TouchBeijing.com

The Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Chinese people have several customs during this period, some of which are still followed today, but others have weakened.

On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Job’s tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko.

The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offered sacrifice to the kitchen god in the past. Now,however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves. After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called ‘Seeing the New Year in’.

With the New year drawing nearer, people clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes completely as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils. Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. Antithetic couplets and ‘reversed fu’ are two unnecessary characters.

Highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper are paneled on the door which show house owners’ wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance. The Chinese character ‘fu’ is another must. ‘Fu’ means blessing and happiness in Chinese and ‘Reversed fu’ is homophonic with ‘fu comes’, being pronounced as ‘fudaole.’ What’s more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.

People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members reunion and have a luxurious and big dinner together. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively ‘ji’, ‘yu’ and ‘doufu,’ mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. They also have ‘New Year Call’ for relatives and friends. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.

The first three days of the New Year are also important for Chinese people.

Everybody dresses up on New Year Day. They first extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. This is called ‘red pocket’.

People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think ‘jiaozi’ in sound means ‘bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new’. Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. While southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means ‘higher and higher, one year after another.’

The first several days after the Spring Festival are also a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely in China. Moreover, they may go Temple Fair not only to eat traditional Chinese food but also purchase some Chinese local specialty.

Burning fireworks is the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. And there is a legend about it. Traced back to thousands of years ago, there was a ferocious monster called ‘nian’. It lived deep at the bottom of the sea all the year round and climbed up to the shore only on New Year’s Eve to devour the cattle and kill people’s lives.
Villagers were afraid of it so much that they always escaped from their homes on that day and couldn’t enjoy New Year. One day a man thought of an idea that he burnt a pile of bamboo, the exploding sound of which scared the monster ‘nian’ so much and drove it away and it dared not come back again. From then on, people began to burn fireworks on the Spring Festival Eve and this turned to be a kind of entertainment.

Besides, a series of other activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing and lantern festivals will also be held for days. The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.

China is a country rich in poetry. The poetic tradition developed from Shijing, ‘The Book of Songs’ and Chuci, ‘Elegies of Chu’, and got its peak during the Tang Dynasty, an empire of civilization and prosperity.

Poets left imperial palaces and noble’s manors, and threw themselves into a big world. They traveled to famous mountains and rivers, and to the frontier’s deserts and wastelands where they sang to their hearts’ content.

Tang Dynasty poets had sang for three centuries in different tones. They included many prominent poets living in the Tang period, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin.

‘Poems of the Tang Dynasty’ edited in the Qing Dynasty has collected more than 48,900 poems that were written by over 2,200 poets. But it didn’t cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.

During the Tang Dynasty poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.

Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win their fame and also to mould their temperament. They poured out deep feelings for their friends and criticised injustice in the world through poems.

In the Tang Dynasty scholars must be poets. The nobility and common people were their readers. Poets recited poems, songstresses sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, could also read some Tang poems. The atmosphere had affected those foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries. Sentimental people were overwhelmed with admiration for it.

Tang poetry serves as a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It’s a miracle in the history of culture of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, blended with the cream of other ethnic peoples and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world.

Tang poetry wasn’t the only spiritual wealth created by the Tang Dynasty people. Philosophy and religion, building and sculpture, calligraphy and painting, and music and dance all gained their peaks in development. Tang poetry was a symbol of these creations and a spiritual emblem of the time.

It has become a way of life that has affected the Chinese people for generations.

-to certify that the holder has acquired the required Chinese Proficiency to enter a college or university as an undergraduate or graduate student.

-to certify that the holder can be exempt from taking the Chinese language course depending on the level of certification.

-as a basis for the employers to evaluate the Chinese proficiency of the job applicants.

The Issuing of HSK Certificates and Test Report Form

The HSK certificate and test report form will be mailed to the HSK test centers by the organizer within two months after the test. Candidates may obtain certificates and test report forms either by collecting them in person at the test center or by mail from the test center.

The retention period of the certificate and the test report form is 2 years. If the candidate does still not claim them after 2 years, the organizer will not keep them any longer.

Regulations on reissuing test report forms

Candidates may come to the HSK Center of BLCU and can require a reissue of the test report form for the purpose of employment or application for study in a university within the valid period of the test result. There are handling and cost charges for it.

Period of Validity for HSK Certificates

The HSK certificate has a permanent validity, whereas the accompanying test report will only be valid for two years (beginning from the date of the test session) as the certification for foreign students to enter a college or university in China.

By Zhu Linyong (China Daily)

Chinese characters are reportedly becoming increasingly unfamiliar to today’s Chinese population, especially the younger generation.

With the widespread use of computer-based pinyin, graphic design software and the messaging system on mobile phones, many Chinese are finding it hard to write the proper Chinese characters they began to learn in kindergarten.

The occasions for hand writing Chinese characters are becoming fewer and fewer. This is despite the fact that Chinese handwriting has, over the centuries, developed into an independent art form that enthralled feudal emperors, lords, intellectuals and average Chinese.

Many people are saying that Chinese characters and Chinese calligraphic art is in a life-or-death crisis.

In an academic seminar held last week at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, many Chinese experts and artists expressed their concerns about the future of the millennia-old Chinese characters and Chinese calligraphic art.

‘About two decades ago, Chinese arts, including Chinese calligraphic art, enjoyed an unprecedented boom after China left behind the chaotic ‘cultural revolution’ (1966-76) and entered a new era. But today, Chinese calligraphic art has encountered some new problems,’ said Shen Peng, chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association.

Shen urges professional Chinese calligraphers to try even harder ‘to find their own voices’ for the continued prosperity of the art form in the new century.

He said that greater efforts, too, should be made to promote awareness and genuine love of Chinese characters and Chinese calligraphy among the general public, particularly among the younger generation.

Shen’s view was echoed by many attending the two-day seminar on Chinese calligraphy.

As China gets more and more commercialized, people do not have the patience and mood needed to practise calligraphy or to delve deeper into the theoretical realm of the ancient art form.

Fading art form

Wu Zhenfeng, a researcher with the Shaanxi Provincial Art Museum, said that many Chinese calligraphers today are not as knowledgeable in the arts as previous generations of calligraphers, for instance in classical Chinese literature.

Nor are they as diligent as older Chinese calligraphers, said Wu. Many contemporary Chinese calligraphers who are more interested in quick fame and money are busy churning out works for various exhibitions and putting their works in galleries and auctions.

It is true that the practical functions of calligraphy are decreasing and calligraphy is getting far away from the daily lives of ordinary people. However, ‘calligraphy, as a vital part of art education, should be strengthened rather than weakened in China’s primary education and at the university level,’ said Li Yi, a researcher with the National Research Institute of Chinese Arts.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, compulsive calligraphy courses were popular among primary and even middle school students.

About 100 magazines and newspapers about Chinese calligraphic art mushroomed as millions of Chinese calligraphy enthusiasts across the nation took up the ink brushes as their ancestors did. They experienced the mysterious and philosophical interplay between brushes, ink, rice paper and classic Chinese literature.

But today, the number of calligraphic publications has dwindled sharply as fewer people care about the art form.

Calligraphy education has been maintained in some universities such as Beijing Capital Normal University, where a doctoral programme on Chinese calligraphy was opened in 1993. However most students are unable to make a living as professional calligraphers as older generations did about 20 years ago, said Ye Peigui, a Beijing-based art researcher and one of the first doctoral degree holders from the programme.

‘Chinese calligraphic art is but a narrow topic among the few professional Chinese painters and calligraphers,’ said Chu Mo, a researcher and calligrapher from Jiangsu Province.

Even worse, ‘only a limited number of Chinese primary and high schools still keep the calligraphy course in a curriculum crowded with courses that are considered more useful, such as math and English, said Yang Ming, a Beijing-based calligrapher.

The lack of proper calligraphy education has led to the phenomenal growth of copycats among calligraphy learners and the rampant spread of fake calligraphic work on the art market, pointed out Zhang Rongqing from the Chinese Calligraphers Association.

Chen Lusheng, a researcher with the National Art Museum of China, said that Chinese calligraphy is the very essence of Chinese culture and philosophy.

‘The question of the sustainability of Chinese calligraphy is actually the question of the sustainability of Chinese culture,’ he said.

He criticized the excessive use of Chinese calligraphy art as a resource in recent years by some ‘vanguard’ Chinese artists. This practice caused misunderstanding and distorted perceptions among average viewers about Chinese calligraphy.

Wang Yuechuan, a professor with Peking University, said that in an era of modernization and globalisation, Chinese calligraphers should pay more attention to academic researches of the art form.

Educational and promotional efforts should be made with young Chinese and also with people all over the world, he said.

‘Calligraphy is a unique cultural resource that China can export and contribute to the cultural diversity of today’s world.

‘In Japan and South Korea, promoting the healthy development of calligraphy has been viewed not only as an artistic matter but a State policy,’ he said. ‘We, as the cradle of the art form, should not be lagging behind.’

Lion is a special animal to Chinese people. A pair of stone lions, a male and a female, can often be seen in front of the gates of traditional buildings. The male lion is on the left with his right paw resting on a ball, and the female on the right with her left paw fondling a cub.

The lion was regarded as the king in the animal world so its imagines represented power and prestige. The ball played by the male lion symbolized the unity of the empire, and the cub with the female thriving offspring.

The stone lions were also used to indicate the ranks of officials by the number of lumps representing the curly hair on the head of the lion. The houses of first grade officials had lions with 13 lumps and the number of lumps decreased by one as the rank of the official went down each grade. Officials below the seventh grade were not allowed to have stone lions in front of their houses.

It is interesting to note that China had no lions originally. It is believed that when Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han reigned in AD 87, the King of Parthia presented a lion to him. Another lion was given by a Central Asian country known as Yuezhi in the next year. The earliest stone lions were sculpted at the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 – 220 AD) with the introduction of Buddhism into ancient China. It is said, Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was seen after birth ???to point to Heaven with one hand and to Earth with another, roaring like an lion.??? In the Buddhist faith, the lion is considered a divine animal of nobleness and dignity, which can protect the Truth and keep off evils.

It was also popular to decorate bridges with sculpted-stone lions for the same reason. The best known of this is the Lugouqiao (also as Marco Polo Bridge), built from 1189 to 1192. The stone lions on the posts of the bridge are most famous. It is said there are 485 lions in all, but there may be 498 or 501. A famous proverb says ???the lions on the Lugouqiao are uncountable.???

Huabiao, as something typical Chinese, is actually an ornamental or symbolic column erected in front of palaces, bridges, city gates, tombs or other places. They used to be made of wood, hence their other name Huabiaomu. They were difficult to preserve, however, and the Haubiao we see today are mostly made of marble.

Huabiao functioned originally as a road sign. At the same time they were also used by people to record criticism against the king and ministers. Hence, it was also called feibang mu, or wooden column for criticism. Huabiao emerged long before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.). With the establishment of monarchical power, Huabiao’s function as a criticism media faded, and it also no longer played its role as a road sign. Instead, with carving of dragons and auspicious clouds, it became a pure ornament erected in front of buildings.

China has many huabiao left today, but the most distinguished are the two inside and outside of Tian’anmen Gate. Made of marble and carved with dragons and auspicious clouds, each has a wangtianhou, a legendary animal, sitting on it.

The one on top of the column inside the gate is named wangdigui (literally, expecting the emperor to come back soon) implying that the emperor should not stay long outside the palace enjoying the beautiful mountains and water, but should come back soon to deal with state affairs. The one on top of the column outside the gate, with its head turned to the outside, is named wangdichu (expecting the emperor to go out), indicating that the emperor should not indulge himself in the luxurious life inside the palace, but should go our frequently to keep abreast of public sentiment.

Chinese palaces, temples and mansions have on their roofs a special kind of ornaments called wenshou or zoomorphic ornaments, some on the main ridges and some on the sloping and branch ridges.

The monstrous thing at either end of the main ridge, called chiwen, appears roughly like the tail of a fish. Fierce and formidable, it looks as if it were ready to devour the whole ridge; so it is also known as tunjishou or the ridge-devouring beast. It is, according to Chinese mythology, one of the sons of the Dragon King who rules the seas. It is said to be able to stir up waves and change them into rains. So ancient Chinese put a chiwen at either end of the main ridge for its magic powers to conjure up a downpour to put out any fire that might break out. But for fear that it might gobble up the ridge, they transfixed it on the roof with a sword.

At the end of the sloping and branch ridges there are often a string of smaller animals, their sizes and numbers being decided by the status of the owner of the building in the feudal hierarchy.

The largest number of zoomorphic ornaments is found on the Taihedian Throne Hall or the Hall of Supreme Harmony of the Forbidden City. Leading the flock is a god riding a phoenix, after whom come a dragon, a phoenix, a lion, a heavenly horse, a sea horse and five other mythological animals, all called by unusual names. Qianqinggong (the Palace of Heavenly Purity), which the emperor used as his living quarters and his office for handling daily affairs, being next in status to Taihedian, has a band of nine animal figures. Still next in importance is Kunninggong (the Palace of Female Tranquility), which served as the empress???s apartments; it has a group of seven zoomorphic figures. This number is further reduced to five for the twelve halls in side courtyards, that used to house the imperial concubines of different grades. Some of the side halls have only one animal figure each on their roofs.

These small animals were also believed to be capable of putting out fires. While this can be easily dismissed as superstition, they do add to the grandeur and magnificence of the imperial buildings.

The earliest ridge animals so far discovered in the country came to light in 1960 in a suburban area of Shashi, Hubei Province. On the interior wall of a roll tile which served as the body of a ridge animal figure was engraved ???first year of Yuanguang,??? which means the year 134 B.C. It can be seen that installing animal figures on roof-ridges has been an established practice for at least 2,100 years.

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