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- Man spends life savings to exhibit Shenzhen prose at ICIF
Date: 16-May-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
SHENZHEN man is spending 500,000 yuan (US$65,000) to rent five booths at the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair to display his 10-meter long, 780-character Han-style poetic prose about the city, Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday.
Jia Yubao, who is in his late 30s and works at the Shenzhen branch of the Bank of China, recently completed the composition of the prose which he began three years ago, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported. 'I did it after work every day. The writing itself was tiring, I have to admit, as the form of prose is very demanding in terms of rhythm and wording, but I like doing it and regard it as my hobby,'the newspaper quoted Jia as saying.
The prose, roughly divided into three parts, records the history of Shenzhen. The first two paragraphs are devoted to the city's little-known past before it became one of China's first five special economic zones for market-oriented economic reform. The second part depicts the economic miracle Shenzhen has achieved since 1980 when Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up strategy was implemented, while the last part contains his thoughts about the city's future.
Jia said he used much of his savings and loans from friends to pay for the booths at the convention and exhibition center. He explained that his application for free exhibition space at the fair was too late.
'Fifty thousand yuan is a large amount, which people can invest in the bullish stock market or real estate. I may sound silly doing this but I think it is worthwhile,'Jia said, adding that culture is a very important part of modern life in addition to material needs.
'I will not be trading my work at the fair, I just want to exhibit it to let people share this art form with me,'he said.
He said as the composition has taken up so much of his time and energy, marketing or any other commercial behavior is not on his agenda.
The Shenzhen prose is the third in a selection of prose on South China Jia has composed since July 2004. The selection also includes a prose on Hainan and one on Guangzhou. The prose on Hainan is now stored at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan.
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