Chinese Fengshui
Fengshui, or Feng Shui, a special Chinese tradition in architecture, usually links the whole process from site selection, designing, construction and interior and exterior decorating in ancient times.
Panjiayuan Flea Market
Panjiayuan Flea Market is located at the south east of the 3rd Ring Road. It is an open air market, opened 7 days a week, but the best time to go is on weekend. The market was famous for antique dealings about 10 years ago, today it is famous for the big collections of handicraft works from the neighbouring provinces, but not entirely in the sense of antiques, you can still get some real stuff, but not very easy.
“Tianfuhao 天福号” braised pork hock
“Tianfuhao” braised pork hock with soy sauce is quite unique, oily but not greasy, lean but not bony, savory and mellow, with tender skin. Although this dish is called sauced pork hock, no sauce is used. The pork hock is in sugar color. The skin sticks to the meat so that the pork hock will not be broken or fallen apart when held up by the chopsticks. The skin is in dark violet color, glistening with oil. With fresh and inviting flavor, the meat in the mouth will not cause any greasy feeling and the flavor will linger in your mouth for a long time.
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Chinese scholar draws map of Chinese literature
Source: Xinhua
Apr.20 – A leading Chinese scholar said on Wednesday that he has found correlation between ancient paintings with Chinese literature and tries to draw a map of ancient Chinese literature.
Yang Yi, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Institute of Literature, said at a news briefing that he has published the first book of his innovative idea, The Chinese Ancient Literature Illustrated.
“The fragile paper and paintings show us spirit of the ancient Chinese literature,” Yang said in an interview with Xinhua.
In this newly-published book, Yang tried to explain context of literary documents and paintings, dated back to about 1,000 years.
“I wish to thoroughly study the integration of Chinese civilization in the dimension of literature history as well as dynamics of the Chinese culture,” Yang said.
Literary critics said Yang’s analyses on relationship between different family clans, localities and urban cultures, as well as mentality of the elite and derogated officials are academic innovations.
Including the Chinese Ancient Literature Illustrated, the CASS released more than 60 academic achievements made by its researchers recently. The CASS regulates that it will hold such kind of academic news release in every quarter.
Traditional temple fair held in Mt.Tai
Chinanews, Apr. 14
An ongoing traditional temple fair held in Tai Mountain in east China’s Shandong province has resumed the ancient temple culture that has a history of more than one thousand years.
According to historical accounts, the temple fair in Tai Mountain originated at the end of the Tang dynasty (618-907) and prospered during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasty (1644-1911). At first, people worshipped the God of Tai Mountain on the occasion, which later developed into a folk festival with religious and tourist activities. Folk arts, breathtaking games, folk handicraft, and exchanges on ideas of longevity can all be seen during the fair.
Eight Trigrams of Divination
1,800 years ago, Daoism was founded by Lao Zi and his message was preached to the world by his disciple by the name of Mencius. It says that everything exists through the interplay of two opposite forces: male-female; positive; hot-cold; light-dark; heaven-earth; yin-yang, etc.
In the center of the dual Yin-Yang, the principles of being, surrounded by the eight trigrams of divination. The Eight trigrams represent eight animals and eight directions. At 12 o’clock are the three unbroken lines of heaven; then clockwise, clouds, thunder, mountains, water, fire, earth, and wind. These are used in fortune-telling. Daoists try to achieve harmony out of the conflict of these forces through the Dao or the Way.
Daoism was most popular in the Tang and Song, but declined in the Ming. Its most famous monasteries are in Beijing, Chengdu, Shenyang, and Suzhou.
Feng Shui? just Wind and Water ?
“Feng Shui”, “Wind and Water” is that which can not be seen and can not be grasped. It is a system of dragon logy a “science” using the shape of nature objects such as rivers, hills and trees. It was possible to choose the desirable sites for tombs, house, and even cities. It was also able to foretell the spot selected. People believed in the past that a geomancer was able to counteract evil influences by good ones and to save whole districts from devastation by floods, pestilence and so forth.
Yin and Yang
Man and woman, Yin and Yang.
A symbol of a plough on a piece of field, that is the original meaning of a man, socially man was a big labour in the field.
(below)This is the Chinese character for a woman, from the beginning, it stands for a person crouches with two arms crossed, weaving something maybe.
Maybe you have heared of Yin and Yang, the two opposing principles in Chinese phylosophy, the fomer for feminine and negative, and the latter masuline and positive.
The explaination of the Yin would be a little complicated story.
But the Yang, on the left is a picec of highland, while on the right is a lantern shinning on the top of it. Below is Yin:
Yin and Yang in a Chinese dictionary book.
Chopstick challenge!
From: Beijing Weekend 2001
Taking time to learn Chinese table manners could pay dividends-and avoid red faces! The wary Westerners could be forgiven for being bamboozled by some of the customs which are second nature to Chinese people gathered round the dinner table.
But refusing to pick up the chopsticks and learn by experience is a big mistake which will leave you culturally impoverished – and missing out on some of the world’s best food!
However, it pays to take heed of Chinese people’s distinctive table manners to avoid any culinary clangers.
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