Understanding China

Dragon lantern

china101 — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:53:06 +0000

In this quiet inland city of China, ZiGong, amazing art latterns made out of every day objects can be found. A lattern festival is held regularly, typically 1-3 years, since 1970s. Each major companies, big or small, sponsors a lattern. I am not talking about the red lantern you typically see in a Chinese movie, though they are abundant during the festival. The lattern here is a huge object with hundreds, thousands of lights attached to it. This dragon lattern in the picture is made out of ceramics spoons, plates and bowls – millions of them. It probably has taken workers several months to make it. It is such a beauty though.

As a innand city, ZiGong lacks convenient transportation and unqiue resources to support it local economy. This lattern festival is unique, but is it unique to attract tourism to drive a few hour to see it? Possiblly. But it seems it has not been turned into a hugely profitable venue for the local government. Nevertheless, for the time being, I am still a big fan of the art.

Old ferry boat in inland China city

china101 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:44:19 +0000

Old ferry boat

This ferry boat has been there for ages. The old man in the picture has been there for ages. The fare probably has increased from 5 cents to 50 cents RMB. But he is still doing his job day after day and years after years. Many many Chinese people today are doing the same jobs they were doing years ago, despite hustle and bustle of the outside world. Something might never change.

Dragon and Phoenix

china101 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:32:49 +0000

If you see Chinese artifacts or visit Chinese architecture,chances are you will see some forms of dragon and phoenix.
These two supernatural forms are symbols of auspiciousness.They were, are and will be ubiquitous in the Chinese culture.
You can see dragon embroidered in robes of Chinese emperors andphoenix in crowns of empresses.
You see them on a Chinese wedding banquet, on fine china and invarious palaces.
Historically, many rulers told legends about how dragonsrelated to themselves, e.g. their moms dreamed of dragons when they wereborn.
These stories were used as a way to demonstrate they weredesignated ruler by the heavenly king and queen.
Well, no one believes that anymore as most Chinese areatheists. However, dragon and phoenix remain symbols of auspicious.

Story of strategy

china101 — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:31:04 +0000

Many of you might know the Art of War by Sun Tzu – a militarystrategist lived in 6 century BC in China.
Less known are the many strategic stories through the historyof China. Chinese are exposed to many of these stories growing up.
And many of these stories about competition, relationship,belief are still applicable in the modern environment.
Let me tell you one of my favorites – a story about horseracing between an emperor and one of his ministers.
Minister Tian Ji had three horses with performance level incategory A, B, C. His emperor also had three horses in A, B, C.
Horses raced in pairs – one from each side. Each horse racedonce. In order to win the game one had to win 2+ rounds in a three-roundrace.
If horses raced by category, Tian would lose for sure as hishorse was not as good as emperor’s in each category. So he had to mix themup.
He used his A against the emperor’s B, his B against theemperor’s C and his C against the emperor’s A. So he won.
For details, check this out: http://bit.ly/13N0ey

Happy Chinese Valentine day!

china101 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:27:22 +0000

Happy Chinese Valentine day! The office day is tomorrow, 08/26,by the US time. However, it is 8/26 by Chinese time.
It is July 7th every lunar year, so the actual date changesevery calendar year.
There is a moving love story associated with this holiday. Acowboy and a fairy fell in love with each other.
The fairly came down from the heaven to live with the cowboy(not the US cowboy, the poor fellow had only one old cow)
Her mother, the Heavenly Queen, did not like her daughter tomarry a poor layman. She forced her daughter to leave him and return home.
The cow-fellow missed his wife very much and with the help ofhis magic cow, he carried his son and daughter to look for his wife.
Right before they met again, the Heavenly Queen found out andcreated a star river to separate them – the milky way.
But the cow-fellow and the fairy did not leave. They at leastcan see each other from a distance.
Eventually the Queen allowed them to meet once a year over themilky way on July 7th – hence this day has become a Chinese Valentine day.
Chinese legend thinks the star Vega is the fairy and theconstellation of Aquila is the cow-fellow with his son and daughter.
They are separated by the milky way.
On this day, many match-making events are held across thecountry to help people, young and old, to find their fairy or cow-fellow.
You can find more details about the story athttp://bit.ly/uhVQv
I read about a Chinese teacher who spent 26 years in a ruralarea of China. This is not the first time I heard about a story such asthis.
I am deeply impressed by her altruism. I am also quitedisturbed that till today in China there are people making sacrifice everyday.
It is not motivated by religion – she is atheist; not by money,she can go to the city to earn more. She is simple there for those kids.
She is teaching about 100 students who came from neighboringvillages. She is the only teacher there. Her classroom is made out ofstones.
Yet, she has taught 26 years. Because of her dedication, everykid has gotten some level of education. Some of them went to college.
Does China need more people such as her? Or does China needs abetter education infrastructure such that she does not need to teach thisway

Meaning of numbers

china101 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:24:44 +0000

Chinese attach different meanings to numbers because theirsounds resemble certain Chinese words.
For example, 8 is a lucky number in China, especially inCantonese, because 8 and prosperity sound the same.
Many businesses would pay a large amount of money to get a goodtelephone number such as xxx8888.
9 is also a good number as it sounds like “longevity” or”lasting” in Chinese. Therefore 98 is also a good combination – lastingprosperity
4 is a bad number as it sounds like “Death”. Chinese will tryto use the number for its residence, parking spot, telephone number, etc.
Not everyone is superstitious about numbers. But people chooseto be if there is an easy alternative.
Here are also some less known resembling of sounds: 2 – son, 5 – I,me,my, 6 – smooth. Those can combine with the first three Imentioned.

Qi Gong

china101 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:21:10 +0000

Qi Gong is something I never understand and don’t know how toexplain. But, like many Chinese, I believe its value.
So what is Qi Gong, you might ask?
It is an internal Chinese meditative practice based on slowbody movements and breathing techniques.
I don’t practice Qi Gong. I have heard that Qi Gong can helpboost one’s energy level and immune system.
if you practice it regularly yourself. Also, Qi Gong masterscan help cure your illnesses.
Many people claim that their terminal diseases have been curedby those masters unexplainably.
For example, I heard that a paralyzed lady was able to walkafter 10 years thanks to Qi Gong. Some of the stories were a bit dubious.
My mom took me to attend a Qi Gong class in the hope that itcan cure my near sightedness. I was there together with 50+ people in aroom.
We were asked to close our eyes and do some movements as told.At the end, a Qi Gong master came in front of me and pushed “Qi” to me.
Tell you the truth, I did feel the “Qi” – which was like a warmbreeze. I still don’t know how they did it. Anyway, it did not cure myissue
My experience led me to believe that there were certain meritsto this Qi Gong thing. But still, its efficacy is debatable.
Or maybe I got treated by a low-level master. LOL.

flower, bird,fish market

china101 — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:17:07 +0000

The Chinese version of a pet store is so called “flower, bird,fish market”. When I was little, I loved to go to it.
Individuals can sell many live things there – dogs, turtles,goldfish, rabbits, live crawfish and silkworms. It is simply a market.
Obviously, those animals don’t necessarily get humane treatmentas those in the US. But for kinds, it is a great place to explore.
My mom bought me some silkworms as pets. I need to findmulberry leaves to feed them. If I forgot, they would die.
The droppings of silkworms can be used in certain Chinesemedicine prescriptions – as a natural internal cleanser for your body.
Silkworms were very cute and gentle. I observed their cycles oflife – from eating, pooping, spitting out silk thread to bundlethemselves..
into cocoons, to eventually become moths. It was a fascinatingexperience for me to learn and to care for things so fragile.
I also had raised a pair of crayfish as pet. I did not knowthey were eatable. So I fed them rice and meat. They eventually died.
Anyway, some time I missed my childhood when I can explore andexperiment many things myself, when I can interact with the nature.
In today’s society, everything has become so artificial.Children learn and study in ways that adults design for them. Is thatright?

Chinese language

china101 — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:13:53 +0000

If you study Chinese, you know Chinese has two systems – PinYinfor pronunciation, using same 26 alphabets with different sounds
the writing system is ideographic – i.e. descriptivecharacters. For example, rain in Chinese looks like this http://ow.ly/kAJF.
Does it remind you of rain drops and houses?
Chinese start to learn those characters after going toelementary schools. By the time they graduate, they have learned a fewthousands
They can then read newspapers. Some people can speak perfectChinese, but they don’t know how to write a letter or read a book.
Calligraphy – a traditional art form of Chinese characters usedto be popular in China. And like Beijing operas, it has very limited appeal
It also has many different styles developed over 2000 years.Some style is easy to read and others can be difficult even for me.
Good calligraphers, like painters, can make money by sellingtheir work. Real work of a famous calligrapher in Song dynasty worthsmillions.

Chinese music

china101 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:08:17 +0000

I once played some Chinese music for my American friends – thetype of music I enjoy a lot. Soon I realized that they were bored quickly.
Chinese music tends to be slow and calm. The melody isbeautiful – very close to soft rock. Like anything in China, music isinfluenced by..
the western style. There are also rap, rock and roll and heavymetal in China. Some of them are popular only in the younger generation.
Recently years, songs by Tibetan singers or for Tibet havebecome popular. This song “Road to Heaven” http://bit.ly/6SXyJ is myfavorite.
The female singer Han Hong has a beautiful and pure voice – agreat match for the purity of Tibet.
Taiwan and HongKong singers tend to be very popular in China. Ibelieve it is partly due to the heavy marketing supported by record labels.