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Yongle Bell
Learn Chinese - History and Culture

Yongle TempleThe Yongle Bell (yǒng lè dà zhōng 永乐大钟) was cast during the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty early in the 15th century. The story goes that when Emperor Chengzu (míng chéng zǔ 明成祖)  moved the capital to Beijing, he initiated three great projects, that is, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Yongle Bell.

This attests to the historical position of the Yongle Bell in those days. Emperor Taizu (míng tài zǔ 明太祖) overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and founded the Ming Dynasty. He made Nanjing the capital. In order to strengthen the frontier defense in the north, Zhu Yuanzhang made his fourth son Zhu Di the Prince of Yan and gave Beiping to him as his domain.

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Lion Dance (舞狮)
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History
Lion dance (wǔ shī 舞狮) is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume. The lion dance originated in India. The lion is alttraditionally regarded as a guardian creature. It is featured in Buddhist lore, being the mount of Manjusri. There are different variations of the lion dance in other Asian cultures including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sydney, and Singapore, with each region possessing their own styles.

Chinese lion dances can be broadly categorised into two styles, Northern (běi shī 北狮) and Southern (nán shī 南狮). Northern dance was used as entertainment for the imperial court. The northern lion is usually red, orange, and yellow (sometimes with green fur for the female lion), shaggy in appearance, with a golden head. The northern dance is acrobatic and is mainly performed as entertainment. Sometimes, they perform dangerous stunts.

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Bronze Galloping Horse
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Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow (mǎ tà fēi yàn 马踏飞燕 /mǎ chāo lóng què 马超龙雀), or Bronze Galloping Horse, is a bronze artwork of the Eastern Han (dōng hàn 东汉) Dynasty. It is now preserved in the Gansu Provincial Museum. This horse statue, a representative of late bronze artworks, was unearthed in the Leitai Tomb (léi tái mù 雷台墓) of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Gansu (gān sù 甘肃) Province in the west of China.

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Chinese Ancient Coins
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altThe currency is a medium for the exchange of commodities. It was an inevitable outcome of such exchanges. In ancient China the currency came in different forms and was made variously from shells, jade, gold, silver, and paper.

Brief introduction about variety of ancient coins.
Shell money. Shell money was the oldest form of currency in ancient China. As the shells were small and hard in texture, they came in handy as money. By the Shang (shāng 商) and Zhou (zhōu 周) dynasties the use of shell money reached its top, and shell money became a symbol of wealth.

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Chinese Characters
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Legendary origins
According to legend, Chinese characters were invented by Cangjie (cāng jié 仓颉), a altbureaucrat under the legendary emperor, Huangdi (huáng dì 黄帝). The legend tells that Cangjie was hunting on Mount Yangxu (today Shanxi) when he saw a tortoise whose veins caught his curiosity. Inspired by the possibility of a logical relation of those veins, he studied the animals of the world, the landscape of the earth, and the stars in the sky, and invented a symbolic system called (zì 字)—Chinese characters. It was said that on the day the characters were born, Chinese heard the devil mourning, and saw crops falling like rain, as it marked the beginning of the world.

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Yuan Zaju (元杂剧)
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Guan HanqingThe dramas of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) are called Yuan Zaju (yuán zá jù 元杂剧), poetic dramas set to music. As a mature, high-class theatrical form, the Yuan Zaju is full of the characteristics of that period, and displays unique artistic creations. Hence, they are regarded as the most notable achievement of Yuan literature. At the beginning, the Zaju centered on Dadu (dà dū 大都) (present-day Beijing) and spread widely over northern China. After the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) fell to the Yuan Dynasty, the Zaju became a national drama. It quickly flourished, with a number of plays written, and the ranks of performers swelling.

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