Overview of the project

Project title: Chinese Ancient Poetry Astrophotography, China
Project leader: Ms. Bing Li

Our ancestors were closer to the night sky than we are. Celestial objects such as the Sun, the Moon, the Milky Way, star constellations and comets are mentioned in many Chinese ancient poems and stories. The sky nearly never changes. We see the same sky that Li Bai, a famous Chinese poet, saw 1200 years ago. Chinese people were taught ancient poems when they were very young, but were never taught the astronomy in the poems. In fact, parents and teachers do not know about them.

The project will take pictures of the night sky according to ancient & famous Chinese poems. The project will have people with different background work together: Chinese literature teachers select astronomical poetry; Astronomers explain the selected poems; Photographers take pictures according to the selected poetry and Artists and designers give good ideas of getting beautiful pictures. By the Autumn of 2014, 40 pictures with Chinese poetry photography will be:

1) Shown on the Beijing Planetarium website which can be viewed all over the world. These pictures will show the Chinese culture vision of the sky.

2) Displayed in the Beijing Planetarium exhibition hall.

3) Used as examples to unites and inspire more people to provide different culture astronomic poems and astro-photography for the next exhibition and website content all over the world.

The slogan of the project: Appreciate Chinese Poetry night sky!