祭(jì) 祝(zhù) For sacrificial activities, not only the jade articles should be prepared, but also the food, especially meat. For the ancient people, meat was the scarcest and most cherished food of all. Therefore, during the grand sacrificial worship activities, meat(肉ròu) was offered in sacrifice to demonstrate reverence to the gods. In the oracle bone […]
In China, parents are called “父母 fù mǔ—literally ‘father and mother’”, also they are usually called “家长jiāzhǎn?”, literally “the leader of a family”, because parents have absolutely authority to decide something for the children, especially in the ancient time. The children’s career, marriage and a lot of things are decided by the parents, and you […]
From the appearance, you may think that Suzhou Gardens built by the hermits are quite small, and then you are cheated. Once you get inside these gardens you are surprised by their size. The architects used all kinds of sleight of hand to add space, or the illusion of space. The hermits preferred the atmosphere […]
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 […]
The Great “xiangsheng” artist, Hou Baolin, once made a joke about the Henan dialect. He said the dialect is China’s most concise because, you usually only need one word for anything. For instance, if someone goes to the hathroom, the conversation might go as follows: “who?” “Me?” “What?” “Pee!” The most frequent word used in […]
The Island of Music Gulangyu Island, in the Fujian Province, is located off the coast opposite and is known as “The Island of Music”. There are six hundred pianos on the island with a population of only twenty thousand people. During the 1840s, foreign missionaries and other Europeans brought their pianos and musical traditions with […]
In the twelfth lunar month, every place’s climate enters into the coldest period of a year. Because Laba Rice Porridge Festival is very close to Midwinter Festival, it will be unavoidable to talk about the Midwinter Festival when Laba Festival is mentioned. Since the Midwinter Festival in the twelfth lunar month, the coldest time of […]
If you study Chinese in China, you may have met some famous tombs about the ancient emperors. The Yin Zhai (tomb) Feng Shui culture and Yang Zhai Feng Shui originate from the same concept. At the same time, both these two kind of Feng Shui culture in Chinese culture take the same ideal condition. They […]
Before you come to learn Chinese in China, you may have already been attracted by the rich and long history from Chinese culture. Thus, majority of overseas are encouraged to study Mandarin in China so that they could learn more about Chinese culture from Chinese history. It has told the story about how Qin Shihuang […]
Many students who are studying in the school in Kunming to study Chinese are quite interested in Chinese literature. They collected many books and took part in the Chinese culture class. The teacher of Chinese language school talked about the origin of Chinese literature in the recent class. The story told by the teacher is […]