Highlights of Chinese Civilization and Local Culture

Highlights of Chinese Civilization and Local Culture 中国地方文化英语导读 00041010 School of Foreign Languages Suzhou University

教学大纲 1、教学内容 • 主要了解中国的饮食、服装、体育、娱乐等的特征。 • (1). 中华饮食文化概况：中华饮食文化的主要特点、八大菜系的形成、中华饮食习惯、餐桌礼仪、中华酒文化及茶文化简要介绍 • (2). 中华服饰：丝绸的起源及传播、中华服饰介绍（皇家服饰，旗袍等）及鞋类 • (3). 中华体育：中国武术的发展和各主要流派特点 • (4). 娱乐活动：中国象棋、毽子、风筝及中国传统乐器等 2、教学要点 • 结合观看英文纪录片《中国艺术大观—丝绸》、《揭秘中华古文化》相关剧集和纪录片《中国美食之一：永远的传承》，重点掌握中华饮食文化、服饰、各项传统体育活动、中华武术及娱乐活动的概况。

Chapter Ten---- Life • It’s not surprising that we can enjoy the traditional Chinese food in many parts of the world. We can also see that elements of the traditional Chinese costumes such as the Tang and the Cheongsam have been used in international fashions. The Chinese people have always had their own unique life styles and the artistic ways of the Chinese people’s life can be found in many of their living ways.

I. Dietetic Culture • II. Costume • III. Sport • IV. Entertainment

I. Dietetic Culture • The food culture in China has experienced approximately four periods of development.Early in the primitive time the Chinese people had already learned to grow crops like wheat, millet and rice, and raise domestic animals like pigs, dogs and sheep.This laid a foundation for the Chinese dieting structure, characterized by agricultural products as staple food and meat as supplementary food.

1. Feature • Variety in flavoris one of the features.TheChinese cooking arts are rather complicated, and in different places, there are different ways to prepare dishes. Since there is much difference in climates, products, and customs, there are varieties of flavors in the Chinese food. Sweetness, saltiness, sourness and spiciness are the respective food characteristics in the south, the north, the east, and the west.

2.Style • In China, there are 56 ethnic groups and 31 provinces, each having preference for different food. People in the south of the Yangtze River like light, sweetish savory and refreshing food; they lay more stress on nutrition and quality than on quantity. By contrast, people in the northeast find more pleasure in fatty but not greasy dishes, especially those made of fish and meat. For them, the quantity of food is of importance. While people in the northwest prefer economical and sour dishes or dishes made of beef and mutton.

3. Habit • Traditionally, the diet in China is mainly characterized by vegetal foodstuff, with five cereals of rice, two kinds of millet, and wheat as staple food, vegetables, and sometimes a small amount of meat. Such a diet structure has resulted from agriculture being the chief form of industry in the Central Plains in China.

4. Custom • (1) Having Meal • Though customs and the kinds of food eaten vary regionally, it is most common for Chinese families to have three meals a day. • (2) Dining Etiquette • Banquets are held to celebrate the New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, weddings, and other special occasions. • (3)Seat Order • China has long been known as the “land of ceremony and propriety”. Consequently, there are certain customs that should be observed at banquets or formal dinners. • (4) Saving “Face” • Saving “face” is the special characteristic of the Chinese culture. Despite a universal human nature and a concept that occur in all cultures, face is particularly noticeablein the Chinese culture. Even some scholars believe that the concept of face is in fact of the Chinese origin.

5. Wine • (1) Classification and History • In Chinese the word for alcohol “jiu” is used to mean all types of alcoholic beverages, from pi jiu(beer) to liquors (just called jiu) to grape wine (putao jiu). • (2) Wine and Chinese People • There is no doubt that wine occupies an important place in the culture and life of the Chinese people. Wine was not only intimately connected with most Chinese men of letters, but also an inseparable part of the life of ordinary Chinese people. • (3) Wine Culture Today • Ordinary Chinese people today use alcohol to help them celebrate the happiness in their lives. In China, a banquet known as “jiuxi” means an alcohol banquet and the life of every person, from birth to death, should have causes for drinking, starting a month or 100 days after a baby’s birth when the parents invite people in for a drink.

6. Tea • (1) Origin • Tea is native to China. The story of tea began over 5,000 years ago. According to a legend, one summer day while visiting a distant region of his realm, Shennong and the court stopped to rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water, turning it brown. As a scientist, Shennong was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing.

(2) Type • Of hundreds of varieties of Chinese tea, there are three major types. They are green tea, black tea, and Oolong tea. The method used for processing the leaf distinguishes the types. Another special tea is called tightly-pressed tea lumps. The black tea or green tea is pressed into brick, cake or ball shapes.

(3) Drinking • There are several special circumstances in which tea is prepared and consumed. Tea drinking can be used as a sign of respect, for a family gathering, a kind of apology, expressing thankfulness to elders, and a way to connect a large family.

(4) Gongfu Tea • As for tea etiquette, different areas have different rules.Take Gongfu tea of Fujian Province for example, Gongfu tea, meaning time-consuming tea came into being in the Qing Dynasty. When drinking Gongfu tea, one must choose very carefully the appropriate tea set, take time to prepare, taste, anddrink the tea.

II. Costume • 1. Silk • Chinese silk first made its way to Rome sometime during the first century BC, where it was known as “serice”.

2. Clothes • China has a very rich costume history. Early in the Eastern Han Dynasty, people in black preferred to wear purple silk adornments to match their clothes.A long hat was worn at grand ceremonies when offering sacrifices to the gods or ancestors.

Royal/Official Clothes • Cheongsam(Qipao)

(1) Royal/Official Clothes • The costumes of ancient emperors had special tags and strictly followed the established customs. Every detail of an emperor’s costume, a string of beads, a pattern, color and length, or fabric, reflected certain customs.

(2) Cheongsam(Qipao) • Qipao is one of the most typical, traditional costumes for the Chinese women. Also known as Cheongsam, it is like a wonderful flower in the Chinese colorful fashion scene because of its particular charm.It combines the elaborate elegance of the Chinese tradition with unique elements of style. The high-necked, closed-collarQipao is a tight fitted dress with attractive slits up the sides.

3. Shoe • In the Neolithic age, ancient shoes were made from three types of materials, grass, cloth and leather.Cloth shoes were made with hemp fiber and silk; In the Han Dynasty, the toe cap of a cloth shoe was usually bi-forked, and the tread was made with linen thread.

III. Sport • 1. Wushu (Martial Art) • Wushu, a cultural heritage of the Chinese nation,is a traditional Chinese sport with a unique national characteristic. • (1) History • Wushu began to take shape in the struggle of the people against the nature.

(2) Style • Wushu in the Qing Dynasty fell into two categories, the internal family, based on neigong or the art of building up one’s strength through breathing and other exercises of the internal organs, and the external family, based on waigongor external work, meaning exercises to benefit the muscles and bones. • ① Kungfu • Being an important part of the Chinese traditional martial arts, Shaolin Kungfu is considered to be authentic Chinese kungfu. • ② Tai Ji Quan • Tai Ji Quan is considered to be one of the internal styles of the Chinese wushu, and is the most widely practiced in the world today.

毫无疑问，中国的太极可以带来无穷的好处，但增加牛奶产量是没被人们想到的!毫无疑问，中国的太极可以带来无穷的好处，但增加牛奶产量是没被人们想到的! Rob Taverner在给他的奶牛表演太极

2. Tug-of-War • A traditional folk sport, tug-of-war is a test of strength in which two teams with an equal number of participants pull against each other on a rope, each trying to pull the other over a dividing line.

Tug-of-War

IV. Entertainment • 1. Chinese Chess • Chinese chess is a very popular recreational and intellectual game among the Chinese people.

2.Shuttlecock Kicking • Shuttlecock kicking, ti jian zi, is another traditional popular folk game. Some records date its origin as far back as the Han Dynasty.

Shuttlecock Kicking

3. Kite Flying • In ancient China kite was known as zhiyuan(paper glide). Originally regarded as a technology, kite also featured prominently many art collections, and was considered to have unique artistic value.

Kite Flying

4. Music • Music has always been an important aspect of the Chinese culture. Chinese people play music for entertainment, education, self-cultivation, and for religious or civil ceremonies. Throughout history, Chinese achievements in music have been as spectacular as in science and technology. • (1) Guzheng Music • Guzheng is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It belongs to the zither family of string instruments,but should not be confused with guqin, another ancient Chinese zither but without bridges. • (2)Erhu • Erhu is a four stringed instrument with a long neck and a rather small sound box. Erhu, also called huqin, was known as xiqin during the Song Dynasty.

material • Wu tong wood(桐木) • White pine(白松) • Nanmu(楠木) • Old Rosewood (老红木) • Rosewood(紫檀) The guzheng has a large resonant cavity made from wu tong wood (Paulownia tomentosa). Other components may be made from other woods, usually for structural and decorative purposes.

Erhu - or Er-Hu, • A two-stringed fiddle • One of the most popular Chinese instruments in the Hu-qin family. Back

Assignment • 思考中国饮食文化主要特征及主要菜系的形成，制作PPT并介绍某一具有地方特色的菜肴 • 推荐观看电影《满汉全席》、《功夫之王》或《舞会战士》重要片断，深刻感受中华武术之魂和饮馔文化

Highlights of Chinese Civilization and Local Culture