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Hi,Dear Friends
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
On this special day, I really hope you and your family members have had a productive 2025 and will have a luckier, happier, and more successful new year!
On my side, I spent 9.5 months on my international trips in the US and Australia in 2025, mainly doing three things:
1. Creating & Exhibition:
1) I drafted three large pictures featuring about 60 species and more than 300 birds from the US, China, and Australia as the first part of my World Cultural Map Series; they are currently in the process of being created; and I completed 30 small Chinese Xieyi landscapes that you can see a part of with this letter.
2) Two of my paintings – Shirley Yiping Zhang’s “Iris on the Streets of Beijing” - sketched from nature in Gaobeidian, Beijing, May 7, 2014, and "The Banana Leaves on the Campus of Missouri State University" - sketched from nature in the USA on Oct 6, 2013, participated in an art exhibition in Sydney from October 19 to November 3, 2025.
3) My first “E-bridge Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Exhibition” will be held in December 2026 in Sydney.
2. Teaching:
In 2025, I offered a total of 169 hours of Chinese art lessons within the US and Australia (including 133 hours, which includes 17 hours in December 2024 in the US and 36 hours in Australia) to pass on and convey Chinese culture by teaching Chinese arts such as poetry, painting, and music through five “cross-cultural comprehensive art workshops” in the US and two workshops and one public lecture in Australia.
3. Research & Publication:
1) One of my papers “On the Feasibility of Creating 'Poetry, Painting and Music: Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese' in the Field of International Chinese Language Teaching — Starting from the Relationship between Traditional Chinese Painting and Modern Chinese Language” has passed the blind review by the Chinese Language Teachers Association of USA, and I will share it at its Annual Conference at the University of Rhode Island in May 2026.
2) The teaching syllabus for my E-bridge Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art has been drafted four times.
3) I have also written some small papers on how to enter wider civilization by combining elements from both Chinese arts and other cultures.
Photo Note: This is the certificate that Mr. David Jin, the principal of Global Art Ashifield, Australia, granted to me for my work on the Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Workshop in his school from May to November 2025.
4. Business:
1) Target market and target users: In 2025, I have initially realized my long-term dream – to create a work model for my cross-cultural and comprehensive art in the US, not only serving the local people but also extending it into Australia and larger areas. My target users have expanded from mainly young non-Chinese speaking students and American artists from 2009 to 2020 (the worldwide Covid-19 epidemic halted my work from 2021 to 2023) to overseas Chinese in both the US and Australia, as well as social organizations such as American churches, Australian elders’ healthcare organizations, international art schools, etc.
2) Work partners: In March 2025, several American organizations and I signed some documents for regular business cooperation; from September to November, four Australian culture and art organizations accepted me as their member and an Australian Art Academy accepted me as their artist.
Additionally, I have started initial work connections with more than 20 successful Australians.
3)Revenue: Apart from the modest income I earned from exhibitions and teaching in the US previously (which has been donated to local disabled people, schools, and exhibition institutions to support the development of the "E-bridge Cross-cultural Integrated Art Project" there), my teaching work in the US and Australia in 2025 also brought in some new small income.
Photo Note: This is the certificate from the "Australian Chinese Cultural Research Association" for my donation of 5,000 RMB (1,000 Australian dollars) to support its "World Chinese Good Article Award" project.
Now, I am working on summarizing the problems in my work in 2025 and solutions to resolve them in 2026. Meanwhile, I am preparing for my 13th trip to the US and my 9th trip to Australia to continuously pursue my E-bridge cross-cultural and comprehensive art dream, which originated in 2000 by writing, translating, creating, teaching, researching, continue to build a business model etc.
Maintaining the attitude of a lifelong learner, I am going to pursue my ultimate goal by following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and maximizing my self-worth through serving and helping others in the upcoming 2026 and beyond.
I am well aware that future work will be hard, the road will be long, winding, and full of challenges; my heart is peaceful and joyful because I have a clear, meaningful dream that benefits many people.
With strong confidence in this dream and a big smile, I will enjoy the process of thinking, practicing, improving, developing, and even failing...
How about you? Do you have anything special planned for 2025? What are your great plans for 2026?
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Sincerely, I am just a lifelong learner in the arts of painting, music, English, management and Chinese art teaching, and work on the website in my free time. I would really like to do something with what I have learned and make this website a little electronic bridge for cross-cultural and integrated/comprehensive art and Chinese language studying. This way, I can help others while improving myself.
Thank you always for your understanding, guidance and assistance and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to write to info@ebridge.cn .
Shirley Yiping Zhang
Dec 25, 2025
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