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Hi,Dear Friends
 How are you?
Today is the Chinese New Year's Day. According to the Chinese habit, I would like to wish you and your family members happier, healthier and more successful in the New Year!
This is the 4th or 5th Chinese New Year I¡¯ve spent in the US since 2009 for I¡¯ll have to start my 63rd to 92nd ¡°Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art¡± lessons in the 4th K-12 school in my current travel in Springfield, MO since next Monday, January 27, 2020.
For Chinese, the Spring Festival is just the beginning of a new  year, therefore, I have also summarized the last year and made a plan for the new year.
In 2019, there were two biggest fails in my life:
1. On May 17, 2019, my thesis defense wasn¡¯t passed in Chinese National Academy of Arts, so that I didn¡¯t get my MFA (master degree of fine arts)as my original plan.
2. Sept 9 -- Oct 25, 2019 my database and web sites, which have been running for 15 years www.ebridge.cn and www.ebridge.com.cn collapsed for 46 days, and then they were closed by the government for 23 days Sept 22 to Oct 25, 2019.
 In 2019, I also did something well:
1.On the study for getting my MFA:
-- Until May 4, 2019, I completed 300 landscapes, which was one of my assignments that my supervisor gave me when I became his student at Chinese National Academy of Arts, Sep, 2016.
-- July 9, 2019, the first one of my series papers on Chinese Dry Ink Mountains and Water Painting (Landscape) study was published in a magazine of Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House. Plus 2 books (one book = 1 paper) and another published abstracts, I completed around 350% of the school¡¯s ¡°hard requirements¡± for getting the MFA -- to publish 1 paper  during the study as a candidate for the master degree.
2. On my Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Dream Seeking:
-- Jan 19, 2019, my paper on ¡°Creating Poetry, Painting, Music: Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese in Chinese as Second Language Field¡± was chosen as one of the papers of ¡°The First Symposium on Chinese as Second Language Teaching and Research in New Zealand¡± by the University of Auckland.
-- June 14, 2019, the abstracts of my papers on ¡°Creating a Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese by Combining Poetry, Painting and Music¡± was published by a journal of Beijing  Language and Culture University, and my speech at the Academic Conference about World Chinese Teaching got attentions by some experts:
a. June 15, Professor Qi Hua, a supervisor of candidates for PHD from Beijing Normal University invited me to apply for her doctoral student.
b. Sept 25, Associate Professor Song Chunxiang of the International Education College of China University of Political Science and Law invited me to do a keynote speech in one of their Academic Conferences on Oct 13, 2019.
c. Dec 23 and 25, 2019, an American magazine invite me to publish the full text of my paper in their journal after  reading the abstract in the journal of Beijing Language and Culture University.
-- In September, 2019, after teaching for 120 class hours in 3 American K-12 hours, all of them and the 4th American K-12 school gave me a title ¡°Guest Chinese Art Teacher¡± and since then, my teaching work in the USA from 2009 have become a regular and yearly jobs in these fixed places. My dream on teaching since 2013: to have a fixed and formal place to teach yearly in the USA has become true 400% of the initial expectation.
-- Until Nov 27, 2019, I completed the first 60 class hours¡¯ teaching jobs in the 3 American K-12 schools in my current American teaching traveling and got good comments.
 For example:
a. Mrs. Jenny Pendleton, the principal of Immaculate Conception School said ¡°You are welcome next year...¡±
b. Dr. Cheryl Hall Ed. D, the Principal of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School said ¡°You are welcome every year...¡±
c. Mrs. Lindsay Paulsell, the Principal of St. Agnes School said "I am interested in listening to Shirley's lesson..."
-- Dec 14, 2019, I went to the Ave Art Guild, MO to have a demonstration and have kept the good connection with the local artists since 2013.
3. Work Platform Construction:
-- Until Oct 25, 2019, I have transferred one of my web sites out of the mainland of China and made both www.ebridge.cn and www.ebridge.com.cn to be found on different servers in China and other place overseas for improving their risk resistance capacity.
-- Oct 28, 2019, I signed some technology contracts and entrusted some professional companies to develop and manage my work platform and totally finished the long-term working style of relying on the free helping from friends.
-- Until the end of 2019, most lose from the collapse of database and the web sites has basically recovered and I have rebuilt my web site: www.ebridge.cn, and www.ebridge.com.cn is also in the process of recovering...
My Goals in 2020:
1. Continue my MFA studying :
-- I am going to improve my paper and hope to pass the thesis defense and get my MFA from Chinese National Academy of Arts in July, 2020.
 -- After majoring in Chinese arts for 10 years in 2 Chinese art schools, I am going to transfer my time and energy on learning Western Art on master level for other 3 years for the purpose of becoming an artist and art educator on both Chinese and Western Arts...
2. Continue my Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art dream seeking:
-- I am going to write a paper in English and try to publish it in an international magazine.
-- I am going to complete the second phase teaching since Jan 27- Feb 12, 2020 in my current teaching travel and then, my will total teaching 362 times for around 7,300 students  (person-times) for 520 class hours for free in 2 Chinese schools and 40 American schools and art organizations since 2009.
-- I am going to create (write books, compose music, create paintings, translate poems) the volume 3 of my last series publications and hope to publish it in 1 or 2 years. Beside on the situation that 8 professors have taken part in my volume 2¡¯s jobs, I am dreaming some of the poem songs would be sung by my native English speaker students...in Volume 3 :-)
-- I am going to continue to create my American Cultural Map Series with Chinese painting techniques that was started in 2016 as soon as I complete the thesis defense.
 3. On the Work Platform Construction: I am thinking of updating my web site 3rd time.
4. On the Business Model study: I am thinking of founding a distributed business model...
How about you? Have you summarized your 2019 and set up some work goals for your 2020?
Sincerely, I do hope you will have a happier and luckier new year.
Phono Notes:
No.1: President Caryl of Ava Art Guild sent me a card and  souvenir after an art event of us on Dec 14, 2019.
No.2: A senior artist sent her art works to me as a commemoration on Dec 14, 2019.
No.3: Dr. Cheryl Hall Ed. D, the Principal of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School sent me a Certificate of Appreication on Nov 27,2019.
No.4; Mrs. Jenny Pendleton, the principal of Immaculate Conception School sent me a Certificate of Appreication on Nov 18,2019.
No.5: A group of students of St. Agnes School sent a Certificate of Appreication on Nov 19,2019.
No.6-7: Two group of lovely students wanted to take photo with me.
No.8: A group of students were learning "Chinese painting is an  art of lines... "
No.9: A group of students were learning to paint Chinese Xieyi flower and bird painting.
No.10:A group of students were learning to paint a Chinese Baimiao Painting...
No.11: A group of students were learning to recite and sing a Chinese poem.
No.12; A group of students are learning to paint a Chinese Xieyi landscape.
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