Archive for 'Culture'
History of the PRC – Part Fifteen Posted by sasha on Mar 4, 2011
After the Nanjing Massacre, the city of Wuhan became the political, economic, and military center of China. With the fall of Shanghai and Nanjing, this city on the Yangtze River (长江 – Cháng jiāng) was basically the wartime capital of China, and Chinese focused their efforts on defending it. Japanese forces believed that if they…
History of the PRC – Part Fourteen Posted by sasha on Mar 2, 2011
With the New Year festivities behind us, it’s time to dive back into our history lesson on the tumultuous period between China’s last Emperor and the founding of the modern day People’s Republic of China. When we last left off in Part Thirteen, Chiang Kai-shek and his army had just suffered a crushing defeat at…
Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), The First Emperor Posted by Stephen on Feb 22, 2011
As China continues its rise as a world power, we are reminded of the history of China’s rise and unification some two-thousand plus years ago. After all, China didn’t get to be the “middle kingdom” just by luck. Quite the opposite. China emerged as a powerful, unified nation due to a series of intra-state conflicts…
Lantern Festival – Video Posted by sasha on Feb 19, 2011
In my last post, I covered the Lantern Festival, which is the final day of Spring Festival celebrations. As I mentioned in that post, there was an insane fireworks display going on right outside of my window all night long. Just so that everyone can see exactly how ridiculous said display was, I made sure…
Worth a Thousand Words: 798 Art District, Beijing (七九八艺术区,北京) Posted by Stephen on Feb 17, 2011
When living in a major metropolitan city in China it’s often difficult finding the true pulse of the people. In Beijing, identity is difficult to locate because so much society is in flux. Amongst the rapid call for development, people are neglecting or missing altogether the issues that are relevant to Chinese culture. Everything…
Lantern Festival (元宵节) Posted by sasha on Feb 17, 2011
Having just returned to Beijing last night after a month in Thailand and Laos, I made it back just in time for the final day of Spring Festival revelry – the Lantern Festival (元宵节 – yuán xiāo jié). As I type this post, a constant stream of fireworks and firecrackers are being set off right…
Year of the Rabbit (今年兔) Posted by Stephen on Feb 6, 2011
Enter The Rabbit: With the passing of the Chinese New Year festivities, we usher in The Year of the Rabbit or 今年兔 (jīn nián tù) in 2011. The Rabbit (兔子 or tù zi) is the fourth animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. After 12 years of waiting, the elusive rabbit has emerged from his burrow…