有关中国文化的英语四六级作文

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-Autumn Festival: A Time for Reunion 中秋节
One of the most important traditional Chinese festivals, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the
15th day of the eighth lunar month, around the time of the autumn equinox (usually September 22).
Many refer to it simply as the
night tends to inspire people's anticipation for a family reunion, it is also called of
Reunion.
This day is also considered a harvest festival since farmers have just finished gathering their
crops and bringing in fruits from the orchards. Overwhelmed with joy when they have a bumper
harvest and quite relaxed after a year of hard work, they feel it is a time for relaxation and
celebration.
Food offerings -- including moon cakes, apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates,
watermelons, oranges, and so on -- are placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Of all these foods,
moon cakes and watermelons (cut into the shape of a lotus) are indispensable for the Mid-Autumn
Festival. Bathing in the silver moonlight, the families will sit together and take turns to worship
the moon, chatting and sharing the moon offerings.
Origin
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities,
with a history of more than 2,000 years. In feudal times, Chinese emperors prayed to Heaven for a
prosperous year. They chose the morning of the 15th day of the second lunar month to worship the
sun and the evening of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month to hold a ceremony in praise of the
moon. In the western district of Beijing is Yuetan Park, which originally was the Moon Temple.
Every year the emperor would go there to offer a sacrifice to the moon.
The custom of worshipping the moon (called xi yue in Chinese) can be traced back to as far as
the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (21-11th century BC). In the Zhou Dynasty(11th
century-256BC), people held ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the
mid-Autumn set in. It became prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(618-907) for the people to enjoy and
worship the full moon. During the Southern Song Dynasty(1127-1279), however, people sent
round cakes to their relatives as gifts to express their best wishes for a family reunion. When it
became dark, they would look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing by the lakeside to
celebrate the festival.
e Valentine's Day 七夕节
On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar, don't
forget to look carefully at the summer sky. You'll find the Cowherd (a bright star in the
constellation Aquila, west of the Milky Way) and the Weaving Maid (the star Vega, east of the
Milky Way) appear closer together than at any other time of the year. Chinese believe the stars are
lovers who are permitted to meet by the queen of Heaven once a year. That day falls on the double
seventh (Qixi in Chinese), which is China's own Valentine's Day.
Most Chinese remember being told a romantic tragedy when they were children on the
double seventh. In the legend, the cowherd and the Weaving Maid will meet on a bridge of
magpies across the Milky Way once a year. Chinese grannies will remind children that they would
not be able to see any magpies on that evening because all the magpies have left to form a bridge
in the heavens with their wings.

To Love and to Wait -- A Romantic Legend
The legend holds that an orphaned cowherd was mistreated by his elder brother and
sister-in-law, who eventually gave him an old ox and chased him out. The cowherd worked hard,
and after only a couple of years he owned a small farm and house. He was lonely, however, with
only the company of that faithful old ox.
One day the ox suddenly opened its mouth and talked, telling the cowherd that the heavenly
Weaving Maid and her sisters were going to bathe in the Silver River. The Weaving Maid was said
to be the youngest of the seven daughters of the Queen of Heaven. With her sisters, she worked
hard to weave beautiful clouds in the sky.
The ox told the cowherd that he should go there to rob the Weaving Maid of her clothes while
she was in the water. In exchange for the return of her clothes, she would become his wife.
Surprised, the cowherd willingly followed the ox's instructions and hid himself in the reeds at the
riverbank, waiting for the girls to bathe.
Festival 春节
The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all
family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home
go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the
Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home
returnees.
The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the
Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's
sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.
Strictly speaking, 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. Of them, the most important days
are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people
have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.
Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some 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 offer
sacrifice to the kitchen god. 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

Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year.
Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit,
candies and kinds of nuts. What's more, various decorations, new clothes and shoes for the
children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.
Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their
homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils.
Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and
festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese

calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from 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
paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the

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 eat
dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd
cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively
auspiciousness, abundance and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together,
chatting and watching TV. 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..
Ninth Festival 重阳节
The Double Ninth Festival, also namedChong YangFestival, falls on the ninth day of the
ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, hence it gets name of Double Ninth Festival.
Origin
The festival is based on the theory ofYinandYang, the two opposing principles in
feminine, negative principle, whileYangis masculine and positive. In ancient times people
believed that all natural phenomena could be explained by this theory. Numbers were also related
to this theory. Even numbers belonged toYinand odd numbers toYang. The ninth day of the ninth
lunar month is a day when the twoYangnumbers meet. So it is calledChong eans
double in Yanghas been an important festival since ancient times.
Legend
It is hard to say when these customs were created. But there are many stories which are
closely related. As recorded in a historical book of the sixth century, in ancient times, there lived a
man named Huan Jing. He was learning the magic arts from Fei Changfang, who had become an
immortal after many years of practicing Taoism. One day, the two were climbing a mountain. Fei
Changfang suddenly stopped and looked very upset. He told Huan Jing, On the ninth day of the
ninth lunar month, disaster will come to your hometown. You must go home immediately.
Remember to make a red bag for each one of your family members and put a spray of dogwood on
every one. Then you must all tie your bags to your arms, leave home quickly and climb to the top
of a mountain. Most importantly, you must all drink some chrysanthemum wine. Only by doing so
can your family members avoid this disaster.
On hearing this, Huan Jing rushed home and asked his family to do exactly as his teacher said.
The whole family climbed a nearby mountain and did not return until the evening. When they got
back home, they found all their animals dead, including chickens, sheep, dogs and even the ox.
Later Huan Jing told Fei Changfang about this. Fei said the poultry and livestock died in place of
Huan Jing's family, who escaped disaster by following his instructions.
Since then, climbing a mountain, carrying a spray of dogwood and drinking chrysanthemum
wine became the traditional activities of the Double Ninth Festival, to avoid evil spirits and
misfortunes.

5、Dragon Boat Festival端午节（龙舟节）
The 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar year is an important day for the Chinese people. The
day is called Duan Wu Festival, or Dragon Boat Festival, celebrated everywhere in China. This
festival dates back to about 2,000 years ago with a number of legends explaining its origin. The
best-known story centers on a great patriotic poet named Qu Yuan.
Qu Yuan and Dragon Boat Festival
In the Warring States Period (475-221BC), the State of Qin in the west was bent on annexing
the other states, including the state of Chu, home of Qu Yuan. Holding the second highest office in
the state, Qu Yuan urged that the Chu State should resist Qin and ally with the State of Qi to the
east. This was opposed by Zhangyi, a minister of the State of Qin who was trying to disrupt any
anti-Qin alliances. He seized upon an incident with a jealous court official in Chu to get rid of Qu
Yuan.
Qu Yuan had refused to let Jin Shang, the chief minister in the State of Chu, have a look at a
draft of a decree he had been asked to draw up. In anger Jin spread the rumor that Qu Yuan was
leaking state secrets. He said that Qu Yuan had boasted that without his aid no decree could be
drafted. This made the King of Chu feel that Qu Yuan was belittling him.
When the story reached the ears of Zhang Yi in Qin, he secretly sent a large amount of gold, silver
and jewels to Chu to bribe Jin Shang and the king's favorite concubine to form an anti- Qu Yuan
clique. The result was that the King of Chu finally banished Qu Yuan from the capital in 313 BC.
The next year, as relations between Qin and Chu worsened, Qu Yuan was called back and named
to a high office, but the clique continued its machinations against him.
In 299 BC after several unsuccessful forays against Chu, Qin invited the King of Chu over,
ostensibly for talks. Qu Yuan feared this was a trap and urged his king not to go. The latter would
not listen and even accused Qu Yuan for interfering.
On the way, the King of Chu was seized by Qin troops. He died in captivity three years later.
Chu came under the rule of the king's eldest son, later known as King Qing Xiang. Under him the
state administration deteriorated.
Qu Yuan hoped to institute reforms and in poems satirized the corruption, selfishness and
disregard for the people on the part of dubious characters who had achieved trusted positions.
Neither this nor Qu Yuan's resolve to resist Qin set well with King Qing Xiang, who was in fact
married to a daughter of the King of Qin, In 296 BC, Qu Yuan, then in his mid 50s, was banished
for the second time. Grieving for the condition of his homeland, for years he wandered about
south of the Yangtze River.
During this period he poured out his feelings of grief and concern for his homeland in the
allegorical Li Sao, a long autobiographical poem in which he tells of his political ideal and the
corruption and mismanagement of the court.
In 280 BC Qin launched an overall invasion of Chu, and captured the Chu capital in 278 BC.
The news reached Qu Yuan while he was near the Miluo River in today's northeastern Hunan
Province. In frustration at being unable to do anything to save his state, he clasped a big stone to
his breast and leaped into the river to end his life.
Qu Yuan's sufferings had gained the sympathy of the people of Chu. In memory of him, every
year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the day he drowned himself, dragon
boat races, which are said to represent the search for his body, are held, and the Chinese people eat

Zong Zi, little packets of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, which was originally thrown
into the river to keep the fishes from eating the body of Qu Yuan. In addition, it is said that when
hearing the news of Qu Yuan's suicide, some doctors poured realgar wine into the Miluo River to
anaesthetize the fishes, hence preventing them from eating Qu Yuan's body.
6. Tomb Sweeping Festival
清明节扫墓
Qingming, meaning clear and bright, is the most important springtime festival. It is also
called Tomb Sweeping Festival, on which people visit the gravesites of their ancestors, pay
respects to the dead at their tombs and hold memorial ceremonies in honor of their ancestors. This
is one of many ways to demonstrate filial piety. As part of honoring the dead, people would also
spend some time cleaning the gravesite area. They would uproot the weed near the gravesite, plant
some new trees, wipe the tombstones and decorate the tombstone with fresh flowers.
But it is not just a day for mourning the dead. The festival is celebrated two weeks after the
Vernal Equinox, and the dates usually turn out to be the 4th, 5th, or 6th of April, thus people also
go out to celebrate the new season, the onset of warmer weather, the start of spring plowing as
well as of family outings. Nowadays,Qingmingis not just a day of remembrance; it is also a day to
celebrate the coming of spring. With the coming of spring, nature wakes up, dressing the world in
green. All is new, clean and fresh; therefore,Qingmingis also a happy occasion for outdoor
activities, such as picnicking, tug-of-war, kite-flying, swinging, dancing, etc. This might be an
important reason why this festival has been very popular for thousands of years.
Customs of Tomb Sweeping Festival
Tomb Sweeping or Ancestor Worshipping
The major custom inQingmingFestival is tomb sweeping. According to the folk religion, the
spirits of deceased ancestors still live under the ground and look after the family; the tombs are
said to be their houses, thus it is very important to keep the tombs clean.
TheQingmingFestival is spent by honoring the dead, which is one of many ways good Confucians
demonstrate filial piety. On this day, people visit their family graves to remove any underbrush
that has grown. They would uproot weeds near the gravesites, wipe the tombstones and decorate
the tombstones with fresh flowers. And then they will set out offerings of food and paper money.
Burning Paper Treasures
Part of honoring the dead is to make sure that they are well-provided for -- even after death.
Not only are food offered to the dead, but also, as some people figure, material goods are needed
in the land of the dead. Until the Sui Dynasty (581-618), genuine articles were burnt as offerings.
Eventually, people thought this practice was wasteful. It was also said that there was word from
the dead that where they resided, counterfeits were just as good as the real thing. So a paper house
offered by fire was just as good as a real one.
Nowadays, paper gifts to the dead may even include paper money, houses, lawn furniture,
TVs, VCRs, stereo systems, refrigerators, and even cars.
Cold Foods
Because Jie Zitui had been killed by a fire, it became a tradition to abstain from lighting fires
on the day ofQingming, when people could only eat cold foods that had been prepared the day
before. Today, the occasion for eating cold foods translates into a picnic for the family.
WillowTrees
Because Jie Zitui died embracing a willow tree, the willow is believed to have miraculous
powers against evil. During theQingmingFestival, willow branches are hung on door fronts and

used to sweep the tombs.
Kite-Flying
Today in China,Qingming is also known as an occasion for kite-flying. Kite-flying has been
an old Chinese pastime. Records about the activity were mentioned as far back as 2,500 years ago.
Over the centuries, people have developed kites known for their beauty.
Besides the tradition of honoring the dead, people also often fly kites on Tomb Sweeping Day.
Kites can come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors, designing in the shape of swallows, geese,
frogs, butterflies, peacocks, frogs, dragonflies, butterflies, crabs, bats and storks. They are even
able to fashion kites with whistles.
7. Laba Festival腊八节
Origin 起源
Laba is celebrated on the eighth day of the last lunar month, referring to the traditional start of
celebrations for the Chinese New Year. La in Chinese means the 12th lunar month and ba means
eight.
Legends about the origin of this festivity abound. One holds that over 3,000 years ago
sacrificial rites called La (腊) were held in the twelfth lunar month when people offered up their
preys to the gods of heaven and earth. The Chinese characters for prey (猎物) and the twelfth
month (腊 La) were interchangeable then, and ever since La has been used to refer to both. Since
the festival was held on the eighth day of the Last month, people later appended the number eight
(ba in Chinese), giving us the current Laba.
The majority Han Chinese have long followed the tradition of eating Laba rice porridge on the
Laba Festival. The date usually falls in mid- January.
Legend 传说
Laba rice porridge 腊八粥was first introduced to China in the Song Dynasty about 900
years ago.
Buddhism was well accepted in the areas inhabited by the Han Chinese, who believed that
Sakyamuni, the first Buddha and founder of the religion, attained enlightenment on the eighth day
of the twelfth month. Sutras were chanted in the temples and rice porridge with beans, nuts and
dried fruit was prepared for the Buddha. With the passing of time the custom extended, especially
in rural areas where peasants would pray for a plentiful harvest in this way.
There is, however, another touching story: When Sakyamuni was on his way into the high
mountains in his quest for understanding and enlightenment, he grew tired and hungry. Exhausted
from days of walking, he passed into unconsciousness by a river in India. A shepherdess found
him there and fed him her lunch -- porridge made with beans and rice. Sakyamuni was thus able to
continue his journey. After six years of strict discipline, he finally realized his dream of full
enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Ever since, monks have prepared rice
porridge on the eve and held a ceremony the following day, during which they chant sutras and
offer porridge to Buddha. Thus, the tradition of eating Laba porridge was based in religion, though
with the passing of time the food itself became a popular winter dish especially in cold northern
China.
According to written records, large Buddhist temples would offer Laba rice porridge to the
poor to show their faith to Buddha. In the Ming Dynasty about 500 years ago, it became such a
holy food that emperors would offer it to their officials during festivals. As it gained favor in the
feudal upper class, it also quickly became popular throughout the country.

Laba Rice Porridge 腊八粥
Laba rice porridge contains glutinous rice, red beans, millet, Chinese sorghum, peas, dried
lotus seeds, red beans and some other ingredients, such as dried dates, chestnut meat, walnut meat,
almond, peanut, etc. Actually eight ingredients are used, cooked with sugar to make the porridge
tasty. Northerners prefer to use glutinous rice, red beans, dates, lotus seeds, dried long'an pulp,
walnuts, pine nuts and other dried fruits in their porridge; southerners like a salty porridge
prepared with rice, soybeans, peanuts, broad beans, taro, water chestnuts, walnuts, vegetables and
diced meat. In the north, it is a dessert with sugar added; in the south, salt is put in. Some people
like to add cinnamon and other condiments to add flavor.
Controlling the heat is of great importance in making Laba porridge. At the start, the flame
must be high, but the fire is then turned down to let the porridge simmer until it begins to emit a
very delicious smell. The process is time-consuming but not complicated.
Laba porridge is not only easy to prepare, but also a nutritious winter food because it contains
amino acids, protein, vitamins and other nutrition people need. Cooked nuts and dried fruit are
good for soothing nerves, nourishing one's heart and vitality, and strengthening the spleen. Perhaps
that is why it is also called babao (Eight Treasure) porridge.
Opera 京剧
Peking Opera is an exciting and satisfying form of theater. As an art, it is well integrated,
with story, singing, acting, gesture, costume, stagecraft, gymnastics and makeup all being very
important. You couldn't get a job as a Peking Opera actor if you hadn't mastered the intricacies of
gesture, no matter how good your voice is.
Peking Opera doesn't subdivide characters by soprano, lancer, bass and so on, but by the type
of character. The qingyi is the main female character, almost always positive and loving. The
xiaosheng is the scholar-lover, and he sings in a falsetto voice, sounding a bit like a woman. The
older man is the laosheng and so on. These classifications are as old as Chinese theater itself, but
have become much more complicated with the passage of time. In the old days just about all
performers were male. Actors had a very low social status. However, this changed in the twentieth
century, especially under the People's Republic of China. Nowadays, there are just about as many
female actors as male, and they have a good social status.
On the things about Chinese acting that is very special is the link between gymnastics and the
actor. Battle scenes are very common in traditional theatre, and they are represented by spectacular
gymnastics. Of course it's mainly men who do these gymnastics, since they are the ones most
involved in battles. However, there are quite a few heroic female warriors in Chinese opera.
Formerly they were played by men, but no longer.
In the most traditional Peking Opera, the stage is quite bare, with just a couple of chairs, a
table and a mat. In the last few decades there is more scenery, and operas have beautiful landscape,
such as mountains and lakes.
Over the last century and more, Chinese drama has undergone a process of reform and
modernization. In the olden times, operas were rather episodic, in other words, you'd have a short
item of less than an hour, telling a simple story which was based, for example, on one chapter of a
novel. But in the recent times, it's very common for an opera to take up a whole evening. It has a
developing story that rises to a climax and ends in a denouement, rather the way dramas do in the
Western Tradition.
There are over 300 kinds of regional theatre in China, most of them taking the name of the

place where they developed and got popular. The earliest records of fully developed Chinese
dramas - not counting dances with stories, skits and sort of thing - were in the twelfth century and
in southern China. There was also a magnificent tradition of Chinese opera in the north when the
Mongols ruled China in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Hardly any of the ancient southern
dramas are still extant, either text or music. We still have many texts of northern dramas from the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but no music.
In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), regional operas developed and flowered and many still
survive, both text and music. An early form is called Kun Opera, after Kunshan, the place very
near Shanghai where it started. This was an elegant style, dominated by the wistful tones of the
sideblown Chinese flute dizi. The Cantonese Opera, which is especially popular among overseas
Chinese in Australia, appears to have begun in the eighteenth century. Peking Opera developed at
the end of eighteenth century in the capital of China, Beijing and was a combination of various
other forms of regional theatre. During the nineteenth century it became acknowledged as the style
that could represent China as a whole.
The Kun Opera was for centuries the theater of the aristocracy. Many educated men had their
own private troupes and there were also companies at the imperial court, composed mostly of
eunuchs. However, the majority of the forms of regional opera were genuine popular theatre. At
certain times of the year, especially festivals, they would roam round the countryside performing
for the people. The performers would set up a temporary stage or find a place in the local market
or temple and perform all day. You didn't need a theatre and most people didn't have to pay. You
can still find this in China today, and in the countryside there are still quite a few amateur folk
companies that perform at certain times in the year. But in the cities most performances nowadays
take place in a theatre. Traditional Chinese opera is in decline, and many of the old troupes have
gone out of business. Young people don't go for the old operas much and it doesn't have ring of
being
much alive. Entry into the schools is still very competitive and there are many very good actors
coming up. You can see from the performance of The Legend of White Snake that there are still
first-rate performers on the traditional Chinese stage. There remains a faithful core audience
(mainly middle-aged and older) from which Peking Opera continues to draw its strangest fans. All
the traditional opera companies, including those performing Peking Opera, are looking for ways to
increase their appeal to Chinese as well as foreign audiences. There are also several theatres in
Beijing now set up especially to attract foreign and overseas Chinese visitors rather than the city's
ordinary citizens.
The stories of traditional Chinese theatre are mostly based on Chinese history, novels and old
dramas. Almost all of them take place in China itself. Many are about old battles and ancient
heroes of ancient times, rebellions and myths. In sharp contrast to western operas, traditional
pieces are not attributed to particular composers of librettists. However, in the twentieth century,
especially under the People's Republic, particular playwrights have adopted old stories to new
dramas, which musicians set to music composed in the traditional style. The Legend of White
Snake (Baishe Zhuan) is an example of this. The opera's libretto is by Tian Han and its premiere
was in 1952.
y of Chinese Characters中国汉字
Chinese is the language with the largest number of users in the world, and the script with the
longest history.

It is difficult to determine the specific time when Chinese characters emerged. The oldest
characters we see today are the scripts on the tortoise shells and animal bones in the Shang
Dynasty (17th- 11thcentury BC) and scripts carved on bronze wares. Characters of the Shang
Dynasty have been much developed, so Chinese characters might have emerged long before the
dynasty, perhaps as early as in the New Stone Age about four to five thousand years ago.
We can see pictographic characters on porcelains with signs unearthed at the sites of the
Erlitou Culture and Dawenkou Culture. These pictographic characters and ideographic characters
gradually evolved into relatively mature characters. After scattered and individual characters
accumulated to a certain number, a system of Chinese characters came into being through efforts
of standardization. According to textual researches, primitive characters emerged in the middle
period of the New Stone Age, and took about 2,600 years to basically form the system of Chinese
characters。
10. Chinese Calligraphy 书法
The history of Chinese calligraphy is as long as that of China itself. Calligraphy is a special
category in China's world of fine arts and one of the most challenging Chinese art forms for a
foreigner to appreciate or master. Calligraphy, orshufa, is one of the four basic skills and
disciplines of the Chinese literati, together with painting (hua), stringed musical instruments (qin)
and board games (qi).
Classification分类
Studying Chinese calligraphy one must learn something about the origins of Chinese
characters, which can be traced to inscriptions on bones, tortoise shells and bronzeware of which
the earliest identifiable characters belonged to the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC).
Through the centuries Chinese characters have changed constantly and are mainly divided into
five categories today: the seal script (zhuan shu), official script (li shu), regular script (kai shu),
running script (xing shu) and cursive script (cao shu). Chinese calligraphy, like script itself, has
developed the above-mentioned styles according to various schools.
Seal characters, which were developed in the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century-711BC) and
are the earliest form of writing after oracle inscriptions, were the first unified and standardized
characters of the nation. Official script is a simplified form of script since seal characters were too
complicated for ancient officials to use when copying documents. Official script led to the
emergence of regular script, which was square in form, non- cursive and architectural in style, in
the third century. Official script also gave birth to cursive script where characters are often joined
with the last stroke of the first that merges into the initial stroke of the next character, which made
the writing process much faster. Running script falls somewhere between regular and cursive
scripts.
Calligraphy is an art form that involves a great deal of theory and requires many skills;
consequently there are few calligraphers that have reached the highest realm of calligraphy.
Among the most outstanding calligraphers in ancient China were Wang Xizhi, Ouyang Xun, Yan
Zhengqing, and Liu Gongquan, who are known for pioneering their own styles.
11. The Art of Chinese Bronze 青铜器艺术
Bronze is an alloy of copper, tin and a small amount of lead. Its appearance marked the
advancement of human culture from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. From the 17th century BC
to the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD200), Chinese people used rare and precious bronze to cast large
quantities of ritual vessels, musical instruments and weapons that were elegant in form, finely

decorated and clearly inscribed with Chinese characters. They affirm the artistic achievements of
ancient China, and demonstrate how early Chinese used their ingenuity to create works that
incorporated both science and art from natural resources.
In the China's ancient ritualistic society, bronze was used primarily for casting ceremonial
temple vessels used in sacrifices to the gods of heaven, earth, the mountains and rivers. They were
also used in vessels for banquets, awarding ceremonies and noble funerals. Since bronze is a
durable material resistant to cracks and breakage, it was used by kings to cast inscribed vessels
honoring the ancestors of dukes, princes and ministers who made great contributions to their
nation or sovereign, serving as a reminder to later generations. The world-famous Mao Gong Ding,
for example, a bronze tripod on display at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, was imperially
commissioned. Inside the tripod is an inscription 497 characters in length, divided into 32 lines
and two halves that extend from the mouth of the vessel to the bottom. The inscription is the
imperial mandate for the casting of the vessel, written in a stately and powerful tone. The
inscription on this particular vessel is the longest among all bronze unearthed so far.、
12. Chopsticks筷子
It's commonly known that the Chinese invented chopsticks (orkuaiziin Chinese) as a set of
instruments to be used when eating but the reason behind that is not commonly known. Actually,
the Chinese were taught to use chopsticks long before spoons and forks were invented in Europe
(the knife is older, not as an instrument for dining but as weapon). Chopsticks were strongly
advocated by the great Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479BC). Chinese people, under the
cultivation of Confucianism, consider the knife and fork bearing sort of violence, like cold
weapons. However, chopsticks reflect gentleness and benevolence, the main moral teaching of
Confucianism. Therefore, instruments used for killing must be banned from the dining table, and
that is why Chinese food is always chopped into bite size before it reaches the table.
Eating Chinese food would not be as enjoyable if the wrong utensils were used. Using two
slim and slippery sticks to pick up grains of rice and little pieces of meat and vegetables is actually
not a difficult task to accomplish. In fact, there are foreigners who are as competent in using the
chopsticks as the Chinese.
The truth of using chopsticks is holding one chopstick in place while pivoting the other one
to pick up a morsel. How to position the chopsticks is the course you have to learn. First, place the
first chopstick so that thicker part rests at the base of your thumb and the thinner part rests on the
lower side of your middle fingertip. Then, bring your thumb forward so that the stick will be
firmly trapped in place. At least two or three inches of chopstick of the thinner end should extend
beyond your fingertip. Next, position the other chopstick so that it is held against the side of your
index finger and by the end of your thumb. Check whether the ends of the chopsticks are even. If
not, then tap the thinner parts on the plate to make them even.
When dining with Chinese friends or business partners, it is always better for foreigners to try
learning how to maneuver the chopsticks. You should only ask for a fork and spoon if all else fails.
Using chopsticks to eat rice is a problem to most foreigners. Generally the tip to eat rice is to bring
one's rice bowl close to one's mouth and quickly scoop the rice into it with one's chopsticks. Since
this is difficult for foreigners, and so simply lifting portions of rice to the mouth from the bowl
held in the other hand is perfectly acceptable.
There are superstitions associated with chopsticks too. If you find an uneven pair at your
table setting, it means you are going to miss a boat, plane or train. Dropping chopsticks will

inevitably bring bad luck. Crossed chopsticks are, however, permissible in a dim sum restaurant.
The waiter will cross them to show that your bill has been settled, or you can do the same to show
the waiter that you have finished and are ready to pay the bill.
13. Table Manners 餐桌礼仪
Talking about eating habit, unlike the West, where everyone has their own plate of food,
inChinathe dishes are placed on the table and everybody shares. If you are being treated by a
Chinese host, be prepared for a ton of food. Chinese are very proud of their culture of cuisine and
will do their best to show their hospitality.
And sometimes the host will serve some dishes with his or her own chopsticks to guests to
show his or her hospitality. This is a sign of politeness. The appropriate thing to do would be to eat
the whatever-it-is and say how yummy it is. If you feel uncomfortable with this, you can just say a
polite youand leave the food there. There are some other rules that are suggested you
follow to make your stay inChinahappier, though you will be forgiven if you have no idea of what
they are.
1）. Never stick your chopsticks upright in the rice bowl, lay them on your dish instead. Otherwise,
it is deemed extremely impolite to the host and seniors present. The reason for this is that when
somebody dies, the shrine to them contains a bowl of sand or rice with two sticks of incense stuck
upright in it. So if you stick your chopsticks in the rice bowl, it looks like the shrine and is
equivalent to wishing death upon a person at the table.
2）. Make sure the spout of the teapot is not facing anyone. It is impolite to set the teapot down
where the spout is facing towards somebody. The spout should always be directed to where
nobody is sitting, usually just outward from the table.
3）. Don't tap on your bowl with your chopsticks, since that will be deemed insult to the host or the
chef. Beggars tap on their bowls, and also, when the food is coming too slow in a restaurant,
people will tap their bowls. If you are in someone's home, it is like insulting the host or the cook.
4.） Never try to turn a fish over and debone it yourself, since the separation of the fish skeleton
from the lower half of the flesh will usually be performed by the host or a waiter. Superstitious
people deem bad luck will ensue and a fishing boat will capsize if you do so. This is especially
true to southerners inChina(to be specific, such asGuangdong, Guangxi andFujianprovinces, etc.),
since, traditionally, southerners are the fishing population.
14．Chongqing Hotpot 重庆火锅
Hotpot is the most famous and favorite dish in Chongqing. Chongqing local people consider
the hotpot a local specialty, which is noted for its peppery and hot taste, scalding yet fresh and
tender. Nowadays, as a matter of fact, Chongqing hotpot is famous and popular all over the
country.
Chongqing hotpot was first eaten by poor boatmen of the Yangtze River in Chongqing area
and then spread westwards to the rest of Sichuan Province. Now it is a very popular local flavor
and can be found at every corner of the city.
People gather around a small pot filled with flavorful and nutritious soup base. The pot may be
boiled by various means, such as charcoal, electric or gas. You have a choice of spicy, pure or
combo for the soup. There are a great variety of hotpots, including Yuanyang (Double Tastes)
hotpot, four tastes hotpot, fish head hotpot, tonic hotpot, entire sheep hotpot, etc. Chongqing
hotpot is characterized by its spiciness, but to suit customers of different preference, salty, sweet
or sour flavors of hotpot are available. As long as you can stand the spiciness, you are advised to

try the spiciest one to ensure an authentic experience.
Thin sliced raw variety meat, fish, various bean curd products and all kinds of vegetables are
the main ingredients for this cuisine. All of these are boiled in the soup, and then you can dip them
in a little bowl of special sauce.
Chongqing people love their hotpot, especially when the weather is steamy. The fire dances
under the pot, the heavily oiled and spiced soup boils with hazy steam, and the people are bathed
in sweat. Chongqing hotpot can be found wherever there are street vendors or small restaurants, it
has the greatest variety and is known for its delicious soup base and dipping sauce. Tasting this
traditional dish will be the first choice of tourists who come here.
15. A Cultural Symbol - China's New Year Picture 文化象征----年画
Spring Festival, China's most celebrative occasion, begins its annual felicitations with the
posting ofNew Year pictureson the walls and windows on the 24th of the 12th month in the lunar
calendar according to tradition. The pictures convey people's jubilation and expectations of the
coming new year.
However, in a century of rapid globalization, how many traditions have been lucky enough to
survive? Is the New Year picture bound to disappear from people's memory?
Traditional New Year pictures mainly feature local people's life and customs with intense colors
and violent contrast. Famous pictures like

these pictures can hardly be found in some modern metropolises likeShanghai, which was once a
prosperous place for New Year picture manufacture and consumption. Some think that the
disappearance of New Year pictures is unavoidable. So what remains beneath the continuing
disappearance?
Epitome of traditional customs 传统风俗的缩影
Chinese New Year pictures not only serve mainly as an embodiment of folk customs, but also
boast decorative and appreciative values.

and on the windows for ornament. The pictures' contents include folk tales, ancient legends,
historic stories, and real life scenarios, and thus boast appreciative value,noted Feng Jicai, a
famous writer as well as the president of the China Folk Artists Association that is dedicated to
rescuing China's folk culture, including the investigation and rescue project of woodblock.
16. Manmade Gems: Four Famous Jingdezhen Porcelains 景德镇瓷器
Chinese people have produced porcelain for a very long time. To some extent, the world
became acquainted with China through its chinaware and porcelain, which was often used as a
yardstick in evaluating Chinese civilization.
For over 2,000 years, Jingdezhen was known as
of Jingdezhen in East China'sJiangxi Province, which was called Xinping in ancient times, began
to make porcelain as early as 200BC in theHan Dynasty(206BC-AD220). During the reign of
Emperor Jingde (1004-1007) of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), all of the products made here bore
the royal Jingde mark, and the name of the city was therefore changed to Jingdezhen (Jingde
Town).
For centuries, the city was considered as China's most important center for porcelain
production. Here,ceramicswere produced as far back as the Han Dynasty (206-220BC). The
imperial porcelain was so exquisite that it was described as being

mirror, as thin aspaper, with a sound as clear as a bell
Today, Jingdezhen remains a national center for porcelain production.
17. Chinese acrobatics 杂技
Of all the various Chinese traditional art forms, perhaps none is at raw and entertaining as the
country's acrobatics.
Acrobatic arts have existed in China for more than two thousand years. The rudiments of the
tradition appeared as early as the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and by the time of the Han
Dynasty (221 BC-220 AD), acrobatics had fully developed into a high- flying art form known as
the
Based on a poem entitled
scholar, and stone-engravings unearthed at Yinan County in Shandong Province in 1954,
historians have concluded that Han period acrobats regularly performed impressive programs that
included pole climbing,tightrope walking, conjuring ( called Turned into Dragonand a
feat named
During the Tang Dynasty, widely considered to be China's Golden Age, acrobats grew in both
number and skill. Famous Tang poets Bai Juyi and Yuan Chen wrote poems describing acrobatic
performances in glowing, flowing words, while in Dunhuang, a Tang era mural painting called

In the long course of its development, Chinese acrobatics has managed to create a style that
distinguishes it from every other acrobatic tradition or any cultural tradition from within China.
Ancient acrobatics began as cheap entertainment for labourers and peasants and therefore
developed a close link with the lives and idea of the lower classes. This is evident int he props
acrobats use -- tables, chairs, jars, pitch forks -- and the folksy brand of martial arts movement
they employ..
Despite its long history and great popularity among the people, acrobatics never made into
the theaters of dynastic China because the tradition was looked down upon by the feudal classes.
In the years leading up to 1949, acrobatics was viciously neglected, forching performers to wander
in starvation and resulting in the loss of many tricks.
After the revolution in 1949, the people's government made a great efforts to foster and
develop national art forms and acrobatics was resurrected.
Since then, every province, municipality and autonomous region has set up at least one
acrobatic troupe. And the troupes, enjoying official support for the first time, have taken their art
to new levels.
No longer a street entertainment, acrobatic arts in New China have become a slick affair,
performed on a stage with professional lighting, stage design, musical accompaniment and dozens
of costume changes . Acrobatics is now routinely pointed to as an optimistic reflection on the
industry, resourcefulness and courage of the Chinese people.
In the past forty years and more, Chinese acrobatic troupes have toured more than one hundred
countries and regions the world over, promoting friendship and cultural exchanges along the way.
At present, there are over 120 top- level acrobatic troupes, with more than 12,000 performers
between them.
18. Traditional Chinese Medicine 中医
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a history stretching back thousands of years. TCM is
an extremely rich discipline, built upon the combined experiences of famous practitioners of past

dynasties, and the extensive body of medical writings they produced.
19. Dragons in the Forbidden City 紫禁城中的龙
The famous Forbidden City is a world of dragons. How many dragons on earth are there in
the Forbidden City?
Somebody counts the dragons in the Taihe Hall and finds 12,654 dragons.
There are 19 dragons painted in gold in the throne, 79 carved in the folding screen behind the
throne. Plus dragons carved in the golden table and other furnitures, there are 590 dragons in total
in the hall.
There are 6 golden pillars swirled by dragons. The ceilings are painted with golden dragons all
around, which amount to 3, 909. There are 40 doors in the hall and 5 wooden dragons on each
door, which plus the dragons painted on the doors and windows there are 3, 504 dragons in total.
There are over 9, 000 doors in the Forbidden City. Then, how many dragons are there in the
Forbidden City? They are really too many to count.