The Tu people mainly feed on highland barley, wheat and potato and make a dozen kinds of vegetables like radish, Chinese cabbage and lettuce. In their daily life, they have Chinese sauerkraut, with meat as supplement. They like milk tea and parched buttered flour. On happy occasions they make varieties of fried foods and handpicked […]
The Nadun Festival is a time of socialization and entertainment for the Tu people to celebrate a good harvest. Starting at the end of summer harvest, the festival lasts for about two months till the arrival of autumn. It is considered as “the longest carnival in the world”. The annual festival consists of collective activities […]
The Hezhe nationality mainly lives in Heilongjiang Province. The Hezhe people speak Hezhe, a language with no written form, which belongs to the Altaic language family. According to the historical record, the Hezhe minority may date back to more than 6,000 years ago, when it was called “Sushen” in the pre-Qin period, “Heishui” in the […]
Hezhes, with Shamanism as their belief, believe that everything has its mystical powers and that the world and the heavenly bodies, though controlled by gods, each have its soul. Hezhes make sacrificial offerings to varieties of gods for their blessing. Shamanism, as a kind of culture, has played an important role in many aspects of […]
Hezhes take fish as their staple food and have many cooking methods. They can fry or stew fish, and they like to make fish floss for storage, such as stir-fried fish, raw fish, sashimi and fish shavings, etc. Quite unique are Hezhe traditional clothing, which include long fish leather gowns, fish leather leggings, and fish […]
People had other ways of choosing a wedding day. For example, in the old times, people preferred to hold weddings in the spring. There are explanations for this in “Comprehensive Discussion in the White Tiger Hall” (complied in the 1st century), “spring is the time for plants to grow and for animals and humans to […]
There seems to have been more taboos about the year of a wedding than about the auspicious days. In the Chinese lunar calendar, the 1st day of spring may fall before or after the Spring Festival. If the 1st day of spring is before the Spring Festival of a year and the next first day […]
Even after the wedding day had been chosen, it might still undergo unexpected changes. For example, if a family member died during the engagement period. The wedding would be postponed. One reason was to show respect for the dead; the other was to avoid being affected by this unlucky event. There were occasions when the […]
As to the origin of “méi pó”, a Chinese term for matchmakers, there is a popular folktale in Shaanxi Province. Long time ago, people from the two banks of the Wei River seldom communicated with each other, lat alone forming marriage alliances. One year, a young man coming from the north of the Wei River […]
A matchmaker is important in three ways. Firstly, as Confucianism gradually attained a dominant position in social ideology, people began to impose heavy instructions on the contacts between unmarried men and women. Since parents wished to arrange their children’s marriages based on comparable conditions in social status, physical appearance and betrothal gifts/dowry, a matchmaker would […]
I really had a wonderful experience at the school. The teachers are very very friendly. In my class, we practice speaking, listening, reading, and writing. We play games and other fun activities. We have trips around town. The staff at Keats is phenomenal. My teacher is one of the best teachers I have ever had in my educational experience. She comes in with a smile every day.
I found Keats School and I am so glad that I did. When you learn Chinese in China at Keats, you are fully being taken care of. My teacher is really great and we become lovely friends.
I come to Kunming because I think the environment in Kunming is better and I heard that Keats School is better. I like the small group Chinese class because my classmates study hard and our teachers are very good. I like the teaching method of Keats because I like the activities at Keats. I think Yunnan is a particularly beautiful Chinese province.
My name is Sarah Fish. I am 81. I knew very little Chinese when I arrived. How was I going to survive 2 weeks of intensive Chinese course? I have to laugh when I think of that now. What a positive experience this has been! I really wish we could be here a little longer. The teachers are extremely encouraging, evaluating first how much someone knows, and then starting from there.
The visa application was really straightforward, because Keats School helps us a lot with that. Keats has a big emphasis on conversational practice, so we learn a lot of vocabulary and daily life plans which is very convenient for us to go around town and speak with Chinese people which is the whole point of learning Chinese in China.
Before I came to Keats School, I had no confidence in my Chinese proficiency. I did not have the confidence to speak Mandarin Chinese and chat with Chinese people. However, after 4 months of study at Keats, I become more and more confident in speaking Chinese now. Studying Chinese in China at Keats School has been the best decision I have ever made. There are many games in the class, and my teacher’s teaching methods are also very interesting. My experience at Keats School has changed my view of China and Chinese people.
I have to say it’s tons of fun. I have been here for 2 weeks. Not knowing what it was gonna be like, I was more than surprised at how great it is. The teachers are great, they are understanding. They do a Chinese language program that suits just you. The location is perfect for learning Chinese in China.
I really enjoy this place because we have private Mandarin lessons. I took the 6-hour program, 4 hours in the morning, 2 in the afternoon. Even though it is quite a lot, the teaching is complimentary. This is very helpful because I could review what I did before and learn new things. My 2 teachers are fantastic. We live in the school, so it is convenient. It is interesting to me to meet people from all over the world.