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One may know the Terracotta Warriors and Horses and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, but you may not know some interesting knowledge about the ancient city. Do you know how Chinese porcelain was transported abroad? Do you know the origin of the Chinese written language? Do you know the legends about the Bell Tower? Do you know how the Chinese medicine was educated in ancient times? China may seems mysterious to you, but follow the words in this net and then come here to understand the country, you will find so many surprises are waiting for you.
Knowledge about Chinese Culture and traditions
Chinese Characters
Over 60,000 Chinese characters have been used through Chinese history. The Kangxi Dictionary contains 47,035 characters. About 7,000 Chinese characters constitute the currently used vocabulary, of these 2,400 make up 99 percent of the words in newspapers and periodicals and classified as commonly used or high-frequency characters. The Chinese writing system was standardized in the third century B.C., and, with the exception of some simplification in the number of strokes in commonly used ideograms, has remained virtually the same ever since.
Sun Simiao and medical science
Sun Simiao (AD 581-682), born in Huayuan, Jingzhao, was a celebrated Taoist priest and medical expert of the Tang dynasty.
Sun Simiao was skilled in the arts of Yin-Yang, and well versed in the magic arts of divination. He gathered medicinal herbs and made medicine in person and cured people. Sun Simiao collected folk and secret recipes, summed up clinical experience, and broadly collected broadly a great many medical theories, prescriptions, remedies and acupuncture therapies of the past, as well as Nourishing Life techniques such as ingesting drugs, diet therapy, gymnastics and mass therapy. Sun Simiao was addressed respectfully as; "the King of Drugs" in later ages, owing to his significant contribution to medical science and pharmacognosy.
He wrote the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold and Additions to the Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold in thirty volumes each, and several works such as On Nourishing Life, Explanations of the Alchemical Scriptures of the Highest Clarity, and Precious and Secret Prescriptions. His medical works contain a wide collection of prescriptions and have substantial content, which distinctly influenced and contributed to the development of medical science, especially on the study of prescriptions in later ages, and also played a positive role in the development of medical science in Japan and Korea.
He combined Taoist theories on Inner Cultivation with medical science and hygiene, and regarded the science of Nourishing Life as medical treatment. He held that one could secure health and longevity and live his full life-span only by paying attention to diet and daily life, controlling one's emotions and Nourishing one's Spiritual Nature, preventing evil-doings and doing good deeds, and accumulating merit extensively, while practicing Gymnastics and taking nourishing food and tonics. He attached great importance to medical ethics. He treated all patients alike, rescuing those at death's door no matter whether they were powerful or humble, rich or poor, old or young, beautiful or ugly, resentful relatives or kind friends, Chinese nationals or foreigners, fools or wise men. He declared that life was of the utmost importance and even one thousand pieces of gold couldn't suffice to buy it.
He paid great attention to women's and child care and wrote the Prescriptions for Women in three volumes and the Prescriptions for Children and Infants in two volumes, which were taken to be the beginning of the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold.
Chinese Silk
People all know that silk is discovered in China as one of the best materials for clothing - it has a look and feeling of richness that no other materials can match. However, very few people know when or where or how it is discovered. Actually, it could date back to the 30th Century BC when Yellow Emperor came into power.
There are many legends about the discovery of silk. One legend is that some ancient Chinese women found this wonderful silk by chance. When they were picking up fruits from the trees, they found a special kind of fruit, white but too hard to eat, so they boiled the fruit in hot water but they still could hardly eat it. At last, they lost their patience and began to beat them with big sticks. In this way, silks and silkworms were discovered. And the white hard fruit is a cocoon!
The business of raising silkworms and unwinding cocoons is now known as silk culture. It takes an average of 25-28 days for a silkworm, which is no bigger than an ant, to grow old enough to spin cocoon. Then the women farmers will pick them up one by one to piles of straws, and then the silkworm will attach itself to the straw, with its legs to the outside and begin to spin.
The next step is unwinding the cocoons; it is done by reeling girls. The cocoons are heated to kill the pupae, this must be done at the right time, otherwise, the pupas are bound to turn into moths, and moths will make a hole in the cocoons, which will be useless for reeling. To unwind the cocoons, first put them in a basin filled with hot water, find the loose end of the cocoon, and then twist them, carry then to a small wheel, thus the cocoons will be unwound. At last, two workers measure them into a certain length, twist them, they are called raw silk, then they are dyed and woven into cloth.
Chinese people developed new way by using silk to make clothes since the discovery of silk. This kind of clothes became popular soon. At that time, China's technology was developing fast. Emperor Wu Di of western Han Dynasty decided to develop trade with other countries.
So important was silk that the process of making it was guarded in ancient China as carefully as nations today guard their atomic secrets. Exporting the eggs of the silkworm or the seeds of the mulberry tree was punishable by death, and visiting foreigners were kept away from silkworm nurseries and mulberry-tree plantations. Because of this, sericulture remained a mystery to the west for centuries---the Rome believed that silk came from the bark of a tree, some even believed that silk was vegetable in origin.
To build a road becomes priority to trade silk. For nearly 60 years of war, the world famous ancient Silk Road was built up at cost of many losses of life and treasures. It started from Chang'an (now Xi'an), across Middle Asia, South Asia and West Asia. Many countries of Asia and Europe were connected.
From then on, Chinese silk, along with many other Chinese inventions, were passed to Europe. Romans, especially women, were crazy for Chinese silk. Before that, Romans used to make clothes with linen cloth, animal skin and wool fabric. Now they all turned to silk. It was a symbol of wealth and high social status for them to wear silk clothes.
Twelve Animal Years
In addition to a 12-month cycle, the Chinese have a 12-year cycle, designated by animal sign.
|
the Rabbit |
1903 |
1915 |
1927 |
1939 |
1951 |
1963 |
1975 |
1987 |
1999 |
2011 |
|
the Dragon |
1904 |
1916 |
1928 |
1940 |
1952 |
1964 |
1976 |
1988 |
2000 |
2012 |
|
the Snake |
1905 |
1917 |
1929 |
1941 |
1953 |
1965 |
1977 |
1989 |
2001 |
2013 |
|
The horse |
1906 |
1918 |
1930 |
1942 |
1954 |
1966 |
1978 |
1990 |
2002 |
2014 |
|
The Goat |
1907 |
1919 |
1931 |
1943 |
1955 |
1967 |
1979 |
1991 |
2003 |
2015 |
|
The Monkey |
1908 |
1920 |
1932 |
1944 |
1956> |
1968 |
1980 |
1992 |
2004 |
2016 |
|
The Rooster |
1909 |
1921 |
1933 |
1945 |
1957 |
1969 |
1981 |
1993 |
2005 |
2017 |
|
The Dog |
1910 |
1922 |
1934 |
1946 |
1958 |
1970 |
1982 |
1994 |
2006 |
2018 |
|
The Pig |
1911 |
1923 |
1935 |
1947 |
1959 |
1971 |
1983 |
1995 |
2007 |
2019 |
|
The Rat |
1912 |
1924 |
1936 |
1948 |
1960 |
1972 |
1984 |
1996 |
2008 |
2020 |
|
The Ox |
1913 |
1925 |
1937 |
1949 |
1961 |
1973 |
1985 |
1997 |
2009 |
2021 |
|
The Tiger |
1914 |
1926 |
1938 |
1950 |
1962 |
1974 |
1986 |
1998 |
2010 |
2022 |
Tour Guides basics in China
1.Smile. You are on a tour!
2.Never say "no" to a tourist.
3.Comply with tourist reasonable requests immediately.
4.Take personal responsibility to get the answers to tourist's questions
5.Greet tourists with a warm welcome and wish our departing tourists a warm good-bye and invite them back .
6.Use the tourist's name wherever possible.
7.Wear an immaculate uniform at all times, including your nametag.
8.Escort tourists rather than point out directions to another area of a place.
9.Be knowledgeable of China to answer tourist's inquires.
10.Use proper telephone etiquette.
11.Know your role in an emergency situation.
12.Notify your superior immediately of assistance you may have.
13.Develop a buddy system during a tour.
Forms and Classifications of Wushu
It is not an easy task to classify Chinese Wushu due to the huge number and variety of styles in the enormous country of China. Generally, wushu can be classified by one of the following three methods:
1.Southern of Northern styles
2.Internal and External styles
3."Shaolin" or "Wudang" or "Emei" styles
The first method is mainly based on the geographical region of origin or development. Basically, the Yellow River serves as the dividing line between these two styles. The practitioners of the Southern style usually utter shouts and cries now and then to make their movement more forceful. The Northern style is characterized by its short routines of movements and swiftness and vigour.
The difference between the Internal and the External styles refers to whether the strength is from the torso and legs(internal) of whether the strength is derived from training of thre specific arm and leg muscles(external). The word "internal" often denotes a more pliable wushu style. Some people hold that wushu styles are either exclusively hard(external) or exclusively soft(internal). This tendency is incorrect, because any good style of wushu requires a proper combinartion of both the internal and external principles, and no one is purely internal or external.
The Shaolin boxing style is generally said to be derived from of fighting practiced at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province. Similarly, Wudang is the name of a mountain used by Doaists in Hubei Province and Emei is a significant religious mountain in Sichuang Province.
Aside from general classification, modern wushu also falls into two forms. One is Barehanded competition. The other is Weapons Competition.
Barehanded competition involves the performance of a sequence of a particular wushu style. Practitioners practice this form without using any weapons. There are some subdivisions in this form, among which, taiji quan (taiji Boxing) is the most popular one. Taiji quan plays an excellent role in enhancing people's health and ruing diseases. This is largely due to its effect on brain function. Practicing taiji quan can enable part of the cerebral cortex to enter a protective inhibition so that partial rest is possible while other parts are excited. As a result, various chronic diseased caused by the malfunction of the nerve system can be cured or ameliorate.
There are about 18 standard weapons that one will usually see in wushu competition. These commonly seen weapons are: Long Weapons including spears and broadsword; short weapons such as hooks, short swords, daggers; and flexible weapons which include nine-section cudgels and three-section cudgels.
Qigong
Qigong is another form of Chinese folk sport. Generally, the practice can be classified into two main types: quiescent qigong and dynamic qigong. The former requires practitioners to concentrate their minds to have the qi moving along the jingluo or the channels and collaterals; the latter involves body movements, with which a calmness of the mind can be reached. Five styles of qigong have developed through the ages:
1.The Daoyin(guiding and inducing) Style: as one of the oldest styles, it is based on arm and leg movements combined with meditation and breathing. Daoyin of the physical body requires various postures such as sitting, standing, walking, lying and massaging. Mental daoyin has to concentrate thoughts on one subject so as to put the cerebral cortex in a special inhibiting stat. Taiji is really a good example of daoyin because of its sequence of supple, light and harmonious movement.
2.The Tuna (exhaling and inhaling) Style: this is a synthesis of different breathing techniques. The basic principle of this style is that one should try to replace the stale and stagnated air with fresh air, thus maintaining the normal functioning of the internal organs to keep fit.
3.The Quietism Style: this style requires practitioners to keep the body still, meditating to produce beneficial qi. In so doing, the mind can be brought into a state of peace.
4.The Cunxiang Style: according to this style, practitioners should make good use of their imagination. They should meditate with eyes closed, seeking inner harmony and remaining aware of, and in touch with, the outer world. This style is almost within the realm of psychology.
5.The Neidan Style: as an active form of qigong, this style postulates that through exercise, qi can circulate throughout the body visa the collateral chaanels, ensuring health and longevity.
Varied as they are, these five styles have one principle in common, that is, regulating the breathing, the mind and the physical body by way of making full use of qi and the combination of qi and physical body.
Tea
The leaves of wild tea trees were first used as a medicine, and only later in the Tang Dynasty were tea trees cultivated and the leaves became a beverage. Many old texts attest to the healthful and medicinal properties of tea. Shengnong Bencao Jing (Shen Non's Materia Medica) states, for example, that when Shen Nong was poisoned tying various herbs, he was "easily relieved by tea as an antidote," and that "tea makes one less desirous of sleep, strong and exhilarated."
Li Shizhen writes in Bencao Gangmu( Compendium of Materia Mediaca):
Tea is better and cool…can best assuage internal heat which is the root of all diseases. One is in full possession of his faculties once internal heat is gotten rid of …internal heat is checked by the cooling effect of tea when it is drunk warm, and dispelled with hot tea.
The time for sowing tea seeds is in September, Holes are dug, and nine or ten seeds are planted in each hole. The best tea generally grows on high mountain peaks, where fogs and snow prevail, which gives a better flavor to the leaves.
The tea plant yields its first crop at the end of the third year. Plucking tea leaves is a highly developed art. The leaves are picked at the three or more occasions in the year, the first picking which is the best, taking place while the leaf is still unfolded in early April. The time for plucking tea leaves is generally earlier in areas o f higher temperature than where it is lower. Within the same plucking season, early mornings and cloudy days are considered as the right time. Further, fingernails and not fingers are to do the job because harm will be caused if plucking is done with fingers due to their warmth. In manufacturing high-grade tea, the leaves should be plucked separately according to whether they are buds or leaves. The leaves are slightly dried in the sun in order to get rid of the useless watery juices and to give a twist to the leaf. The leaf, which undergoes a series of heating at a low temperature, is winnowed and picked.
In the later years of the Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, the labor-and-time-saving simple method of chaoqing or "roasting out the green" was invented, greatly improving the color, aroma, flavor and shape of the tea leaves. In creating different kinds of tea, water, soil, climate and other conditions for growth contribute to its quality, but processing is the most important—the way the leaves are dried and baked or stir-fried. Scale models of processing machines are used, but the finest tea is still hand-rolled and stir-fried in a large work.
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