Welcome! VineOnline is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and events from ChinaVine team members
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 Changsha Folk Opera A group of opera performers assembled in a small square in Changsha. The troupe entertains a gathering crowd of onlookers. The performers—mostly nonprofessional, but some from the China Conservatory of Music—are Beijing opera enthusiasts who enjoy bringing their skill, knowledge, and love for opera to the Chinese people. For those lucky enough to see the performers act, including ChinaVine’s Joel Batchler, the cost of admission is absolutely free. Of course, donations are accepted, but the opera is more for the benefit and enjoyment of the people than for profit. “Stumbling upon Beijing opera in Changsha was definitely one of the most pleasantly surprising moments during my trip,” says Batcher about the show. This variation on the Beijing opera was just one experience the ChinaVine member encountered during his ten days of in-depth research in the People’s Republic of China.
 From left to right: Chen Nan, Zhao Yifei, and Joël Batchler In December 2010, Batchler traveled to Changsha, Beijing, and Zhuzhou, China. He studied traditional Chinese music as well as Chinese folk music under Chen Nan and Zhao Yifei at the China Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Beijing. Batchler, an undergraduate Music major at the University of Central Florida, has a strong interest in Chinese musical culture. “Beethoven, Piano, Guitar. If I said these words, most people would have an idea what they meant, even in the East,” Batchler states passionately, “What if I said huqin? Dizi? Dagu? Chinese music seems so unexplored by the West, and I just want to help open up this world and to help show its beauty to everyone.” During his time in China, Batchler gathered a multitude of valuable information about Chinese music, both its traditional and folk forms. He examined styles and influences of Chinese music, as well as Western influences on Chinese learning in and outside the conservatory.
Many aspects of Chinese folk music and traditional Chinese music are quite different from what Westerners are accustomed to hearing, says Batchler, who was excited to learn just how different Chinese-inspired Western music is from music created in China.
Everything from notation style to cadence can function differently than in Western music. Despite the differences, Batchler also noted many similarities as well.
While in Beijing, Batchler observed many Western influences in the curriculum at the CCM. In particular he noted some very interesting connections between compositions and styles in Chinese and Western music. For example, in the past, Chinese musical notation used Chinese characters and differed significantly from European musical notation. However, during his studies Batchler found CCM teachers using Western notation in their curriculum.
Studying at the CCM enabled Batchler to gather details on traditional and folk music from many different regions in China. However, since Batchler was in the northern city of Beijing, his studies were mainly influenced by music from China’s north. Northern influences, says Batchler, are distinguished by, but not limited to, ensembles with flutes, mouth organs, and percussion instruments.
Batchler’s research also focuses on the differentiations of sound in Chinese musical instruments. In China, instruments are classified into eight categories based on how they make sound. These categories are known as the Eight Sounds, silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd, and hide. Today, silk often takes the form of metal, like the strings on a violin or cello. Bamboo often refers to instruments such as the flute, based on the material the instrument is made from. Chinese instruments in two of these categories would be the Pipa, silk, similar to a lute, and the Dizi, which is a Chinese flute made from bamboo.
For Batchler’s complete musical analysis between Western music and Chinese traditional and folk music, stay tuned to ChinaVine.
 The ChinaVine team wishes you a Happy New Year!
The Chinese New Year, also know as the Spring Festival, was Feb 3rd of this year. 2011 is the year of the rabbit. In the Chinese Zodiac, the rabbit, the fourth sign of the lunar cycle, is the luckiest of the 12 signs. A symbol of longevity, the rabbit derives its strength from the moon and corresponds to Pisces in the Western Zodiac. To be born in the year of the rabbit is considered lucky and people born under the sign—including ChinaVine cofounder Doug Blandy—are said to be lovers of beauty and art.
In the 2009 the ChinaVine team was in Beijing exploring the bustling meandering streets of the Liulichang district. Sometimes called the antique district, Liulichang, is one of Beijing’s historic neighborhoods. There the team found a series of paper cuts of the Chinese Zodiac.
To read more about the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and find a paper cut image of your sign, check out this page from our website.
To find your sign, check out this helpful site.
 What the new ChinaVine site might look like. In a lowly lit room, a group of ten deliberate over a long walnut-colored table. Kirsten Hierholzer directs the conversation. A project she has labored over for the last nine months is now coming to fruition. With the basic structure, wire-frames, and a good deal of content migrated from the old site, all that remains is for the ChinaVine team to choose between three designs for their new website.
Hierholzer runs a team of four students and three full-time employees, including Dave McCallum, Mark Hazen, Azle Malinao-Alvarez, at the University of Oregon’s Interactive Media Group (IMG). She and her team have been busy designing ChinaVine’s new website since March of 2010. The site will include a large number of new features which were not available when the first site was developed in 2006. These include, social media integration, blogging, a user registry, and a geo-tag enabled map.
ChinaVine’s new site is one of six projects Hierholzer and IMG are currently working on. “ChinaVine is definitely one of the more complex projects in terms of the content organization,” says Hierholzer, adding “it’s always a little more challenging when you are redesigning a site. Because the content was written for another site.”
 Kirsten Hierholzer and Doug Blandy discuss designs for the new CV site. While the new website takes a lot of its design from the earlier site, the bulk of ChinaVine’s voluminous field data has been reorganized to aid and expand user searches. The new site will give users a greater ability to pin-point their searches with expanded fields including, artists, type of art, as well as location.
The user registry is another advance to the new site. The registry will allow CV participants from the general public and as well as from the scholarly community to both blog and add their scholarly material.
Another welcome addition is the integration of social media like Vimeo and Flickr. Unlike the old site, where media files were stored on the University of Central Florida’s servers, the new site will host its media files via social media sites. This means, for instance, when you watch a video, Vimeo will do the actual hosting. Having large files reside inside the social media cloud, allows the new site to avoid the heavy-lifting required with these files. It also gives ChinaVine more opportunities to reach out to like-minded individuals in the cloud.
The iconic Flash-enabled map of China that launched with the old site now has its own page with greater interactivity allowing content to be geo-tagged. This feature, the province of IMG new hire, Mark Hazen will not be part of the site’s initial unrolling. But stayed tuned, IMG assures ChinaVine, it’s coming soon.
On a screen at the end of the table the final three designs are being picked by the UO ChinaVine team. The chosen design, created by IMG member Azle Malinao-Alvarez, keeps a color scheme similar to the group’s existing CV website with a sharp red CV icon silhouetted against a soft parchment-like background.
After choosing the final design UO team leader, Doug Blandy, addresses Kirsten and her IMG team. “I just want to say how very appreciative I am,” says an impressed Blandy. “Your team has obviously worked very hard on this.”
Reflecting on her time spent on the project, Hierholzer says she found the CV team great to work with, adding that the site has proven to be a challenge. But Hierholzer says that’s a good thing. “That’s what I like about this job. There is always something new coming through the door.”
When will the site be rolled out? Hierholzer starts testing the site with potential users next week? Expect the new site in the next six months.
Keep in touch CV Updates followers. This blog as well as a new user generated blog will migrate to the new site!
 ChinaVine is unrolling a new social media strategy, VineOnline, and we are inviting you to connect with us.
VineOnline’s hub is our new blog, C-Vine updates. With C-Vine updates we will track and chronicle ChinaVine’s progress, keeping you up to date on all the latest developments and changes. And we want your input. Comment on our posts. Do you have a blog that’s relevant to ChinaVine’s mission? Let us know and we’ll add it to our blog roll. Want C-Vine updates to tell your ChinaVine story? Use the subject head “tell my story,” and write to us at chinavine.info@gmail.com .
VineOnline is using the best tools Web 2.0 has to offer. Find us on Facebook. Like our posts? Go ahead write on our wall. Follow us on Twitter. Like what you see? Re-tweet it. On Vimeo watch our videos, and share your own. Exchange images with us on Flickr, and sounds with us on SoundCloud.
And stay tuned. ChinaVine is also unrolling a new website with a range of features our current website does not have, including new ways for you to add content. The release date for our new site is set for end of 2010. Drop by C-Vine updates for more details.
Sincerely.
The ChinaVine Team
10/29/2010,
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA, & University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
 On one side the screen, a dark windowless room, on the other, a view of a sunny and bustling, yet still very wet University of Oregon campus. “Is that a real window behind you with real trees from Oregon,” asks Kristin Congdon, leader of the ChinaVine’s University of Central Florida team. “Yes,” says ChinaVine UO team leader Doug Blandy joking, “we did that for you.” Across two screens, two beige tables, and a little over 3,000 miles, ChinaVine’s two US teams, representing twelve individuals met via video conference to discuss their recent developments and future plans for ChinaVine.
The UO team in Eugene and the UCF team in Orlando have both been busy. Conversation during the conference revolved around the two teams’ latest activities, with both groups bringing new developments to the table. ChinaVine’s US cohort also discussed their recent trip to China.
“It was astonishing, the kind the connections we were able to make,” said Blandy about the latest trip. Condon reiterated saying, “On this trip the connections were the big surprise.” Condon said the project’s new and expanded relationship with the Chinese government was the biggest surprise of all, noting that this new relationship will, “move [us] onto a whole new level.”
So what are the US teams cooking up?
The UO team discussed the development of a new social media strategy, one that would employ blogging, and the social media forums, Vimeo, Flickr, Twitter, SoundCloud, and Facebook. The UO team also announced it will be unrolling the new ChinaVine website toward the end of this year. In Orlando, UCF’s team is working on copyrighting “Vine Online,” as a unique trademark. UCF’s team is also drafting a business plan that will allow ChinaVine to locate corporate patrons.
Stay tuned, or subscribe to our feeds for more updates.
10/29/10
Arts and Administration Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
 Panjiayuan Market, Beijing. Photo by John Fenn. Public Culture and Heritage: A Beijing Based Field School ocuring in the Summer 2011 will focus on comparative cultural practices and boundaries associated with community identity. Through ethnographic fieldwork,participants in this field school will experience and investigate two cultural districts in Beijing: Gaobedian Village and Song Zhuang. Gaobeidian is a government facilitated folklore village, while Song Zhuang is a cluster of villages on the outskirts of Beijing that have bcome the home to several thousand contemporary artists. Using folkloristic methods, participants will investigate, document, analyze, compare, and contrast the cultural development of these two districts. Using mulit-media, participants will have the opportunity to contribute the results of their research to ChinaVine.org.
The field school will begin with an online orientation from June 20-July 1. The field school moves to Beijing beginning July 5 through July 19. Participants will be free to explore China on their own from July 20-July 30. Preparation of materials for ChinaVine.org occurs from July 31-August 13.
The primary instructors will be Doug Blandy and John Fenn, faculty at the University of Oregon. Their instruction during the residency in China will be supplemented by Kristin G. Congdon from the University of Central Florida and Professor Lihui Yang of Beijing Normal University.
The priority application deadline is February 1, 2011. Spaces are limited.
For more information contact Doug Blandy at dblandy@uoregon.edu or John Fenn at jfenn@uoregon.edu
Additional details can be found on the website of UO International Programs.
10/06/2010,
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
 Images from D22, a punk rock club in Beijing. In the lecture hall of the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, a small crowd has gathered. Long banners hang from the ceiling. They are covered in photos depicting,amongst other things, Song Zhuang—a vibrant artist community that formed almost overnight on the outskirts of Beijing—and the graphically striking black and white graffiti covering the bathroom walls of D22, a punk rock club in Beijing.
On a large screen at the end of the hall images of artist Mr. Her, a Mongolian who makes his home in Song Zhuang, flash by depicting folktales in oil, a look slightly reminiscent of Diego Rivera. Meanwhile several small plastic boxes, all in different colors, are emitting strange sounds from their singular built-in speakers. These are Buddha Machines. Made by the Chinese musical group FM3, these individual media devices each play a single loop of ambient sound, a riff on Buddhist chants that fill the hall with a contemplative resonance. This is the start of what will be several meetings by the newly formed University of Oregon Confucius Society, and the ambiance for tonight’s meeting, an installation called Arts Scenes/Beijing, has been provided by John Fenn of ChinaVine.
The ChinaVine group, represented tonight by Doug Blandy, John Fenn, and Tomas Valladres, is fresh from their latest trip to China, and Arts Scenes/Beijing represents some of the sites and sounds they found while there. To date, ChinaVine has done research on artists in eleven villages in the Shandong Province and seven folk artists in Beijing. Blandy, addressing the crowd, talks about the installation, ChinaVine’s mission, and the primary question he and his team have asked themselves as they continue their research in China: “How is this Web-based project contributing to critical debates over the roles of technology, education, and shifting paradigms of media by presenting the parallel yet intertwined exercise of cultural practice and art’s and humanities’ research as it’s manifesting in the digital domain?” Art’s Scene/Beijing is meant to answer this question, at least in part, by combining ChinaVine’s folkloric research with an arts-based approach. The installation also highlights something else the ChinaVine team has discovered in their research, namely how contemporary Chinese art is informed by traditional Chinese heritage.
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