 My name is Jeff Shaw and I'll be the host for today's episode of In the Studio. Joining me today is another is Ning Wan. She is the chair of the Davis Cross Cultural Foundation. Ning has been down here before for the Davis International Film Festival, which she produces each year. The Davis Cross Cultural Foundation is a nonprofit that's been around in Davis for quite some years now. Today, we're going to be talking about this project that the Davis Cross Cultural Foundation initiated in this region called the Cheung Sum Project or the Cheepow Project. It's a long scroll project that was initiated in China and Ning's going to talk a little bit about what it all entails and what you see before you hear. Ning, thanks for coming in today. I'm glad to be here. Let's start off by telling us a little bit about the dress itself, the Cheung Sum or the Cheepow dress. Cheung Sum is the English translation for Cheepow. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the dress itself and maybe some of the cultural significance of it in China? Cheepow is named the Chinese National Dress in the 1920s and it has this beautiful curve and all the Chinese people love it and the typical Cheung Sum, Cheepow has this corner stream and handmade buttons so many, many Chinese women love Cheepow. And so these are, and this is a button or this is a text house attached? Actually this is a button so this is kind of a new design. We have the zip but before if we take that one, you know you don't have the zip on the back. That's my first Cheepow. So over in the corner we have a Cheepow hanging here that's, if the camera can get a shot of that and you can see that this is, this is more traditional. The design has been changing over the years from this one in the corner and to this kind. And this one in the corner, is it, when do you suppose this was produced? I think this is 1980, later 1980s and the flower hand and braid. And what were you saying significant about the attachment? It's the buttons, you know, actually you have the open here and then up at the top there. At the top there and there's no like a zip for this dress. Got it. And so, so this one's different, this is a new design. So this one that you're holding up here is different because it has the zip and everything in the back. Yes, but the tradition, these are the buttons you have actually, you know. So culturally, why is this dress ever controversial in Chinese culture or is it always been an accepted dress or how, you know, can you tell me some of the history of it or why it is culturally significant? It's because this dress has been in the Chinese history for a long, long time, maybe 300 years old. Wow. So people are arguing if this one is from Han dynasty or from Qing dynasty. I see. And then the other people say, oh, it's because the Republican kind of the China because it is named as a national dress in 1920s and like all the students wear this as a uniform. So that makes it very popular. It's kind of for everyone. So it's, is it because, so the dress itself was sort of an expression of the people independence or sort of. Yeah, the Chinese culture and symbolize the independence and the freedom the woman, you know, have. I see. Yeah. Similar to, I guess in our culture, you know, the women wearing pants is not necessarily, it was a new trend that sort of symbolizes some sort of independence or, yes. So let's go back to the actual, the scroll project then. So the, this global Chinese cheepow long scroll, what is that project and when was that initiated? So this project was initiated, I think was like two years ago, maybe more than two years ago from Tianjin. That's my, I graduated from the university, Nankai University, the producer Liu Bing. He has this idea. He wants to, you know, let the Chinese woman or maybe not even Chinese women wear this Chinese tradition custom. And they want to make a Guinness World Record out of it. To make a, a very long. Right. So the idea from what I understand is that the idea is to set the Guinness World Record for the longest scroll. Yes. And how did he, why do you think he chose photos of women in this dress to set the record for the longest scroll in the world? I believe it's because for us, as far as I know, like everyone, I know the love of cheepow and it's a national dress. I see. Yeah. So it's very symbolic to the Chinese woman. Okay. Yeah. So this is a, this is almost a tribute then by, by featuring Chinese women on, wearing these unique dresses on the scroll. So what inspired you to start this, when did you first find out about this global, global project, the global Chinese cheepow long scroll project? It's like a more than, it's like one, more than one year ago. Okay. I heard from my classmates from China and say, you know, there's something going on. And also I have an online in Davis. She told me, you know, this project is original from our college. And then say, I'm going to contact them. And because I just love cheepow so much, all these dresses belong to me. Yes. So I have like a collection of cheepow. So tell me how this, how you, you're planning to do more of these next, this coming fall. But tell me how the logistics of this project, so you decided I'm going to do this. That means you had to, you had to bring the dresses. You had to find women to participate. How did you find women to participate? So this is a very big project because we found like more than 240 women in local region in Sacramento area. So I, I just posted on the internet and then friends told me friends, so we say, we are doing this project. And then the team bring like more than 200 cheepow from China. Okay. So the cheepows actually they brought the dresses from China. Okay. And they do the makeup for you, they do the hair for you, just make you look so beautiful and everybody lovely, you know. And how do the, how do you know whether or not the dresses will fit? Did people have to change so the dresses or? No, they just pin it. So yeah, if it's too big, they use the pin at the back. So did this all happen in one day then, these photographs or? They did a very fast, great job. There are like four makeup artists and the two photographers come to this region. For 240 women? For 240 women. We did it in four days. Four days. We rent a hotel and like everyone, you know, can dress there and they did all the shots and the makeup, it's beautiful. So then the idea is then you take the photographs, you get them printed on the special scroll. How word do you get this, you have this printed at some, in some special way so that they're all side, look side by side. Yeah. So this is also a tradition Chinese style for the long scroll, because Chinese painters do a lot of this kind of painting. I have a smaller one here just to give an idea of the traditional. This particular is a single, single scroll of a single shot. But this, so this style is a traditional and tell me a little bit about, you took the single shots and combined them into the log. Yeah. So the Turkish, actually took like 30 or some pictures and the final one, the like, because the dress needs to be different, you know, and then they made this like a painting. Okay. The way they do it, it doesn't make it look like painting old ancient and the color looks like the traditional Chinese painting. I see. Yeah. And the idea is that this scroll that you've produced will be sent to the person who initiated the Global Chinese Cheapow Long Scroll project and they will be combined so that they can, they can then enter this as the, in the Guinness World Records as the longest scroll ever produced. Yeah. So what they did is that they have, so what we have is a local section that went to so many places and they made a very, very long one, combined them together. So where are some of the other places that you know of? They went to Japan, they went to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Of course, China, Hong Kong. And the many cities like in United States that came to San Francisco, there were like more than 400 ladies participating in San Francisco and New York and New Jersey. Does San Francisco have a project like this going on as well? Yes, it did. Yeah. We did like back to back. Okay. Yeah. And I guess she's emphasized that each of these photos are of different, different women, maybe the same similar dress, but they're different women. Every single. Yeah. So every single woman can only, you know, have one photo in the scroll. So in the entire scroll. So do they have to decide to be on the San Francisco scroll or the capital scroll? It's all by raging. So here, you know, we have this capital and the Sacramento, big Sacramento area. Yes. We also do the small ones. So we have Davis small scroll. Yes. So you have, so we brought that, but it's a similar size scroll of this and it's just the Davis scroll. Yes. Like I have 20 people. So people can, obviously you'll give that to people who participated so they can hang it in their wall. Yes. So this is really a record of local Chinese women down to the Davis city and then expanding it out to the larger region and it'll be attached. So this is going to be a, is someone keeping track of who's, who's already taken the photo and is it honor system? No, actually I have all these, you know, people's name listed. Yes. Yeah. So if you do another one this fall, will you invite women who have not previously appeared on the scroll? Yes. And have new people to participate because the project is we want to get as many people as possible and for the record. Excellent. And do you have any idea when the record will be met or beat or what, you know, how many years will this take, you suppose? Oh, I don't even know, but right now they have like more than 36,000 women participate and it's not only Chinese anymore. Actually here we have, that's a professor from Sac State. Okay. And so you know all, and you know all of these women? I kind of, I know them, yes. And so you're saying it's not just limited to Chinese women now or? No, no, it's not, yeah. Okay. But it's a way we want to, you know, experts the Chinese culture and then either people know what the Chinese people, you know, doing and the custom, it's a way for us to do the culture exchange. Yes. I think there's an excellent way for people to understand some Chinese culture and especially to highlight all the women. You know, I'm curious as to, you mentioned one of them as a professor and these types of things. Can you imagine for women to know that they're part of a larger scroll and the largest scroll in the world I think would probably make them feel empowered and the fact that they're wearing these dresses too is probably a nice. We thought about that, you know, I was thinking about if this is in a museum maybe like 100 years later, you know, our children will say, wow, that's my grandma. Yeah, exactly. They'll be kind of, they'll be able to see the scroll and find their grandmother or see their relatives on this world-setting scroll. So it's a very, it's a great project and documenting this is a no small effort. So well, I wish you the best of luck on this. So we'll keep tabs on it and see and find out when the record is set. And I hope this fall when you get more women to take this photo and get more dresses done and hire all the photographers and get this printed that it goes very successfully. Okay, thank you very much. You've been tuned to Davis Media Accesses in the studio. Please tune in every Thursday to see a new episode of In the Studio. My name is Jeff Shaw and thank you very much for tuning in. For more information about the project, the website will be put up and you can go visit that website about this. So thanks again, Ning, for coming in and we'll have you again to talk about some other subjects related to Chinese culture. That will be great. Thank you very much. Thanks.