China Guide 2008

“Mid-Autumn Festival” which is also known as the “Zhong Qiu Jie” in Chinese, is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. This year it falls on September 25^th.  Mid-Autumn is a time for family members and loved ones to congregate and enjoy the full moon – an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Adults will usually indulge in fragrant mooncakes of many varieties with a good cup of piping hot Chinese tea, while the little ones run around with their brightly-lit lanterns.

“Zhong Qiu Jie” probably began as a harvest festival. The festival was later given a mythological flavour with legends of Chang-E, the beautiful lady in the moon.

According to Chinese legend, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns. Yi stole the elixir of life but to save the people from his tyrannical rule, his wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

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Most Chinese remember being told this romantic tragedy when they were children on Qixi, or the Seventh Night Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, which is usually in early August. This year it falls on Sunday, August 19.

If it rains heavily on that night, some elderly Chinese will say it is because Zhinu, or the Weaving Maid, is crying on the day she met her husband Niulang, or the Cowherd, on the Milky Way.

According to the Chinese lore, a cowherd lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law who disliked and abused him, that he was forced to leave home with only an old cow for company. The cow, however, was a former god who had violated imperial rules and was sent to earth in bovine form. One day the cow led the cowherd to a lake where fairies took a bath on earth. Among them was a weaving maid, the most beautiful fairy and a skilled seamstress. The two fell in love at first sight. They ignored Heaven’s strict rules and were soon secretly married. They had a son and a daughter and their happy life was held up as an example for hundreds of years in China. Yet in the eyes of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Deity in Taoism, marriage between a mortal and fairy was strictly forbidden. He sent the empress to fetch the weaving maid. The cowherd grew desperate when he discovered the weaving maid had been taken back to heaven. Driven by the cowherd’s misery, the cow told him to turn its hide into a pair of shoes after it died. The magic shoes whisked the cowherd, who carried his two children in baskets strung from a shoulder pole, off on a chase after the empress. The pursuit enraged the empress, who took her hairpin and slashed it across the sky creating the Milky Way which separated husband from wife. The cowherd was stopped by the surging river. But all was not lost as magpies, moved by their love and devotion, agreed to let them meet one day (on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month) each year. All the magpies in the world, according to lore, gather on that day to form a bridge spanning the Milky Way so the lovers can reunite. Even the Jade Emperor was touched, and allowed them to meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh month. (more…)

According to Chinese lunar calendar, June 19th is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which is a famous traditional festival – Duanwu festival.For thousands of years, Duanwu has been marked by eating Zongzi and racing dragon boats.

The taste of Zongzi, a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves to give it a special flavor, varies greatly across China. Zongzi is often made of rice mixed with dates in Northern China, while Eastern China people like to stuff Zongzi with pork, ham, chestnuts and other ingredients, making them very rich in flavor.

Duanwu is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, because dragon boat races are the most popular activity during the festival, especially in Southern China. A dragon boat is shaped like a dragon, and is brightly painted in red, white, yellow and black. Usually, a dragon boat is 20 to 40 meters long, and needs several dozen people to row it. Boatmen row the boat in cadence with the drumbeats, as the captain standing in the bow of the boat waves a small flag to help coordinate the rowing. Before the race gets underway, a solemn ceremony is held to worship the Dragon King.

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History of Nuo

In the West, people dress up at the end of October in masks and costumes to exorcise evil spirits haunting the towns. It’s called Halloween. It was originally a Celtic ritual to drive away the devil. Later, these activities developed into masquerades and festivals. China has its own version of this kind of ritual. It’s called “Nuo”.

“Nuo,” also called the “Nuo sacrifice” or “Nuo ceremony,” was originally a type of sacrificial and magical ritual held to expel evil spirits and pestilence. Its name is derived from one of such rituals, where people shouted “nuo, nuo” to drive away the devil.

Nuo has a long history. It started twenty thousand years ago. Nuo originally meant a patterned step to drive away evil during the last month of the Chinese lunar year. Later, Nuo evolved into a dance. The purpose of Nuo was to drive away devils, disease and evil influences, and to petition for blessings from the gods. At this time, Nuo was a sacrificial activity. (more…)

Tie-dye is a dyeing technique similar with the arts of batik, also adopts dye-resistant technique.  The difference is that batik parts of the fabric not intended to be dyed are covered with removable wax; but tie-dye parts of fabric are enlaced and bundled in order to resist to be dyed.  The bundled parts of fabric show the natural color transition generating various beautiful patterns, as the permeation of the dyestuff. 

Tie-dye has centuries-old history in China.  Far back to 1300 years ago, the cloth made by tie-dye technique had been popular in Tang Dynasty.  One emperor of Song Dynasty once claimed to forbid the civil use of tie-dye technique and title it for royal family only in 10^th centre.  The ancients of White Nation, a minority of China, already knew this dyeing technique greatly well over 1000 years ago, and had developed this technique to be a unique part of the culture of White Nation.  (more…)

The craft of making painted clay-figurines of Fengxiang has a recorded history of more than 3,000 years.

The images of clay figurines typically included flowers, birds, fish, insects, as well as auspicious birds and beasts, reflecting cultural characteristics of ancient China.  The figurines are painted with such bright colors and traditionally each color has a special meaning. Green represents longevity; red means a flourishing year. Also each design painted has meaning: pomegranate represents happiness and prospers offspring; butterfly brings good fortune; peony represents fortune and luck. (more…)

Batik is a method of producing colored designs on textiles by dyeing them, having first applied wax to the parts to be left undyed.

China has been using this method since Qin dynasty, some 2000 years ago. Batiks were especially appreciated by ethnic groups in Southwest China. And this method became very popular during Tang dynasty (618 AD – 907 AD). Some ancient batik items can be seen in museums around China. (more…)

Paper-cut is a traditional art in China which has been making its way along the route of the long history of paper. The kind of art went after the invention of paper in Han Dynasty (25-220), once became one of the main form of the arts, and was popular to the people of the time. Since paper is not suitable conserve for long time, only few works of paper-cuts have left. The earliest paper-cuts in China can be traced back to the period known as Northern and Southern Dynasties (386-581).

Paper-cut is a kind of engraving art, which is made of paper. The main tool for paper cutting is scissors. Once they are owned by a master of paper cutting, they will become so supernatural that the paper-cuts beyond imagination flow out of his/her hands in the chattering of a common pair of scissors. Another tool for paper-cut is engraving knives which are necessary to enhance a sharpened effect or to make a delicate job. (more…)

The 29th Beijing Olympic Game Torch design unveiled at Beijing time March 26.

The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay will traverse the longest distance.

Starting from Beijing on March 31, 2008, and will go along the following route: (more…)

China’s cuisine has evolved into one of the great cuisines of the world. For more than 5,000 years, food has played an auspicious role in nearly all aspects of Chinese society from health and medicine to business and celebration and it is no less important today. The overall importance of food in China can’t be understated; upon greeting, Westerners will inquire about your health, the Chinese will ask if you’ve eaten.

Rich in scenic beauty, China’s geography spans a wide spectrum from fertile plains to high mountains. Its climate is also extremely broad in scope, ranging from sub-arctic to subtropical with everything in between. This combination of varied geography, climate and sheer land size produces an extraordinary cornucopia of fruit, vegetables, meats and seafood, and has evolved into one of the most interesting, creative and widely enjoyed cuisines of the world. (more…)