Chinanews.com, Lanzhou, February 22 (Wei Jianjun and Li Fangyan) "As a member of my hometown, I am obliged to promote special products such as Jingning apples. In the future, I will also promote products such as apple juice and apple cider vinegar in my hometown during live broadcasts abroad. Jingning apples are truly going global." Cheng Xiaoling, a Shanghai-style painter from Gansu who is over fifty years old, expressed her affection for her hometown on the other end of the video connection.
Recently, Cheng Xiaoling, a Shanghai-style painter originally from Anzhen, Jingning County, Pingliang City, who is well-known for her peony paintings, was invited to participate in the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in March 2023. As soon as the news came out, it spread to friends in her hometown For the people on the Loess Plateau, it is a great honor from the bottom of their hearts.
Cheng Xiaoling was born in the Jianhua Society of Qigeng Village, Yuan'an Township. Before the age of 7, she lived with her grandmother in Laojun Township, Huining County, her "neighbor", and returned to her hometown when she was in school.
In the early 1970s, the natural environmental conditions on the Loess Plateau were very difficult.
"When I was in elementary school, I had to climb a mountain and cross a river. The school was far away from home." Cheng Xiaoling recalled that everything was vivid in her mind.
"Growing up in the mountains when I was young, I was very yearning for life outside. Especially when I was a girl, I came into contact with some flowers in my hometown. In addition, I liked painting, but at that time I didn't have the conditions to realize it. I often painted on the ground with branches." Talking about my childhood. Dream, Cheng Xiaoling "returned to childhood".
In order to pursue her dream, she left her hometown to study in Lanzhou in 1984, and went to Shanghai in 1991 to pursue "poetry and distance" in her heart.
Cheng Xiaoling witnessed the prosperity of the big city in her heart, but also fell into the predicament of being unfamiliar and helpless.
"Sometimes the language barrier can become an obstacle. At first I found a job in the clothing industry, and my life was guaranteed at the most basic level." Cheng Xiaoling said, because three generations of her family have worked in the clothing industry. She also has a strong sense of fashion and is familiar with the clothing industry. Not only did she find a job in this area, but it became her main business and laid a solid foundation for her later painting career.
At the age of 40, Cheng Xiaoling realized the second turning point in her career, turning from the clothing industry to the painting career that she loved since she was a child.
Cheng Xiaoling has devoted herself to the study of peony paintings all the year round. The peonies she paints integrate traditional Chinese and Western cultures, and fully express the grace and luxury of peonies.
The picture shows the peony created by Cheng Xiaoling.
Photo by Chai Wangning
In 2012, Cheng Xiaoling held an art salon in Shanghai Century Seaview; in Australia in 2014 and in Shanghai in 2016, she held the art exhibition "Let Art and Charity Walk Together"; In 2023, he opened a personal art website in the United States, and in January 2023, he established the Peony Art Museum in Shanghai.
"Some people love to dance and sing, but I only love to paint peonies. Painting peonies can make me grow from ignorance to richness, from impetuousness to quietness. It is also because I am happy and gain something when I grow old." Cheng Xiaoling said with emotion, As long as a person does one thing well in his life, he must do it to the extreme.
When making achievements in painting, Cheng Xiaoling always has a heart of gratitude, allowing art and charity to go hand in hand.
"A few years ago, I built a rural cultural stage for the Jianhua Society of Yuan'an Town, so that the villagers can have a good environment and carry out cultural and entertainment activities." She said.
Today, Cheng Xiaoling mainly opens a peony flower exhibition hall in Shanghai. In addition to exhibiting personal works, she also builds an art exchange and learning platform for peony flower lovers to enhance the dissemination and promotion of Chinese cultural knowledge.
"Except for Jingning Apple, I hope that the industry and technology in my hometown will develop better and better, and gradually connect with the world," she said.
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