little and perhaps even write a short article for this ezine.

It dawned on me that as close as we are in everyday life, we really are isolated from each other by mundane tasks and repetitive procedures we are bound to engage in. Although, why should we even care about these issues as we usually think about making money and living our lives?

Naturally, we are social being and cannot escape intangible social obligations and needs, yet we also guard our privacy with zeal. Now, as write these lines, another, more important imperative pushes me to change the subject completely and address some linguistic issues. As a writer, I am purposefully write a text, I am also a petential reader, but as I imagine myself reading this article, I am really at loss as far my environment and consequently attention span… Is modern literary approach with deconstructivist attitude more in tune with human capabilities that traditional writing? It is for you and me to decide…. I call you imaginary audience, and I can become the same when I run across this article by accident and do not recognize my own writing offhand…

As I worked on www.tlservice.com (all subsidiary right are reserved) I also worked not with literary but predominantly with conceptual and color issues…

I am born and raised in Russia, studied and worked in USA.

The ancient peoples of Europe were more fond of masks and religious ritual than you would suspect if you saw Europeans today. Mask wearing and shamanism was part and parcel of everyday life in ancient Western European tradition, say researchers.

There are stories abound about African and North American tribal shamans but not a lot is known about ancient European peoples’ involvement with masked ritual or the practice of magic. That is why finding out about similarities between the ideas behind masks from around the world and those originating from European soil, is a discovery of intriguing and real beliefs.

The less obvious link of European societies with shamanism or religious ritual than for instance the North American native Indian customs or magic activity in the past is due to the more ‘sanitised’ way Europe has developed because of church interference in people’s lives. The church dominance virtually stamped out any pagan ritual.

It was not until after 1960, when the Americans experienced a revival of the interest in shamanism, that much has become known about the European version of the practice of magic and mask wearing. There is more verifyable information about the true roots of Western European civilisation than initially suspected.

“The spirit if not the exact practise of shamanism has been passed on through Europe’s generations”, one authority on the subject, Leigh Ann Hussey, believes. The earliest recordings of ceremonies involving masks were found in the caves of the Trois Freres (Three Brothers) in France where paintings of a Paleolithic scene depicting European animism of the first order. Ian Bracegirdle, a mask expert, describes the cave: A central figure stands wearing the head and antlers of a deer. He stands, shaman like, surrounded by animals.

Animals that are important to the culture he represents. Some of the animals no longer exist in this area. Ibex, reindeer, bison, stag and horses. The shaman, for that is what he seems to be, stands, a human figure amongst the potential food. It is believed that the paleolithic cave served as a place where hunters were initiated. The sorceror or shaman was symbol to sympathetic magic. He wore ears and horns of a stag, the eyes and beak of an owl, the bearded face of an old man, the tail of a wolf, the paws of a bear and the legs of a dancing shaman. He stood in front of painted hunting murals. The Shaman served as mediator between humans and their venerated animal kin.

This is pretty much the best evidence in tangible form that we have of our ancestors’ animistic beliefs. It dates back 10,000 years and is accompanied by an abundance of myths and stories showing our ancestors had plenty of similar ideas. A close analogy exists in the stories of Kernunnos, forest god of the later Celts. The masks express animism to some extent.

His information is confirmed by Ms Hussey, who went on a hunt in European shamanism and found when she examined ancient sources, that she did not need to borrow from other traditions. “It is clear that tribal Europe had as strong a shamanic tradition as, for example, any of the American Indian tribes,” she said.

Summing up the general symbolism that unites masks from around the globe, Bracegirdle says that there are many striking similarities between the ancient cultures of the Pacific West Coast of North America and the tribal traditions of Africa. Symbols that all these cultures share are relating to fertility, the hunted animal, ancestors, initiation into rites, circumcision, cannibalism real and symbolic, healing and crossing over into the spirit world for guidance and healing powers or to appease the gods or ancestors are the accompanying ideas behind masks.

Not a lot has been passed on from generation to generation in any much recognisable form or shape, but among the most powerful links is the seasonal nature of many traditions we still know about. In the UK, the Green man and the Hobby horse are two potent examples. “To me there is a tremendous link which is bound up with the very nature of the people we are and how we have developed. Our formative roots live in our societies now”, believes Bracegirdle.

The links to ancient beliefs can also be found in many European languages. When we say in English that we are going berserk, we even directly refer to the shamanic state of extasy. The adjective comes from the noun ‘berserker’, or ‘berserk’, the Old Norse for ‘wild warriors’ or ‘champions’. ‘Ber’ referring to ‘bear’ and ‘serkr’ to ‘shirt’ or ‘coat’.

These berserkers became frenzied in battle, howling like animals, foaming at the mouth, and biting the edges of their iron shields as if they acted in a Nike commercial. Berserker is first recorded in English in the early 19th century, long after these wild warriors ceased to exist. This is illustrative of how the tradition seemingly interrupted, still lived on.

Similar "Bear Doctors" stories have been found among California tribes. In some cases, the Berserkr or Ulfserkr would even eat the heart of the bear or wolf to gain its power. Another feast of hearts occurs in the seiðr trance, as described above.

Not a lot was known about Western shamanism until it hit the limelight in the 1960 and the undoubted expert in the field is the late Mircea Eliade, a religion historian who taught at the Sorborme in Paris and later at the University of Chicago.

He described Shamanism, or ‘witchcraft’ as it is referred to also, as not a religion but more as a technique. Shamanism, he says, is ‘not strictly medicine men/women, magicians, or healers’. This is the conclusion of extensive studies of the phenomenon around the world in his book ‘Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy’.

He believes that shamans are not the same as priests; they may have coexisted with priests or even have fulfilled priestly functions as well as shamanic ones. A shaman was more a mystic than a priest or a minister. A shaman was not "possessed", as many people now believe, says Eliade. Neither was the shaman a medium or trance channeler. “Shamans control the spirit beings with whom they work, or at least they do not surrender to them. Like a medium or channeler, a shaman may appear unconscious when working, but upon returning, the shaman can tell where he or she has gone”, he says.

The shaman is not the instrument of the spirits. Traditional shamans cure people through their trances, accompany the souls of the dead to the Otherworld, and communicate with the gods. "This small mystical elite not only directs the community’s religious life but, as it were, guards its ’soul."

Modern day processions where you can still see old masks being worn include processions in which giants and witches are displayed. These and other masquerades are among the more powerful tangible links we still have to ancient witchcraft ritual.

In well known childrens’ stories and folklore narrative, the links are also obvious. Dragons for instance are examples creatures pervading every alley you can imagine of old folklore and mythology, straight into modern times stories. Descriptions of the beast’s benevolence vary from the playful Puff (of Peter Yarrow’s song) to the sinister Smaug in J.R.R. Tolkien’s "The Hobbit". Babylonian legends portray the Queen of Darkness as a multi-headed dragon - Tiamat. Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty features a battle between Prince Phillip and the evil Maleficent about a curse than can only be broken by three fairies. Likewise, the Germanic myth "Die Nibelungen" climaxes with the battle between Siegfried and the giant Fafnir, who has transformed himself into a dragon in an effort to become more frightening.

Our reaction to the physical characteristics of the dragon is another element that we share with and which connects us to our ancestors. Around the world the beasts are typically depicted as huge lizards, larger than elephants on average. Long fangs are generally accepted as are twin horns of varying length. Western cultures generally include large bat-like wings giving the dragon the capability of flight. But eastern dragons, usually wingless, use a more magical means of flying. Eastern dragons also tend to be more snake-like in nature, albeit with front and rear legs.

Angelique van Engelen is a freelance content writer living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She runs http://www.contentClix.com, a copywriting website. She also contributes to a blog http://clixyPlays.blogspot.com

* Make sure you set your browser encoding correctly to read Chinese words in this article. Chinese Simplified GB2312 is recommended. Please find detail instruction from this page: http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com/read-chinese-online.html

Talking about Chinese Pinyin rules, let’s start by looking at the following different scenarios:

1. Tone Mark Placement

The tone mark is placed over the vowel if there is only one vowel, e.g. wo, or on the main vowel of a syllable where they are two or three vowels, e.g. hao.

1.1 Syllable with one vowel letter, tone mark is always placed over the vowel letter. For examples:

笔 bǐ ( pen ) , 山 shān ( mountain )

车 chē ( car ), 信 xìn ( letter )

1.2 Syllables with two or three vowel letters: If the first vowel letter is a medial , e.g. "i", "u", or " ü ", the tone mark is placed over the vowel letter after the medial.

For example:

学 xué ( study ) , 贵 guì ( expensive)

小 xiao ( small ) , ? lüè ( strategy)

1.3 If the first vowel letter is not a medial, the tone mark is always placed on the first vowel letter.

For example:

靠 kào ( rely ) , 要 yào ( ask )

好 hǎo ( good ) , 北 běi ( north )

2. Syllables With an Initial

Write down the initial and then the final with no space between them.

For example:

客kè ( guest ) , 桌 zhuō ( desk ) 忙 máng ( busy ) , 飞 fēi ( fly )

Exceptions:

If and only if "uo" follows "b", "p", "m", or "f", "u" is dropped, resulting in "bo", "po", "mo", or "fo". If and only if "ü" follows "j", "q", "x", ü is changed to "u", resulting in "ju", "qu" and "xu"

3. Syllables Without an Initial

3.1 Syllables starting with "a", "o" or "e", just write down the final.

For example:

安 ān ( safe ), 鸥 ōu ( seagull ) 恩 en 恩 ( favor ), 昂 áng ( raise )

3.2 Syllables starting with "i", replace "i" with "y". For example:

严 yán ( strict ), 也 yě ( too )

Exceptions:

For the single vowel "i", and the nasals "in" and "ing", "y" is added before "i", resulting in "yi", "yin", and "ying";

Spell "you" for "iu", 有 yǒu ( have )

3.3 Syllables starting with "u", replace "u" with "w".

For example:

完 wán ( finish ), 外 wài ( outside )

王 wáng ( king ), 网 wǎng ( net )

Exceptions:

For the single vowel "u", "w" is added before "u", resulting in "wu";

Spell "wen" for "un";

Spell "wei" for "ui".

3.4 Syllables starting with "ü", replace "ü" with "yu".

For example:

雨 yǔ ( rain ), 孕 yùn ( pregnant )

园yuán ( circle ), 约 yuē ( appointment )

4. R-ending

The "er" (儿) sound can follow finals to form retroflection, add "r" at the end of the syllable in this case.

For example:

小孩儿 xiǎo hái er ( little kids )

雨点儿 yǔ diǎn er ( rain drops )

树枝儿 shù zhī er ( tree branch )

Again, it is good to know these rules to understand how to spell a character from Pinyin, but don’t be intimidated by these Pinyin rules.

The more you practice, the more you will feel comfortable when speaking Chinese. You will eventually learn these rules without even realizing they exist, like most Chinese people do.

Rosie From Learn Chinese Language Online (http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com)

The goal of Learn Chinese Language Online (LCLO) is to reduce the Mandarin Learning curve, promote and introduce the most efficient way to grasp the broad foundation of Chinese language.

A woman creates life from her womb, and man tries to create life through his machines.

I have always had a close relationship to machines, any kind of machine. While I was growing up I tinkered with them, took them apart and explored there workings. I loved them whether they were working or not and to me they were always alive and waiting. I was fascinated at how they where put together and the thought process that must have gone into making sure all things fit together to work perfectly. To me every machine is a symbol of man’s genius.

It always stirs some emotion in me to see a discarded machine that was once someone’s pride and joy parked in a yard or scrape yard. I have always felt the life that exists in a machine and I have been able to communicate with it. I had names for my cars and machines and an uncommon ability to repair them. I have many times experienced the machines repairing themselves once I got close to them. Many men know this and have experienced a bond between themselves and their machines. Men talk to their machines because at some level they know it has life.

I have always had difficulty relating to the destruction of machines in war movies, and it is often were I am focused while I’m watching one. I can equate the loyalty of a machine with that of a pet, it is unquestioned and works on demand.

All of life and so called non-life is made of the same stuff, atoms. Atoms are formed into molecules which in turn create the physical elements that we know. Quantum mechanics and physics have demonstrated that there is communication between the electrons of atoms and between the electrons and the observer of these atoms at a subconscious level. The observer’s thoughts can alter the movement of the sub atomic particles that he is observing in a lab, so many experiments must be down several times and often they are inconclusive because of the technician’s mental connection to the particles. All physical things communicate with each other and do not remain still at a sub atomic level. At its very basic form, all machines are alive and we communicate with them at a sub atomic level.

While women create life from their wombs, man is busy trying to create life and the perfect machine. Man creates and man always tries to recreate himself and improve upon it. He is driven to reproduce himself and he does it physically by building his perfect machines. I believe it may be the female part of him that is driven to reproduce, to manifest artificially what he observes women to do naturally.

In all of history man has not stopped building. He builds he takes down, he destroys, but always he rebuilds. Man has separated himself psychologically from his female self and that which created her and he is unable to experience the actual connection that a female would naturally experience between herself and what she created. I believe that at some level that man desperately wants to feel that connection.

If simple survival was all that man needs, then there would be no real need to industrialize and build big cities with all their machines; but as man is driven to create he must move from the tribe, organize and build; it is the life force that he senses in his machines that moves him to keep creating them. It is the female in him that is driven to create life and it is man’s physical way of duplicating what women do naturally.

This is perhaps why we (humanity) are driven to reproduce despite the available knowledge that we have learned from history that we can not keep doing so without suffering the inevitable consequences of overpopulation and non-sustainability. Humanity cannot control his natural urges to reproduce and connect to creation.

Men and women will always couple to reproduce, abstinence and prohibition does not work in our experience. If any one institution has taught us that, it would be the churches. The male will always seek the connection to his female side because he is separated from it. Positive and negative always seeks the connection and must remain separated to find it again.

Humanity will always try to reproduce itself whether it is done naturally or artificially, life always finds a way.

Roy E. Klienwachter is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. A student of NLP, ordained minister, New Age Light Worker and Teacher. Roy has written and published five books on New Age wisdom. Roy’s books are thought provoking and designed to empower you to take responsibility for your life and what you create. His books and articles are written in the simplicity and eloquence of Zen wisdom.

You may not always agree with what he has to say. You will always come away with a new perspective and your thinking will never be the same.

Roy’s style is honest and comes straight from the heart without all the metaphorical mumble jumble and BS.

Visit Roy at: http://www.klienwachter.com

A decade that stands out above the rest of our world’s history as a time of revolutionary changes from all over the globe - changes that even effected outer space. There was unprecedented levels of sexual freedom celebrated among the world’s youth, and teenagers around the world revolted against the generations before them. Radio brought the people completely new sounds in music, with the chart toppers fighting over the number one spots each week. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, among others, released one hit after another throughout the sixties.

Stardom the likes that no one had ever experienced before surrounded The Beatles, both in the UK and in the United States. Jimi Hendrix played guitar like no one had ever heard it played previously, and remains one of the world’s favorite guitar players of all time. There were presidential assassinations, as well as deaths of famous people who were killed for standing up for their beliefs and leading others to make changes; Martin Luther King, JR and Malcolm X.

The sixties were a time of innovation, new products and services were developed, and discoveries of technological advances led to the first man to walk on the moon, and placing a satellite in orbit.

In the UK, Parliament made abortion legal in 1967, as a result of the changing ideals of sex and love. Fashion and clothing styles changed, skirts became shorter, jeans became tighter, and women’s clothing in particular just became much more revealing than it had ever been socially acceptable previously. Mini-skirts were the norm, and models like “Twiggy” reinforced in the young people’s eyes that thin was in. Young ladies around the globe began starving themselves to try and fit the image, leading to eating disorders and image issues that women are still dealing with to this day.

The sixties were also the time of the infamous “WOODSTOCK”, an outdoor concert held in upstate New York. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in a vacant field to hear some of the most popular musicians and bands on a handmade stage. There was rain, there was mud, there were landslides and total chaos as no one expected that many people to show up.

Amazingly, there was no money made at the event, as tickets were never actually sold and people just swarmed the makeshift gates to get into the concert area. Musicians were brought in with helicopters, and took the stage to give what was undoubtedly their most memorable performances of all time. Most of the people couldn’t even hear the music, they were located so far away from the stage- but the experience of the weekend was beyond anything anyone had ever known. There have been attempts to recreate the wonder of Woodstock, but there will never be another event like it- our current world would require far more security to keep people safe, and even with the 450,000 individuals who spent the weekend in Woodstock, less than 4 were killed - you can be sure that the numbers would certainly be higher if such an event was to take place in our current times.

Phil Edwards is a freelance writer and co-author of http://www.sixties.gb.com/ and http://www.unit-storage.com

Can We Pass The Test?

American Citizenship

I’m the daughter of an American soldier and with that comes pride of my American heritage, and love and pride for our country. I have thought of myself as being a patriot, which I am. But I have found out to my dismay, that we as Americans have not gone to any length to know enough about our country.

I feel very lucky that I was born here.

Online there is a citizenship test, similar to the test that those from other countries are required to take. I took the test and made a score of 6 out of a possible 11. I regarded that as a low score but the test said not that bad.

I was disappointed in myself, a daughter of a ww2 vet, who knew so little about my country.

It amazes me that those from other countries would sacrifice so much, their families and those they love to come to a country so different from their own.

They have to live in America five years, obtain good employment, and there are those that even marry American citizens to obtain citizenship to our country.

Many of them learn our language and have countless obstacles to overcome to stay in our country and obtain a citizenship that I have taken so easily for granted.

It makes me more grateful that I was born here, and it has opened my eyes that I need to be more informed about how country.

Bio Of Judy Arline Puckett

I am currently residing in Monroe, La.
I begin writing at the age of 11, and I’m 54 now.
I am the mother of three and the grandmother of five.
I love creative writing, poetry, digital art, art, photography, jazz, and blues music.
I write poetry and lyrics on every topic. War, peace, love, heartache, religion, and abortion, which I oppose.
I hope to write meaningful and worthwhile words that will touch hearts and make a difference in life.

"A poet is the voice for those who are without words." - Judy Arline Puckett

Introduction

Do you know what "silk embroidery is? Do you know what it looks like? Many people I come across in the U.S. are either unaware or unfamiliar with what silk embroidery is. Moreover, for the few who are familiar with this specialized Chinese skill, I have discovered that they do not have a true knowledge and appreciation for this fine Chinese art form. Thus, the implication can be made that “silk embroidery” is truly a "Hidden Oriental Jewel” that has been under appreciated in the West due mainly to the fact that the common person is ignorant of the time, effort, and skill required to create high-quality "silk embroidery" works. Hence, the purpose of this article will be to inform and educate you (whether the art lover or the common person) on: What is silk embroidery?, How it is made?, How to appreciate it?, etc. My hope is that you will acquire an appreciation for the uniqueness and value of this oft-overlooked Chinese art. Whether an art lover or not, I think you will come to appreciate the value of this “Hidden Oriental Jewel.“

What is Silk Embroidery?

Silk embroidery is a type of Oriental wall art that results from the traditional Chinese skill of pulling fine strands of colored silk through a canvas to create a beautiful work of art. The most common way to enjoy silk embroidery is as a framed, wall-hanging object. Hence, it is ideal as a gift, collectible, home decoration, souvenir, or office piece. The art of skill embroidery originated in China and has been practiced there for over 3,800 years. It reached a high level early in the Qing and Han dynasties, with silk and silk embroidery being the main products transported along the ancient Chinese Silk Road.

China was one of the first countries to transform embroidery into an advanced art form. The use of special embroidery techniques and styles sets apart Chinese embroidery from embroidery created in other parts of the world. In the past, embroidery skills were considered to be an essential skill every woman was to possess. A woman who could create a high-quality embroidery piece was admired and well-respected. Women from rich families took on embroidery as a hobby while those from poor families did it for a living. Today, high-quality embroidery works are treated on the same level as the best Chinese paintings and Tang/Song Dynasty poems

How To Appreciate Silk Embroidery?

Whether you’re an “art lover” or the “common person,” you’ll come to appreciate the value of silk embroidery once you learn of the skill and effort that goes into creating each piece. To create a high quality piece, an artist must split a single silk thread into several thinner threads. It can be split into 12 to 48 thinner strands - depending on how fine the artist wants to be with his/her piece. The embroiderer then stitches layer after layer using threads of a variety of colors to reach the final wonderful effect. Embroiderers are known to take frequent breaks - every 10 to 15 minutes - to rest their eyes due to the strenuous nature of their work.

Due to the labor-intensiveness of the work, some larger and more intricate pieces of embroidery may require a year to a year and a half to complete by an artist or group of artists. Those works sell for thousands of dollars, - which is reasonable - considering the skill and time involved in creating the work. Of course, smaller pieces are available that are of high quality yet sell for much less.

Four Types of Silk Embroidery The adoption of different needling methods through the years has resulted in four distinctive embroidery styles in China:

1) "Su" embroidery of Jiangsu Province - known for its delicacy and elegance, this style is usually very simple, highlighting a main theme. Its stitching is smooth, dense, thin, neat, even, delicate and harmonious. The thin thread is divided into up to 48 strands that are barely visible to the naked eye. Su embroidery is where double-sided embroidery originated. Su embroidery products were sent to participate in the Panama World Fair in 1915.

2) "Xiang" embroidery of Hunan Province - became the main craft in places around Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province, in the Qing Dynasty. Xiang embroidery was developed from Hunan folk embroidery methods, but it also drew on the skills of Su embroidery and Yue embroidery. This method uses loose colorful threads to embroider the pattern with the stitches being not as neat as those of other embroidery styles. The various colored threads are mixed together, showing a gradual change in color with a rich and harmonious tone. Designs on Xiang embroidery mostly derive from traditional Chinese paintings of landscapes, human figures, flowers, birds and animals. The most common designs on Xiang embroidery are lions and tigers. The tigers appear strong and bold, revealing their power and menace as a king of animals. Xiang embroidery won the best award in the Torino World Fair in Italy in 1912 and the First Award in the Panama World Fair in 1933.

3) "Yue" embroidery of Guangdong Province - is rich and complicated in content with bright colors and strong decorative effects. The embroidery is smooth and even. One type, gold and silver cushion embroidery, creates a magnificent three-dimensional effect. Yue embroidery has a wide range of designs, the most common ones being birds worshipping the sun, dragons and phoenixes.

4) "Shu" embroidery of Sichuan Province - are mostly found in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. They are made with soft satins and colored threads as the raw materials are embroidered by hand. The varied stitching methods form their unique local style. Designs on Shu embroidery include flowers, birds, landscapes, fish, worms and human figures. The products themselves include quilt covers, pillow covers, back cushions, table cloths, scarves and handkerchiefs.

Western-Style Silk Embroidery

Western-style silk embroidery occurs as the result of an artist using fine silk strands and needles to accurately reproduce famous Western-style oil paintings (see figure 2) - like Van Gogh and Da Vinci. It is truly amazing how an embroidery artist can literally take silk strands and create a silk reproduction of a well-known artist’s oil painting.

Essentially, the artist paints with fine silk strands instead of painting with oil. Think about it . . . does this not perhaps require more skill than painting with oil itself? Despite the difference in materials and technique, one thing about a silk embroidery work is that - from a distance - it can very much resemble a work of oil painting .

From up close, however, one can notice the colorful patterns and detailed stitching in a silk embroidery work. In fact, the colors will appear more bright and lively than the usually duller colors of an oil painting.

Double-Sided Silk Embroidery

Double-sided silk embroidery is the result of an advanced embroidery technique in which the artist stitches on both sides of a single transparent silk canvas. The embroidered design displays on both the front and back sides of the fabric and does not show the joints in the stitching. Such a work is normally mounted as a screen on a wooden frame. A special feature about double-sided silk embroidery is that you can enjoy the artist’s handiwork from either side of the picture.

How To Mount & Store Silk Embroidery

Mounting a piece of silk embroidery can be an art in and of itself.

Hard Mounting - is most suitable for small to medium-sized embroidery pieces. It involves mounting the piece on a wooden board or frame with a front protective glass. The mounting technique is relatively easy to master.

Soft Mounting - is most suitable for larger pieces. It involves mounting the embroidery piece on a large sheet of paper with a silk border. The mounting technique is very difficult to master. As a result, due to the nature of the mounting technique, a piece with soft mounting is more valuable.

Storing - be sure to wrap embroidery pieces in a container that protects it from moths. Also, embroidery should not be exposed to strong light - especially sunshine - for an extended period of time. Moreover, the environment should be neither too wet nor too dry.

Recommended Reading

1) Art of Oriental Embroidery: History, Aesthetics, &… by Young Yang Chung.

2) Painting with a Needle: Learning the Art of Silk Embroidery… by Young Yang Chung

This article was written by Raymond Yuen of Eternal Imports (EI). EI specializes in the provision of unique, hand-made, quality products from around the world. You may check them out at http://www.rejoiceinarts.com

There is bias in the elite media! How often do you hear that on cable talk shows? Yes,George Bush gets criticized by the press. Clinton before him took it on the chin and every president before him felt the sting of slings and arrows.Truman and Roosevelt got it, Lincoln certainly did and so did Adams and Jefferson. It started before all the aforementioned presidents because the very first"victim" of presidential “media” bias was none other than George Washington.

And what provoked the media bias that plagued the man who has been revered thoughout our nation’s history?

First a little background…

The tap root of American journalism was sunk into partisan soil when Patriot and Tory hurled invectives across a widening line of intolerance over the Stamp Act in 1765. The twenty three papers in the colonies then were four- page weeklies of local advertising, local here-say and large sections of European news, cut verbatim from the London press. News as we know it was non-existent.

When the Stamp Act created the furor in the colonies, letters of opinion were published by printers who would run pieces submitted by someone - anyone - who had something to say. As the patriot presses from Boston to Charleston rattled out words of defiance to the British crown, the idea of being a British subject was being replaced by a new self-image as writers in journals began to refer to themselves and everyone else as Americans. Led by the printers and their contributing writers, this new mind-set was being developed as opposition to the crown grew.

After the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, the power of the press was realized. Colonials, intrigued with the idea of independence from Britain, saw it as a weapon and in Massachusetts, the Boston Gazette and Country Journal were in the forefront of agitation. Two fiery coals in the ”hotbed of sedition,”Benjamin Edes and John Gill, opened their doors to a deliberately obscure group called the Caucus Club. Consisting of men like Sam Adams, his cousin John Adams, James Otis and John Hancock, club members would meet at the Gazette where they “cooked up paragraphs,” and “ worked the political engine.” frustrating the Tories who, so embittered, circulated a letter to British troops quartered in Boston urging “ those Trumpeters of Sedition, the printers Edes and Gill,” and their writers for their paper, should be put to the sword.”

And one of them , James Otis, perhaps the least radical of the patriots, suffered such an assault after writing an article for the Boston Gazette in which he took the Governor and some of his commissioners to task for accusing he and Sam Adams of treason. Shortly after the piece appeared, Otis entered a coffee house for some morning refreshment and came upon one of the commissioners and several British army, naval and revenue officers. Robinson, the commissioner, it was reported, led the charge at Otis with his cane, the sword-wielding military right behind amid shouts of “God damn him! Kill him! Kill him!” After Otis took a beating and a sword slash to the head, the combatants were separated by others present fearing Otis would be killed. Otis sued and won damages of three thousand shillings but gentleman that he was, he refused the money on the basis that Robinson had atoned for his action

Otis’ gentlemanly gesture and Robinson’s mea culpa were rare for the dividing line was stretching towards Lexington and Concord. Rancor in the press came from both sides, intolerance under- lining every word. “Tories are,” one man wrote to the Boston Gazette ”..the most despicable beings, that ever appeared in human shape.” A Tory writing to the New York Gazette penned a poem in which he wrote of the Patriot values, “ Cheating and lying are puny things, Rapine and plundering venial sins.”

And the “venial sin” of plundering did came to pass right after Lexington and Concord. When James Rivington a Tory publisher wrote of the battles at Lexington and Concord in his newspaper "Rivington New York Gazeteer", partisanship showed up at the newspaper office in the guise of Isaac Sears and a cavalry contingent. The press was plundered and the type was carried off to melt down for patriot bullets. Partisanship had taken a firm hold in the colonial America. It would never let go. Looking back thirty two years after Yorktown, John Adams, the nation’s second president, wrote:

“What do you mean by the Revolution? The War? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.”

The few had influenced the many. And the newspapers were there.

Stay with this now and we’ll soon get to George Washington.

After the War for Independence, the tap root of the partisan press had sunk deep into American soil and the tree growing from it was struggling to find the sun. Most of the papers that had beat the drum of revolution, or tried to muffle it with opposition, did not survive. Perhaps their reason for being no longer existed but a few survived the turn of the century passing on the legacy of partisanship to a new form of newspaper, the party organ, and a new form of partisanship, that of the political party.

Together, tightly embraced, they would wend their way forward, for eighty or so years, on the pathway to civil war, stumbling on the sharp edged rocks of bank panic, depression and slavery.

The first step of this coupling was the first organ, The Gazette of the United States. Operated by John Fenno who set the paper up in New York City as the official voice of the Federalists, the nation’s first and only party. The Gazette was the national voice of government establishing propaganda and the shaping of public opinion as the guiding spirit of American journalism.

Designed to preach the party line and supported by Hamilton and John Adams, the Gazette did just that, publishing official documents and announcements thus becoming the first political paper and it followed the seat of power as it moved first to Philadelphia then to Washington. Its Federalist line smacked of an elitism and a pro-British posture that ran contrary to the Jefferson and Madison perspective and it aroused the need for an opposition paper. Enter the editor, Philip Freneau, adventurer, scholar, warrior who “did more than anyone else to make American political journalism, a kind of Donnybrook Fair of broken heads and skinned knuckles.” That he did, with The National Gazette

As the voice of the French Party, the name Jefferson’s Republican’s were often called, he attacked Alexander Hamilton’s financial measures and brought John Adams to ridicule but the paper was on weak financial ground and was soon to be out of business.

And now we come to George Washington

Soon another Republican paper similar to Freneau’s National Gazette, one called Aurora and edited by Benjamin Franklin Bache, a grandson of Benjamin Franklin opened shop. Called “Lightening Rod Junior,” a tribute to his illustrious grandfather, Bache who was educated in France and sympathetic to the French Republic soon found himself in Jeffersonian circles. Before he was through, his partisanship and his passion launched a verbal cannonade at no less a person than George Washington. Yes, this is it. George Washington.

After Washington had his Farewell Address to the nation published, Bache made his farewell to Washington. He wrote:

“If ever a nation was debauched by a man, the American nation has been debauched by Washington. If ever a nation has suffered from the improper influence of a man, the American nation has suffered from the influence of Washington. If ever a nation was deceived by a man, the American nation has been deceived by Washington. Let his conduct then be an example to future ages. Let it serve to be a warning that no man may be an idol..”.

And not to be content with those words, the day after Washington’s retirement, Bache’s partisanship could not be restrained. He wrote:

“The man who is the source of all the misfortune of our country is this day reduced to a level with his fellow citizens, and is no longer possessed of power to multiply evils upon the United States…this day ought to be a jubilee in the United States.”

As one might expect, Bache’s comments did not go unanswered. A crowd of Federalist supporters stopped by his facility and wrecked it. Following that, Bache experienced what was possibly a precedent making incident. Federalist editor John Fenno of The Gazette of the United States, on an afternoon stroll, encountered Bache and hit him square in the face. Bache retaliated with his cane to Fenno’s head thus establishing that form of expression as the first in a long series of chance encounters between rival American editors. But the traditional forms of expression were not exempt from usage. Bache, on April 1, 1800 ran a paid advertisement in his Aurora:

“ To Mr. Fenno: This is to announce you to the world as a scoundrel and a liar; and though you may be generally known as such, I will prove what I say…”

But it was the Federalist press that had the last word on Bache. When he died of yellow fever shortly after, Russell’s Gazette of Boston wrote:

“The Jacobins are all whining at the exit of the vile Benjamin Franklin Bache; so they would do if one of their gang was hung for stealing. The memory of this scoundrel cannot be too highly execrated.”

It is a kindler, gentler press today. George Washington would surely agree.

Don Bracken is Senior Editor of History Publishing Company,LLC and is the author of the forthcoming book Times of the Civil War which focuses on the American Civil War and its coverage by reporters of the New York Times and the Charleston Mercury. He also co-edited the Historyscope Series,http://www.historyscope.com, a computerized plotting of the 384 major battles and campaigns of the American Civil War.