On October 24, 2015, to strengthen the friendship between the Personnel Service Corporation for Diplomatic Missions (DPSC)and the diplomatic corps and further promote exchanges and cooperation between the two parties, the DPSC invited over 60 people, i.e. diplomats and their families from approximately 30 embassies and institutions, to attend the well organized autumn cultural and recreational event. Wang Bingnan, Deputy Director General of the BDS, Jiang Qiang, General Manager of the DPSC, and Zhou Hui, Deputy General Manager of the DPSC, participated in the event as well.

While everyone was concerned about the weather forecast announcing a light mist in Beijing, Heaven bestowed upon us a surprise. After a short autumn rain and with a blue sky dotted with white clouds on a nice and cool autumn day, the early morning sun sprayed a layer of warm colors on the city of Beijing. The weather, the place, and everything seemed to indicate that that day would leave unforgettable memories in the heart of each of the participants.

The event consisted of two parts allowing the participants to experience traditional Chinese culture by visiting the Millennium Tanzhesi Temple and the Shen Xueren Art Gallery. At the event, Wang Bingnan, Deputy Director General of the BDS, expressed a warm welcome to all of the foreign guests,including the Belgian Ambassador and his wife, who were invited to participate in the event, and on behalf of the BDS, thanked the diplomatic missions for their longstanding support provided to the BDS and the DPSC. He also extended gratitude to Master Shen Xueren and the Shen Xueren Art Gallery for their thorough preparations and hospitality for that day’s event. Wang hoped that the one-day cultural event could not only enhance the friendship between the BDS and the diplomatic corps in China but also give the diplomats a better understanding of traditional Chinese culture. He wished the participants finally a good day.

On the way to the famous Tanzhesi Temple in Beijing, Jiang Qiang, General Manager of the DPSC, on behalf of the Corporation, thanked his foreign guests for their active participation in, generous support to and long-term cooperation with the Corporation. Jiang declared that,looking ahead, the DPSC would continue to improve service quality constantly so as to offer better services. Then Mr. Jiang introduced the Temple of Tanzhesi, citing some interesting historical anecdotes. His warm introduction and explanations full of humor brought smiles to all the faces, leaving each of the guests looking forward to the next phase of the event.

On arrival at the Tanzhesi Temple, the large group was divided into two smaller ones. Surrounded by majestic statues, old vigorous trees, people burning incense and praying and amusing historical stories, each of the participants walked in this one-thousand-year-old temple, felt the heavy and persistent sandalwood fragrances with his/her ears filled with Buddhist chants. The foreign visitors listened carefully to the tour guide’s explanations, sometimes lifting their cell phone or cameras to capture the surrounding scenery. After the visit, many of the foreign guests were still lingering around, and so we organized a mountain climb towards the top of the hill. Bathed in the warm sun,the gentle breeze and the fresh air mixed with the scent of vegetation rising from the ground which penetrated all pores, participants were relaxed and happy. Once at the top, the summit offered a view of the Tanzhesi Temple and huge exquisite buildings surrounded by mountains and dominated by old trees and the incense spirals. From there, this old and mysterious Buddhist shrine seemed to tell us about all the glory of the ancient imperial temple.

Then, we went to the Shen Xueren Art Gallery located at the foot of the mountain to admire the calligraphy works of the famous painter Shen Xueren, in which everyone showed great interest. We even saw some young budding painters, carrying a sketch pad to paint pictures after being inspired by those of the master in the Gallery.

Then someone came into the room. It was Shen Xueren, the famous master, who arrived there at the kind invitation of the DPSC staff. As the Director of the Chinese Flower and Bird Painting Research Association and the Executive Vice President of the Chinese Ethnic Literature and Art Association, he received his training from older-generation artists such as Wu Zuoren, Liu Hai Su, Li Kuchan and others and have been awarded multiple honorific titles such as "Chinese Contemporary Art Circles Celebrity", "Son of the East", "World Academic Contribution Prize", "World Cultural Celebrity Achievement Award", "World Art Celebrity", and "World Cultural Celebrity." Master Shen introduced the traditional Chinese ink painting to his foreign guests and painted a picture in front of the fascinated spectators, using his incredible skills and the four types of ink painting technique, namely "spotting, staining, cracking and rubbing". Demonstrating the profound artistic skills, he masterfully transformed thick ink into vivid, colorful and realistic chicks and ducklings. Finally, Master Shen offered the Belgian Ambassador one of his calligraphy works, which comprises four Chinese characters meaning "Harmony between man and nature" and reflects all the traditions and harmony of the Chinese culture.

Then, Mr. Wu Han, General Secretary of the Chinese Guqin Culture Research Association and the guqin(i.e.the Chinese zither) history researcher, showed the foreign visitors the guqin, a strange old traditional Chinese music instrument with an history of over 3000 years. The guests learned that the guqin, also known as seven strings lyre, can express more than 240 kinds of different sounds with its simple strings. Wu Han also played a famous piece of guqin music named "Flight of Wild Geese above the Beach", which can be dated back to the Ming Dynasty, and the so-called "oldest rock music of China" written by Ji Kang, one of Seven Sages of Bamboo Grove. With these remote, persistent, hopping, joyful, endless and airy sounds, the guqin created for the visitors the images of fir trees in the quiet wind, wild geese arriving and flying in groups, a very misty sky,the mild whisper of a quiet creek and birds flying over forests and mountains. Then Wu Han also asked the foreign guests to come on the stage to play the song named "A Laughter from the Sea" together with him interactively.

Then the sound of guqin stopped, and came the famous Calligrapher Mr. Tan Yanqing, Vice President of the China Xu Beihong Painting and Calligraphy Academy and the Moruo Calligraphy Institute. Mr. Tan used some Chinese characters, such as the mountain, river, sun, moon and dragon, as examples to introduce the development process of Chinese characters. Then, by explaining the eight different styles of calligraphy, namely the oracle, jin, seal, seal script, official script, cursive script, regular script and running script, he briefed the foreign visitors on the evolution of Chinese calligraphy from the figurative form to the abstract one and the process of development of Chinese calligraphy from a purely practical tool to an independent art form.

As a national intangible cultural heritage, Tai Chi has inherited the dialectical concept of yin and yang contained in the traditions of the Chinese Confucianism and the philosophy of Taoism as the basic ideology integrating a single set of functions such as the care given to oneself, fitness and fighting techniques, the changes of yin and yang, the study of meridians of traditional Chinese medicine, and the ancient orientation and ethereal breathing techniques, which formed this typical martial art of the Han nation. Tai chi is truly representative of traditional Chinese martial arts, known all around the world. On that day, we invited Mr. Zhu Lijun, Executive Director of the Chinese Wushu Association, to explain to the foreign visitors the concept and basic gestures of Taijiquan and give a live Tai Chi demonstration.

After having a glimpse of the rich heritages of the traditional Chinese culture including the painting, guqin, calligraphy and tai chi, Qi Quancai, a former Member of Beijing Table Tennis Team, and his followers offered a live table tennis demonstration for the foreign visitors. As China's national sport, table tennis is very popular in the country. In early 1971, Chairman Mao used the small ball to change the face of the large one - the Earth, which resulted in the "ping-pong diplomacy" in history. After witnessing the spectacular demonstration given by the young players, the Ambassador of Belgium and some foreign guests personally made moves.

The best moments will always come to an end. This lavish feast, which combined traditional and modern Chinese cultures, finally ended. The foreign visitors could hardly leave the art gallery. On their way back, they expressed great satisfaction with the event which allowed them to have close contact with, a deeper understanding of and greater interest in the Chinese traditional culture.They expressed the hope to have more opportunities to participate in similar events in the future. Getting off the bus, our foreign guests shook hands with us one by one. The event, which strengthened the friendship between and mutual understanding of the DPSC and the diplomatic missions,ended with a success.

Group photo in front of the Tanzhesi Temple

Wang Bingnan, Deputy Director General, welcomes the foreign guests

In Tanzhesi Temple, foreign guests listened attentively to the explanations

A hike in the hot sun

Master Shen Xueren made a painting.

The General Office of the Personnel Service Corporation