In Chinese’s eyes, the dragon is an auspicious deity full of magic power. It has always been respected by Chinese. In the ancient mythology, there was a myth to the effect that the Yellow Emperor went to Heaven on the back of a dragon. It was Liu Bang, the 1st emperor of the Han Dynasty […]
In traditional Chinese opera, the emperor is called “wansuiye” and people have to exclaim “wansui” (ten thousand years old) three times when they meet the emperor. As the living condition was poor in ancient times, to live a long life was the greatest wish for all people. In ancient times, except for “wansui”, there were […]
China is known as a state of etiquette and ceremonies. Many proverbs have been passed down from generation to generation such as “civility casts nothing” or “courtesy demands reciprocity” and so on. Once upon a time, a man went on a long tour to visit his friend with a swan as a gift. But it […]
“Let loose the noose only to catch later” is a tactic of deliberately leaving someone at large to give a false impression that he is safe, and then making a sudden move to catch him when he is off guard. This is a very tactic that Chinese are familiar with because there are many stories […]
Li Qingzhao (1084-1155), self-titled Yi’an Jushi, is one of the most-talented women in China history in the literature field. Her life was a bittersweet story. She married Zhao Mingcheng and shared with him the love of poetry and antiquities. They had enjoyed a happy family life before the emperors of the Song Dynasty were captured […]
Because of the long history of Chinese characters, the vast territory in which they were used, and the large population of people using them, the numbers of books and records written in Chinese continued to grow. Also, for various reasons related to engraving, typesetting and proofreading, Chinese characters developed into what seemed like a state […]
The Formation of Chinese Characters Chinese characters were created in accordance with a certain model or prescribled patterns. In China’s first dictionary, “shuowen jiezi” (“Explaining and Analyzing Chinese Characters”), there were character-formation methods. Chinese characters can be classified into four main categories: pictographic characters, self-explanatory characters, associative compounds and pictophoentic characters. 1. Pictographic Characters Many […]
Learn Chinese: Some Chinese characters evolved from pictures. Indeed, many people describe writing Chinese characters as similar in feeling to painting. However, Chinese characters are not merely a random aggregation of lines. They must be written one stroke at a time in an orderly manner. One “stroke” refers to the connected segment that is formed […]
In recent years, archaeological studies and a number of unearthed cultural relics have proved that the festival started from a kind of totemic worship among the ancient Wu and Yue people in south China about 4 or 5 thousand years ago and the custom gradually spread to the north after the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). […]
Falling on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, the Lantern Festival is one of the grandest celebrations among the common people in China, and the custom of merry making on this night has a long history. The custom originated from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) 2,000 years ago. After the death of […]