China is not the hometown of lions. In the Han Dynasty, Parthia (present Iran) gave some lions to China as presents. It is obvious that there is always a pair of stone lions before some big architecture in China. Lions have won favor and respect from Chinese not only because of its awe-inspiring and fierce, […]
“Ling” referred to big earth dunes before. Chinese used it to stand for imperial tombs. There are two reasons: to describe the size of the tombs and to show the dignity of feudal emperors. In ancient times, the place where the dead buried was called “fen”(grave), while the earth dun was called “mu”(tomb). It was […]
The Chinese Pure Brightness Festival falls in the 3rd lunar month in spring, when sights of the energy of life can be seen everywhere. It is a good occasion for spring outings. Going hiking on this festival has been a long-kept tradition of the Chinese people. According to the historical records in the Song Dynasty […]
Chinese table manners are complicated topics for foreigners. The important role is to remain silent while eating. This refers to family meals only. Not talking over meals is supposed to be healthy by Chinese. It is impolite if people do not talk to each other during a social party. The table arrangement and serving order […]
For some people when they think of Daoism, they are often referring to the works of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. These thought system may be seen as philosophies, rather than religions, as they include nothing within themselves about gods, worship or ritual. This type of Taoism is often referred in Chinese as “Daojia” or […]
In the past, there was once a pagoda called the Leifeng Pagoda, situated on the shore of the beautiful West Lake (in Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province). According to legend, over 700 years ago, there was once a whit snake that was transformed into a beautiful woman named Bai Niangzi (also known as Madam White Snake), who […]
The ancient Chinese incorporated their observations and awareness of nature into the shapes of Chinese characters. Learn Chinese: 日(“ri”, the sun) The archaic character for “日” resembles the shape of the sun. the small dot in the middle indicates that the sun is a luminous body—⊙. In ancient China, there was a story called “Houyi […]
The ancient Chinese people believed that the head was the most important part of the body and that it controlled all other organs. There are many Chinese characters related to the human body. The original meaning of the character “元” was “head”. Since the head is the “root” of the human body, “元” also means […]
Study Chinese with Keats School: 衣yī The character “衣” is a pictographic character. It looks like an ancient garment. The top part is a collar; the bottom depicts the front of a Chinese jacket; and the two strokes on either side depict the shirt’s sleeves. In ancient China, “衣” meant the upper outer garment. In […]
Zu Chongzhi (429-500), whose courtesy name was Wenyuan, was a famous mathematician and astronomer in the Song and Qi of the Sounthern Dynasty. He didn’t take for granted the established theories of previous scholars and was skeptical to their specious academic conclusions. He insisted to put forward new theories by precise measurements and prudent calculations. […]