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.