Each nation has characteristics that distinguish it from others. When thinking about Spain, flamenco music and paella come to mind. England has connotations of dismally wet weather (don't forget your umbrella!), double-decker buses, and afternoon tea. France is known for its wine and haute cuisine, and Holland is famous for its windmills and tulips.

And China?

For those unfamiliar with China's long and eventful history, immediate Chinese associations are likely to be the Great Wall, and Mao Zedong. Other snippets of China knowledge might include the Chinese being first to invent gunpowder, and that they produced the finest in paper, silk and porcelain. This simplistic and superficial view is, however, expanding.

How is it expanding in Poland?

Recently, two exhibitions on China and Chinese art were held in Warsaw. The museum of Ethnography displayed a "Five Colors of the Dragon" exhibit -- a wonderful collection of dragon papercuts, wood carvings, pottery figurines, and dragon images painted on porcelain that provided a tremendous insight into Chinese history and tradition. The second exhibition, held at the famous Lazienki Park gallery, entitled "Landscapes of China," comprised an exhibition of watercolors by Chinese painter, Ji Ye.

It occurred to me that within music, the concept of China is, and has been, exciting and inspiring to composers and artists all over the world, and so I had a look through the catalogues of tapes and records at the Polish Radio Tape and Record library in Warsaw.

It is interesting to see how jazz musicians so like China! In the 70s, famous jazz musicians Louis Armstrong and Oliver King and their band recorded "Chinos Blues," and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman recorded "China Boy." "Chinatown, My Chinatown" by the talented Jerome and Schwartz team, was recorded by various jazz artists such as Glenn Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, trumpeter Louis Prima and his band, the New Orleans Gang, and by Jack Teagarden and his Swinging Gates. There are countless others.

But no one will forget the great chart successes such as, "China Girl," a song penned by Iggy Pop and performed by David Bowie, and "China in Your Hand" by the pop group T'Pau. It is also interesting to see how bands such as China Crisis and China Black have incorporated "China" into their names. Perhaps this article will inspire readers (and writers) in other countries to make a study of the phenomenon "China in Pop Music".

In any event, the 2008 Olympic Games will be the best promotion of China ever. I sincerely hope that by then your magazine - "China Today" - will be published in Polish!!!

BEATA PRZEDPELSKA
Warsaw, Poland