In China, what the children expect for the Spring Festival is the gift money. And it is typically a Chinese cultural phenomenon. In some families, no one is allowed to leave after the feast on the lunar New Year’s Eve. With everyone sitting around the table, the seniors provide the juniors with the gift money […]
In ancient China, playing on a swing was not only a relaxation, but it is one of the activities during the Pure Brightness Festival. The swing was invented as a tool to help the people reach edible berries in high places. The Chinese word for the swing originally meant “moving around by holding leather ropes”. […]
A door god portrait is a Chinese decoration placed on each side of the entrance to the house. It is believed to prevent the evil from entering. The custom first began in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Taizong (599-649) once had trouble fall asleep at night because of a ghost harassing him. Two of his most […]
Kang Xi (1654-1722) was the 2nd emperor of the Qing Dynasty. His personal name was Xuanye. He was one of China’s most capable rulers. During his reign, he laid the foundation for a long period of political stability and prosperity. Under his reign, the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed with Russia, parts of Outer Mongolia […]
Chinese characters that represent numbers also have their own special meanings. One (yi, “一”) The Chinese people believe that “one” (“一”) represents the beginning of everything. The famous ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi once said that, in the beginning of the universe, “’dao’ created one”. “One” here refers to the chaotic state that existed before anything […]
The ancient Chinese incorporated their observations and awareness of nature into the shapes of Chinese characters. Learn Chinese: 月(yue: “the moon”) The shape of this character is just like the meniscus. There is an ancient Chinese story named “Chang’e Flies to the Moon”. Chang’e is the wife of Houyi. She consumed the medicine of immortality […]
In the character “首”, the upper part depicts the hair, while the lower part depicts a pair of eyes. This is the character “目”. The oracle bone script of this character resembles an eye. Today, each of the characters in “眼睛” (yǎn jin?, “eye”) contain the radical “目”. The Chinese people believe that we must […]
Study Chinese with Keats School: 丝sī The character “丝” is a pictographic character, it looks like the appearance of two strands of silk entangled together. during China’s Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD), Emperor Wu sent the emissary Zhang Qian on several missions to the Western Regions to unite the Da Yuezhi and form a […]
If you give Chinese people two choices of life: a very long, yet ultimately, average and uneventful life or a very exciting, fun-filled life that only lasted 24 years. Most of them may choose the 1st choice. There is an idiom for the traditional Chinese attitude, “A good death is worse than a lazy life”. […]
Chinese people are very interested in the age of others because, it is related to the different traditional formalities that apply according to age. Chinese customs use age as a basis for defining the relationship between people. When people of different age meet they can follow the custom of deciding how to interact with each […]