CHINA

CHINA FLASH

CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH

CHINESE NEW YEAR

TODAY IS CHINESE NEW YEAR'S EVE

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR.

THE STORY OF NIAN

LION DANCE

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Lion dance is a traditional Chinese folk art, which is performed to celebrate festivals or ceremonies. Dating back to the Three Kingdoms, it has a history of over 1,000 years. There are usually two performers who play the lion, one of whom handle the lion’s head, and the other plays the body and the tail. The performers dress up as lions and imitate all kinds of movements of lions to the music played by drums and gongs. Lion dance is popular all over the world as Chinese migrate abroad, especially in Southeast Asia.

TEMPLE FAIR

The most important holiday for the Chinese is the Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival. During the festival period, everyone goes back to their hometown and spends several days with family, and people hold many celebrations.

Beijing has several fairs during the period. The fairs are held at various ancient temples, so they are called temple fairs. Temple fairs, originated along with the development of Buddhist and Taoist activities, are a kind of mass gatherings that integrate religious worship, entertainment and commerce.

DUMPLING

Since the Spring Festival marks the first day of a brand new year, the first meal is rather important. People from north and south have different habits of the ood they eat on this special day. In Northern China, people usually eat jiaozi (or dumpling), which is shaped like a crescent moon. It is said that dumplings were first known in China some 1,600 years ago. The Chinese pronunciation of jiaozi means midnight or the end and the beginning of time. According to historical records, in ancient times people from both north and south ate dumplings on Chinese New Year's Day.

Perhaps because Southern China produced more rice than any other areas, gradually, southerners had more other choices on New Year's Day. The shape of jiaozi resembles that of ancient gold and silver ingots or a crescent moon, and symbolizes the hope for a year of plenty. In some places, people stuff jiaozi with sugar to wish for a sweet life; others put one or two clean coins in jiaozi -- if you happen to come across one with a coin inside, it means you will enjoy good luck.

Many families in China usually prepare enough jiaozi to last several days during the Spring Festival.

Ingredients:

Filling:

*1 lb. ground pork (or beef)

*6 t. sesame oil

*2 t. sugar

*0.75 t. salt

*0.25 t. pepper

*0.25 lb. Cabbage

*1 t. salt

*0.25 lb. chopped green onions

Skin:

*3 c. flour

*0.75 c. cold water

*0.5 c. flour (to prevent sticking during kneading)

Preparation:

1. Filling: Mix ground pork and ground pork, oil, sugar, salt and pepper well. Chop cabbage until fine. Mix the cabbage with 1 t. salt and let sit for 10 minutes; squeeze out the excess water. Mix the cabbage, ground pork, and green onions well.

2. Skin: In a bowl, add water to the flour and knead into smooth dough; let it stand for 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a ong baton-like roll and cut it into 50 pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll each piece to a thin circle.

3. Place 1 portion of filling in the center of a dough circle. Fold the circle in half and moisten the edges with water. Use index finger and thumb to bring the sides together. Pleat one edge while keeping the other edge smooth. The smooth edge will conform to the decreased length of the pleated edge. Pinc the pleats together then pinch to seal. Repeat procedure for the other dumplings.

4. Boil 10 cups of water and add dumplings; stir to prevent dumplings from sticking together. Bring to a boil; turn the heat to low and cook for 6 minutes. Remove. When serving, use vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot bean paste, etc. as dipping sauces.

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PASTING SPRING COUPLET

The Spring Couplet, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases”, is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate. The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival. In the past, the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them, while nowadays, it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.

CHINESE NEW YEAR CUSTOM

Chinese New Year Celebration is the most important celebration of the year. Chinese people may celebrate the Chinese New Year in slightly different ways but their wishes are almost the same; they want their family members and friends to be healthy and lucky during next year.

Chinese New Year Celebration usually lasts for 15 days. Celebratory activities include Chinese New Feast, firecrackers, giving lucky money to children, the New Year bell ringing and Chinese New Year Greetings. Most of Chinese people will stop the celebrating in their home on the 7th day of New Year because the national holiday usually ends around that day, however celebrations in public areas can last until the 15th day of New Year.

House Cleaning

To clean houses on the New Year Even is a very old custom dating back to thousands of years ago. The dust is traditionally associated with “old” so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the “old” and usher in the “new”. Days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their houses, sweeping the floor, washing daily things, cleaning the spider webs and dredging the ditches. People do all these things happily in the hope of a good coming year.

House decoration

One of the house decorations is to post couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed. New Year couplets are usually posted in pairs as even numbers are associated with good luck and auspiciousness in Chinese culture.

People in north China are used to posting paper-cut on their windows. When sticking the window decoration paper-cuts, people paste on the door large red Chinese character “fu”A red "fu"means good luck and fortune, so it is customary to post "fu"on doors or walls on auspicious occasions such as wedding, festivals.

Waiting for the First Bell Ringing of Chinese New Year

The first bell ringing is the symbol of Chinese New Year. Chinese people like to go to a large squares where there are huge bells are set up on New Year’s Eve. As the New Year approaches they count down and celebrate together. The people believe that the ringing of huge bell can drive all the bad luck away and bring the fortune to them. In recent years, some people have begun going to mountain temples to wait for the first ringing. Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, is very famous temple for its first ringing of the bell to herald Chinese New Year. Many foreigners now go to Hanshan Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Staying up late ("Shousui")

Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year’s arrival.

New Year Feast

Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. The New Year's Feast is "a must" banquet with all the family members getting together. The food eaten on the New Year Even banquet varies according to regions. In south China, It is customary to eat "niangao" (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher every year". In the north, a traditional dish for the feast is "Jiaozi" or dumplings shaped like a crescent moon.

Setting Firecrackers

Lighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Spring Festival celebration. However, concerning the danger and the negative noises that lighting firecrackers may bring, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Right as the clock strike 12 o'clock midnight of New Year's Eve, cities and towns are lit up with the glitter from fireworks, and the sound can be deafening. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully light their happiness in this especial occasion, even though they plug their ears.

New Year Greetings(Bai Nian)

On the first day of the New Year or shortly thereafter, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi (congratulations)， wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. In Chinese villages, some villagers may have hundreds of relatives so they have to spend more than two weeks visiting their relatives.

On the first day of the new year, it’s customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity.

Because visiting relatives and friends takes a lot of time, now, some busy people will send New Year cards to express their good wishes rather than pay a visit personally.

Lucky Money

It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters; hence the name "lucky money". Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year's Feast or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color. They want to give their children both lucky money and lucky color.

SWEEPING THE DUST

“Dust” is homophonic with “chen”（尘）in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life. In a word, just before the Spring Festival comes, every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.

PASTING SPRING COUPLES

“The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases”, is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate. The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival. In the past, the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them, while nowadays, it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.

PASTING NEW YEAR PRINTS

The custom of pasting New Year Prints originated from the tradition of placing Door Gods on the external doors of houses. With the creation of board carvings, New Year paintings cover a wide range of subjects. The most famous ones are Door Gods, Surplus Year after Year, Three Gods of Blessing, Salary and Longevity, An Abundant Harvest of Crops, Thriving Domestic Animals and Celebrating Spring. Four producing areas of New Year Print are Tɑohuɑwu of Suzhou, Yɑngliuqing of Tianjin, Wuqiɑng of Hebei and Weifang of Shangdong. Now the tradition of pasting New Year paintings is still kept in rural China, while it is seldom followed in cities.

GREAR WALL

The world-famous ancient Chinese build the Great Wall, the east Bohai Bay Shanhaiguan, west of Jiayuguan in Gansu Province. Through the mountains, mountain stream valleys, rolling 1.2 thousand li across northern China seven provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. As early as the Spring and Autumn period, all countries in order to resist the enemy, they built the Great Wall, according to insurance. Qin unified China, the sub-link the defense wall to build the scale of the magnificent Great Wall, the subsequent reinforcement Upgrading North Korea again after another. To the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), in the old basis, gradually converted into today's landscape. Spirit majestic Great Wall, is the world as one of history's great works. 1987 has been included in the "World Cultural Heritage"

CHINESE NEW YEAR'S EVE

New,Year,family,Chinese,Eve

The Spring Festival is the New Year in china, just as Christmas in Britain. Chinese people attach much important to the Spring Festival, which is Chinese traditional festival. And the New Year’s Eve is the most important day in the Spring Festival. So they have many celebrations and customs in that day.

Chinese has strong attachment to their family, and Chinese family is usually a big family. In the past, they always dwell on together. In a family, there are grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and many children. They all live in a big courtyard. Father, Mother and a few children are composed a minor family. Every brother of father makes his own minor family. And with grandparents, they form a big family. Each minor family possesses a minor room in a courtyard, which grandparents live in the major room. Because old person has the superior position in a family, and Chinese respect the old as a long-standing tradition. In the modern time, not every family member lives in a courtyard but live separately. However, they still maintain close link with each other. They often have get-togethers in holidays especially in festivals.

In New Year’s Eve, the most important festival, Chinese family often get together to spend the whole night. They often have the New Year’s dinner together, and celebrate the New Year in their own way.

The New Year’s dinner is very tasteful and delicious, for it not only a dinner but also a family meeting. Each family member sits around the table and talks while eating. It stands for the harmony and unity of a family. Since the dinner is very important, it takes too much time and effort to prepare it. As we all known, Chinese food is the most delicious food in the world. Perhaps because Chinese people are very particular about eating. For New Y ear’s dinner, the food is extremely exquisite and traditional. First, Jiaozi is necessary. Jiaozi, also called dumpling, is well-known as traditional Chinese food all over the world. In New Year’s Eve, we often make dumplings of meat and vegetable, and we also make special dumplings. For example, we make a few dumplings with a coin in them. No matter who eat these special dumplings, it foresees he will have luck of wealth the next year. Some special dumplings with shelled peanut in them mean longevity. Some with sugar in them mean a sweet life. Besides these wonderful Jiaozi, there are various cuisines. Usually, there should be a fish in the table, which means the family has enough to spare every year.

After enjoying the New Year’s dinner, the family seat in the sofa and watch the television. There is a culture New Year’s dinner waiting for them, which is the Spring Festival Evening Party. Since the Spring Festival Evening Party began to hold in 1982, every family consider watching it as a tradition. The party that is held by CCTV starts at 8:00 and lasts four and a half hours. It gathers almost all the Chinese stars in mainland and overseas. And its style of programs contains songs and dances, comic dialogues and sketches. CCTV invests big for this party every year, and they want to make the party be the best party on TV. Though the quality of the party decreased these days, it is still a better party than any other party held by other television stations. Yet Chinese still consider it as a culture dinner in New Year’s Eve.

Since New Year’s Eve comes, the sound of firecrackers will not disappear. Playing firecrackers is the necessary custom in New Year’s Eve. There is a legend about firecrackers. Long long ago, a monster called Nian (means year) haunted around a peaceful village. He attacked the people and livestock in the village. The villagers had no idea to deal with the monster. They became very fearful and lived in danger. Until one day, a clever man invented an arm called firecracker. On one New Year’s Eve, he used firecrackers to defeat the Nian monster. In order to commemorate the man and his glory deeds, we play firecrackers and eat Nian cake every New Year’s eve. Nian cake, also called New Year cake, stands for Nian monster. Eating New Year’s cake means “we will live a better and better life yearly”. Though it is fun of playing firecrackers, we cannot play firecrackers without control in that playing firecrackers causes environmental pollution and safe problems. yearNewfamily

DOUBLE NINTH FESTIVAL

The 9th day of the 9th lunar month is the traditional Chongyang Festival, or Double Ninth Festival. It usually falls in October in the Gregorian calendar. In an ancient and mysterious book Yi Jing, or The Book of Changes, number "6" was thought to be of Yin character, meaning feminine or negative, while number "9" was thought to be Yang, meaning masculine or positive. So the number nine in both month and day create the Double Ninth Festival, or Chongyang Festival. Chong in Chinese means "double." Also, as double ninth was pronounced the same as the word to signify "forever", both are "Jiu Jiu," the Chinese ancestors considered it an auspicious day worth celebration. That's why ancient Chinese began to celebrate this festival long time ago.

The custom of ascending a height to avoid epidemics was passed down from long time ago. Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival is also called "Height Ascending Festival". The height people will reach is usually a mountain or a tower. Ancient literary figures have left many poems depicting the activity. Even today, people still swarm to famous or little known mountains on this day.

On this day, people will eat Double Ninth Gao (or Cake). In Chinese, gao (cake) has the same pronunciation with gao (height). People do so just to hope progress in everything they are engaged in. There is no fixed ways for the Double Ninth Cake, but super cakes will have as many as nine layers, looking like a tower.

THE DOUBLE SEVENTH FESTIVAL

The Double Seventh Festival, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is a traditional festival full of romance. It often goes into August in the Gregorian calendar.

This festival is in mid-summer when the weather is warm and the grass and trees reveal their luxurious greens. At night when the sky is dotted with stars, and people can see the Milky Way spanning from the north to the south. On each bank of it is a bright star, which see each other from afar. They are the Cowherd and Weaver Maid, and about them there is a beautiful love story passed down from generation to generation.

Long, long ago, there was an honest and kind-hearted fellow named Niu Lang (Cowhand). His parents died when he was a child. Later he was driven out of his home by his sister-in-law. So he lived by himself herding cattle and farming. One day, a fairy from heaven Zhi Nu (Weaver Maid) fell in love with him and came down secretly to earth and married him. The cowhand farmed in the field and the Weaver Maid wove at home. They lived a happy life and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Unfortunately, the God of Heaven soon found out the fact and ordered the Queen Mother of the Western Heavens to bring the Weaver Maid back.

With the help of celestial cattle, the Cowhand flew to heaven with his son and daughter. At the time when he was about to catch up with his wife, the Queen Mother took off one of her gold hairpins and made a stroke. One billowy river appeared in front of the Cowhand. The Cowhand and Weaver Maid were separated on the two banks forever and could only feel their tears. Their loyalty to love touched magpies, so tens of thousands of magpies came to build a bridge for the Cowhand and Weaver Maid to meet each other. The Queen Mother was eventually moved and allowed them to meet each year on the 7th of the 7th lunar month. Hence their meeting date has been called "Qi Xi" (Double Seventh).

Scholars have shown the Double Seventh Festival originated from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD220). Historical documents from the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD371-420) mention the festival, while records from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) depict the grand evening banquet of Emperor Taizong and his concubines. By the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties, special articles for the "Qi Xi" were seen being sold on markets in the capital. The bustling markets demonstrated the significance of the festival.

Today some traditional customs are still observed in rural areas of China, but have been weakened or diluted in urban cities. However, the legend of the Cowhand and Weaver Maid has taken root in the hearts of the people. In recent years, in particular, urban youths have celebrated it as Valentine's Day in China. As a result, owners of flower shops, bars and stores are full of joy as they sell more commodities for love.

THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

The Mid-Autumn Festival , also known as the Moon Festival, is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people and Vietnamese people (even though they celebrate it differently), dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty .It was first called Zhongqiu Jie in Zhou Dynasty . In Malaysia and Singapore , it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.

Legend about Mid-Autumn Festival

It is said that the earth once had ten suns circling over it, each taking turn to illuminate the earth. One day, however, all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. Houyi , a strong and tyrannical archer, saved the earth by shooting down nine of the suns. He eventually became King, but grew to become a despot .

One day, Houyi stole the elixir from a goddess. However, his beautiful wife, Chang'e , drank it so as to save the people from her husband’s tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating, and flew to the moon. Houyi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he did not shoot down the moon. Chang'e flew to the moon grabbing a rabbit to keep her company. So the Chinese say that if you look up at the moon to this day you can sometimes see a rabbit making moon cakes.

Customs in Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around mid or late September in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumn and spring equinoxes of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese New Year, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvest season on this day. Traditionally, on Mid-Autumn Day, Chinese family members and friends will get together to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together.

Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as eating moon cakes outside under the moon, carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns, burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e, planting Mid-Autumn trees, collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members and Fire Dragon Dances.

DRAGON BOAT FESTIVL

The Dragon Boat Festival, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, has had a history of more than 2,000 years. It is usually in June in the Gregorian calendar.

　　There are many legends about the evolution of the festival, the most popular of which is in commemoration of Qu Yuan (340-278 BC). Qu Yuan was minister of the State of Chu and one of China's earliest poets. In face of great pressure from the powerful Qin State, he advocated enriching the country and strengthening its military forces so as to fight against the Qin. However, he was opposed by aristocrats headed by Zi Lan, and later deposed and exiled by King Huai. In his exiled days, he still cared much for his country and people and composed immortal poems including Li Sao (The Lament), Tian Wen (Heavenly Questions) and Jiu Ge (Nine Songs), which had far-reaching influences. In 278 BC, he heard the news that Qin troops had finally conquered Chu's capital, so he finished his last piece Huai Sha (Embracing Sand) and plunged himself into the Miluo River, clasping his arms to a large stone. The day happened to be the 5th of the 5th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. After his death, the people of Chu crowded to the bank of the river to pay their respects to him. The fishermen sailed their boats up and down the river to look for his body. People threw into the water zongzi (pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves) and eggs to divert possible fish or shrimp from attacking his body. An old doctor poured a jug of reaglar wine (Chinese liquor seasoned with realgar) into the water, hoping to turn all aquatic beasts drunk. That's why people later followed the customs such as dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine on that day.

　　Dragon boat racing is an indispensable part of the festival, held all over the country. As the gun is fired, people will see racers in dragon-shaped canoes pulling the oars harmoniously and hurriedly, accompanied by rapid drums, speeding toward their destination. Folk tales say the game originates from the activities of seeking Qu Yuan's body, but experts, after painstaking and meticulous research, conclude that dragon boat racing is a semi-religious, semi-entertaining program from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). In the following thousands of years, the game spread to Japan, Vietnam and Britain as well as China's Taiwan and Hong Kong. Now dragon boat racing has developed into an aquatic sports item which features both Chinese tradition and modern sporting spirit. In 1980, it was listed into the state sports competition programs and has since been held every year. The award is called "Qu Yuan Cup."

　　Zongzi is an essential food of the Dragon Boat Festival. It is said that people ate them in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). In early times, it was only glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reed or other plant leaves and tied with colored thread, but now the fillings are more diversified, including jujube and bean paste, fresh meat, and ham and egg yolk. If time permits, people will soak glutinous rice, wash reed leaves and wrap up zongzi themselves. Otherwise, they will go to shops to buy whatever stuff they want. The custom of eating zongzi is now popular in North and South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian nations.

　　On Dragon Boat Festival, parents also need to dress their children up with a perfume pouch. They first sew little bags with colorful silk cloth, then fill the bags with perfumes or herbal medicines, and finally string them with silk threads. The perfume pouch will be hung around the neck or tied to the front of a garment as an ornament. They are said to be able to ward off evil.

The article was reproduced my blog from WWW.WENGUO.COM

QINGMING FESTIVAL

Origin

Qingming Festival, also known as Pure Brightness Festival or Tomb-sweeping Day, is one of the 24 segments of the Chinese calendar. It normally falls on the 4th or 5th of April, between spring plowing and summer weeding, and is a time to pay respects to one's ancestors and to tidy their gravesite. On this day, whole families, young and old, go to the gravesite of deceased family members to burn incense and perform a ritual offering while clearing away plant overgrowth from the gravesite.

Qingming Festival is when Chinese people visit the graves or burial grounds of their ancestors. Traditionally, people brought a whole rooster with them to the graves visited but the occasion has become less formal over time. The festival originated from Hanshi Day ( literally, Day with cold food only), a memorial day for Jie Zitui . Jie Zitui died in 636 BC in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was one of many followers of Duke Wen of Jin before he became a duke. Once, during Wen's 19 years of exile, they had no food and Jie prepared some meat soup for Wen. Wen enjoyed it a lot and wondered where Jie had obtained the soup. It turned out Jie had cut a piece of meat from his own thigh to make the soup. Wen was so moved he promised to reward him one day. However, Jie was not the type of person who sought rewards. Instead, he just wanted to help Wen to return to Jin to become king. Once Wen became duke, Jie resigned and stayed away from him. Duke Wen rewarded the people who helped him in the decades, but for some reason he forgot to reward Jie, who by then had moved into the forest with his mother. Duke Wen went to the forest, but could not find Jie. Heeding suggestions from his officials, Duke Wen ordered men to set the forest on fire to force out Jie. However, Jie died in the fire. Feeling remorseful, Duke Wen ordered three days without fire to honour Jie's memory. The county where Jie died is still called Jiexiu ( literally "the place Jie rests forever").

Customs

Qingming Festival is a time of many different activities, among which the main ones are tomb sweeping, taking a spring outing, flying kites. Some other lost customs like wearing willow branches on the head and riding on swings have added infinite joy in past days. The festival is a combination of sadness and happiness, perhaps bittersweet.

Tomb Sweeping or Ancestor Worshipping

The major custom in Qingming Festival is tomb sweeping. According to folk religion, the spirits of deceased ancestors still live underground and look after the family; the tombs are said to be their houses; thus it is very important to keep the tombs clean.

The Qingming Festival is spent 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.

The article was reproduced my blog from http://www.hxen.com

LANTERN FESTIVAL THE 15TH DAY OF THE 1ST LUNAR MONTH

The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China.

According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

History

Until the Sui Dynasty in the sixth century, Emperor Yangdi invited envoys from other countries to China to see the colorful lighted lanterns and enjoy the gala performances.

By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century, the lantern displays would last three days. The emperor also lifted the curfew, allowing the people to enjoy the festive lanterns day and night. It is not difficult to find Chinese poems which describe this happy scene.

In the Song Dynasty, the festival was celebrated for five days and the activities began to spread to many of the big cities in China. Colorful glass and even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns.

However, the largest Lantern Festival celebration took place in the early part of the 15th century. The festivities continued for ten days. Emperor Chengzu had the downtown area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns. Even today, there is a place in Beijing called Dengshikou. In Chinese, Deng means lantern and Shi is market. The area became a market where lanterns were sold during the day. In the evening, the local people would go there to see the beautiful lighted lanterns on display.

Today, the displaying of lanterns is still a big event on the 15th day of the first lunar month throughout China. People enjoy the brightly lit night. Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, for example, holds a lantern fair each year in the Cultural Park. During the Lantern Festival, the park is literally an ocean of lanterns! Many new designs attract countless visitors. The most eye-catching lantern is the Dragon Pole. This is a lantern in the shape of a golden dragon, spiraling up a 27-meter -high pole, spewing fireworks from its mouth. It is quite an impressive sight!

There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. But one thing for sure is that it had something to do with religious worship.

One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to inflict drought, storms, famine or pestilence upon human beings. Beginning with Qinshihuang, the first emperor to unite the country, all subsequent emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The emperor would ask Taiyi to bring favorable weather and good health to him and his people. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BC, he proclaimed it one of the most important celebrations and the ceremony would last throughout the night.

Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment. So followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune.

The third story about the origin of the festival is like this. Buddhism first entered China during the reign of Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty. That was in the first century. However, it did not exert any great influence among the Chinese people. one day, Emperor Mingdi had a dream about a gold man in his palace. At the very moment when he was about to ask the mysterious figure who he was, the gold man suddenly rose to the sky and disappeared in the west. The next day, Emperor Mingdi sent a scholar to India on a pilgrimage to locate Buddhist scriptures. After journeying thousands of miles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures. Emperor Mingdi ordered that a temple be built to house a statue of Buddha and serve as a repository for the scriptures. Followers believe that the power of Buddha can dispel darkness. So Emperor Mingdi ordered his subjects to display lighted lanterns during what was to become the Lantern Festival.

Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival,or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. We call these balls Yuanxiao or Tangyuan. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth centuty, then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.

The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuansiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts, sesame, osmanthus flowers, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling . The salty variety is filled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture.

The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or nonmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.

The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains. This tradition encourages both old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. They all try their best to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract more customers

CHINESE NEW YEAR

What does the holiday mean?

The term "pass year" is used for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The word "Year" in Chinese characters used to mean a horrible beast. To combat the beast, the Chinese hang "good luck" wishes on red paper on the door and use fireworks in the belief that the beast fears red and fire.This tradition in many ways resemble the Western belief of using garlic and crosses to fight vampires.

Why New Year is so special?

The Chinese zodiac features 12 animals in the sequence of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. This year is the year of Snake. Each animal represents a different "personality". According to legend, people held a conference with all the animals, informing them that they would pick the 12 to represent the zodiac. However, in spite of being fast, the cat was not picked as its then-close friend, the rat, did not wake it. This action sparked off a rivalry that continues till this day.

What do people do?

Eat, eat again, and then eat some more! As the old Chinese saying goes: food is everything.

The tradition is to have different main courses everyday from the 1st day of the New Year to the 15th day of the New Year, from Jiao Zi (dumplings), noodles, spring rolls, sticky rice cakes, and Tang Yuan (stuffed rice balls). Besides culinary satisfaction, each food has a meaning as well: for instance, Jiao Zi looks like gold, implying a wealthy year ahead.

Besides eating, young people visit older family members and kids are blessed with a red pack of "lucky" money. And then, people gather and eat again (!), leading to a lot of advertisements about fitness right after the Chinese New Year holiday.

Happy Chinese New year