Chinese Culture & History

    Chinese Culture: Chinese Couplet (对联)

    Couplet(对联 duì lián) is a pair of antithetical phrases (sometime added a horizontal hung phrase) written on papers, silks hung on the columns of halls or just engraved on the columns, with concise characters but rich and deep connotations. It Continue Reading

    Chinese Language 中国的语言

    The Han people have their own spoken and written languages, namely Chinese. It is the most commonly used language in China, and one of the most commonly used languages in the world. All China’s 55 minority peoples have their Continue Reading

    Ethnic Minorities in China 中国的少数民族

    China officially registers 56 ethnic groups. The ethnic Chinese, known as the Han Chinese, compose 93 percent of the population. Han Chinese speak seven languages, with Mandarin or Putonghua – which means “common speech” — being the official and Continue Reading

    Puer Tea 普洱茶

    Pu-erh(普洱,Pǔ’ěr), Pu’er tea, Puer tea or Bolay tea is a type of tea made from a “large leaf” variety of the tea plant Camellia sinensis and named after Pu’er county near Simao, Yunnan, China. Pu-erh tea can be purchased Continue Reading

    Jiangzhai Site in Shaanxi

      The two major aspects of social structure in the Neolithic Age are monogamy replacing polygamy and other forms of clan mating, and people organizing from small groups to a large tribal clan community. In this social structure, Jiangzhai is Continue Reading

    Talk about Long Melody Ballad of the Mongolians

    Long melody ballad has its themes closely linked to the social life of the Mongolian minority. It is a necessity in the Mongolian festival ceremonies, wedding banquets, friend’s and relative’s gatherings, “Nadam Fair” (a Mongolian traditional fair) and other Continue Reading

    Ballad of Liu Sanjie in Guangxi

    Ballad ofLiu Sanjie(刘三姐Liú Sānjiě) can roughly be classified into seven types: songs of life, production, love, rite, riddle, story and old songs of creating world. It is featured by singing-style communication, lyric-like nature, distinctive ethnicity, comparatively integral inheritance, as Continue Reading

    Banpo Site in China

       Geographical Location: Xi’an, Shaanxi Province Period: 4800-4300 BC Excavated from 1954 to 1957 Significance: It is a well-preserved Neolithic settlement site, which was excavated on a large scale for the first time in ancient China. Introduction The Banpo(半坡Bànpō) Site is a comparatively integrated commune Continue Reading

    Maogusi Dance in Tujia Ethnic Group

    “Maogusi“(毛古斯máogǔsī), which is an old form of dance popular among the Tujia people living the west of Hunan of China. It is performed to remember their ancestors’ achievements in cultivation, hunting and halieutics(catch fish). “Maogusi” means “Hunters covered with Continue Reading

    The Stilt

    Also known as “Crutch”,Stilt(高跷珩gāoqiāoháng) is a form of folk performing art in China. It is performed by a dancer walking on wooden stilts and is a folk art which perfectly combines laboring with music and dance. It is also Continue Reading