Culture

21:32, 20 Feb 2019

Beethoven’s music is undeniably profound. Its beautiful complexity inspires a passionate response in all who listen, especially if those listeners are lucky enough to enjoy a live rendition of the brilliant, classical work. Beethoven’s Concerto for ...

21:53, 19 Feb 2019

Ancient European citizens believed that cultural heritage was a precious treasure, bestowed upon us from the heavens. Western art reached its apex during the Renaissance, when Rome – city of churches, palaces, the pope, and ...

05:35, 13 Feb 2019

The Archaic Greek Kouros brothers Cleobis and Biton were famous for their filial piety: a virtue of respect for one’s parents. The brothers’ remarkable story and the sacrifices they made for their beloved mother have ...

11:53, 08 Feb 2019

Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture exhibited at the Frick Collection in New York in 2016, and was the first and largest portrait exhibition in the United States in 20 years. Approximately 100 works of ...

04:54, 07 Feb 2019

Beijing Opera is a quintessential art form and a national treasure. For over 200 years, Beijing Opera has been considered an important performing art with profound cultural connotations. Beijing Opera originally flourished during the Qing Dynasty, ...

02:06, 05 Feb 2019

None of us are strangers to exhaustion. There are some days where your efforts seem futile and you lose your sense of perspective. Life is full of suffering, this we acknowledge. But during times of ...

09:04, 03 Feb 2019

Since ancient times, when people think of the word ‘cultivation’, they immediately think of the mysterious Orient with its various kinds of magic and mysticisms. In reality though, for thousands of years, the West has ...

00:50, 02 Feb 2019

Continued from Part 1, The Childhood of a Musical Prodigy: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) The premier of the first opera In December of 1770, soon after  Mozart had turned 14, his impressive first opera premiered in ...

13:47, 25 Jan 2019

Paganini was an extraordinary 19th century composer and violinist. The Italian musician could play three octaves across four strings on only one hand, a skill, amongst many, that elevated him from his contemporaries. The trials of ...

12:21, 17 Jan 2019

Chinese knot tying is an ancient craft. It has been dated back to prehistoric civilizations and was later popularized during the Tang and Ming Dynasties. The art of tying knots continues to develop today as ...

08:33, 16 Jan 2019

Ludwig van Beethoven is a household name. His infamous classical music is suffused with emotion. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential composers of all time; every composition is a ...

09:45, 03 Jan 2019

When her husband, the great composer Robert Schumann died, in an asylum, Clara Schumann was overwhelmed with sadness and greatly mourned his death. She did not care about anything, not performances or social activities. But ...

03:32, 02 Jan 2019

At a young age, Laetitia shocked her philosopher mother Annette, with a question… “Mama, if all people who are born eventually die, then what is the point in living?” Annette replied, “Laetitia, you live to learn.” Her mother’s ...

03:30, 25 Dec 2018

New York based jewelry artist crafts‘unity between heaven and man’in sparkling designs Imagine wearing a piece of jewelry that makes you feel like you belong to a splendid world—as if reconnecting to the “divine land” that ...

05:51, 21 Dec 2018

In 2011, this carol was recognized by UNESCO as being an oral masterpiece and as having an intangible cultural heritage. A Time magazine survey, taken in 2013, revealed that it was the most loved Christmas ...

10:35, 20 Dec 2018

A large proportion of the world is about to celebrate Christmas, the Christian festival that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The BL would like to take a closer look at parts of the arduous ...

04:26, 13 Dec 2018

“Who is the happiest?” is a question that viewers must ponder while admiring the works of the Renaissance artists who painted King Croesus and the sage Solon, and destiny…

03:35, 11 Dec 2018

Hans Christian Andersen is a famous Danish writer of fairy stories and tales. Andersen's stories are a combination of fantasy and reality. The characters in his stories consists of both real people of all social ...

08:21, 08 Dec 2018

He was a passionate man, who throughout his life, made a heroic effort, and dedicated himself to immense personal cultivation… So why did he his efforts bear no fruit? That was the question that kept ...

03:46, 06 Dec 2018

Originating in China, shui-mo painting was once deemed as a national craft. The craft is comprised of an exquisite blend of two elements, water and ink. The paintings are created using a brush, dipped into ...

03:42, 04 Feb 2019

Recently, an enigmatic flower has been spotted in different parts of the world, awakening everyone’s curiosity on what wonders it might be prophesizing. The flower that has been enchanting the world is the mystical Udumbara ...

09:19, 03 Feb 2019

In the Res Gestae Divi Augustus (‘The Deeds of the Divine Augustus’), Augustus demonstrates his piety by stating that he was a member of all four major priesthoods in Rome – the Pontifices, Augures, Quindecemviri and Septemviri. ...

05:29, 21 Jan 2019

Before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Roman Emperor Constantine had an incredibly vivid dream, leading to a decision that changed the course of history. Dreams have always been regarded as omens, or prophecies of the ...

02:33, 31 Dec 2018

On the 1 st January of every year, many countries around the world celebrate the beginning of a new year.  But there is nothing new about New Year’s.  In fact, festivals and celebrations marking the beginning of ...

22:37, 17 Dec 2018

In ancient myths and legends, there are numerous stories featuring seven wise men. Across the ancient mythologies of Babylonia, Sumeria, China, Ancient Greece, and India, there are tales featuring seven sages? Who were they and ...

04:52, 10 Dec 2018

Lake of the Pregnant Maiden is a beautiful, wild, and magnificent treasure that is part of the Malaysian landscape. The lake is not only beautiful but legend has it that the waters have a healing ...

03:31, 07 Dec 2018

The tale of how Sisyphus received his eternal punishment is one telling of the retribution facing man and his arrogance. The punishment of Sisyphus would hold some disturbing familiarities to our lives and society in ...

10:09, 19 Nov 2018

Translated by Chua BC, Vision Times Huiyun was a monk from a monastery in Luoyang during the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of the Linde era of Emperor Tang Gaozong’s reign (A.D. 664-665), Huiyun, at ...

12:29, 16 Nov 2018

The myths of severe floods, although originating from vastly differing civilizations, share unbelievable similarities. Suppose that these floods took place exactly as per the stories tell us, what warning should we heed from these catastrophes? ...

09:17, 07 Nov 2018

The cyclops and giants was cleaned out by gods as Zeus prepared Earth for a new age. Zeus told the wisest of the titans, Epimetheus and his brother Prometheus, to make lives that would inhabit ...

11:37, 05 Nov 2018

Wei Boyang was a renowned alchemist of the East Han Dynasty (25 A.D - 220 A.D), and was born of noble lineage. He was interested in the pursuit of Taoist magical arts and dedicated his ...

12:27, 15 Oct 2018

The Yellow Crane Tower (Huang He Lou) is located in the Yellow Crane Tower Subdistrict, Wuchang district, Wuhan, in central China. The current structure was built in 1981, but the tower has existed in various ...

08:05, 06 Oct 2018

Chinese myths and legends tell tales of gods and deities living in other dimensions, parallel to our own. People may only enter when the heavenly gates open and let us in. It has been said ...

08:05, 01 Oct 2018

It was believed that a long long time ago, there was a period when Human and Gods co-existed on the earth. Gods were said to be right by human’s side and provided them with guidance ...

05:24, 13 Sep 2018

Fan Yuanyan grew up in a poor family in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420 AD - 589 AD). He made a living by growing vegetables. One day, when he was heading out the door, he ...

06:41, 12 Sep 2018

It was believed that a long long time ago, there was a period when Human and Gods co-existed on the earth. Gods were said to be right by human's side and provided them with guidance ...

11:59, 26 Aug 2018

Why the classics are important today is a radical question, according to John Henry Crosby, the founder and president of the nonprofit Hildebrand Project. “The sensibility that the classics are important, deserving of a place of recognition, ...

11:58, 26 Aug 2018

For fine arts painter George Ceffalio, the importance of classical realistic art is self-evident. “You see [realistic art] and can grasp it, unlike art that you need to study in order to understand, or art that ...

11:57, 26 Aug 2018

When Susan Woodard, professor emeritus of music, was just beginning her teaching career, she heard a colleague declare, “Students today come to college to learn how to make a living, not to learn how to ...

11:55, 26 Aug 2018

For Stuart Holt, opera is awe-inspiring storytelling and, in many ways, the Olympian limb of the classical arts. Director of the school programs and community engagement departments of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Holt first came under the ...