【推荐3】Chinese singer Gong Linna released her new song, titled Return Home, which describes the overseas Chinese people’s longing for their homeland.

Performed in Chaoshan dialect, the song is part of Gong’s music project, which has the singer perform songs in different Chinese dialects. “It is very challenging to sing in Chaoshan dialect, which is a new language to me, and thanks to the songwriter Danny Sim and the song’s producer Wesley Tan, who speak the dialect, I received intensive training and practised very hard,” says Gong. “The beauty of dialects lies in telling stories of different places. It’s like a music al map, allowing me to explore different places through dialects.”

The idea of the song came from Qiaopi, a unique form of mail that served as both a letter and a remittance (汇款) sent by overseas Chinese people to their families in provinces of Guangdong and Fujian in the 19th and 20th centuries. At that time, many of those emigrants, particularly from Guangdong and Fujian, sent money back home to support their families, as well as communicating with their beloved ones and expressing their longing to be reunited.

“Dialects are a source of knowledge, traditions and the country’s cultural heritage. When I listen to a song performed in a dialect, I feel the local culture instantly even though I never go there and know nothing about the place,” says Sim, who wrote lyrics for the song, adding that there are a growing number of musicians in China performing in dialects, which allow listeners to get an emotional touch.

“Chaoshan dialect links people from the region. However, like many languages, it’s dying. Many young people, especially children, rarely speak the dialect, which is a sad thing.” Sim says, explaining why he is keen on writing songs by using the dialect, “I love my hometown and by writing songs in the dialect, I feel close to my home. Maybe that is, culture identity.”

【推荐1】Early one morning in February, a team of specialists pulled up next to a building in Nottingham. They worked quickly but carefully, removing a small section of the wall on which "Hula-hoop Girl" had been painted by Banksy, an outstanding street artist. John Brandler, a collector, said that he had purchased the artwork from the building's landlord. Local residents were horrified, as the mural (壁画) had spread cheer during the lockdowns in Britain.

It was not the first time Banksy's artwork had been carried off. So many of Banksy's pieces, in particular, have been taken and sold into private collections that they have been brought together to form an exhibition. "The Art of Banksy", the world's largest display of his work, opened in London in May as a paid-for, ticketed exhibition. The show invites art lovers to take cash out to view privately held works intended to be publicly accessible and free. Banksy has criticised the practice, saying that he will not authenticate artworks removed from their original site.

Street art is an unusually risky art form. Painters rarely seek permission to turn a building into a canvas, and so while the artwork belongs to them, the backdrop does not. If they want to protect their pieces from unwanted buyers, artists should ask for permission from the building owner and sign a contract. Another different problem is posed by many street artists' decision to remain anonymous. Artists shield themselves from accusations of deliberately damaging public property by using secret identities, but potentially lose out on the chance to protect their works from copyright theft.

But the legal protections are improving as more people come to appreciate street art's value. Ina case last year, a judge found that famous graffiti (涂鸦) in New York was protected from removal because it had "significant artistic value and cultural importance". Copyright lawsuits are also increasingly common.

【推荐2】Eric Carle, the author and artist of over 70 books for children, passed away at the age of 91. Mr. Carle's lively, creative, and colorful work was loved by children around the world. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was Mr. Carle's best-known book. Since it was published in 1969, over 55 million copies of the book have been sold, and it has been translated into more than 70 different languages.

Mr. Carle was born in Syracuse, New York in 1929. As he was growing up, his mother died and Mr. Carle spent a lot of time with his father, who would take him out walking in nature. His father would show him small creatures, filling the young boy's head with wonder. Mr. Carle thinks this helps explain why so many of his books are about nature. At the age of 12, Carle began to study art in school, where, with his teachers' help, he drew many pictures for children's books.

In 1952, Mr. Carle got a job as an artist at the New York Times. Though he created pictures for books with other authors, he created many of his most well-loved books completely on his own. Most of Mr. Carle's books are meant for younger readers. He said that he wanted to help make school a fun, welcoming place. "I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn." he said.

Children around the world responded to Mr. Carle's work, and Mr. Carle responded to this enthusiasm. Mr. Carle worked hard to reach out to students and teachers. In 2002, Mr. Carle and his wife opened the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. The museum shows off picture books from around the world. It also puts on many art programs for students and teachers.

Mr. Carle will be missed, but his creative art and sweet, funny stories will continue to bring joy to very eager readers all around the world.

【推荐3】If you have ever seen the art of Jonathan Green, it is not likely that you will soon forget it. His paintings are bold and colorful, lively and cheerful. Green depicts a way of life that is rapidly disappearing. It is a way of life that he remembers with fondness from his childhood in the South Carolina Sea Islands.

Jonathan Green was born in 1955 in Gardens Corner, South Carolina, a region of the state known as the Low Country. The second of seven children, Green was raised by his maternal grandmother, Eloise Stewart Johnson. As he grew up, he was immersed in Gullah culture-a culture that placed great value on tradition, family, and community. Although Green had to travel to other parts of the world before he could fully appreciate his rich heritage, the basic elements of his culture eventually found their way into his unique form of artistic expression.

After Green graduated from high school, he joined the military. It seemed like a good opportunity for him to see the world and to receive an education. When he completed his military service, Green attended the Art Institute of Chicago. While he was in school, he worked part-time as a security guard at an art museum. This allowed him to study the work of the masters. He imitated their work at first, learning what made them so well respected. Then, Green found his own style and direction and began painting South Carolina’s Gullah Islands, the world he knew best.

Jonathan Green’s artwork is filled with everyday images of Gullah life as he remembered it growing up. His paintings show people hanging laundry out to dry, picking oysters, telling stories, and attending weddings and funerals. Water is found in many of his paintings because it plays an important role in the lives of people who live along the coast and on the islands.

Human beings are also found in nearly all of Green’s work, indicating the importance of family and community to the culture. The faces of the people in his paintings are usually without features. This can be interpreted as Green’s way of showing how the everyday lives and experiences of people are universal.The Gullah way of life is changing as children grow up and move away to larger towns and cities. Jonathan Green knows that his artwork cannot change what is happening to the area where he grew up. But his paintings can raise awareness of what is in danger of being lost and preserve the memories of a rich and colorful way of life.