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That's All, Folks! 初 chü 三 sän ~初 chü 五 wŭ

2010-03-05T14:47:00.001+08:00

That's All, Folks! 初 chü 三 sän ~初 chü 五 wŭ

Now that the daughters and sons-in-law also visited the families, the modern day Chinese New Year celebration also reaches the intermission. I don't want to put 'the end' here, since there is a grand finale on the 15th, and also 'the end' is not 'auspicious' during the new year celebration. Still the holiday is about to wrap up, let's take a look at the remaining days - before everyone goes back to work.
I'll do this by the coherent idiom for the day, so as to enrich the poor content.
初 chü 三 sän 睡 sùi 到 dào 饱 băo
After the New Year's Eve all night celebration, the first day of the New Year house calls around relatives and friends, and the second day returning to the parents (parents-in-law) for the treat, it is about time to get a break from all the running around.

This is the day you get to sleep in. Our ancestors said that it was because the rats were having their weddings today, so in order not to disturb them, everyone in the house must keep quiet and keep the activity to the minimum in order to show respect. Of course this is just a good excuse for not doing anything at all for the day and truly rejuvenated from the whole three days of hard working. It also is a break to get ready for unfolding of a year's work.

Imagining that all people in the picture are rats. How interesting it can be!
初 chü 四 sì 接 jïe 神 shén
Oh, yes, they are back! We send back to report what we did last year, and today is the day they come back for another year of observation and blessings (and otherwise, if you deserve it). This is the day you would hear the long string of firecrackers blasting right from the first hour of the day. After all, it's definitely a plus to show some earnest in receiving the gods home.
Interesting enough is that this day is normally a rainy day. The gods come down with the rain to bless the land. Sounds quite biblical as well.
初 chü 五 wŭ 隔 gé 开 käi / 开 käi 工 göng
It took me years to finally understand the meaning of 隔 gé 开 käi, at first I thought it meant the separation between the married daughter and their parents. Well, the true meaning is not too far off, this is the day the new year celebration is over and people return to their regular work posts.
That is why in the modern days, the day is addressed as开 käi 工 göng 日 rì- which is more plain to the sight that meaning is perceived without further elaboration.
All right. So this is it. We are off for another year's of hard labor. May you enjoy the fruit of your work. 恭 göng 喜 xĭ 发 fä 财 cái!!

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Water Out Of The Bucket Gets A Home Coming Feast 初chü 二èr：回húi 娘níang 家jïa

2010-03-03T17:43:00.004+08:00

Water Out Of The Bucket Gets A Home Coming Feast
初chü 二èr：回húi 娘níang 家jïa

When a daughter gets married, she will be someone else's daughter. She will have someone else's last name, and she will bear someone else's heir and attend to someone else's ancestors. The Chinese say a married daughter is like the water that is thrown out of the bucket; and like the water that is out of the bucket, she will never be taken back*.
Luckily, we are in the 21st century!!
Even our ancestors were not at all that cruel. They actually reserved two days for the married daughters to come home for visit. In the ancient time, lunar January 11th was for the son-in-law to visit, and 12th was for the daughter to come home for a visit (as a guest). There was no actual recording why it became the 2nd of January, though it was believed that due to the change of social structure - which was from agriculture to industrial - the lunar holidays were shortened down to 5 days, and thus the home coming of the married daughters was moved forward to the 2nd of January. Lunar January 2nd also happens to be the birthday of the earth gods, which is itself a day for feast. Since the food is there, everybody is happy. This day we call it 回 húi 娘 níang 家 jïa: 回 húi means to return, 娘 níang is the older and formal term for mother but here refers to the daughter, and 家 jïa is house/home.

Basically, that is it.
As I am writing this, I realize that the lunar new year celebration actually is not that colorful and mysterious as we (Chinese) would like to think or describe. Now the stores practically open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; and that traveling to another city or town may take about 10 minutes or so on a high speed transportation system, the festivity of lunar new year becomes less cheering or expected. I am sure it won't be long that the lunar new year becomes something like a winter break or summer break for the working class, and what is left is the commercial oriented festivity.
One day, the real spirit of the Chinese New Year would be like the water in the bucket - it is only a matter of time we throw it out of the window.
Before that, let us try to enjoy it as much as we can!
*The phrase is 嫁 jìa 出 chü 去 qù 的 dè 女 nú 儿 ér 泼 pö 出 chü 去 qù 的 dè 水 shŭi
出 chü 去 qù : 出 chü means out, 去 qù means go, 出 chü 去 qù means go out or get out
的 dè is a character for possessive case, such as my, 我 wŏ 的 dè ( I = 我 wŏ)
嫁 jìa: marry to, this is for 'to marry into'. Normally it refers to woman who marries into another family and becomes the daughter (daughter-in-law) of that family. However, when a man marries into another family and become the son of the family (assuming the family's last name), we also use 嫁 jìa - but of course not to the man's face….
女 nú 儿 ér: 女 nú means female, 儿 ér is son, 女 nú 儿 ér, a female son, a daughter.
水vshŭi: water
泼vpö: the left part of the character is 水 shŭi, water; and the right is 发 fä, to distribute. The character 泼 pö means to throw water or to splash the water.

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Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!! --守shǒu歲sùi

2010-03-02T11:25:00.002+08:00

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!! --守shǒu歲sùi

Yes, I admit that the title is not very 'auspicious' to the festivity of Chinese New Year. However, since we have all been in the turmoil of this chaotic year of global financial downcast, almost back to back natural catastrophe around the world, fallen pop and movie stars, disappointing latest product features, et al; I am sure almost all people around the world are looking forward to a brighter new year. So, let's ding dong away to the bottom half of the New Year's Eve activity.
We're almost there, I promise.
Now the fish is 'half full' on the New Year's Eve dinner table, wine is tasted as a token for a long lasting happiness, it's time for the younger generations to pay respect to the elders, and wish them a long lasting life and a happy new year. The older custom is that the eldest family members of the family, grand parents or great grand parents, to sit on the chairs next to the shrine for the ancestors. The younger generations: sons and daughters in-law and their children (the grand children), the daughters (not married) to line up in front of the elders to wish them happy new year either by bowing down or by kneeling down and bow down to the ground. The elders then distribute money or candies in the red envelope, to bless the younger generations either with fortune or good marriage (of course it is always the best to put money in the red envelope since, to be honest, we do love money more than candies). We call This money or candies in the red envelope 红hóng包bäo: 红hóng is for the color red, and 包bäo here refers to the packet - the envelope in this scenario. The children then pay respect to their parents, but there is no need to bow down or kneeling down, since those gestures are reserved for the eldest family members. The parents also distribute红hóng包bäo to the children. Although the money inside红hóng包bäo is not necessarily much, it is a symbol of blessings from the parents and the elders in the family, as well as a symbol of family wealth, showing that they have enough to give.
After paying respect to everyone in the family, most Chinese families will play 麻máh将jòng while waiting for the new year to come. With all the games and movies on DVD/Blue Ray available nowadays, we an observe a family of at least three generations being clustered by the games of their cohere age: grand parents playing麻máh将jòng, moms and dads either join grand parents on the麻máh将jòng table or watch movies on DVD, while the kids either play Wii, PSP, X-box or online games on PCs or laptops. All these activities will continue even after midnight. This is守shǒu岁sùi. 岁sùi is normally a term to describe age, for example 10 years old is described as 10 (shí) 岁sùi. In other words, 岁sùi refers to a year (a cycle). To 守shǒu岁sùi means to 'keep the year', as 守shǒu refers to 'keep' or 'guard'. You would wonder why we want to "keep the year" since we've been going through so much (painstaking) detail to 'ding dong' away the current year. Well, it actually is a symbol of keeping/guarding to ensure a safe transition between the old and the new year. To make sure that everyone makes it to another year.

The final call is coming and the clock finally strikes 12!!
One of the key offering items that are now on the shrine table is the firecracker. Yes, the Disney version of the world destructing invention of our ancestors. This is not the small and loud 'one ping only' type of firecracker. It is a long string of many small 'one ping only' things that will keep 'ping-ing' for as long as it takes. We light up the long string of firecracker, using the loud 'auspicious' sound and flashes to get rid of the old and to welcome the new. Make sure there is no stopping of the firecracker, as it is considered a bad omen, which predicts the misfortune of the family. When the firecrackers pays its tribute to the New Year, remember to gather all the ashes with a broomstick, sweep it inwards into the house on a dustpan. The firecracker ashes are regarded as fortune, and of course you don't leave the fortune on the ground outside of yours house. You scoop them in and keep them for the year to come (the fortune, not the ashes, you can put the ashes into the trash can after you scoop them in).

Now can we all go to bed? Sorry, no. It would be better if you can stay up all night, if not, for as late as possible. So gather your energy while trying to stay up all night. For it is the New Year, and we have other things to do on the 1st day of the New Year!!
Some may notice that when I mention the family member, I put a bracket behind the daughters, specifying not married. Well, the married daughters are with the family they are married into, playing the 'daughters- in-law' part with the sons. They will come home, as one of the days in New Year celebration is reserved especially for the married daughters. We'll talk about it when it comes.
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The Clock Is Ticking, The New Year Is Coming~~~ The last minute cleaning 大dà扫său除chú and the gather around eating 围wéi炉lú

2010-02-23T11:59:00.003+08:00

The Clock Is Ticking, The New Year Is Coming~~~
The last minute cleaning 大dà扫său除chú
and the gather around eating 围wéi炉lú

Now that we have all the food supply well stocked in the pantry and freezer; all the new clothing (intimate and not so intimate wears) is in order, hanging and lining in the wardrobe that are cleaned as good as new; while sitting in your well dusted house that feels as if newly remodeled, you are tempted to make yourself a nice cup of hot tea, sit yourself down on the sofa with covers soft as baby's behind, and bath in the warm winter sun. Before you start praising the wonder of life and the beauty of simple contentment, please remember, you are NOT yet done with your New Year's Eve preparation.
First, there is the shrine. The food offering today is for the ancestors. Though it does not need to be as lavishing as the food offering for gods, as this is the eve of a new year, the choice of fruits and sweets will be those that carry the same sounds as the joyous expressions. Fruits for example, apple is 苹pín果gŭo, 苹pín carries the same sound as平pín, as in平pín安än, safe. Tangerine is橘jú子zï, or 桔jéi子zï, 橘jú or桔jéi sound similar to吉jí, as in吉jí利lì - good fortune (吉jí means good, and 利lì mean fortune, profit).
As for the sweets, these are mostly traditional sweets made of rice. The two must have items are发fä糕gäo and年nían糕gäo. 发fä as in 发fä财cái - rich and profit, 糕gäo as in 步bù步bù高gäo升shëng (步bù as in step, 步bù步bù means step by step, 高gäo is tall/high, and 高gäo升shëng means rising high)- getting advanced at work or academy; 年nían糕gäo is the same, except the first character is 年nían, as in 'year' - well advance in career or academy in the new year. Both items are made of rice, 发fä糕gäo shapes like a cup cake with pointing tops, and the color is yellow (as in gold); 年nían糕gäo normally comes in the shape of a round cake, sometimes mixed with red beans, as the color red is a festival color. After all the offerings are in place, the family will gather together to pray to the ancestors, to thank them for the blessings for the past year and to pray for the continues blessing for the year to come.

After the prayer, when the ancestor enjoyed the worships, the family sits down to have the dinner together. This, as we mentioned previously, is the holiday that, similar to Thanksgiving or Christmas, all the members of the family will gather together to celebrate. In the old days, the main course would be a hot pot with coal burning in the middle of the hot pot. That is why the New Year's eve family get together dinner is also called 围wéi炉lú. 围wéi means to surround, and 炉lú is the stove/furnace, so together the term refers to sit "around the stove/furnace". As the coal burning in the center of the hot pot reaches red hot, it symbolizes the family member being numerous and the family fortune being bountiful. The dinner normally last a very long time, sometimes over 3 or 4 hours. This not only represent that the family members being many, and that the lives of every member, as well as the good fortune of the family, would last a very very long time.
It's time again to wrap up the much information for digest. But before we leave, just a quick note for a taboo on the New Year's Eve dining table.

One of the must-have dishes on the New Year's Eve dinner is the first. Fish is 鱼yú, and the sound of 鱼yú is the same as 余yú. Have a fish on every New Year's eve makes the phrase 年nían年nían有yŏu余yú, which literally mean there are (something) left from the previous year, to 'have' instead of to 'lack'. For that purpose, the fist is not to be fully consumed. The family will put in the freezer for latter days, so don't worry too much about wasting food - meaning, don't be so kind to grab the last pieces thinking that you're doing the mom a favor. You just might get kicked out of the house right there and then.
And though the fish has two sides, there is absolutely no turning side on the New Year's Eve dining table. Originally, it is a practice of the fisherman or the Navy as turning the fish brings the bad luck in the turning of the boat/ship. Many people follow that practice, hoping that all good fortune would not be 'turned aside'. If you really enjoy the fish so much that you want more when this side is up, exercise your chopstick holding skill and reach between the bones to get the meat from the other sides.

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Seriously, get rid of the old, make room for the new!! - 除chú夕xì

2010-02-23T11:56:00.002+08:00

Seriously, get rid of the old, make room for the new!! - 除chú夕xì

Now that the gods are away, we can finally whip out the mops, brooms and dusters and get ready for a rattle and hum! Since old must go in order to make way for the new, the house will need to be spic and spam in order to renew the good fortunate for the coming year.
Comparing to the spring cleaning of the west, the New Year’s Eve cleaning is equally important. We call the cleaning 扫sǎo除chú - whether new year's eve or daily cleaning - 扫sǎo refers to using broomstick to sweep the floors, and除chú means to get rid of (things, people….). The idea is to sweep away the bad fortune from this passing year and get rid of the ill fate. Each of the family members is to participate so that the cleaning not only is for the whole family but for each member as well. Basically, we are using this to deeply reflect on our old behaviors and make a new resolution to the newer, better behaviors or improvement. In a way, 扫sǎo除chú not only cleans the entire household, but the dark corners of our minds as well.
When we talked about housing cleaning can only commence after 送sòng神shén ceremony is accomplished, we mainly refer to the cleaning of the shrine (神shén位wèi) in the house. The shrine in each household is there for the ancestors as well as the god(s). It is essentially the ‘home’. For example, when Chinese move their houses, they would seek the advice of a fortune teller, a 风fën水sŭi master, for the best time to move out of the old house and entering the new one. Many of you who actually have the experience living in a Chinese environment would feel strange to observe the moving either is done way before the announced moving date or after. The shrine in the household is the reason why. The best time is for moving the shrine, the essence or the spirit of the ‘home’. As long as the shrine is not relocated, the actual house moving is not commenced and/or completed.
Of course this large scale cleaning cannot be accomplished in one single day. Normally the household begins with the preparation as early as the beginning of lunar December. Every corner of the house: spider webs, rusty steel rails, faded wall paints, broken windows, things that piled up in the hidden basement corners, etc, are dusted, recoated, replaced or sorted. Things that are no longer in use but are still in usable conditions will be gathered and given to the people who are in need.
At the same time, mothers are shopping and preparing food for the 15 days celebration. During which, they also need to shop for new clothing and new shoes, so that not only the house will have a new look, each member of the family will also have a new set of wardrobe in welcoming a brighter new year.
And finally, the big day comes.
Don’t know about you, but I am exhausted already……

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Who's naughty, Who's nice?? -- 送sòng神shén Lunar date: December 24th (February 7th, 2010)

2010-02-02T13:31:00.001+08:00

Who's naughty, Who's nice?? -- 送sòng神shén
Lunar date: December 24th (February 7th, 2010)

When talking about the Winter Festival, I mentioned that the gods on earth would return to the "royal court" in heaven to report the year's work. Knowing us Chinese that pretty much ceremonial-ize just about everything, the sending gods 'home for the holidays' is definitely not getting passed by so carelessly.
The gods return home mainly to report to the holy emperor玉yù皇húan大dà帝dì (the king of the gods) what the family they are in charge of has been doing for the past year. How many good and bad deeds were done by the family members in the past year would be reported in detail. Based on the deeds done, which is similar to Santa's list (Santa Claus), the gods then determine the fate and fortune of the family for the coming year(s). This is much more serious than a gift or a lump of coal - it may be a matter of life or death. Naturally, on the day when gods return to heaven, the family would prepare a feast and make the offerings in order to please the gods into saying nice things about the family, and to bring a good fortunate for the year to come.
The offering customarily begins at 子tsĭ时shí, which is 0:00am (the beginning of lunar December 24th). The offering food normally includes 三sän牲shëng, which are cooked chicken, port, and fish; accompanied by sweetened food group such as sweetened rice ball汤täng圆yúan, fruits, candies; in addition to the ceremonial candles and incenses. The sweets are very important as the Chinese believe that the sweets would get the gods to 'sweet talk' about the things the family did during the past years. A more interesting belief is that the Chinese use the sweetened rice ball to 'glue' the mouths of the gods so the gods could not speak ill (or to speak at all) of them. After the praying and making offering, some people will also offer 纸zhĭ钱qíen (paper money) with similar purpose of the offering of sweets. The whole ceremony will be wrapped up with igniting the firecrackers. Using the festival noise, seeing the gods off back to heaven.
When the god are off to their annual report, the Chinese will then begin the preparation of the New Year celebration, starting with cleaning the house, getting the entire household clean and fresh for the coming of the New Year.
Note that for those households the suffer from unfortunate lost of family members, the ceremony and the cleaning ritual are prohibited as the Chinese believe that such households are 'unclean' to perform such rituals. Normally such households shall wait three years (the traditional mourning period for the deceased) before resuming the usual practices, but nowadays one year is sufficient.
Somehow I think the farmers are much more busier than their usual field works. But that just me thinking out loud.

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Bring out the old, bring in the new -送sòng旧jìo迎yíng新xïn

2010-01-21T14:02:00.006+08:00

Bring out the old, bring in the new -送sòng旧jìo迎yíng新xïn

Though we’ve just frantically celebrated the New Year, and sadly returned to our daily usual, the Chinese in the world are getting ready for their major event of the year – the Lunar New Year.

CNY as it is now recognized as, the lunar new year to the Chinese is like the combo of Thanksgiving, Christmas and new year holiday (to the Americans, and the rest of the world, Christmas and new year, well, most of the world). This means people are fighting their way back home by cars, trains and airplanes (Salute to John Hughes, one of my favorite directors that parted in the 2009). Nowadays, stores are opened 7 days a week, and some even with 24 hours a day. But in a decade ago, well, make that two; people needed to stored up food for as long as 5 to 7 days, as the markets, grocery stores, restaurants, or even that little breakfast stand around your corner would be home for the holidays and ‘see you next year’.

Since the Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, the period of time actually is a break for the farmers, people who work the land, to rest their hands and enjoy the fruit of their labor. As the Chinese proverb describes “春chün耕gëng夏xìa耘yún秋qïu收shöu冬döng藏cáng”: to plow in the spring, to weed in the summer, to harvest in the autumn, and to store for the winter. A year is perfectly laid out in four terms. Don’t you just love our ever wise ancestors?

We’ll begin with new year’s eve next time to talk about what the Chinese do during this used-to-be 15 days break.

送sòng旧jìo : to give away the old/used. 送sòng : to give, 旧jìo: old, used.

迎yíng新xïn : to bring in the new. 迎yíng : to welcome in, 新xïn : new, fresh.

春chün耕gëng : to plow in the spring. 春chün : spring, 耕gëng : to plow

夏xìa耘yún : to weed in the summer. 夏xìa : summer, 耘yún : to weed

秋qïu收shöu : to harvest in the autumn/fall. 秋qïu: autumn, fall; 收shöu : to collect, to put away, here refers to harvest.

冬döng藏cáng : to store for the winter. 冬döng : winter, 藏cáng : to hide, to store away.

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Sacrifice for the ever laboring teeth - more about 尾wěi牙yá

2010-01-19T12:48:00.001+08:00

Sacrifice for the ever laboring teeth -

more about 尾wěi牙yá

It came to me that I did not elaborate on the meaning of 牙yá in尾wěi牙yá in my last article; why 'teeth' would have something to do with this year end banquet. To tell the truth, being a Chinese for the whole of my life - well, let's be modest, for the period of my working life - I never figured it out why, or even actually cared about it. Guess proper circumstances do lead us to knowledge, however trivial it is.

Ok. Enough sarcasm for the day.

The 尾wěi in尾wěi牙yá and 头tóu in头tóu牙yá as mentioned previously were characters that referred to the end and the beginning: 尾wěi referred to the end and头tóu the beginning. That leaves the big question mark on 牙yá. 牙yá is teeth in general. It can refer to objects that shape like a teeth, or sounds that sound like the character (duh..). In a much more rare usage, the word also is used in describing someone as being clever or smart. Still, besides implication or association - such as teeth as the tool for chewing and grinding the food in your mouth, which definitely helps in the year end banquet - there actually is no specific logic to the derivation as for how 牙yá could refer to the banquet.

Funny enough, the explanation given by the search was equally vague. 牙yá had been the synonym for brokers/traders/merchants or commercial activities since 唐táng Dynasty. Before唐táng Dynasty, the commercial activities was called 互hù市shì, and people who performed the trade were called 互hù人rén. 互hù means mutual, since commercial activities are mutual beneficiary, so it is pretty much self explanatory. Then came唐táng Dynasty, the grand dynasty that spread it's majesty through culturing foreigners that eventually inspired the Japanese culture transformation, decided that 互hù looked similar to 牙yá, and replaced 互hù in 互hù市shì and 互hù人rén to牙yá市shì and牙yá人rén. Anything related to market trading or commercial activities, all the way to "peripherals" - holiday and the sorts. The 2^nd and 16^th of each (lunar) month, when the bosses treated staff with meat (before they finally sacked them with the pointing chicken head) after the earth god worshiping, were called 牙yá祭jì (roughly translated as offer sacrifice to teeth, 祭jì means to offer sacrifice or to hold a memorial ceremony). This is how enjoying a feast is also called 打dă牙yá祭jì. Hence 头tóu牙yá祭jì and 尾wěi牙yá祭jì became 头tóu牙yá and 尾wěi牙yá.

So there you have it, one more trivia that will gain you some more points when you run out of Confucius on the dinning table with your boss and colleges. Perhaps that will help turn the chicken head away from you? You never know……

ps. Just so that you are wondering how much alike are the two word互hù and牙yá, here is a side by side graphic for your review, courtesy of the mighty internet. They are in different types of calligraphy, but I am sure you would get the idea. Know which is which??

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Whom is the rooster pointing? The feast that rocks your world - the good or the bad way 尾wĕi牙yá

2010-01-15T16:04:00.003+08:00

Whom is the rooster pointing?

The feast that rocks your world - the good or the bad way

尾wĕi牙yá

Similar to the Christmas party in the western industries, 尾wĕi牙yá is a feast in the Chinese industries when the management meets the labor to have a gay old time. Many local entertainers receive their most lucrative income of the year by either performing or hosting this type of banquets. Some minimum wage staff might take home something worth more than their annual income; some bosses may make use of the banquet to show that they do care about their staff by being part of the performance (with other management 'big heads', of course); but then, just as a road that goes up the hill will go down on the other end, some will be let go.

尾wĕi牙yá is basically the last time before the end of the year that people present their offerings to the earth god. People in the Chinese business world present offerings to the earth god twice a month, one is the 2nd and the other one on the 16th. They pray for more money through their trades (what else?), and that everyone in the company remains healthy and safe (less on the NHI spending - not H1N1, though look surprisingly alike - N.H.I, as in National Health Insurance).

Since there is a尾wĕi牙yá(the character尾wĕimeans tail or the end), there is a 头tóu牙yá (头tóu means head or the beginning). Chinese believe that gods on earth will return to their HQ in heaven to present a summary of their duties on earth. 尾wĕi牙yá (lunar December 16^th) is the last day for presenting offerings to the earth god before he joins other gods for the annual report in heaven; and头tóu牙yá (lunar February 2^nd) is the first day of the year for the offering, when earth god returns 'home' for duty.

Being the last offering of the year, and also near the closing of the lunar year, 尾wĕi牙yá has become the day for the year end banquet of dinner and shows for companies. Lucky draws with bountiful of prizes such as large screen TV, home theatre units, cars, and cash - mostly courtesy of business partners and suppliers; famous singers and performers giving their best to get everybody high as kites; food and drinks and all the merry. Then of course, inevitably, a time to give those who will not be joining next year's banquet a loud and clear hint.

Chinese nicknamed the layoff or sacking the staff as 砍kăn头tóu, decapitation, 砍kănmeans to chop/chop off (as a job puts food on the table, sacking a person pretty much takes taking the food away, literally equals to chopping his/her head off). In the ancient days, a 'boss' would use a rooster's head to indicate who would be let go. The way of doing so was to point the rooster's head at the person(s). How did this come about, there seems to have no specific historical accordance to it but only the practice. Although nowadays this ritual is not carried out, whenever the chicken dish is served, the heart(s) of those whom are pointed (by accident, hopefully) would still miss a beat or two. Luckily, thanks to our modernized dinning habits, the head is rarely served with the dish.

Just in case, if you are a staff of a Chinese company, cross your fingers under the table that the head will not look you in the eyes when the chicken dish is served.

Click to learn Chinese here!

Pamper Your Ears And Head Home For The Holiday - food shared on 冬döng至zhì

2010-01-12T14:43:00.002+08:00

We talked about the Winter Festival, 冬döng至zhì, what is the meaning for this festival. Just for the record, this year the Winter Festival falls on 22nd of December. And similar to all Chinese festivals, we eat special food - though which is also consumed on regular days - as a token of celebration for this traditionally special occasion.

One thing that marks Chinese tradition as special is the medical practice passed on through 4 millennia. Rather than medical skills such as operation on human bodies, Chinese medical practice is more of herbal treatment of the new age, mixing with some diagnostic techniques that sound more like mysterious martial art (功göng夫fü, if you'd prefer). Since yours truly here is no where near that secret art, we'll just touch on some surface knowledge to give you a glimpse of this endless source of knowledge.

As we human actually share a much tighter bound with the mother Earth, seasonal changes affect us more than we could imagine. Through years of observation and testing, the ancient Chinese physicians concluded that people should consume certain types of food in order to compensate what would be needed in the change of season. By eating these types of food, which effects like getting a vaccine injection or a flu shot, our bodies are strengthened to resist the drastic change and remain healthy with minimum to no sickness.

For 冬döng至zhì, 水sŭi饺jiăo (dumpling) and 汤täng圆yúan (rice ball) are the two major food group for this festival. 水sŭi饺jiăo is mostly a northern tradition, and汤täng圆yúan the south. This mainly relates closely to the weather, as the winter in the northern part of China is much colder than the south.

There are many legends about how水sŭi饺jiăo came to being. Following is the one I saw mostly in the articles I researched. There was a prestige physician in the province of 河hér南nán by the name of 张zhäng仲zhòng景jĭn, his skill was well praised as the patients he treated tended to recover faster and better. Dr. 张zhäng noticed a number of poor people lived by the river suffered from frost-bites especially on the ears. As he was busy treating the winter flu crowds, he kept thinking about how to help these poor people who apparently did not have money to seek his medical assistance.

One day, Dr. 张zhäng asked his assistants to take care of the clinic, while he himself brought medicine, a pot and some cooking material with him to the riverside where the poor were. While he cooked the material in the pot, he started to treat these poor and provided them with free medicine for their illness. The material cooked in the pot consisted of thin slices of lamb meat, hot peppers, and some herbs with medicated effect to repel coldness of the body. After all these were well cooked, he drain these and wrapped in round wrapping made of flour, folded the stuffing inside the wrapping into a crescent shape that looked like an ear, and boiled the stuffed ears in the hot water. He then distributed these soup with stuffed ears for the poor to eat. After eating the hot food with coldness repelling effect stuffing, the poor felt warm from with in and to the ear, and the frost-bite on the ears gradually healed. Because of the effect, 张zhäng named the soup 却qùe寒hán娇jiäo耳ĕr汤täng. 却qùe寒hán means to repel the cold/chill, and 娇jiäo耳ĕr here means to pamper the ears, 汤täng is the character for soup. 娇jiäo耳ĕr refers to the ear like dumplings in the soup. That is also how 饺jiăo子tzi is derived: from娇jiäo耳ĕr gradually became 饺jiăo儿ér, then finally 饺jiăo子tzi. The character 饺jiăo adopts the sound 交jiäo, and the meaning of 食shí, food. In the cold day, a steaming hot plate of饺jiăo子tzi dumplings really warms you up from top to toe.

As for汤täng圆yúan, the rice ball, the traditional festival food for the southern China, the most commonly read story was about a family of beggars that traveled to a town when the mother finally died from hunger and illness. In order to bury the mother, the father was forced to sell the daughter to a rich family as a servant. When the father left, the daughter cried so hard that broke her father's heart. The old beggar took out a couple of sticky rice balls, the cheap way to conserve food for the road, and shared with his daughter, promising her that he would come back to visit her and share with her rice balls as they did that day. Three years went by but the father never did return to visit the daughter. She was afraid that her father could not recognize the house, so she pasted two rice ball on the front door saying the balls were offerings for the gods of the front door, when in fact, the rice balls served as marking in the hope that her father would come knocking some day, visiting her and sharing the rice balls as he had promised. Since汤täng圆yúan, which was also served in hot sweetened soup, sounded like 团túang圆yúan (reunited, gatherings), people followed the practice until now - hoping the all the love ones could be reunited and gathered together to celebrate the end of the year.

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Chinese President Hu opens Kazakh gas pipeline to China

2009-12-17T12:48:00.000+08:00

Chinese President Hu Jintao's tour to Central Asia has reached wide agreements with leaders of Central Asian countries. During his visit to Kazakhstan, Hu reached consensus with the president of Kazakh, Nursultan Nazarbayev, on finance, trade and energy, included the opening of the China-Kazakhstan natural gas pipeline.

On a visit to Kazakh capital Astana, Mr Hu and Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev pressed a button to begin the China-Kazakhstan gas pipeline. This ensures Beijing to gain more natural energy sources over the vast energy- rich region.

The two leaders also agreed to promote practical cooperation in other fields, such as expanding cultural exchange between China and Kazakhstan and strengthening cooperation in important organizations.

East Asian Games have opened

2009-12-14T11:15:00.001+08:00

The EAG is a sport event held every 4 years since 1993 between athletes from Asian countries. Hong Kong plays host to the 2009 East Asian Games between December 5th and 13th. With splendid display of fireworks on the Victoria Harbour in HK, the East Asian Games have officially opened.

Along with 3,000 international athletes from Hong Kong and China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei and Guam compete for 262 Gold medals in 22 sporting events.

A 30-minute-long opening performance highlighted diverse program included instrumental performances, traditional opera, etc. One the waterfront of the city’s Victoria Harbour, with display of fireworks, there was a parade of vessels glittered with red lights representing participating countries and regions.

At the opening performance, color of red played an important role. The color of red is an essential element in decorations of Chinese events. ‘Red’ symbolizes luck, happiness and joy in Chinese culture. We also could see many spectators wore in red at the opening event.

Click here to learn more about Chinese culture

The picture in the article is from the following website

http://www.pinoysports.ph/philippine-sports/greatest-asiad-show-ever.php

Car sales and production make breakthrough in China

2009-12-10T22:00:00.002+08:00

Car sales and output surpassed 12 million during January to November. And sales of auto market are expected to outpace 13 million for all the year.

Xinhua reported that the largest carmaker in

China

, Shanghai Automotive Industry, sold 2.44 million cars in the year to the end of November, a rise of more than 50% compared with the same period a year earlier.

China

maintains its lead in car market, despite the huge downturn and falling sales at most global automakers. Government’s stimulus policy, including cuts in sales tax, and other incentives to promote low-emission cars will support it continue to grow rapidly next year.

Picture in the article is from

http://helenwang.rdvp.org/pacific/2007/06/one-car-policy.html

“Chinese Oscars” awards announced!!!

2009-12-04T18:13:00.007+08:00

With stars, beauties, sparkling jewelry and the red carpet treatment, the Annual Golden Horse Awards ceremony was held in Taipei last Saturday! The 46th Golden Horse Film Awards is regarded as the “Chinese Oscars.” Taiwanese real-life Drama “No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti”《不能沒有你bù néng méiyǒu nǐ》got four awards and was the BIG WINNER!!

“No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti” won best feature and best director for Leon Dai(戴立忍Dài Lìrěn).

“No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti” movie poster.

The Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards is similar to the Academy Awards. It is held annually in Taiwan since 1962. The Golden Horse Film Festival displays the nominated films for the awards, after the month-long film festival comes to an end, the award ceremony is held. The awards contested by films submitted from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other continents. It is considered the most prestigious awards for Chinese-language films.

The festival has many sections, and my favorite part is the “Rock n’ Roll Apocalypse.” This part features on 7 documentaries that detail the history and legendary stories from punk bands to rock bands, and looks back at golden era of Taiwanese music. This part is definitely for those who love music just like me.

Now let’s talk about the award-winning film “No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti.” The name of the film describes “I cannot live without you” in English. It is a touching true story based on a real incident in Taiwan in 2004.

It’s about a single, uneducated father, abandoned by his child’s mother. He strives to retain guardianship of his daughter. However, he cannot register his child as part of his household, because he and his child’s mother were not married.

This black and white film features the underprivileged in Taiwanese society, reveals the unchangeable system most people live with, which is never perfect. That is why the father in the film strives for changes in the system.

For viewers in Asia, they may see a kind of familiarity in the film, because it looks like the system they live with. For western viewers, the movie provides an insight into Chinese culture and society to them.

Wanna learn more about Chinese?

“No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti”《不能沒有你bù néng méiyǒu nǐ》Movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTkCOact_M0
Pictures in the article are from following websites:
http://peen.cc/shop/shop_pic.php?shopid=533
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/photos/default.asp?ID=234607&GRP=B

2009-12-01T12:16:00.002+08:00

Winter Is Here -冬döng至zhì

As I quote the great Mamas and Papas： "all the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray" (California Dreamin', written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips). When the golden warmth is taken away from our lives, it seems that nothing much is left.

The title sounds a bit depressing, even though it is as benign as the weatherman announces the storm of the century is at your home front. Winter being the season at the end of a year, along with the chilling cold, is associated mostly with death and the end. Many people, myself included, feel the sense of loneness and lost especially during this time of the year. Another year goes by, what have we achieved and what have we missed again? As the last leave falling from the dried up twig, our eyes are saddened by the fading lives, and our hearts not knowing where to go…..

Now before we self pity ourselves into suicidal attempts, let's give this winter blues a big turn around with the Chinese style golden lining.

As I mentioned before, the Chinese segregated a year into 24节jéi气chì, nodes, based on the lunar calendar. We talked about the Dragon Boat Festival (端düan午wŭ节jéi, lunar 5th of May), the Moon Festival (中zhöng秋qïu节jéi, lunar 15th of August), and now let's talk about the Winter Festival（冬döng至zhì）.

冬döng至zhì Winter Festival itself is a very interesting festival. There is actually no officially celebration to it, and the date of the celebration is not even in lunar calendar date like the ones for the Dragon Boat Festival and Moon Festival. After researched online, I found that the actual lunar date of this festival to be as fuzzy as many of the long lost Chinese arts/inventions - everybody knows about it, but no one knows exactly why. So bear with me, as I bear with my wise ancestors, and mark 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of December under the regular calendar as the possible suspects of the Winter Festival dates. As suggested by one of my research articles: "Due to the calendar, the date of the winter festival is uncertain but normally falls in 21st to 23rd of December, and is generally within the November of the lunar calendar." (web page, Council of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan)

Though this festival declares the coldest day of the year, it actually celebrates the end of the darkness. The day of the winter festival is the day when the night is the longest and the day is the shortest (in northern hemisphere, that is). This also means that from this day forward, the night is getting shorter and the day gets longer. The term冬döng至zhì declares not the coming of the winter, since 冬döng means winter and至zhì normally refers to arrival. The至zhì here refers to 'the most', 'the ultimate'. Since the 'ultimate winter day' comes and goes, what comes next?

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (Ode to The West Wind, P.B. Shelly)

Want to know more about Chinese culture?

The source of the picture is from google.

Chinese Zodiac 豬zhü (pig) -- The Oink, The Merrier

2009-11-24T15:05:00.004+08:00

豬zhü

pig (1909, 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005)

Simplified character: 猪

Pig is a domestic animal, mostly for the purpose oral consumption. In the old days, due to the farm house environment, pig was perceived as dirty and lazy - hence deserved the fate of being consumed. However, the more recent studies showed that pigs actually prefer clean environment, like to walk around, and is mostly energetic - environment permits.

Also, a boar (wild pig) is nowhere near domestic. A boar has fangs and is likely much more dangerous than a tiger in the jungle. A herd of boars travel in pack, guiding by a leader that walks in front. The leader raises its tail to indicate its social ranking and to declare leadership.

Pig people are also very energetic, warm and easy to get along with. Once becoming a good friend, pig people would be a friend of a lifetime. They would take great care of their friends and families, with much generosity and love. Pig people have a passion for knowledge, mostly honest unless circumstances beyond their control, and have great endurance.

However, as the boar is considered dangerous, pig people also have their dark sides. They are individualists and temperament; they lack communication skill and are highly jealous. As the leader boar raises its tail to declare leadership, when pig people are leaders of groups, they also like to display and secure their leadership. They do no like to be challenged and thus tend to have a strong tendency to force their teammates (or subordinates as the pig people see them) to do as they command. Since a boar when irritates would attack whatever is on its way, so would a pig person that sets out for destruction when loose control. They would do whatever it takes until the targets are destroyed. Unfortunately, along with way, they may cause their own demise.

--Click here for more ab Chinese Zodiac : )

The source of the picture is from: http://marie0925.deviantart.com/art/pig-48989903

Word Origin Today -- 爱 [ài]

2009-11-18T18:44:00.002+08:00

1. 爱 [ài]

In English: love

Word origin: In the middle of this character is 心, the "heart". Love of course comes from the heart. The word functions as a noun and a verb, but mostly is used as a verb. This character is formed by four different parts. From top is 爫, a claw; 冖, tightly; 心, the heart; and finally the 攵, to tap gently. So the character愛(original form) seems to already give a very vivid definition of "love": to grab the heart tightly but to tap gently.

2. 爱心 [ài xin]

In English: a loving heart, kindness, generosity

Word origin: 心 is the character for heart. When爱and 心form a term, it refers to all the good deeds and thoughts generated from love. The term functions as a noun.

3. 爱情 [ài chin]

In English: love, love affair, the feeling of love

Word origin: 情is the character for feelings, emotion, and affair. This phrase to refer to the emotion and feelings relating to love. The term is used as a noun.

4. 爱人 [ài rén]

In English: to love others/people/a person, lover

Word origin: 人is person/people. This word is a pictographic form of a person standing with both hands on the side and legs wide apart. This position is a strong standing posture and thus is perceived as a form for 'person'. 爱and人 together become a term for "lover" when the term refers to the loved one. The term also is used as a verb to stand for "to love".

All the pics in the article are from following website:
http://devanndesousa.deviantart.com/art/heart-48371395
http://little-pretty.deviantart.com/art/Oh-It-Is-Love-55313318
http://lans-bejbe.deviantart.com/art/goodbye-my-lover-117385111

click on here to listen to the audio word origin!

Something to wash the food down - besides the pint and the coke…ok, and Pepsi

2009-11-05T16:25:00.001+08:00

We pretty much chow down three types of food last time, I am sure everybody must be feeling a bit tingling along the pipe. With food all around you, do you think the drinks would be too far away? But seriously, if you want beer, go to a pub. If you want coke (and/or Pepsi), there are 7-11s. When you come to 夜yè市shì, why settle for the frequently-stored-in-the-freezers?

Let see what you can play with. Be experimental, be ignorant, be brave!!

四sì果gǔo冰bïng (NT$40~45/plate, choice of 4 toppings, and additional NT$10 with condensed milk) is, like猪zhü血xěi糕gaü, my favorite under the 'ice' category. It is like Hagan Daz with choice of nuts or sprigles, 四sì果gǔo冰bïng is made of chopped ice topped with four dressings of your delight. Like盐yíen酥sü鸡jï, you can see everything in front of you for you to choose. My combination mostly consisted of Chinese mesona jelly (仙xïan草căo), lotus seed (莲lián子zĭ), white fungus (白bái木mù耳ĕr), and green beans (绿lù豆dòu). Of course you can also choose from red beans, strawberry jam, sliced salted carambola (star fruit), sweet yam mixed tapioca (five types of those: big, small, assorted color, purple, etc.; I really couldn't quite tell the difference). The lady of the stand after adding the toppings into the container/plate, turns on the ice grinder and fills the container/plate with ice and then pure a scoop of sugar water on top. When you eat, remember to mix everything with the ice and sugar water. The thought of this really makes my mouth water. Think I'll help my self with one after I am done.

There is a type of juice stand, which is not really a juice stand. We'll call it 杨yáng桃táo冰bïng (ice carambola / star fruit juice) or 酸süan梅méi汤täng (ice prune juice) (NT$25~35/cup, based on cup size). The stand normally uses huge transparent cylinders to hold the juice. Some stands offer three types of juice, some may offer more than five. Besides the mentioned two most common juice selections, there may also be 冬döng瓜güa茶chá (a type of squash, sweetened and boiled into juice, not really a tea as the name suggests), 甘gän蔗zhè汁zhï (ice sugar cane juice), and 青qïng草căo茶chá (a type of bitter herb). These types of juice serve more than just thirst quenching. Most of these drinks actually, by Chinese herbology, carry the effect of reducing the heat in the inner organs caused by consuming food - especially fried food. They also help with bowl movements (note: note cure, just help). Wonderful, isn't it?? We put the poison right next to the cure (or the cure right next to the poison?)!! Idea courtesy of her Mother Nature.

Not exciting enough? Here comes something that might gross you with the name and with the name only. It's called 青qïng蛙wä下xìa蛋dàn (NT$50/cup) - eggs laid by frogs. You must be "O.M.G" out there in unification. Relax, it's just a nickname for the toppings in the drink. It's, again, another type of tapioca. Originally it's from boat sterculia seed, which has a transparent to milky white gel like surface with a black seed in the middle, looks like the eggs of the frogs, hence the name青qïng蛙wä下xìa蛋dàn. Just like other juice, this also carries the detox and heat reducing effect. However, since boat sterculia seed is actually not that easy and common to acquire, it is replaced by tapioca. The taste of this drink actually comes from honey and sugar. Either tapioca or boat sterculia seed does not have a distinct flavor of its own.

And derived or evolved from青qïng蛙wä下xìa蛋dàn, comes the now worldwide phenomenon 珍zhën珠zhü奶năi茶chá (NT$25~35/cup, hot or ice, small or big)- the pearl tapioca milk tea!! Ok, when I said 'worldwide phenomenon', I may have exaggerated a little bit (treat you to a cup if you know where I imitate this phrase from); although I do know besides the usual Chinese societies in the Asia, franchise of this type of drinks can also be seen in California, New York where the Taiwanese communities are. When we conquer, we don't stick a flag to declare ownership, we wheel our favorite food stand in. Now that's what I call a true conquer. But enough of that. The drink stands or small shops used to sell milk tea (yes, tea). When珍zhën珠zhü奶năi茶chá swept the country from the south, one had to make a special request for the tapioca NOT to be added into the drink. Owing to my lactose intolerance, I normally request for the milk to not be added, and a choice of either black or green tea with the tapioca. Again, the tapioca basically has no distinctive taste. Even so, if it is not properly, you'd feel like chewing down a robber bullet. A properly prepared tapioca will be chew and soft. The taste of the drink mostly comes from the tea, so the tea is also a key element whether the money is well spent.

Ok, we did good today!! Let's take a break and be back for the last three.

I am getting my self a四sì果gǔo冰bïng now.

find out more interesting part of Chinese culture

Word Origin Today-- 地 [dì]

2009-10-28T17:07:00.000+08:00

1. 地 [dì]

In English: ground, floor, earth

Word origin: 地 Dì is made of 土 (soil, dirt) and 也 (also), to refer to the earth. The character also refers to any solid ground on which to stand.

2. 地板 [dì băn]

In English: (boarded) floor, (wooden) floor, floorboard

Word origin: 板is composed of 木 (wood) and 反 ( serves as the phonetic indication). It means "a board", especially "wooden board". The floor of an ancient house was normally paved with wooden boards and thus 地板 is used as such. It now refers to floor in general, regardless of the material.

3. 地上 [dì shàn]

In English: (on the) floor, (on the) ground, (on) earth

Word origin: 上uses an vertical line with one additional stroke on top of a horizontal line to indicate the meaning of "on top of". 地上 thus means "on top of the floor/ground".

4. 地位 [d wèi]

In English: position (in terms of social ranking)

Word origin: 位 is presented by a 人 (a person, a human being) 立 (standing) to refer to where the person is standing. Combining with地, 地位 means where on the ground a person is standing, implying the position of the social ranking.

click on here to listen to the audio word origin!

"Small" in serving portion and price, "huge" in sentiment value - 小xĭao吃chï

2009-10-27T12:38:00.000+08:00

Eating is actually very important to us Chinese. After all, what can you really do when your stomach (brain) is sending out all sorts of signal around your body, crying "food, food" or "please sir, may I have some more?"

We call the food that is not part of an official meal as 小xĭao吃chï, 小xĭao meaning small, 吃chï is to eat. Some small things to eat. This is different from snacks, such as potato chips or beef jerky. 小xĭao吃chï can also serve as dishes in a meal. It ranges from sweets to a bowl of soup, as what we talk about in the topic of 夜yèi市shì, the night markets.

The reason why I bring this up is because lately I have more chances to use小xĭao吃chï in replacing a meal. Living close to one of the prestige night markets is actually quite a blessing when "what to eat for lunch/dinner" question become a conundrum for only three members in a family. It is even more helpful for people who live by themselves or are too busy to sit down for a meal.

Sometimes I think小xĭao吃chï represents a sad reality when people no longer bound as a family and share their love for each other over the dinning table. But at times I also think that, if the love for each other can only be shared on the dinning table, it would, if not more, also be a sad thing.

Perhaps now we leave the cooking to others, and simply share food with each other through these small dishes, and grasping every valuable second that we share together.

So close yet so far away…….

You may also want to find out what on the earth on Chinese people are thinking!

Eating! Although some sound disgusting…

2009-10-23T11:33:00.000+08:00

The fun of夜yè市shì is that the food is not expensive, there is no formality, you meet fun local people, and get to test your threshold on the innovative/experimental food. Well, to us Chinese, the food is about putting edible material together and creates new sensation or an entire new food group. For me, it's just about eat and walking at the same time without causing the "shi" and "boo". And it's like breakfast - full of infinite possibilities.

So here is my own person top 10, and the average selling price in its local currency.

My all time favorite is 猪zhū血xiě糕gāo (NT$25/piece)－the pig (猪zhū) blood (血xiě) cake (糕gāo). Yes, it sounds gross and I sound like one of those HBO True Blood biters, but I grew up with this and I missed it whenever I could not have it for a long time. The gross part is that, I am really sorry to say this, the blood part is true. This snack originally is made mixed with chicken blood, but the use of blood depends on which type of animal blood is easier to acquire. It is more common now by using pig's blood. It's not kosher, but I am not a Jew (ok, I know this is just a lame excuse).

This rectangular piece of thick black block is normally served on a stick. The seller takes it out of the bamboo steamer, soak it in soy sauce which is normally house blended to give special flavor, and then soak in hot sauce if spicy taste is preferred. After that, the cake will be blanketed with peanut powder, and dabbed with coriander. The taste, well, personally I prefer a firmer texture as I like to chew on things (no erotic implication here). The cake is made of sticky rice, so the taste and texture mainly come from the rice. It also has gentle sweetness from the peanut power, which is mixed with the scent of the coriander. Except for the name, the blood part is really undetectable at all. Over the 4 decades of my life, I have tasted good and bad and the really good and bad ones but I've never tasted blood in this food. To a point I think the blood part is a nickname for the black appearance. Again, I am very sorry to say this, it IS indeed from the blood. I think I can skip the part on how to eat this, as it is no more than an open wide and bite. Oh dear, did I just say that?

香xiāng肠cháng (NT$35/pc, 3 for NT$100) would be my next choice, although this one sometimes rises to the top. 香xiāng (scented, smell good) 肠cháng (intestine) is, fortunately, not made of any scented intestine of any animal . This name is purely a description of the appearance and the flavor. It is the official name for sausage. yes, sausage. The make and the look is no more than the regular sausage, so why is it so special and a must try? As I said, food to Chinese is about putting edible material together and creates a new sensation, so the special part is how they prepare the sausage and what you can have inside the opened up sausage. The sausage stand roasts the sausage on an open fire and is also served on a stick. My personal favorite is the original, pure sausage with no extra. There is a particular stand that I go to (and go to only, caused I tried others), their blend of sausage tastes juicy and rich, with the firmness that I like. But for the variety that makes this sausage different, there are fillings that can be chose from: black pepper, lemon juice, chopped garlic, chopped coriander, chocolate, red onion, etc. And if the sausage is not big enough a portion, the stand also has can wrap the sausage in another larger sticky rice sausage, which is called 大dà (big) 肠cháng (intestine) 包bāo (to wrap) 小shǎo (small) 肠 cháng (intestine), in which the larger sticky rice sausage is the "big intestine" and the regular size sausage the "small intestine". This one normally is at NT$45 a piece.

盐yán酥sū鸡jï (NT$30 per serving, around 100g) is more than just crispy fried small pieces of chicken with salty flavor as the name suggests. 盐yán means salt, 酥sū is one of the descriptions for crispy and crunchy, and 鸡jï is the chicken here. This name originally is for chicken only, but as the category expends (we are fun loving people, remember?), this name of the 'cousin' now stands for a lot more than chicken. The key is to deep-fry everything and sprinkle with a lot of those salty mixed pepper. The things you can choose from are all displayed before the boiling pot of oil. There are pig blood cakes, long string beans, green pepper, types of mushroom, chicken steak, hot dog, fish, different types of tofu, hash brown (the potato 'cake'), taro sandwich (two slices of Ritz cookies with mashed taro in the middle), chicken's 'tusshies' (tukers', behinds; basically the parts where the chickens sit on - among other functions) on the stick, grounded fish cake, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I think the stand itself already defines "the infinite and beyond". I normally spend over NT$100 on the stand, and the portion pretty much gets me stuffed for the whole night. If you bring the food home, besides the usual Coca Cola (ok, and Pepsi if you must), the best drink to wash the food down would be beer. Button's up!!

Ok, three down, seven more to go. I promised the rest would be faster. So see you next time.

You may also want to read the introduction of Chinese night market culture

Word Origin Today-- 吃 [chī] EAT

2009-10-21T12:42:00.000+08:00

1. 吃 [chī]
In English: eat
Word origin: 吃 is a verb, usage is the same as "eat", as the 口 (mouth) in the character implies.

2. 吃饭 [chī fàn]
In English: (to) eat, (to) dine, (to) eat rice
Word origin: 饭 originally means cooked rice. The term吃饭means more than just "eating cooked rice",it refers to "eating a meal" or to "dine" - mostly associates with the daily meals.

3. 吃东西 [chī dōng xi]
In English: (to) eat
Word origin: 东originally means "east" and 西"west". These two directions are normally represented by open arms to indicate the vast coverage between the out-stretched left (representing 东 "east") and right (representing 西 "west"). The term东西 thus bears the meaning of "that from east and west" to refer to things in general, object and food alike. 吃东西 means eating something, it could be formal meal or just snacks.

4. 吃苦 [chī kŭ]
In English: (to) suffer, (to) endure, (to) take on a difficult task/job/work/responsibility
Word origin: 苦a word composed of a grass head 艹 and the character for old 古, roughly means
old grass, which tends to carry a bitter taste when chewed on. 吃苦 means "to eat/eating that is bitter", and the meaning is extended to represent "to wallow down the bitterness", and is further stretched to cover the meaning of "to suffer" and "to endure" the difficult situations.

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Put your wind and your water where they should be --with a little bit of 风fēng水shŭi

2009-10-20T15:01:00.000+08:00

My brother has just purchased his own house. Since my sister-in-law is a student of the art of fortune telling, she invites her teacher for advices on some details for the hanging places of paintings and ornaments, as well as what types of ornaments to be acquired.

Although we are actually a Roman Catholic family, everyone cannot help but eavesdropping on the details and perhaps making our own notes on the do-s and don't-s.

风fēng水shŭi is actually part of our daily practices. We more or less would put it into consideration whenever we have a new living or working space. It is not entirely out of superstition; it is more of "since I know this, might as well follow it" mentality. Hint or suggestion has a much profound influence than it appears to be. As long as we receive the hint or suggestion, it would be very difficult to not associate it with the consequences. After all, prevention is indeed better than cure.

So what is风fēng水shŭi exactly?

The Chinese character风fēng means the "wind"; and 水shŭi means the "water". Wind of course refers to the air flow or air circulation; naturally water implies the humidity. In many centuries ago, careful observers － the well learned ancient Chinese environmentalists －noticed the importance of proper airflow and humidity in the living environment would affect greatly the residents in the house. People who lived in a house with proper air circulation and humidity tended to have better health, spirit, and most of all, wealth. Logically speaking, when a person is healthy, he/she tends to think positive thoughts, which lead to higher spirit; and with positive thinking and optimistic attitude towards life, the person is easier to achieve the goals in life - be it wealth or others.

But 风fēng水shŭi is more than just a practice of the early LOHAS living style. It also combines the housing interior hygiene and safety, as well as the community planning. My favorite example would be路lù 冲chòng, so let me use it to illustrate this claim.

路lù 沖chòng is the conflict with the road(s). A house at the end of a road, or a house at the junction of the roads, is unlikely to be on top of the 'must buy' list; especially the ones with its front door opening to 'greet' the roads. A 风fēng水shŭi master will explain that because a house sits on that kind of location receives煞shà气chì, the bad vibes, directly from the road(s). Any family that lives in a house like that would not only have bad fortune, but that members of the family may die from accidents or other unnatural causes. From a modern community-housing planner's point of view, the statistics do show that houses situated at the end of a straight road have higher accident rates. Reasons being that, especially when the road is wide and the traffic is busy, a driver, when speeding, may not have sufficient response time to turn the car to the right or left, and often runs straight into the house at the end of the road. This is even true in the old days when horses were the 'car wheels'. So bad vibe or not, when the accident did/does happen, family members did/do die from accidents and/or other unnatural causes.

There are more examples in the风fēng水shŭi taboos that actually have their scientific explanations, and that the superstition sometimes is just a unspoken law/regulation established for the commoners to abide in avoiding dangers. Next time when I encounter another one, I will bring it up again and share with you.

I promise.

Find out more: What on the earth are Chinese people thinking?

Feast of the Night - No Shoes or Ties Required

2009-10-16T14:32:00.000+08:00

夜yè市shì, the night market, is perhaps the most famous food places for the tourists that visit Taiwan. 夜yè means 'night' and 市shì means 'market', so naturally the term refers to the markets at night time.

As I researched for this article, to my surprise (even), I learned that night market actually could be dated back to 唐Táng Dynasty（June 18, 618~June 4, 907）. What do you know? We are indeed a people with a long long history!! In Tang Dynasty, night markets only existed in big cities such as the capital city 长cháng安ān城chéng. There was once a ban lifted against night markets due to the noise it stirred up. The night market was officially approved and widely set up in 宋Sòng Dynasty (960~1279, pity that I cannot also include the dates, it would have been smashing if I could). Since then night markets have became part of the daily lives of the Chinese (see, we are really not a serious people, we do know our food folks and fun!! A few more rounds for this table here!).

Night markets started out with one to more food stands at the corners of the busy streets. When the food stands began to attract crowds, the cluster of food stands evolved into a larger scale market. And since nighttime tends to attract more crowds, the market opens around the end of office hours until early morning, around 2 or 3 am. After that, the regular market will take place to continue the day.

My neighborhood is blessed with one of the older night markets in Taiwan. I myself witnessed its prime time. The night market near my neighborhood is 临lín江jiāng夜yè市shì, also know by its older name 通töng化hùa夜yè市shì。 The name of the night market usually is derived from the streets it locates. 临lín江jiāng夜yè市shì is on 临lín江jiāng街Jië, which is a cross street on 通töng化hùa街Jië, but because通töng化hùa街Jië is much more famous and is a major street, people used to refer to the night market as通töng化hùa夜yè市shì. As night markets get their markings on the tourism maps, this neighborhood actually went through a debate on the name of the night market. Eventually, probably has some conspiracy or glooming political agenda behind, the night market's name was reverted back to the correct street it's on.

Within a five minutes walk, there are over 100 food stands that provide different types of food flavor, some are local cousins, some exotic. These food stands are not restaurants, so they only need a few foldable tables and stools for the eaters to stay for a short period of time before moving on to the next stand. There are no silver utensils or white linen tablecloth, not even tentative smiling waiter or waitresses. You'll probably bring your own napkin or even moist towels - with the rising the global environmental protection consciousness, you may even need to bring your own chopsticks or spoons. But what the heck, the food is good, and the food is much more affordable, so who cares if you need to bring your own stool or foldable plank for table?

So how good is the food? Well. Why don't I come back with that information next time? Let me first brush up on my food list a bit (and perhaps put on a few more pounds) and come back with my own top 10 list for your taste.

Be back soon.

(photos from google.co)

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Oh ye old flowery eyes? Nay, just Presbyopia…老lăo花huā 眼yăn

2009-10-13T14:57:00.001+08:00

(Guest post by one of our students M. Thomason)

Suffering from months of reading difficulties, I mean difficulties in reading small prints, I finally gave in and went for another round of re-adjusting my lenses to fit my current eyesight. I have been myopic, and my lenses once reached 800 and 750 by prescription. The first time I noticed my reading difficulties with small prints, the ophthalmologist told me in a way a doctor would tell a patient with irreversible physical condition, that I already reached the age when my eyes could not focus so quickly as before. He added, "also, you have presbyopia already," with a sorry smile that made the previous statement sounded like "you have about 3 weeks to live".

Chinese use 老lăo花huā眼yăn to describe presbyopia. 老lăo means old and/or aged; 花huā means flower or to describe colorful or blurry condition; and 眼yăn means the eyes. I am sure most of you would understand the 老lăo and 眼yăn, but why 花huā?

You may also want to know:
挽 wăn 面 mìan －The Art of Hair Removal

Chinese Zodiac 猴hóu-- Quit Monkey around!!－ Not if you can keep up!!

2009-10-12T15:59:00.000+08:00

猴hóu ：monkey (1908, 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004)

Simplified character: 猴

There was no 猴hóu character in the older days. This character was derived from the right part of the word, 候hòu. 候hòu means to wait. In the older days when people wanted to capture monkeys, they would place food on the ground with a trap set up for them. After monkeys learned about the trap, they would stay in the trees and waited until the hunters gave up and went away. Therefore the character候hòu was used for monkey. Later in order to specify the word for the animal, 犭quăn (犬quăn, means dog) was added to indicate the category of the character, as a type of animal, and猴hóu thus have been the character for monkey.

Monkey is perceived as a type of animal that possesses similar intelligence level as that of a human. Since the animal moves about among trees, it is also a representation of being swift in action. People who are born under the sign of the monkey also are believed to be smart and aggressive. They are polite and treat others with kindness, very easy going and never hesitate to render their assistance. For this, monkey people are generally appreciated by the elders. Also because they are not credit fighting, they are also welcomed and loved by their peers and fellow workers and friends.

However, since money also possess dormant violence tendency, monkey people while growing up will need to build up patience in order to contour the violence tendency to better use of energy.

More articles about Chinese zodiac

Word Origin Today-- 本 [bĕn]

2009-10-08T10:53:00.000+08:00

Seems that many audience like this series...:D

1. 本 [bĕn]

In English: origin, according to, the unit for books and/or book like objects.

Word origin: the original form of 本 is 木 , a pictographic form of a tree. By adding one horizontal line near the bottom of the vertical stroke, this character refers to the root of a tree. Therefore the word normally indicates the origin of a matter or things to be followed accordingly. 本 is also closely associated with books, since books are made of woods. When the word functions as a noun, it is normally used with books, as the unit of books, or as the origin of things and/or matters. When using as a verb, this word indicates that which is followed accordingly.

2. 本事 [bĕn shì]

In English: ability, what one can do, *synopsis of a film (in older days)

Word origin: 事 Shì refers to "matter", combining with 本, the term本事 (as a noun) indicates "of which the matter is originated", and the meaning is extended in referring to the ability of a person possess, or what a person can do.

3. 本來 [bĕn laí]

In English: originally, what is/was to be

Word origin: 來 Laí means "come", "come here". 本來is used as an adverb term to refer to what a matter should be.

4. 书本[shū bĕn]

In English: (a) book

Word origin: 书by itself means "book". By adding 本，the noun 书本 also refers to book. Note that many Chinese terms tend to combine the object and its unit in one to indicate what unit should be used in calculating the object. 书本 is a good example of such a sophisticated implication. One book is expressed as 一本书 [yì bĕn shū].

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China to lead Asian recovery with 8.5% growth in 2009: IMF

2009-10-06T18:32:00.000+08:00

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected recently that China will grow by 8.5 percent this year and 9.0 percent in 2010, saying China will lead Asia out of the economic recession.

Recent indicators point to a strengthening recovery in Asia "led by a rapid rebound in China, where growth accelerated to an annual rate of 7.1 percent in the first half of the year," IMF said in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) issued in Istanbul on October 1.

Asia's growth momentum will build during the second half of 2009, forming the basis for a generally moderate recovery in 2010, said the report.

China

and India will lead the expansion this year and will grow at 8.5 percent and 5.4 percent respectively, boosted by large policy stimulus which is increasing demand from domestic sources, it said.

"The policy stimulus in China could support recoveries in other parts of Asia," the report said.

According to the report, China will see growth rise to 9.0 percent in 2010, while "emerging" Asia will grow by 5.0 percent this year and 6.8 percent in 2010.

While the manufacturing-oriented economies such as South Korea and Singapore slumped and had recorded peak declines in industrial production of about 25 percent by the end of 2008, only China, Indonesia and India escaped a severe recession, said the report.

The intensifying rebound in Asia can be linked to three factors, said the report, namely expansionary fiscal and monetary policy, a rebound in financial markets and capital inflows and the growth impulse for industry following large inventory adjustments.

IMF on Thursday raised its 2010 growth forecast for the world economy to 3.1 percent from 2.5 percent, saying the global recession "is ending."

The WEO presents the IMF's analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups which are classified by region and stage of development, and in many individual countries.

It focuses on major economic policy issues as well as on the analysis of economic developments and prospects.

With China emerging as a economically powerful nation in Asia, it is suggested that you should seize every opportunity to strengthen your knowledge of the country. You are invited to visit our website at TutorChinese.com. We guarantee you a satisfactory trial at your fingertips.

Chinese Zodiac 羊yáng--The Role Model for Respecting the Elders, or not?

2009-10-05T16:20:00.000+08:00

羊yáng ：Goat (1907, 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003)

羊yáng is the pictographic form of the animal goat, as the two dots on top of the character indicate the horns. The character now applies to both goat and sheep.

A goat (and/or sheep) is normally a gentle animal. When we think about goat and sheep, the picture will be a nice vast oily green meadow, patched with nice white puff of soft clouds bathing under the golden sunlight with breeze gently stroking through the earth. Something that would make a brave gladiator doze off during the battle of life and death. That is normally how the goat/sheet represents: an easy, relaxed, trouble free paradiso.

So are the people who are born in the years of the goat. They are mostly gentle, easy to get along with, obedient, quite and with great endurance. The Chinese astrologists also comment that the goat people tend to have similar softness in appearances - a great feature for women, but BAAAAD for men. Softness in appearances is indeed not quite conventional for a man's feature.

Anyway. Gentle as goat and sheep may be, like their domestic animal family ox and cow, when evoked into anger, goat and sheep can also be very stubborn and dangerous. Although sheep and goat are much smaller than ox and cow, they still have horns and powerful hooves that can really inflict pain and injury. When a goat person is seriously irritated, they also would not yield and they would definitely cause damage. Just remember that cotton candies may be fluffy and sweet, but all that sweetness is actually wrap around a sharp and hard stick. So don't bite down on them too hard.

There is an interesting myth in the Chinese society that honors sheep and goat as the model of showing great respect and obedience to parents. When the cubs are fed from the mothers, they would kneel down on their front legs to suckle on the mother's breasts. This position is interpreted by the Chinese as kneeling down with respect and gratitude to the mothers' nursing. Even though this interpretation is rather a myth than reality, goat people that I know actually tend to treat their elders with more respect. But I will leave that to you.

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挽 wăn 面 mìan －The Art of Hair Removal

2009-10-02T16:22:00.000+08:00

Facial or bodily hair is not the exclusive problems of the western women. We women in the east share the empathy to this embarrassing little obstacle to our mutual pursuit of the impeccable fairness. Instead of razor blades, foaming hair removal gel and all the novelties can be found and purchased in the market, we - as women in the east - has one other privilege granted by our ancestor: the traditional art of 挽wăn面mìan.

挽wăn面mìan is also pronounced as挽män 面mìn in the Taiwanese tone. The reason why I include the Taiwanese tone here is that this pronunciation is closer to what this craftwork is amount. 挽wăn in Taiwanese tone pronounces as män, refers to 'pluck'. 面mìan or mìn both refers to the 'face'. To pluck the face simply refers to "pluck the hair(s) on the face".

How does this work? First of all, this is done by trained specialists so don't think you can self-taught into it. As the ever-famous quote suggests: "Don't Do This At Home".

The specialist first will apply a thin layer of special scented ointment on the face. Then they will use a string of fine cotton thread to gently 'yank' the facial hairs. This not only works on the face; in modern days, the act can also be applied in removing the other parts of the bodily hairs - be it calves, arms, armpits, etc. Though I really don't recommend to have this one done in the very sensitive area such as the bikini line hair removal. Won't go into detail, it's too personal even for me, but when you get a chance to try this for yourself, you'll understand.

Painful as it may sound, I actually really enjoy the process. Sure it stings a little when the very fine hairs are plucked, but it has a special sensation to it. In the old days, women only received such a treatment before their wedding day. And this procedure was normally done by mother or the elder ladies in the family. As the sting of cotton thread slides through the face, the love and blessing blended in. The process not only removes the hair but also has exfoliating effect, which would leave the skin clean and smooth. The process is actually, thus, very enjoyable.

As people picking up their nostalgia towards the good old days, 挽wăn面mìan stands can been seen either in the famous night markets or on the streets of the older districts. Spend a little time to experience this ancient grooming treatment. You just might like it.

The First Man on the Moon is Not Neil. Armstrong?

2009-09-30T12:08:00.000+08:00

As a culture rooted from millennium of agricultural tradition, the Chinese follow the lunar calendar till this day. Lunar calendar is also called 阴yīn历lì (阴yīn refers to the moon) or 农nóng民míng历lì, the farmers' calendar. Despite the global climate change, the lunar calendar still works like the old faithful.

There are 24 节jéi气chì in a year on the lunar calendar. These 'nodes' announce the change of the weather, notifying the sowing, de-weeding, and harvesting, as well as reminding to take the proper type of herb to help supplement the body. It's amazing how people in the old days paid such detailing attention and came up a calendar that perhaps no other could match.

So why is the Moon Festival (the official name should be "Mid Autumn Festival" 中zhöng秋qïu节jéi important?

To the Chinese, there are three major holidays cohere to the 24 nodes of the lunar calendar. Chinese New Year is without a question the most well celebrated holidays worldwide. After CNY is the Dragon Boat Festival (official name is "Mid Summer Festival" 端düan午wŭ节jéi), which falls in the middle of the summer season when all things reach their primes - good and evil alike. We've talked about this holiday in detail, please refer to that*. And then, there is the Moon Festival.

Moon Festival, the Mid Autumn Festival, as its name suggests, falls in the middle of the autumn season. This is the season for harvest, and so all family members are gathered together to work in the fields and to offer their thanks to the nature. Since the lunar calendar is based on the moon, the object of the ritual offering is naturally the moon (ah, la Luna..).

The festival is first celebrated in the Tang Dynasty (唐táng朝cháo, 唐táng代dài) and the celebration ritual reached the climax in Song Dynasty (宋sòng朝cháo, 宋sòng代dài). Although moon cake (月yùe饼bĭng) was part of the ritual food for the holiday, it became inevitable in Yuan Dynasty (元yúan朝cháo, 元yúan代dài) when a general 朱zhü元yúan璋zhäng used the moon cake to conceal the secret message which called for people to rise up and overturn the Yuan Dynasty. 朱zhü元yúan璋zhäng then became the emperor and started the Ming Dynasty (明míng朝cháo, 明míng代dài) - the last second dynasty of the Chinese history.

As a romantic people brewed by 5 millennia of rich culture and history, there are a number of stories that are associated with the Moon/Mid Autumn Festival. First, we must introduce you to the rabbit on the moon. The western culture puts a man on the moon, we Chinese have a rabbit on the moon. And not just a rabbit, but a rabbit that is pestling something in the stone mortar. I think that something should be rice, after all it was a Chinese that came up with this graphic description so rice would be a logical assumption - for those who must know what is being pestling in the stone mortar. Similar as the "man on the moon", the fantasy description is created from the shadows on the surface of the moon. And the name of this rabbit - yes, our rabbit has a name - is 玉yù兔tù, the jade rabbit, since the moon glows like the jade, smooth and tender.

Now the romantic love story. There were 10 suns in the sky and the 10 suns scorched the land. (Oh, sorry, did I forget to begin with "Long long time ago, in a land far far away in China"?) No crops could be produced and people were dying from hunger and thirst. A strong brave man 后hòu羿yì took 10 arrows and climbed up to the tallest mountain (the world's ridge). He shot down 9 suns and spared the last one. In honor of his bravery, the gods in heaven gave him a jar of pills that would make him live forever. 后hòu羿yì has a beautiful wife 嫦cháng娥é and he gave the jar of pills to her. Unfortunately, one of后hòu羿yì 's follower learned about the pills and forced嫦cháng娥é to give him the jar. In panic, 嫦cháng娥é swallowed the whole jar and she flew up towards the heaven and rested on the moon. Since后hòu羿yì was unable to fly up to the moon and嫦cháng娥é was unable to come down, the two lovers could only live separately and miss each other in distance. When the moon was in full shape and that the surface could be seen clearly, 后hòu羿yì would set up a table filled with all the sweets that嫦cháng娥r liked. That was believed to be the reason why people eat moon cakes and other sweets especially on the day of the moon festival.

For the people nowadays, sweets are not enough. While people gather together to appreciate the beautiful full moon, barbeque for all has become a trend. After all, a holiday is supposed to be of food, folks and fun. So throw another nice steak on the grill while the moon is over the earth tonight. Party on, folks!!

Word Origin Today-- 爱/ 愛

2009-09-29T12:26:00.000+08:00

Word Origin Today-- new blog series well be updated irregularl.

In fact, if you want to understand the words' origin you'd better learn the original (traditional) form. So in the series I will type both modern and traditional Chinese for you to have a better undersdtanding.

1. 爱/ 愛 [4i]

In English: love

Word origin: In the middle of this character is 心, the "heart". Love of course comes from the heart. The word functions as a noun and a verb, but mostly is used as a verb. This character is formed by four different parts. From top is 爫, a claw; 冖, tightly; 心, the heart; and finally the 攵, to tap gently. So the character愛(original form) seems to already give a very vivid definition of "love": to grab the heart tightly but to tap gently.

2. 爱心/愛心 [4i xin]

In English: a loving heart, kindness, generosity

Word origin: 心 is the character for heart. When爱and 心form a term, it refers to all the good deeds and thoughts generated from love. The term functions as a noun.

3. 爱情/ 愛情 [4i chin]

In English: love, love affair, the feeling of love

Word origin: 情is the character for feelings, emotion, and affair. This phrase to refer to the emotion and feelings relating to love. The term is used as a noun.

4. 爱人/ 愛人 [4i rén]

In English: to love others/people/a person, lover

        Word origin: 人is person/people. This word is a pictographic form of a person standing with both hands on the
           side and legs wide apart. This position is a strong standing posture and thus is perceived as a form for 'person'.
     爱and人 together become a term for "lover" when the term refers to the loved one. The term also is used as a verb
           to stand for "to love".

China's 2009 luxury consumption to exceed $5 billion

2009-09-28T12:36:00.000+08:00

Sales of luxury goods in China will reach $5 billion in 2009, according to a report released recently by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. That is a striking increase from 2008, when the total was $3 billion, Chinanews.com reported.

The luxury market in China is still expanding despite a decrease in overall global demand as a result of the global economic crisis, the report said.

China's current luxury consumption accounts for 25 percent of global luxury consumption, the report noted. That means China has likely passed the United States to become the world's second largest consumer of luxury goods after Japan

With the market expanding in China, more and more occidental companies tried to extend their business realm to the Pacific rim. In order to build up consumption channels in China, some knowledge of the Chinese language becomes inevitable to entrepreneurs in today’s world.

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For all Chinese from ancient times to the present, what Confucius said is TRUTH

2009-09-25T12:32:00.000+08:00

It's quite a common punch line in a Western film that someone quotes a mysterious oriental-ish saying, and ends it by saying "Confucius said it."

And most of the time, it actually was not. So you can imagine how people were really lost -- especially in the Chinese speaking countries.

Most of these legendary saying were said to have been quoted from the Analects论lún语yŭ-- a book of collective teaching and conversations between Confucius and his disciples during his 'teaching tour'.

So for the sake of setting the record straight, let's take a look at the very beginning of this great book to conclude the introduction concerning the Confucius Day.

The name of the first chapter is 学xué而ér, which means "learning", and the very first verse is:

子zǐ曰yuē

“Confucius said”

学xué而ér时shí习xí之zhï

“To learn and to practice/review from time to time”

不bú亦yì悦yuè乎hü

“Isn't it a pleasure?”

有yŏ朋péng自zì远yŭan方fäng来lái

“To have friend(s) coming from afar”

不bú亦yì乐lè乎hü

“Isn't it happy?”

人rén不bù知zhï而ér不bú愠yùng

“To not be upset when other don't know (about) you”

不bú亦yì君jün子zĭ乎hü

“Isn't that what a gentleman is?”

The word 亦yì means 'also', 'too', so the phrases for "Isn't it a pleasure" and "Isn't it happy" when translated more in a word for word manner, would be "Isn't it also is a pleasure?" and "Isn't it happy, too?". But for Chinese speakers, this word here actually is to emphasize the situation rather than as an agreement to the prior situation. 乎hü works as a question mark. And 之zhï here functions as a pronoun "it", referring to the things learned.

The most commonly quoted phrases of this verse are the first four sentences; or to be precise, the first two pairs of sentences. The first pair can be perceived as the best suck up lines for teachers and anyone who loves to enlighten others with his/her 'wisdom' -- showing how much you enjoy learning from him/her and that you simply have to keep practicing and learning it to keep enjoying it. The next pair is very useful in welcoming friends (from afar, of course). If your friends are of Chinese background, it shows how well learned you are with their culture; if your friends are not, it shows you are very well learned. It never hurts to drop a little bit of Confucius on the dinning table, so learn it, memorize it, and use it properly.

The success is only a right quote away － and this is from me, not Confucius.

Find out more, please see confucius-- Not Confusion-s

Wonderful Sauce I Recommend

2009-09-24T10:27:00.000+08:00

Recently I have been addicted to "sauce".

I find I can have them with almost all meals every day, because they are quite tasty and convenient.

This is one of the most terrific chilli sauce I have ever tried.

老干妈辣酱 [lǎo gàn mā là jiàng]

It's made from crisp hot pepper. It's "crisp" because it is fried first before pickling.
Smell it first before devouring! It smells really really really tasty, tastes not that spicy though.

Most of the time I have it replace soy sauce while having meal.
So far I've tried it with soup, noodles, rice and even bread. Have one in your refrigerator and just put some in your dish to make food delicious at any time.
I think 老干妈辣酱 is quite popular aroud the world; I've found it in many Chinese shop in UK and the U.S.A. Of course it's more easy to get one in China and Taiwan.
I just bought this one for 80 NT (about 2.5 USD) at 7-11 downstairs.

By the way, note that the brand is "老干妈". I've noticed that due to its great popularity, there appear 山寨版 [shān zhài bǎn] in the market such as ''老干爹" and "老干娘".

If you know any great sauce, please let me know.

China's president rolls into US

2009-09-23T10:37:00.000+08:00

From September 21 to September 25, 2009, China’s President Hu Jintao will attend in New York the UN Climate Change Summit, the 64th annual general debate of the UN General Assembly, the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament summit of UN Security Council and the Group of 20 (G20) financial summit in Pittsburgh.

This overseas visit by President Hu is "a major diplomatic move" at a time when the People's Republic of China is about to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding on October 1, Ambassador Zhang Yesui told a press briefing at UN Headquarters. It is also the first time that a Chinese head of state will attend so many summits for a single visit, Zhang noted.

"At these summits, President Hu will show China's support for multilateralism, the promotion of effective cooperation to tackle common threats and challenges faced by the international community and greater role of the United Nations in handling international affairs," he said.

The ambassador said that the summits will focus on a wide range of issues, including climate change, nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, the economic and financial crisis, regional hot spots and development.

At the summits, President Hu will elaborate on China's stance and policies on major global issues, and exchange views with foreign leaders on ways to strengthen international cooperation, Zhang added.

分享学中文的有趣影片

2009-09-22T16:26:00.000+08:00

interesting videos about Chinese learning!

Why do you learn Chinese? 为什么外国人学中文？

How do you know Chinese?

That's All, Folks! 初 chü 三 sän ~初 chü 五 wŭ

Water Out Of The Bucket Gets A Home Coming Feast 初chü 二èr：回húi 娘níang 家jïa

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!! --守shǒu歲sùi

The Clock Is Ticking, The New Year Is Coming~~~ The last minute cleaning 大dà扫său除chú and the gather around eating 围wéi炉lú

Seriously, get rid of the old, make room for the new!! - 除chú夕xì

Who's naughty, Who's nice?? -- 送sòng神shén Lunar date: December 24th (February 7th, 2010)

Bring out the old, bring in the new -送sòng旧jìo迎yíng新xïn

Sacrifice for the ever laboring teeth - more about 尾wěi牙yá

Whom is the rooster pointing? The feast that rocks your world - the good or the bad way 尾wĕi牙yá

Pamper Your Ears And Head Home For The Holiday - food shared on 冬döng至zhì

Chinese President Hu opens Kazakh gas pipeline to China

East Asian Games have opened

Car sales and production make breakthrough in China

“Chinese Oscars” awards announced!!!

Chinese Zodiac 豬zhü (pig) -- The Oink, The Merrier

Word Origin Today -- 爱 [ài]

Something to wash the food down - besides the pint and the coke…ok, and Pepsi

Word Origin Today-- 地 [dì]

"Small" in serving portion and price, "huge" in sentiment value - 小xĭao吃chï

Eating! Although some sound disgusting…

Word Origin Today-- 吃 [chī] EAT

Put your wind and your water where they should be --with a little bit of 风fēng水shŭi

Feast of the Night - No Shoes or Ties Required

Oh ye old flowery eyes? Nay, just Presbyopia…老lăo花huā 眼yăn

Chinese Zodiac 猴hóu-- Quit Monkey around!!－ Not if you can keep up!!

Word Origin Today-- 本 [bĕn]

China to lead Asian recovery with 8.5% growth in 2009: IMF

Chinese Zodiac 羊yáng--The Role Model for Respecting the Elders, or not?

挽 wăn 面 mìan －The Art of Hair Removal

The First Man on the Moon is Not Neil. Armstrong?

Word Origin Today-- 爱/ 愛

China's 2009 luxury consumption to exceed $5 billion

For all Chinese from ancient times to the present, what Confucius said is TRUTH

Wonderful Sauce I Recommend

China's president rolls into US

分享学中文的有趣影片

Why do you learn Chinese? 为什么外国人学中文？

playing mahjon 打麻將學中文

菲尔普斯（Michael Phelps）学中文！

老外美女记者一口京腔