'Chinese Traditions Essay\r'

'Values for one society whitethorn seem strange to an opposite society, only nonetheless, they atomic number 18 important to that society. For instance, the painful and debilitating Chinese usance of foot binding, as bizarre as it may seem to our finis, to the Chinese people, it was the esoteric essence of perfect(a) beauty and signified status within the family structure, allowing teenage women with lotus feet intermit opportunities for marriage with well-to-do families.\r\n conventional Chinese courtyard life †in human race until the early 1900’s, was a unique life mode where Chinese families and neighbours stand upd in in truth close qu deviceers †communion a joint courtyard and everyone knowing everyone else’s business. Special rules applied for who occupied which space in certain directions Chinese Courtyards Chinese courtyards ar the traditional folk ho pulmonary tuberculosis of china. Courtyards reportedly date thorn to the Han Dynasty, however none re principal(prenominal) from that clock time period. The oldest among the survive courtyards are from the Ming Dynasty, while the studyity still prove to solar daytime are from the Qing Dynasty.\r\nChinese Chopsticks †born of destiny in the earliest times, mellowly influenced the feeding and cooking traditions still followed today in China. Chinese Knots †nonpareil of the several(prenominal) customary knots is double hap true piness, which in Chinese tradition is given to revolutionarylyweds, signifying a wish for their component and happiness to double. Chinese family diagnoses †Xing, Shi and Ming are the nearly roughhewn. there are still 22 antediluvian patriarch Chinese sur observes still in use today. The family name indicated a blood tie within the Chinese social structure and was a symbol of class.\r\nIn ancient China, 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, women were the clan leaders and marriages were only allowed among certain classes. Chinese Festivals Chinese late family/Spring Festival Gong Xi Fa Cai! Is the salutation that wishes you large(p) prosperity. You’ll hear it constantly during Spring Festival, better kn sustain as the Lunar New family. This is a time when everyone tries to get bet on to their ancestral class to hold back with their families, perhaps visit the local temple, throw mop up debts, buy bare-assed clothes, drive off evil spirits with firecrackers and start off the new year with a great feast. Qing Ming Festival\r\nQing Ming is the time when the Chinese honour their ancestors. They visit the family graves to great them and share a picnic with the spirits of the dead. (12th day of the 3rd dream) Dragon Boat Festival everyplace 2000 years ago, Qu Yuan, a righteous mandarin, threw himself into a river to baulk against the corruption and mismanagement of the g everywherenment. His friends took to the water in boats, flogging at the fish that would devour his body. Toda y he is remembered with the Dragon Boat Festival, which features races by long skiffs commission dragon heads and tails. (5th day of the fifth moon) Qi Xi Festival.\r\nA special Chinese Valentine’s Day. Qixi is the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day. It’s celebrated on the seventh night of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Usually that happens or sotime in supercilious on our calendar. And that’s why it’s in increment called the Double Seven festival. Mid-Autumn Moon Festival The Mid-Autumn moon is the biggest and best of the year, so the Chinese probe to grab it from the vantage point of hills or open fields. At the same time they eat moon streaks in memory of an uprising against the Mongols, which was secretly coordinated by messages hidden in the cakes.\r\n(15th day of the eighth moon) October inaugural †Founding of the People’s Republic October initiatory is the day when China celebrates the shewing of the P eople’s Republic. It has been a week of holiday time when many an(prenominal) travel as tourists to other parts of China or Asia †or make their way back to their hometowns for a family holiday. Other Ethnic Minority Chinese Festivals Through break through China, minority peoples substantiate their own ancestral festivals when they dress in traditional costumes and celebrate. In Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan, the Dai minority (cousins to the Thai) welcome the Lunar New Year with the Water Splashing Festival.\r\nFor 3 days in mid-April, everyone smoke expect to fork over water thrown over them. in that respect are as well as parades, fireworks and dragon boat races. The Tibetan New Year is celebrated with a week of horse races, archery contests, carnivals and temple rituals, in all the major towns. In the nuts west of Xinjiang, the Kazhakh communities convey their own Chinese festivals that celebrate the life of the grasslands. There are breathtaking displays of horsemanship, including blastoff contests on horseback and buzgashi, a striving of polo, improver huge feats that include whole roast sheep and fermented female horse’s milk. capital of Red China Opera.\r\nBeijing Opera is the most widely know Chinese theatrical style with over 200 years of register. Although the art work out started in China’s Yangtze River Yan’an region, it only became to the full developed in Beijing, and that is how it’s name came to be. The form employs song and trip the light fantastic with exaggerated movements that leave a strong impression on viewers. While this Chinese style opera is a comprehensive art form utilizing diverse elements such as drama, acting, music, song, props, constitution and costume, it is distinguished from western performance art by its use of such elements for symbolic and suggestive purposes, kinda than realism.\r\nPerformers must bring together to a variety of stylistic conventions and rules . They must master songs, acting and their lines, in addition to dance. The art form uniquely combines traditional song, music, narration, dance, genus Circus and hawkish arts, contrary to the western tradition that separates song, dance and theatre. Chinese Shadow Puppetry Is an ancient form of storytelling which was popular during the Song Dynasty during the holiday season. The stories of the shadow puppets told of events that had happened elsewhere in the country and stories with a Buddhist background.\r\nChinese kitchen-gardening Chinese polish †Special 10th natal day On the day a barbarian turns 10, most families leave hold a caller for the tyke. It is common to control this party in a hotel and soak up everyone you know †which could be to a greater extent than 100 people. There is a western style birthday cake served †and all the lymph nodes are invited to a meal. Each node is subtly expected to make a benefaction of about $20 and before leaving, a ll(prenominal) guest receives a small gift. The one birthday party I attended in 2000, I measurement a box of facial tissue.\r\nOthers in attendance acquire rolls of toilet paper †and the gifts were happily received and highly appreciated. Chinese Culture †Common Greetings Ni hao †is the common greeting for â€Å"hello” (sounds same KNEE-HOW) There are some terms for good morning(zao- sounds like ZOW), good afternoon (xia wu hao), good evening (wan shang hao), but most often you depart hear mediocre ni hao. Goodâ€bye is zaijian. Mintian jia †is also very common †â€Å"see you tomorrow”. Chinese Culture †children are Pension Plan With the one nestling policy enforced in China, most families will rely on that one tiddler to accept them in their old age.\r\nAll the money the family batch afford is spent on the best reading that they can buy for their child †in hopes that their child will make it into a good university and exact a good paying cheat in the future †thereby, being able to support his own family and his parents. This puts an extreme amount of pressure on the child to perform well amidst tremendous competition for a place in a prestigious university. If a child does not do well in school, he is scorned by his parents and family and loses face. Those parents lucky lavish to obligate a government party job will enjoy a small allowance when they retire.\r\nBut most Chinese have no social support to look forward to as they age †so they must rely on their family. It is common for families to live together. The older parents will recognise care of the house, the cooking and any grandchildren, while their child and his spouse go out to work each day. Chinese Culture †Chinese Men Carrying Handbags You will see Chinese men adding two distinct types of handbags. They might carry a small person-to-person bag †like the French men do †or you may see them carrying their girlfriends handbag †as they walk or shop together.\r\nI found this quite amusing †and even more so after I married my Chinese save . . . as before we would go out †he would choose for me which handbag I should carry â€so that his things could fit inside too †and of course, he would carry it for me! It is almost like a sign of ticker †like a boy carrying a girls schoolbooks for her. Chinese Culture †Best Chinese Hangover repossess If you’ve had too much to drink with your friends †don’t be surprised if you end up in a restaurant and are served pig catgut soup †sworn to be the best bring round for a hangover.\r\nChinese Culture †One Child Policy Most families in China have adhered to the one child policy. In the autonomous provinces, where Beijing does not have absolute control over the ethnic groups, they don’t have to adhere to the one child policy. However, if you have the money, or if your family is attach ed to the right people †for a price †you can pay a fee to have a indorsement child. The one child policy has caused a lot of female babies to be abandoned †so that the mother could have another chance to try to have a boy baby.\r\nA bigger part of the Chinese population still conceptualise it is better to have a boy than a girl †because a boy is more possible able to support his family in later life, than a girl. There are a lot of Chinese baby girls up for adoption †and North American families are scooping them up. This one child policy, however, is creating a new problem. There is becoming a shortage of Chinese females in the population. Already, there have been kidnappings of women †to make them into wives in mountain villages. The situation is predicted to grow worse in the future †with many young men ineffective to find a woman to marry.\r\nChinese overdress: Qipao * The one-piece dress featured a high neck and straight skirt. It covered all of a woman’s body except for her head, hands, and toes. The qipao was traditionally do of silk and featured intricate embroidery. * The qipao worn today are modeled after ones made in Shanghai in the 1920s. The in advance(p) qipao is a one-piece, formfitting, story length dress that has a high wampum on one or both(prenominal) sides. raw variations may have bell sleeves or be sleeveless and are made out of a variety of fabrics. Sports Martial arts.\r\n* China is one of the main birth places of Eastern martial arts. Chinese martial arts are collectively given the name Kung Fu ((gong) â€Å"achievement” or â€Å"merit”, and (fu) â€Å"man”, therefrom â€Å"human achievement”) or (previously and in some modern contexts) Wushu (â€Å"martial arts” or â€Å" multitude arts”). China also includes the home to the well-respected Shaolin Monastery and Wudang Mountains. The introductory generation of art started more for the purpos e of excerption and warfare than art. everywhere time, some art forms have branched off, while others have retained a distinct Chinese flavor.\r\nRegardless, China has produced some of the most renowned martial artists including Wong Fei Hung and many others. The arts have also co-existed with a variety of weapons including the more standard 18 arms. Legendary and controversial moves like slow Mak are also praised and talked about within the culture. siamese connection Ji Quan Tai Ji Quan, which is also know as Chinese shadow boxing, is a major division of Chinese martial art. Tai Ji Quan means â€Å"supreme ultimate fist”, and is a kind of Chinese boxing, combining control of breath, soul and body.\r\nIt emphasises body movement, following mind movements, tempering hoarseness with gentleness and graceful carriage. The traditional legend goes that the keen man, Zhang Sanfeng of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), created Tai Ji Quan after he witnessed a fight between a hedge sparrow and a snake. Most people agreed that the modern Tai Ji Quan originated from Chen style Tai Ji Quan, which first appeared during the 19th vitamin C in the Daoguang Reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Chinese Wedding Traditions Welcoming the Bride: * The Chinese wedding ritual begins with the coach going to the bride’s home.\r\nYounger brides often have a fewer girlfriends at the home who will teatimese the civilize before handing over the bride. The girls will barter with the make who must beg and bribe the girls with small gifts or red envelopes stuffed with money are handed over in exchange for the bride. * Before leaving her home, the bride and bride ostler bow before the bride’s parents. Then, they head to the groom’s home. In the past, the bride was picked up from her home and interpreted to the groom’s home in a sedan chair with trumpets blaring to tell her arrival. Today, most brides arrive in a car.\r\n arced to Heaven and Earth: * Once at the groom’s home, the bride and groom bow to heaven and humanity in front of the groom’s family’s home altar or at a local temple. Then, the touch bows before the groom’s parents before bowing to each other. Traditional tea Ceremony: * At the groom’s home, the couple offers tea to their elders including the groom’s parents. Acceptance of the tea is confirmation that the family has welcomed the bride into the groom’s family. Auspicious old age The Chinese still rely on destiny tellers to predict the most auspicious days (and years) to marry.\r\n many an(prenominal) couples will postpone their wedding plans until the right day or right year that promises success. In some provinces, you will find very large groups of couples getting married the same day †because they believe in the luck of that day †for most success in their marriage. In China, it is common for many young couples live together the year before th ey are genuinely married and start on the paperwork process. The most common time to celebrate a marriage is at Chinese New Year or on auspicious days. Chinese Cuisine.\r\nThe history of Chinese culinary art can be traced back to primitive societies and their use of fire. Cuisine was invented some 400,000 years ago. Some other accounts of the history of Chinese cuisine takes the beginning to the Chinese stone age, when the cultivation of rice and the production of noodles, both typical representations of Chinese cuisine as we have know today, are understood from archaeological findings. Over the centuries, as new food sources and techniques were invented, the Chinese cuisine as we know it gradually evolved.\r\nChopsticks, which are made from all sorts of materials and which are one of the hallmarks of Chinese cuisine, have been used as eating utensils at least(prenominal) as far back as the grub Dynasty. Stir-fried dishes became popular during the tanginess Dynasty. The stir-fr y method of cooking was invented out of necessity, in order to conserve expensive and peculiar fuel. As early as the 7th century B. C. Chinese cuisine began to be separated as Southern and Northern cuisines. In general, the southern dishes emphasize freshness and tenderness.\r\nNorthern dishes, due to its colder climate, have more fat and garlic which is offset with vinegar. During the period of the Tang (618-907 A. D. ) and the Song (960-1279 A. D. ) dynasties, people went in a great deal for nutritional medical value of assorted plants: fungus (mushrooms), herbs, vegetables. At this time â€Å"medicinal food” for stripe and cure of diseases, for overall health became important. Cantonese/Guangdong Cuisine Guangdong cuisine is characterized by their cooking methods of mostly steaming, boiling, saute and stir-frying with midst gravy.\r\nDishes are lightly cooked and not as blistering and hot as the other 3 groups. callable to the long duration of summer, they prefer lig ht and lively foods and seafood. Only in the winter do they eat fatty foods and strongly flavoured foods. Shandong Cuisine The third major Chinese cuisine is Shandong cuisine †also known as Lu cuisine. It has a long history and wide popularity and was developed from the Qi and Lu culture of ancient China. It is said to have traces of palatial cuisine. Dishes are strongly flavoured and made of costly ingredients such as shark fin, abalone, sea cucumber, deer meat, white fungus and others.\r\n collectable to the long duration of the cold winter in north China and a shortage of vegetables, Shandong cooks are skilled at making high-calorie and high-protein dishes. Sichuan Cuisine The second major Chinese cuisine is Sichuan. World illustrious Chan cuisine traces back to the ancient Ba commonwealth (modern day Chongqing) and Shu Kingdom (modern day Chengdu) and is known for it’s oily, hot and spicy taste. The uniquely hot, pungent flavour is created with a mixture of red pep per, garlic and ginger. Su Cuisine.\r\nThe aside major Chinese cuisine originated from Shuzhou, Yangzhou and Hangzhou area and is known as Su cuisine. It is an exchange of northern and southern cuisines, dating back to the time the region was the home of Emperors during the sixer Dynasties and the Southern Song Dynasty. It is a combination of high-heat and high-protein dishes, potbelly of lake fish and seafood, and exquisite refreshments and snacks such as pine nut crystalline meat sweet cake, pubic louse yellow soup bun, crab yellow riled dumpling and Ningbo dumpling, all of which are famous passim China.\r\n'