Torch Festival

Torch Festival，a traditional festival of the Yi, Bai, Lisu, Naxi, Pumi, Hani and some other minority nationalities inhabiting southwest China, falls around the 24^th of the 6^th lunar month.

On the day of the festival, the Yis and Bais of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province would build in villages big, pagoda-shaped pine torches wrapped up with layers of dried firewood and pine branches. In addition, there stand small torches at the doorway of every household. At dusk, carrying small torches, villagers gather around a big torch and wait for the exciting moment to come when the big torch is lit. Then, holding their flaming torches high, the villagers walk around their houses and fields.The flaming torches make the night a bright day. People then meet at a bonfire, singing, dancing or drinking through the night in the hope of bountiful crops in the coming year.

Tibetan New Year

The Tibetan New Year is celebrated from December 29 through January 15 by the Tibetan calendar. The calendar, with a history of 1000-odd years, has retained its peculiarities although it was greatly influenced by the Han and other nationalities.

Traditionally all Tibetan families start, in the middle of December, to prepare butter, milk tea, buttered tea, Qingke wine, mutton and some other holiday food. On the night of December 29, they do a thorough cleaning and dump all the waste at crossroads, believing that the dirty things harmful to the health and happiness of the family members are thrown away with it.

On New Year’s eve, the family clean up their courtyard and spray water on it. They adorn the doors and windows with colorful fragrant cloth, and display on a table a Qiema (a container),a sheep head, Qingke wine, fruit, etc.

Before daybreak on Tibetan New Year’s Day, people burn pine rosin and place dyed Qingke barley amid ears of wheat on the roof, a wish for a prosperous new year. Women get up early to carry home buckets of auspicious water from the river. The other family members stay in bed, waiting to wash their faces with the water. This done and livestock fed, men put on new Tibetan robes and boots while women are dressed with colorful Bangdian (that is, aprons), and headdress dotted with corals, agates and pearls. The mother of the family then places the Qiema before everyone and each takes a little Zamba out of it while saying prayers like Zhaxidele (all the best) and Geshaersang (Happy New Year). Visits not allowed, all the family members stay home and enjoy holiday food and drinks.

Child Bathing at One Month Old

Chinese Folk Customs--Child Bathing at One Month Old

When an infant is one month old, relatives and friends gather in the house. These people pour warm scented water into a silver pot, and put nuts called “infant-bathing nuts” and colorful paper notes in the water. They tie bright silks around the pot. These silks are called “ red around the pot”. Elder members stir the water in the pot with gold or silver hairpins. These are called “pot stirring pins”. The close relatives among the guests drop gold coins or silver pins into the pot. This practice is called “adding to the pot”, If there are dates floating upright in the water, young women race to eat them because they think doing so foretells their having a boy. After bathing the infant, people shave its head and collect its hair in a gold or silver box. Parents then show the baby around to thank all those attending. This rite is adopted by rich families and families of officials. Common people and poor families have something simpler in accordance with their economic means.

中国传统文化精粹--满月洗儿会

孩子满月那天，亲戚朋友都聚集在一起，家人吧和着香料煮好的热水倒在银盘里，把叫做“洗儿果”的干果和彩色的钱币等放在水里，还用彩色的丝绸绕在盘上，这称作“围盆红”。长辈用金叉或银叉搅盆中的水，这名叫“搅盆叉”。客人中的近亲也把金的钱币、银的叉撒到盆中去，这叫做“添盆”。盆水中若浮有竖立的枣子，年青的妇人都争着拿来吃掉，她们认为这是生男孩的征兆。洗完孩子，剃完胎发，把胎发放入金或银制成的小盒中。大人抱着孩子感谢每个亲人和家人。倘是有钱的人家或是官宦之家，就用这样的礼仪，普通人家或穷困人家，随自己的能力节俭一些。

Gifts Expediting Child Delivery

Chinese Folk Customs--Gifts Expediting Child Delivery

As families in Hangzhou await a child in a woman’s last month of pregnancy, just before delivery members of the family will place a bunch of millet stalks in a silver of an ornamental pot covered with silk or paper and decorated with interwoven patterns of flowers and rich-paper plant. This suggests chances of bearing five boys and two girls. In addition, there are pastries in the shape of sleeping lambs and crouching deer, one hundred and twenty painted duck eggs, regular dishes, lamb, raw dates and chestnuts and embroidered clothes for the infant. All these are sent to the son-in-law’s house. They are called “gifts expediting child delivery”.

中国传统文化精粹--催生礼

杭州城里人家生孩子，如孕妇进入最后一个月，产期将到的时候，娘家人就用银盆或彩色的盆盛一束粟米杆子，上面盖着丝绸或纸，并用花朵、通草交织的花样点缀着，表示生育五男二女的意思。还有面粉做的睡羊和卧虎、一百二十个彩绘的鸭蛋、日常的饭菜、羊、未熟的枣子、粟子和手绣的彩色婴儿服装送到女婿家中，这叫做“催生礼”。

the silkworm and the silk

The Fable of Silkworm and Horse is recorded in the mythical novel A Search for God. As the legend goes, in ancient times there is a father who went afar, leaving his only daughter at home. The daughter missed her father so much that she joked with her horse, "I'll marry you if you get my father back home." The horse did as what she said and got her father back. However, when her father returned home, the daughter copped out on her words. When her father got to know the truth, he killed the horse with his arrow and peeled its skin. All of a sudden, the horse skin jumped up, wrapped up the girl and disappeared. Several days later, the father found among the leaves of a big tree his daughter, who had turned into a silkworm spinning on the tree. The tree was the mulberry.

The silkworm is a holometabolous insect requiring special care in different stages of growth. Therefore, sericulture is a hard job. When cocoons are formed, we may begin reeling raw silk, which can then be weaved into colorful silk. China boasts a large variety of silk, including the massive brocade and floss, light gauze and yarn, lustrous satin and damask silk, as well as delicate Gesi silk tapestry and superior embroidery.

The chinese character,the interpretable chinese culture

The chinese character,the interpretable chinese culture

灾 (disaster)

In the oracle bone inscriptions, the character is similar to a zigzag river surging forward. This is because human life can not be divorced from the river yet the excessive water would threaten human life and their

chinese idiom-wangyangbulao

亡羊补牢 

【拼音】：wáng yáng bǔ láo

A man who raised sheep once noticed there was a hole in the walls of his sheepfold. But he neglected to repair it. A few days later, several sheep were missing. His friend advised him: "It is not too late to mend the sheepfold."

"Wang Yang Bu Lao" or "Mending the sheepfold after the sheep have been stolen" advises us that even though we have suffer a loss, it is never too late to take steps to prevent further losses.

中国古代四大发明――火药 Four greatest inventions of ancient China---gun powder

    火药，是用硝石、硫磺和木炭的粉末混合在一起制成的，人们叫它“黑火药”。

    火药的发明与炼丹有直接的关系。中国古时候，炼丹家把矿物和植物配合起来，放在炉中烧炼，想炼出能使人长生不老的“仙丹”来，当然，这是不可能实现的事情。但是，炼丹家在炼丹过程中却发现了能燃烧爆炸的物质，制出了火药。火药大约出现在隋代。唐朝末年，火药开始用在军事上。宋代，火药武器已经广泛使用。

    公元13世纪，火药和火药武器开始西传，先传到阿拉伯国家，后来又传到欧洲的一些国家。

Gunpowder, also known since the late 19th century as black powder, was discovered in the 9th century in China, attributed to Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality.

Gunpowder was made by mixing elemental sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate). The charcoal traditionally came from the willow tree, but grapevine, hazel, elder, laurel, and pine cones have all been used.

When the ingredients were carefully ground together, the end result was a powder that was called 'serpentine.' The ingredients tended to require remixing prior to use, so making gunpowder was very dangerous. People who made gunpowder would sometimes add water, wine, or another liquid to reduce this hazard, since a single spark could result in a smoky fire. Once the serpentine was mixed with a liquid, it could be pushed through a screen to make small pellets, which were then allowed to dry.

This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China. In the centuries following the Chinese discovery, gunpowder weapons began appearing in the Arab world, Europe, and India.

The Origin of Shanxi Business –Ancient City of Pingyao

The city of Pingyao located in the middle part of Shanxi Province, China is an ancient city with a history of over 2700 years. UNESCO describes it as an “ outstanding city model fo the Han nationality in the Mng (1368-1644) and (1644-1911) dynasty” and listed it as a World Cultural Heritage Site in the year of 1997.

Firstly built as early as 827 B.C. to 782 B.C., the city walls, streets, dwelling houses, shops and temples have been well-protected. Besides, many traditions are still preserved in the daily life of people living in Pingyao. The city we see today was rebuilt in 1370 on the basis of the old one.

The design of the ancient city is strictly according to China’s traditional archaeological thoughts. The wall circling the city is one of three treasures of Pingyao. Made of black bricks, the city wall has stood against rains and storms for over 600 years and been well preserved. The circuit of walls measures 6 km in length with 3,000 battlements and 72 massive bastions, presenting Confucius’s 3000 disciples and 72 sages. In the late Qing Dynasty, a Kuixing Pavilion was built in the southeast of the city to keep flourishing literature here, which showed how geat the Confucianism influence was.

Moreover, the city wall has six city gates and from above the city resembles a turtle with the southern gate as the head, the northern gate as the tail, the four gates in the west and east as the four legs and the four major streets, eight small streets and 72 lanes as designs on the back of the turtle. In ancient China, a turtle was the symbol of longevity and peace.

Pingyao enjoys the distinction of its folk residence. The private houses are built round four sides of an open courtyard, in black bricks and gray tiles, symmetrical and rectilinear. The cave dwelling put up with bricks are in particular of strong flavor of rural life. Now, the city possesses 3,797 courtyard dwellings, in which more than 400 are preserved to an exceptional extent.

The ancient city of Pingyao is known as “ a gallery and treasure houses of Chinese ancient architectures” since there are many precious historic and cultural sites such as the other two treasures of Pingyao, the Zhenguo Temple and the Shuangliing Temple.

The Zhengguo Temple with a history of more than 1,000 years is located to the northeast of the city. It is famous for its building technique and the color-painted sculptures of the Five Dynasties, In terms of its building technique the most representational is the Ten-Thousand-Buddha Hall, which is one fo the three oldest timberworks in mainland China.

The Shuanglin Temple to the southwest of the city is 400 years older than Zhengguo Temple. It is considered as the “ ancient painted scuplures meseum”. The temple house more than 2,000 colorful sculptures reflecting the exquisite skills of the artisans of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Besides the long history and those valuable architectures, Pingyao is also famous as the financial center of China in the late Qing Dynasty. The first bank in Chinam “Ri Sheng Chang”, was founded by Shangxi merchants. At the zenith in the late Qing Dynasty, there were as many as 22 draft banks in Pingyao, with more than 400 branches countrywide. The main street of the city, currently a 440-meter-long street in the Ming and Qing styles, had been called the Wall Street of Asia in the 19^th century.

The attraction of Pingyao is the city  itself, Much of the central part of town is free of vehicles and makes for a pleasant walk checking out the wares available for purchase, from the odd baked good to pieces of jade to silk purses. All in the Pingyao is a relaxed pretty little town. It’s definitely recommended to come here, live in the hostel built in 1591 and feel the peaceful atmosphere of a real ancient city.

Four greatest inventions of ancient China---papermaking technology

Chinese language has a long history，but there’s no paper at first. people carve words on bones and tortoise shells, or bronze vessels in the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th-11th century B.C.), we called the  inscriptions “jiaguwen”or “jinwen”.

As the society develops, people carve words on bamboo slips or wood slips, but the slips were too heavy, they’re inconvenient to write and read. it’s said that Qin Shi Huang should read 60 kilogram document everyday. So, people write words or paint on silk later. Though the silk is thin and light, it costs much, only nobleman can afford it.

When time goes to West Han Dynasty, paper was created. Paper made from linen was the world's earliest kind of paper, chinese people called it “hemp paper”. Hemp paper has ever been found in West Han sites of Sinkiang , Shanxi and Gansu provinces. In 1986, a paper map unearthed in a tumulus of Gansu , the paper map was not only thin, but also very soft, and there were rivers, mountains and roads on it. Experts consider the paper of West Han Dynasty was a kind of paper made from plant fibres.

About 105A .D., Cai Lun of the East Han Dynasty ( 25 A . D. -220 A .D.) succeeded in producing quality paper from linen craps, rags, and used fish nets. This kind of paper is cheap, thin and light, and has quantity source of raw materials, so it became very popular. People called it “Caihou paper” to commemorate the contributor, and he makes a greater contribution to humanity, then Papermaking technology was introduced to all over the world.

中国文字的历史很长，但是，最初没有纸，人们用刀子把文字刻在龟甲和兽骨上，或者刻铸在青铜器上，这就是甲骨文和金文。

以后，人们又把文字刻写在长竹片和长木条上，分别叫“竹简”和“木简”。竹木简很笨重，书写阅读都很不方便。据说秦始皇每天要批阅120斤的公文。后来，人们又在帛上写字或画画。帛是一种丝织品，价钱很贵，一般人用不起。

到了西汉时期，纸终于出现了。最早的纸是用麻絮制成的，叫“麻纸”。麻纸在新疆、陕西、甘肃的西汉遗址中都曾发现过。1986年，在甘肃天水市放马滩的一座西汉早期古墓中，出土了一幅纸地图，这幅纸地图又薄又软，上面用黑色粗线条画着河流、山脉和道路。专家们认为西汉时期的纸属于植物纤维纸。

公元105年，东汉人蔡伦总结了劳动人民的造纸经验，用树皮、麻头、破布、旧渔网做原料，经过制浆、捞纸、烘干三个工序，制成了一种质量更高的植物纤维纸。这种纸轻薄好用，价钱便宜，原料来源又多，所以很受人们欢迎，人们把这种纸叫做“蔡侯纸”。蔡伦改进造纸术，对人类文明做出了巨大贡献, 此后就不断向世界各国流传开来。

four greatest inventions of ancient China—printing

In China, the earliest books are made with a handwritten. Copy books are time-consuming and laborious, and prone to making mistake.

In the 4th century, Chinese learned to make rubbings on stone tablets or bronze vessels, and this way is considered the most original printing method.

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, people invented the block printing.The wood block is carefully prepared as a relief matrix, words are carved on board in reverse, and bulged out. After coated the words with ink, and put a paper upon it, a page is done with a gently brush. At that time a skilled craftsman can print 2000 pages per day. However, although block printing can print a lot, the engraving is useless when a page of a book is finished for the characters on the wood block are fixed.

During Northern Song Dynasty, Bi Sheng invented movable-type printing after years of experimenting .He carved words on square clay pieces which are made of daub, burned hard, then movable-types are finished. When you’ll start a print, put the movable-types in order in a piece of iron plate which is with frames, roll the words out, fix and chart ink, then printing can start. The types can be reused after printing, so this printing method is fast and energy saving, and movable types can be correct when a mistake is discovered. So, the invention of movable-type printing is a great beginning to the world printing history.  

After that，the printing was steadily improved, people use wood moveable，bronze moveable and lead moveable to print, and the quality of printing became higher and higher.

在中国，最早的书籍是用手抄成的。抄书又费时又费力，而且容易出错。

公元4世纪，中国人掌握了用纸在石碑上拓印的方法，得到了黑底白字的拓本。拓印可以称作最原始的印刷方法。

到了隋唐时期，人们又发明了雕版印刷，就是把字反刻在木板上，让字凸出，涂上墨，然后把纸铺在上面，轻轻一刷，一页书就印好了。那时候一个熟练的工匠，一天能印两千张。不过，雕版印刷虽然可以大量印书，但是由于雕版上的文字是固定的，所以一页书印完以后，这块雕版就没用了。

到了公元11世纪，宋代人毕升发明了活字印刷术。毕升用胶泥做成一个个方形的泥块，在上面刻上反字，用火烧硬，这就成了活字。印书时，把活字按顺序排在一块有框的铁板上，压平，固定，图上墨，就可以印刷了。印完后，把活字拿下来，下次可以再使用。这种印刷方法又省力又迅速，发现错误，还可以改正。毕升发明活字印刷术是世界印刷史上的伟大创举。

后来人们又用木活字、铜活字、铅活字印书，书籍的印刷质量越来越高了。

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

“I have spent a lot of time and effort,” stated King Hui of the state of Liang, “ on governing my country. When there is a bad harvest in Henei, north of the Yellow River, I evacuate the people to Hedong, east of the Yellow River and move the grain of Hedong to Henei. When the harvest is bad in Hedong I would do the same for them. As far as I could see, none of the rulers of the neighboring states does not decrease and the number of my subjects does not increase. Why is this so?”

“My lord likes fighting battles,” replied Mencius, “so I will use an analogy from war: imagine battledrums thundering and weapons clashing. At this time some soldiers abandon their armour and run away, dragging their weapons behind them. Some stop after going on hundred paces. Other halt after fifty paces. Those who ran only fifty paces laughed at those who ran a hundred. What do you think?”

“That’s not right. It’s just that they didn’t go a hundred paces, but they did run away all the same.”

“My lord, if you understand this, then you should not cherish hopes of having more subjects than your neighbours.”

One of the five scared mountains --- Mount Heng

Mount Heng is one of the five sacred mountains. It is called Heng Shan.Heng Shan has been considered a sacred mountain since the Zhou Dynasty.

During the Han Dynasty, a temple called the Shrine of the Northern Peak (Beiyue Miao), dedicated to the mountain god was built on Hengshan's slopes.

The most famous temple at Hengshan is not Daoist, but is actually the Buddhist Hanging Monastery (Xuankong Si).The Hanging Monastery stands at the foot of Mt. Hengshan and is one of the most dramatic sights at Hengshan - a wooden temple clinging to the cliff side, appearing to defy gravity with only a few wooden posts as support. The Hanging Monastery, built in 491, has survived more than 1,400 years.

One of the five scared mountains --- Mount Song

Mount Song, known in Chinese as Song Shan (Simplified Chinese: 嵩山; Pinyin: Sōng Shān), is one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism and is located in Henan province on the south bank of the Yellow River in China. Its summit is 1,500 meters above sea level.

Songshan is made up of several mountains that rise to 1500 m in the Dengfeng district of Henan province.Song Mountain is called the Central Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains in China. It has 36 peaks and stretches 60 kilometers, composed of Taishi Mountain and Shaoshi Mountain. The highest peak is 1494 meters above sea level. The seven peaks of Song Shan stretch for 64km between the cities of Luoyang and Zhengzhou. The slopes rise steeply from the valley and are thickly clad with trees, giving them an impressive appearance, but the highest peak (Junji) reaches only 1500m in altitude.

It contains important Taoist temples such as the Zhongyue Temple; It is home to the Shaolin Temple, traditionally considered the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, and the temple's collection of stupas is the largest in China. The Zhongyue Temple is also located here, one of the earliest Taoist temples in the country. The Songyang Academy nearby was one of the four great academies of ancient China. The mountain and its vicinity are populated with Taoist and especially Buddhist monasteries. The 6th century Songyue Pagoda is also located here, as well as Tang Dynasty (618–907) pagodas within the Fawang Temple.

The Miracle of All Times----The Great Wall

The Miracle of All Times----The Great Wall

Listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987, the Great Wall is a true marvel and a testament to the long history of the Chinese Civilization. The Great Wall stretches from ShanHai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. The most comprehensive archaeological survey in April 2009, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 kilometers.

It’s believed that the Great Wall was firstly in Warring States period(475-221 B.C.), and primarily strengthened in three dynasties: the Qin(221-206B.C.), the Han(202B.C.-220A.D.), and the Ming(1368-1644). In the early days, the Great Wall was as much a demarcation of territory as a defense as such, but as the Great Wall became stronger, its defense role increased. The building styles of each dynasty added their own flavor and advanced the techniques learned from the previous. Where possible, natural barriers were integrated into the path of the wall. It’s said that the length of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers is about 2,232.5 kilometers.

The first emperor, Qin Shihuang, who unified China by force set about constructing one Great Wall—by joining existing one and filling the gaps. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls. Some parts of the Great Wall have almost disappeared. Some parts have been overwhelmed by the elements. Some have been buried by the desert. Others eroded by local people recycling the wall’s materials for constructing in their villages. Most of the walls that we are familiar with today were built in Ming Dynasty, which built the biggest, longest, strongest and most ornate Great Wall ever.

The Ming Dynasty Great Wall starts on the eastern end at ShanHai Pass, near Qin hungdao, in Hebei Province, next to Bohai Sea. It once spanned 9 provinces and 100 counties, but the final 500 kilometers of the  Great Wall to the west have all but turned to rubble. Today, the western end of the Great Wall effectively ends at the historic site of Jiayu Pass, in northwest GanSu Province, at the limit of the Gobi Desert and the oases of the Silk Road.

The ShanHai Pass mentioned above is one of the most famous passes of the Great Wall. It’s known as the First Pass under Heaven. To the east of it, there is a Meng Jiangnv Temple, which was built in memory of Meng Jiangnv, the heroine of the most popular folklore concerning the Great Wall of China. The husband of Meng Jiangnv was forced to go to the construction site for the Great Wall in the nuptial night. Meng JIangnv waited for the return of her husband and months went by like centuries. When winter came, she decided to visit him and bring him some clothes. However, she arrived at the site only to find her husband toiled to death and buried under the Great Wall. She was so sad that she kept crying for 7 days and nights. Finally, part of the Great Wall fell apart and the body of her husband appeared.

Besides the ShanHai Pass, another famous part of Great Wall should be Badaling, which is the most representative and best-protected part the Great Wall in Ming Dynasty. More than 400 celebrities like Nixon, Margaret Thatcher and Viadimir Putin etc. have visited and 130 million tourists have been there. After the Beijing Olympics,  you could visit there, being greeted by the Olympic structure “ One World, One Dream”, which could be seen in the MV of Beijing welcomes you.

Today, more and more people from all over the world are visiting the Great Wall of China, to stand on a watchtower and view the wall snaking into the distance. Why don’t you stand up, take a package with you and walk on the Great Wall? The one who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man. You might take a photo with certain head of state, if you’re lucky enough.