A short introduction about China
China
Our motherland, China ,officially the People's Republic of China, is a sovereign state located in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land area. The ancient Chinese civilization– one of the world's earliest – flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become the world's fastest-growing major economy.
As is known to us all, China is one of four ancient and civilizational countries in the world. In fact, it has a longer history than we have ever known. Now I’m gonna tell something about our culture that is the crystallization of Chinese wisdom.
Firstly, I’ d like you to know about our traditional festival. Most traditional festivals took shape during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the first unified and power-centralized dynasty of China. Moreover, traditional Chinese festivals were often connected with ancient astronomy, calendars and mathematics. Jieqi, or the 24 seasonal division points, is a key factor in forming traditional festivals. As China is a vast land and has
many ethnic groups, different ethnic groups have different festivals in different places. 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. The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar.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 "ji", "yu" and "doufu," mean 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. Each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think "jiaozi" in sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new". But southern Chinese eat niangao on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher, one year after another."Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.The Lantern
Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month and his day's important activity is watching lanterns. People will eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the "Yuanxiao Festival."
What's more, tangyuan in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with "tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. So people eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family.We also have The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival, The Dragon Boat Festival ,The Double Seventh Festival, The Mid-Autumn Festival, The 9th day of the 9th lunar month, Winter Solstice Festival. If you wanna know more, you can contact me without hesitation.
When it comes to Chinese traditional culture, Chinese myths and Chinese dragon are something that should not be missed. Chinese myths and Chinese dragon are two important things in the Chinese culture. Moreover, the Chinese dragon is the Chinese totem. Chinese people are proud of being the generation of dragon. Talking about the Chinese myths, the most famous ones in China are Journey to the West, The Investiture of the Gods and The Classic of Mountains and Rivers.When mentioning Chinese myths, the Chinese dragon is another one should not miss. In Chinese culture, the Chinese dragon represents the power and the wealth. The emperors in China are always seen as the son of Chinese dragon.The Chinese Dragon, or Lung, is energetic, decisive,
optimistic, intelligent and ambitious, symbolizing power and excellence, valiancy and boldness, heroism and perseverance, nobility and divinity. Having such unrivaled characteristics the dragon symbolized the Emperors of China themselves, who were actually called dragons.
Next ,I will introduce a historic person to all of you, Confucius, a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history.Confucius's principles had a basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong family loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children and (in traditional interpretations) of husbands by their wives. He espoused the well-known principle "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself", an early version of the Golden Rule.
Last but not least,Chinese cooking is a important part of Chinese Culture, also known as Chinese food culture. Chinese Cuisine is one of the three world cuisine (Chinese Cuisine, French Cuisine and Turkish Cuisine), and has a far-reaching impact on East Asian Region. The recipes come from various regions and ethnic dishes. Also, our dining culture is different from western country. Visitors to China
are often surprised when a typical dinner for a table of eight people consists of four courses of cold dishes, four courses of hot dishes, coupled with soup and steamed rice. They consider this a lavish spread. But in the mind of Chinese people, a dinner prepared as a above for guests is the minimum requirement. Ten course of dishes, not necessarily prepares in huge quantities, would not be considered excessive, and a few people would blink at sixteen.People at a table will usually ‘Gan Bei' when toasting each other. ‘Gan Bei' means to raise up one's wine glass or liquor cup and drink it all the way down so that the glass or cup is ‘dried up to the last drop'.However, an average Chinese meal at home is quite different in composition from a Chinese banquet. Different from the tableware in the west, chopsticks plays the most important role in Chinese cuisine culture. Chinese people have used it as the main tableware since 3,000 years ago.Here are a few things should be avoided when you are using chopsticks. Don't insert the chopsticks upright in the bowl filled with rice, because it is a custom in sacrifice. And Chinese people seldom beat their bowl with chopsticks for it can be associated with the behavior of beggars in the past year.
Traditionally, at the Chinese dining table everyone had his or her own bowl of staple food, that is, steamed rice, noodles or the steamed bread, while the dishes are place in the middle of the dinner table to be shared by all.
There are still a lot of things to say about China if you are interested in our culture. Chinese people are kind and friendly so welcome you to China.