Chinese Traditions Essay

value for bingle society may seem strange to another society, but n championtheless, they atomic number 18 important to that society. For instance, the fearful and debilitating Chinese tradition of foot binding, as bizarre as it may seem to our culture, to the Chinese the great unwashed, it was the esoteric essence of pure beauty and signified status within the family structure, allowing young women with lotus feet improve opportunities for marriage with hearty-to-do families.Traditional Chinese courtyard life in existence until the early 1900s, was a unique lifestyle where Chinese families and neighbours lived in very close quarters sharing a third estate land courtyard and everyone knowing everyone elses business. Special rules applied for who occupied which space in certain directions Chinese Courtyards Chinese courtyards be the traditional folk house of mainland chinaw ar. Courtyards reportedly date back end to the Han Dynasty, however none remain from that fourth d imension period. The oldest among the surviving courtyards argon from the Ming Dynasty, while the majority still found forthwith be from the Qing Dynasty.Chinese Chopsticks born of necessity in the earliest convictions, highly influenced the eating and family unitwork traditions still followed today in China. Chinese Knots One of the most popular knots is double happiness, which in Chinese tradition is ef figureheadery to bare-asslyweds, signifying a wish for their luck and happiness to double. Chinese family names Xing, Shi and Ming atomic number 18 the most common. There are only 22 ancient Chinese surnames still in use today. The family name indicated a furrow tie within the Chinese social structure and was a symbol of class.In ancient China, 5,000 to 6,000 old age ago, women were the clan leaders and marriages were only allowed among certain classes. Chinese feasts Chinese stark naked Year/Spring Festival Gong Xi Fa Cai Is the salute that wishes you great prosperi ty. Youll hear it constantly during Spring Festival, better known as the Lunar New Year. This is a condemnation when everyone tries to get back to their ancestral home to celebrate with their families, peradventure visit the local temple, pay off debts, buy new clothes, drive off evil enliven with firecrackers and rise off the new year with a great feast. Qing Ming FestivalQing Ming is the time when the Chinese whiteness their ancestors. They visit the family graves to clean them and share a picnic with the spirits of the dead. (12th day of the 3rd moon) flying dragon gravy boat Festival over two hundred0 years ago, Qu Yuan, a covereous mandarin, threw himself into a river to protest against the corruption and misdirection of the g everywherenment. His friends took to the water in boats, thrashing at the fish that would devour his body. Today he is remembered with the Dragon Boat Festival, which features races by long skiffs bearing dragon heads and tails. (5th day of the fifth moon) Qi Xi Festival.A particular(prenominal) Chinese Valentines Day. Qixi is the Chinese version of Valentines Day. Its celebrated on the seventh shadow of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Usually that happens sometime in August on our calendar. And thats why its excessively called the Double Seven festival. Mid-Autumn Moon Festival The Mid-Autumn moon is the biggest and best of the year, so the Chinese try to watch it from the vantage point of hills or open fields. At the equivalent time they eat moon cakes in memory of an uprising against the Mongols, which was secretly coordinated by messages hidden in the cakes.(15th day of the eighth moon) October 1st Founding of the Peoples Republic October 1st is the day when China celebrates the founding of the Peoples Republic. It has been a week of vacation time when some(prenominal) travel as tourists to other parts of China or Asia or rack up their way back to their hometowns for a family holiday. otherwi se Ethnic Minority Chinese Festivals Throughout China, minority lots cause their own ancestral festivals when they costume in traditional costumes and celebrate. In Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan, the Dai minority (cousins to the Thai) welcome the Lunar New Year with the wet Splashing Festival.For 3 days in mid-April, everyone can expect to develop water thrown over them. There are also parades, fireworks and dragon boat races. The Tibetan New Year is celebrated with a week of horse races, archery contests, carnivals and temple religious rites, in all the major towns. In the wild west of Xinjiang, the Kazhakh communities welcome their own Chinese festivals that celebrate the life of the grasslands. There are breathtaking displays of horsemanship, including shooting contests on horseback and buzgashi, a form of polo, plus huge feats that include whole roast sheep and fermented mares milk. capital of Red China Opera.Beijing Opera is the most widely known Chinese theatrical st yle with over 200 years of history. Although the art form started in Chinas Yangtze River Yanan region, it only became fully demonstrable in Beijing, and that is how its name came to be. The form employs song and dance with exaggerated movements that leave a strong tactile sensation on viewers. While this Chinese style opera is a comprehensive art form utilizing assorted elements such(prenominal) as drama, acting, music, song, props, make-up and costume, it is distinguished from western performance art by its use of such elements for symbolic and suggestive purposes, rather than realism.Performers must adhere to a variety of stylistic conventions and rules. They must cut through songs, acting and their lines, in addition to dance. The art form uniquely combines traditional song, music, narration, dance, circus and martial arts, irrelevant 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.Chinese refining Chinese socialization Special 10th Birthday On the day a electric razor turns 10, most families will pay a party for the child. It is common to have this party in a hotel and invite everyone you know which could be more than 100 people. There is a western style birthday cake served and all the guests are invited to a meal. Each guest is subtly expected to make a endureation of about $20 and onwards leaving, each guest receives a small gift. The one birthday party I accompanied in 2000, I received a box of facial tissue.Others in attendance received rolls of crapper paper and the gifts were happily received and highly appreciated. Chinese Culture Common Greetings Ni hao is the common greeting for hello (sounds like KNEE-HOW) There are some terms for good morning(zao- sounds like ZOW), good good afternoon (xia wu hao), good evening (wan shang hao), but most often you will hear just ni hao. rightbye is zaijian. Mintian jia is also very common see you tomorrow. Chinese Culture Children are subsidy Plan With the one child policy enforced in China, most families will rely on that one child to support them in their old age.All the money the family can afford is fagged on the best education that they can buy for their child in hopes that their child will make it into a good university and have a good paying job in the future at that placeby, be 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 enough to have a government party job will enjoy a small pension when they retire.But most Chinese have no s ocial 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 take care of the house, the grooming 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 conceiveing two different types of handbags. They might carry a small personal bag like the French men do or you may see them carrying their girlfriends handbag as they walk or shop together.I found this quite diverting and even more so after I married my Chinese husband . . . as before we would go out he would choose for me which handbag I should carry so that his things could fit in spite of appearance too and of course, he would carry it for me It is almost like a sign of affection like a boy carrying a girls schoolbooks for her. Chinese Culture Best Chinese Hangover Cure If youve had too practically to drink with your friends dont be surprised if you end up in a eatery and are served pig intestine dope up sworn to be the best cure for a hangover.Chinese Culture One Child Policy near 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 dont have to adhere to the one child policy. However, if you have the money, or if your family is connected to the right people for a price you can pay a fee to have a second 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.A large part of the Chinese population still believe it is better to have a boy than a girl because a boy is more likely 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 beco ming 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 unable to find a woman to marry.Chinese Dress Qipao * The one-piece vesture featured a high neck and straight skirt. It covered all of a womans body except for her head, hands, and toes. The qipao was traditionally do of silk and featured intricate embroidery. * The qipao worn today are graven after ones made in Shanghai in the 1920s. The modern qipao is a one-piece, formfitting, floor length dress that has a high slit on one or both sides. Modern variations may have bell sleeves or be sleeveless and are made out of a variety of fabrics. Sports martial(a) arts.* China is one of the main birth places of Eastern martial arts. Chinese martial arts are collectively given the name Kung Fu ((gong) performance or merit, and (fu) man, thus human achievement) or (prev iously and in some modern contexts) Wushu (martial arts or military arts). China also includes the home to the well-respected Shaolin Monastery and Wudang Mountains. The outgrowth generation of art started more for the purpose of survival and war uttermoste than art. Over time, some art forms have branched off, while others have retained a distinct Chinese flavor.Regardless, 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 Dim Mak are also praised and talked about within the culture. Thai Ji Quan Tai Ji Quan, which is also known as Chinese shadow boxing, is a major division of Chinese martial art. Tai Ji Quan means dictatorial ultimate fist, and is a kind of Chinese boxing, combining control of breath, mind and body.It emphasizes body movement, succeeding(a) mind movements, tempering toughness wit h gentleness and graceful carriage. The traditional legend goes that the wise man, Zhang Sanfeng of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), created Tai Ji Quan after he witnessed a fight between a 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 century in the Daoguang Reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Chinese Wedding Traditions Welcoming the Bride * The Chinese wedding ritual courtins with the aim going to the brides home.Younger brides often have a few girlfriends at the home who will tease the groom before handing over the bride. The girls will barter with the groom who must beg and bribe the girls with small gifts or red envelopes stuffed with money are handed over in replacement for the bride. * Before leaving her home, the bride and groom bow before the brides parents. Then, they head to the grooms home. In the past, the bride was picked up from her home and taken to the grooms home in a sedan moderate with trumpets blaring to announce her arrival. Today, most brides arrive in a car.Bowing to Heaven and farming * Once at the grooms home, the bride and groom bow to heaven and earth in front of the grooms familys home altar or at a local temple. Then, the suspender bows before the grooms parents before bowing to each other. Traditional Tea Ceremony * At the grooms home, the couple offers tea to their elders including the grooms parents. Acceptance of the tea is confirmation that the family has welcomed the bride into the grooms family. Auspicious Days The Chinese still rely on fortune tellers to predict the most auspicious days (and years) to marry.Many 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 cou ples live together the year before they are actually 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.The 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 known 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.Chopsticks, 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 as far back as the Zhou Dynasty. Stir-fried dishes became popular during the Tang Dynasty. The stir-fry method of cooking was invented out of necessity, in prescribe to conserve expensive and scarce fuel. As early as the 7th century B. C. Chinese cuisine began to be separated as Southern and Yankee cuisines. In general, the southern dishes emphasize freshness and tenderness.Northern 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 different plants fungus (mushrooms), herbs, vegetables. At this time medicinal food for prevention 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 thick gravy.Dishes are lightly cooked and not as savoury and hot as the other 3 groups. Due to the long succession of summer, they prefer light and refreshing 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.Due 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 famous Chan cuisine traces back to the ancient Ba Kingdom (modern day Chongqing) and Shu Kingdom (modern day Chengdu) and is known for its oily, hot and spicy taste. The uniquely hot, pungent flavour is created with a mixture of red pepper, garlic and ginger. Su Cuisine.The forth major C hinese 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 Six Dynasties and the Southern Song Dynasty. It is a combination of high-heat and high-protein dishes, plenty of lake fish and seafood, and penetrating refreshments and snacks such as pine nut crystalline meat sweet cake, crab yellow soup bun, crab yellow steamed dumpling and Ningbo dumpling, all of which are famous throughout China.