The Great Wall Of China

The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500 miles) from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance.

Nature!

China's diverse habitats are home to hundreds of different species of animals and plants.  More than 3800 species of fish and hundreds of amphibian and reptile species live in the rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.

Mountains and Rivers

One third of China's land area is made up of mountains.  The tallest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest, is located on the border between Nepal and China.  


China also has thousands of rivers.  The Yangtze (Chang Jiang) and the Yellow River are the two most important.  At 3915 miles long, the Yangtze is the world's third largest river.

October 8th!

Hi parents! Our meeting this month is on the 8th from 2 to 4 at Linda's house.  If you need the address, please email or call one of us.  This meeting we will be introducing vocabulary dealing with body parts and teach about pandas and their role in China's history.  We also have someone new for you to meet :)


Hope to see you there!

Proverb #2

树倒猢狲散 (pinyin: shù dǎo hú sūn sàn)
Literally: When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.
Interpretation: When a leader loses power, his followers become disorganized. 
Usage: This proverb is often used to describe fair-weather friends.

Our First Proverb!

肉


包子打狗
 (ròu bāo zi dǎ gǒu)


Literally: To hit a dog with a meat-bun.
Figurative interpretation: Punishment gives less incentive than a reward.
Moral: Don't use the wrong method to approach a problem.
English comparison: You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Have You Seen Kung Fu Panda 2?

Giant pandas date back two to three million years.  The early Chinese emperors kept pandas to ward off evil spirits and natural disasters.  Pandas were also considered symbols of might and bravery.  

A Strange Custom

It was customary for wealthy men and women in the late empire to grow the nails of their little fingers extremely long as a sign of their rank.  They often wore decorative gold and silver nail guards to protect their nails.  

An Interesting Hobby

The number one hobby in China is stamp collecting.


Cricket fighting is also a popular pastime in China.  Many children in China keep crickets as pets.

Here's Another Shocker

Many historians believe that soccer originated in China around 1000 B.C.  According to FIFA, "the very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise from a military manual dating back to the second and third centuries B.C. in China."  Our modern rules of soccer are based on nineteenth century effort to standardize the varying forms of soccer played in the public schools of England.  

Be On The Lookout!

We have decided to add another category of posts to our site.  This new category will consist of common Chinese idioms and proverbs.  Included will be both their literal meaning as well as what their meaning has evolved to represent in modern China.  

Guess What?

Ping-pong is one of the most popular games in China.  But unlike what most people believe, it was not invented in China.  Though associated strongly with the Chinese, ping-pong actually originated in Britain, where it was called table tennis.

The Jade Rabbit

In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey both had food to give the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead by jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where he became the "Jade Rabbit."

Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival

From the royalty to the populace, it is an important custom to sacrifice to and appreciate the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, sons and daughters come back to their parents’ house. Sometimes people who have settled overseas will return to visit their parents. Adults will usually indulge in fragrant moon cakes of different varieties with a good cup of piping hot Chinese tea, while the little ones run around with brightly-lit lanterns. After nightfall, entire families go out under the stars for a walk or picnics, looking up at the full silver moon, thinking of their nearby relatives or friends, as well as those who are far from home. A line from a verse “The moon at the home village is exceptionally brighter” expresses those feelings. It can also be a romantic night for lovers, who sit holding hands on riverbanks and park benches, enraptured by the brightest moon of the year.

To celebrate this sighting of the moon, red plastic lanterns wrought in traditional styles and embellished with traditional motifs are prepared for the occasion. The lanterns are made in traditional shapes such as rabbits, goldfish, carps, butterflies, lobsters and star-shaped fruits.

There is a saying in Chinese that marriages are made in heaven and prepared on the moon. The man who does the preparing is the old man of the moon (Yue Lao). This old man, it is said, keeps as a record book with all the names of newborn babies. He is the one heavenly person who knows everyone's future partners, and nobody can fight the decisions written down in his book. He is one reason why the moon is so important in Chinese mythology and especially at the time of the Moon Festival. Everybody, including children, hikes up high mountains or hills or onto open beaches to view the moon in the hope that he will grant their wishes.

Therefore, lovers spend a romantic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even couples who can't be together still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. Reams of poetry have been devoted to this romantic festival. Hopefully the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.

Contrary to what most people believe, this festival probably has less to do with harvest festivities than with the philosophically minded Chinese of old. The union of man's spirit with nature in order to achieve perfect harmony was the fundamental canon of Taoism, so much so that contemplation of nature was a way of life.

The Man on The Moon

In Chinese legends there is a man who still is on the moon today.


Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he decided that he wanted to be an immortal, so he went to live in the mountains where he importuned an immortal to teach him. First the immortal taught him about the herbs used to cure sickness, but after three days his characteristic restlessness returned and Wu Kang asked the immortal to teach him something else. So the immortal to taught him chess, but after a short while Wu Kang's enthusiasm again waned. Then Wu Kang was given the books of immortality to study. Of course, Wu Kang became bored within a few days, and asked if they could travel to some new and exciting place. Angered with Wu Kang's impatience, the master banished Wu Kang to the Moon Palace telling him that he must cut down a huge cassia tree before he could return to earth. Though Wu Kang chopped day and night, the magical tree restored itself with each blow, and thus he is up there chopping still.

Mid-Autumn Festival

This year the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 12th of the Gregorian calendar.  Also known as the Chinese Moon Festival, this is the day for people who love the moon to admire it as the moon will be at its fullest.  


All holidays have legends to honor though, and this festival is no different. The most popular legend for the Mid-Autumn Festival is traced to the year 2000 B.C.  This is the story of Hou Yih, and officer of the imperial guards.  


One day ten suns suddenly appeared in sky.  The emperor, greatly perturbed and fearful that this occurrence would bring some great evil to his people, ordered Hou Yih, an expert archer, to shoot nine of the suns out of the sky.  The great skills with which Hou Yih accomplished the feat greatly impressed the Goddess of the Western Heaven.  


Since Hou Yih was also a talented architect, the Goddess commissioned him to build her a palace made of multicolored jade.  His work was so pleasing to the Goddess that she rewarded him with the possibility of everlasting life.  She gave him the elixir to immortality in the form of a pill.  He was not to swallow the pill until he had undergone a year of prayer and fasting.  Hou took the pill home and hid it, telling no one his secret.  


Hou's wife was a divinely beautiful woman named Chang Oh.  One day she discovered the hidden pill and swallowed it.  The resulting punishment was immediate and Chang Oh found herself airborne, bound for an eternity of punishment on the moon.  As she soared upwards, Hou Yih tried desperately to follow but was thrown back to earth by a typhoon.  Chang Oh's divine beauty enhanced the brilliance of the moon with her own glowing radiance.  Now, Chinese people gather each Moon Festival to admire her.  

This Saturday!

Hi parents, just wanted to remind everyone that our next meeting is this Saturday.  We have plenty of fun and educational activities waiting for the kids! We hope to see you there!

Imagine If It Hadn't Happened.

Toilet paper.  Something we use everyday but don't spend much thought on.  Now, imagine if it hadn't been invented.    


The first documented use of toilet paper in human history dates back to the 6th century A.D., in early medieval China. Only by the 1300s had its use begun to spread, but still only the extremely wealthy were able to afford it.  Elsewhere in the world, in places like Italy, paper was simply dismissed as an ineffective way to clean up.  

Talk About Old!

Turning ten is already an exciting enough experience, what with the double digits and all.  But think about turning a bit over four THOUSAND years old!  China is considered the longest continuous civilization, as the dynastic period began in 2000 B.C.  In fact, some historians mark 6000 B.C. as the dawn of Chinese civilization! Chinese is also the world’s longest continuously used written language.  

Let the Kids Join In!

Dear Parents,

While this blog is certainly a new fixture in our organization, we hope that you will check here often as this will be our primary spot to post news.  Also, we will be posting many fun facts about China's culture here, so bring the kids to read with you! This way, we can all learn a little bit about China without too much tedious reading and lecturing.  Learning should be fun!! Our goal is to post new facts every three or so days, so check back often! Who knows, you might even learn something ;)

Over the Rainbow~

What's your favorite color? Did you know that red is considered a lucky color in China? At one time wedding dresses were made from red silk.  Now New Year's banners, clothing, and lucky envelopes are still made from red material.

The Tooth Fairy

"Moomm.  The tooth fairy only left me a quarter! But my friend -- got an entire dollar!" This conversation has probably happened before in your household, now you can explain to your child to be thankful because in China when a child lose a baby tooth, it doesn't get tucked under the pillow for the tooth fairy.  If the child loses an upper tooth, the child's parents plant the tooth in the ground, so the new tooth will grow in straight and healthy.  Parents toss a lost bottom tooth up to the rooftops, so that the new tooth will grow upwards as well.  

A Delicious Summer Treat

Ice cream is a food that we all enjoy frequently throughout the blistering heat of the summer.  Has anyone ever wondered about the origins of this refreshing delicacy? Well wonder no more more! Ice cream was invented in China around 3000 B.C. when the Chinese packed a soft milk and rice mixture in the snow.  Soon the cooks of the royal family began mixing snow and ice from the mountains with fruit, wine and honey to create the first ice creams.  Wow!


However, the ice creams we enjoy today were created in Europe.  When Marco Polo returned from China to Italy, he brought with him a new recipe for making snow ice cream.  Soon the rich people of Italy were enjoying frozen milk.  Hundreds of years later, Catherine de Medici of Florence married the French king Henry II and brought her recipe for frozen milk.  In France, much experimentation with the frozen milk recipe eventually led to an even more beloved creation, our modern day ice cream.  


Did you know the most popular ice cream flavor is vanilla? What flavor is your favorite?

Time to Mark Your Calendars!

As You and Me's second year begins, we are happy to announce that this will be another year of great fun and learning! Our meetings this year will be on the second Saturday of every month from 2 to 4 in the afternoon at East Cobb Library.  September 10th will be the first meeting of the year.  On the 10th, we will be teaching school related vocabulary and basic Chinese water painting.  We will send out vocabulary sheets in advance by email but they will also be posted in our "vocabulary sheets" section of the blog.  As always, expect to have fun! 


Please email me at sharon@u-and-me.org for more information.

Welcome!

This will be You and Me's new website.  Here, we will post information about meetings, holidays, and the organization in general.  This will be the best place to find old vocabulary sheets, details about upcoming meetings, planned events, and interesting little tidbits about the Chinese culture.  Thanks for visiting!