娛樂資訊:因藝術結緣的跨國之戀

Two years ago Neneh Ada Yang knew nothing about China, but today her talent for Chinese art impresses even masters in the field. "I`m very proud that I might be the only African that can paint Chinese art," she says with a smile, sitting in her Beijing art studio surrounded by paintings of trees, flowers and towering mountains.

兩年前，愛達•楊對中國一無所知，但如今她在中國藝術方面所展現出來的天賦已令許多大師級人物刮目相看。“我可能是唯一一個會畫中國畫的非洲人，這令我感到自豪。”她坐在自己位於北京的藝術工作室裏微笑着說道，工作室四周滿是山水畫，從花草樹木到層巒疊嶂。

The 26-year-old, who couldn`t understand any Chinese when she arrived in China in 2011, is now skilled in several traditional Chinese art forms, including Peking Opera, calligraphy and the seven-stringed guqin.

26歲的愛達•楊2011年初到中國時根本不懂中文，但現在的她卻精通多門中國傳統藝術，其中包括京劇、書法和古琴。

But her specialty is in traditional Chinese painting. Some of her work has been good enough to be exhibited in the National Museum of China.

但她的專長是國畫。她的一些精美畫作甚至成功地在中國國家博物館展出。

Many people come to China in search of the exotic, but for Yang it was a relationship with Chinese landscape painter Yang Yan, who visited Africa in April 2011, that brought her to the country.

很多人來中國尋找異國情調，但對愛達•楊而言，她與中國結緣卻始於一段戀情。2011年四月，她與赴非旅遊的中國山水畫家楊彥相識相戀，最終來到中國。

"I was a third-year college student learning business administration in Sierra Leone," she says. "The only thing I knew about China was the kung fu star Jackie Chan, whom I had seen in movies."

“當時我還是一名在塞拉利昂攻讀商業管理專業的大三學生，”她說，“對於中國，我唯一知道的是功夫明星成龍，我看過好多部他的電影。”

Yang and Yang Yan met through friends and soon fell for each other, even though they did not speak a common language.

愛達•楊和楊彥經由朋友介紹相識，儘管語言不通，但仍然無法阻止他們迅速墜入愛河。

For the 55-year-old Yang Yan, it was a romance he`d been waiting for 20 years after seeing a sculpture of an African girl. When he saw Yang, instinct told him this was the woman he`d been waiting for.

對於55歲的楊彥來說，這是一段等了20年的戀情。20年前，一座非洲女孩的雕塑深深印在他的腦海中；20年後，當愛達•楊出現時，直覺告訴他這就是自己一直等待的女人。

The two got married in Sierra Leone a month after meeting and Yang followed her husband to China without telling her family. It was a bold move for her and not without challenges.

他們二人認識一個月後便在薩拉利昂結了婚，愛達•楊在沒有告訴家人的情況下隨丈夫來到中國。對她而言，這是一個大膽而冒險的舉動。

"I talked to my friends and realized that there are big differences between my country and China - language, culture and climate. But I know when you go to any place, you need to respect their culture, so I decided to follow what people do here," says Yang, who now speaks fluent Chinese.

愛達•楊用一口流利的中文說道：“我和朋友們聊天，然後意識到中非之間有很大的差異——語言、文化、氣候皆不相同。但我知道不管去向何處，都需要尊重當地的文化。所以我決定入鄉隨俗。”

She was surprised to discover her husband was a painter when she saw his studio.

當她來到楊彥工作室時，她才驚喜地發現原來自己的丈夫是位畫家。

"I see him painting every day," she says. "Mr Yang is that kind of person. When you see him painting, you want to paint. When he paints, he puts all his attention, his effort, his love into it, which can be very infectious."

“我看到他天天在作畫，”她說，“楊彥是那種你看他畫，就也想跟着畫的人。他畫畫時，將全部注意力、精力、以及情感都沉浸其中，極具感染力。”

When Yang Yan left his desk, Yang picked up the brushes and began to paint mango trees - common in her hometown - using different colors and brush strokes to show how they looked at various stages of growth.

當楊彥離開畫桌後，愛達•楊便拿起畫筆，開始畫自己家鄉隨處可見的芒果樹。她用不同的顏色和畫筆來展現出芒果樹各個生長階段。

At the end of the 2011, she held her first exhibition. Since then, Yang`s art has been shown on many occasions, including at the China-Africa People`s Forum, and has been bought by both collectors and galleries.

2011年年末，她舉辦了首次個人畫展。從那時起，愛達•楊的畫作便在包括中非人民論壇在內的許多活動中亮相，一些收藏家和畫廊更是買下她的作品。

What stands out in her work, Yang Yan believes, is its innocence and purity.

楊彥認爲，正是畫中的那份樸實與純粹令她的作品出類拔萃。

"She can be very focused and expresses everything in the scene she paints, which is very precious. To her, art is only art; it has no connections with anything else," he says.

“她能夠非常專注地在作品中表達一切，這十分難得。對她而言，藝術就是藝術，與其他任何事情無關。”楊彥評價說。

Yang and her husband have collaborated on some artwork, including on a series of paintings of plum-mango trees. On the treetops there are plum blossoms, while on the trunks there are mangos. This series of work was sold to African embassies and Chinese museums.

愛達•楊夫婦聯手創作了一些作品，其中包括一系列以梅花和芒果樹爲主題的畫作。樹上開的是梅花，結的卻是芒果。這一系列作品被非洲大使館和中國博物館買下收藏。

"Chinese people like plum blossom, which symbolizes integrity and nobility, characteristics that are admired in Chinese culture, while mango symbolizes Africa. This creative idea is very refreshing," Yang Yan says.

楊彥說：“中國人喜歡梅花，它象徵着中華文明所崇尚的正直和高貴；而芒果則象徵着非洲。這個創意非常新穎。”

Yang adds, "Chinese painting is like a spirit for me now."

愛達•楊補充道：“現在，中國畫就是我的靈魂寄託。”