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'Kung Fu Panda' Hits A Sore Spot in China

BEIJING -- The blockbuster success of an American animated movie that's set in ancient China, highlights Chinese culture, mythology and architecture and stars a kung fu fighting panda has filmmakers and ordinary Chinese wondering: Why wasn't this hit made . . . in China?
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"Kung Fu Panda" follows a slacker panda named Po, who works in his father's noodle shop and eventually fulfills his dream of becoming a kung fu fighter, and features the voices of Hollywood stars Jack Black and Angelina Jolie. So far it's taken in $350 million at theaters worldwide.

Giant Panda

The giant panda is universally loved, but this peaceful, bamboo-eating member of the bear family faces many threats. Its population is small and isolated as its traditional forest habitat in southwest China's mountainous areas becomes fragmented. The government has set up more than 30 reserves, but habitat destruction and poaching continues to pose a threat to pandas living outside them. With rapid economic development, it is more important than ever to ensure the giant panda's survival.

Jade Jar of Dushan

The Jade Jar of Dushan, now kept in the Beihai Park in Beijing, was made in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and was China's earliest large-scale jade-carved article.

The giant jade jar was carved out of a whole big piece of colorful dark jade stone and it was only used for containing and storing wine. Oceanic dragons and animals coming in and out among sea waves were carved on all sides and their figures and designs are vivid in shape, and great and tremendous in momentum. The jar is five meters in circumference, weighs 3.5 tons and can hold 1.5 tons of alcoholic drink.

It was said the giant jade jar was transported from the other place and then placed on Qionghua Island by Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty, in 1286 and used to store wine to entertain the meritorious generals and ministers in founding his empire.

The Jade Jar of Dushan was quite different from jade articles that featured the style of being slim and fragile in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) but demonstrated the straightforward spirit of exploiting the country in the Yuan Dynasty. It was the earliest large-scale jade carving craftwork in China and marked the milestone in the development of Chinese jade craft.

Modern China needs some old thinking

Apart from debating how the modern Chinese should define what exactly their traditional wisdom is, there are also those who challenged the need.