Skip to content
Site Tools
Increase font size Decrease font size Default font size default color blue color green color
Home History and Culture
History and Culture
Chinese Wine
Learn Chinese - History and Culture

 alt

Unlike Western wines, Chinese wine is distilled from rice, millet and other grains, as well as herbs and flowers. A wide variety of tonic wines (zī bǔ jiǔ 滋补酒) are made with traditional ingredients. The popular rice-based Yellow Wine, is best served warm. It tastes similar to medium-dry sherry (xuě lì jiǔ 雪利酒) and goes well with a wide range of Chinese cuisine, especially during the cool season. Gao Liang (gāo liáng jiǔ 高粱酒) and Mao Tai (máo tái 茅台) are fiery, millet-based distillations with an alcoholic content of 70 per cent. These are definitely best sampled after a hearty meal.

Read more...
 
Four Treasures of the Study
Learn Chinese - History and Culture

   Four Treasures of the Study
Four Treasures of the Study (wén fáng sì bǎo 文房四宝 ) is an expression used to refer to the ink brush, inkstick, paper and inkstone used in Chinese calligraphy. The name stems from the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties (nán běi cháo 南北朝).

Read more...
 
Chinese Tea Culture
Learn Chinese - History and Culture

alt

Chinese tea (chá 茶) culture refers to the methods of preparation of tea, the equipment used to make tea and the occasions in which tea is consumed in China. Tea culture in China differs from that of Europe, Britain or Japan in such things as preparation methods, tasting methods and the occasions for which it is consumed. Even now, in both casual and formal Chinese occasions, tea is consumed regularly. In addition to being a drink, Chinese tea is used in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese cuisine.

Read more...
 
Chinese New Year Greetings
Learn Chinese - History and Culture

The Chinese New Year is often accompanied by loud, enthusiastic greetings, often referred to as 吉祥話 (Jíxiánghùa) , or loosely translated as auspicious words or phrases. Some of the most common examples may include:


Happy New Year
simplified Chinese: 新年快乐; traditional Chinese: 新年快樂; pinyin: Xīnnián kuàilè; Hokkien POJ: Sin-nî khòai-lo̍k; Cantonese: san1 nin4 faai3 lok6. A more contemporary greeting reflective of western influences, it literally translates from the greeting "Happy new year" more common in the west. But in northern parts of China, traditionally people say simplified Chinese: 过年好; traditional Chinese: 過年好; pinyin: guònián hǎo instead of simplified Chinese: 新年快乐, to differentiate it from the international new year. And 過年好 can be used from the first day to the fifth day of Chinese new year.

Read more...
 
Upside-down "Fu" Character
Learn Chinese - History and Culture

Not all luck-bringing papers are couplets. Some are four-character-phrases that express traditional sentiments for a rich and bountiful spring. Still others are single characters, for example, the Chinese character "fu(福)".

Posting the "福" (pinyin: fú; jyutping: fuk1) character is a tradition for Chinese people during Spring Festival each year. "福" is difficult to translate into English; it means something like "幸福" (xìngfú; happiness, blessing, well-being, being satisfied with one's life) and "福气" (fúqì; good luck, good fortune). Posting the "福" character represents people's wish for a good life and happy future.

The "福" character is often posted upside-down. It is said that this is because the character for "upside-down", "倒" (pinyin: dào; jyutping: dou3), is a homonym of the character for "to arrive", "到" (pinyin: dào; jyutping: dou3). So this means that "福" (happiness, good fortune, etc.) is "arriving".

Here comes three legends of the origin of Upside-down "Fu" Character

 

Read more...
 
Red Envelope (红包)
Learn Chinese - History and Culture

In Chinese society, a red envelope or red packet / red pocket (Known as Hong Bao in Mandarin, Ang Pao in Hokkien and Lai See in Cantonese, 红包) is a monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions.

Origin
There are no clear literary sources from which to trace the origin of the red envelope tradition. In China, during the Qing Dynasty, the elderly would thread coins with a red string. The money was called yāsuì qián (traditional Chinese: 壓歲錢 压岁钱), meaning "money warding off evil spirits", and was believed to protect the elderly from sickness and death. The yāsuì qián was replaced by red envelopes when printing presses became more common after the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911. Red envelopes are also referred to as yāsuì qián.

 

Read more...
 
<< Start < Prev 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next > End >>

Page 14 of 35

China Yellow Pages