Chapter one Chinese Festivals and Food

1. Chapter oneChinese Festivals and Food By Steven Cai Guo Qian

2. CONTENTS Major Festivals in China Top Attractions in Wuhan Snacks

3. Customs Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Festival) The Pure Brightness Day (Qingming Jie) The Spring Festival Lantern Festival (Yuan Xiao Festival) Major Festivals Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) Double Nine Festival (Chongyang Jie) Qi Qiao Jie (St. Valentine’s Day)

4. Custom The Spring Festival The Spring Festival is the most important festival in a year.During the festival all the family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. The Spring Festival starts every year on the 24th and30th day of the 12th lunar month and will last till the 15th of 1st lunar month of the next year. Feb. 3, 2011 Feb. 14, 2010

5. Custom The Spring Festival The Spring Festivals 小年（xiao nian) On the 24th, 12th lunar month 南方 除夕（New Year Eve) 30th, 12th lunar month 春节（Spring Day) 1st, 1st lunar month 小年（Xiao Nian) 5th, 1st lunar month北方 元宵（Lantern F.) 15th, 1st Lunar Month

6. Custom The Spring Festival Jiao Zi (饺子）：Dumplings are usually most Chinese special food during the spring festival，esp. in the northern provinces. 子时、子正，“更岁交子”

7. Custom The Spring Festival The family members who work far away from home usually go back to visit their parents, so transportation system is very busy before the Spring Festival.

8. Custom The Spring Festival People attach great importance to the Eve of the Spring Festival. At that time, all family members eatdinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV.

9. Custom The Spring Festival Gala In recent years, the Spring Festival Gala Evening broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. Most famous singers and movie stars will make a special new year performance in this party, which will be an great expectation to common people. 拜年！拜年了！

10. Major Festivals in China content The Spring Festival In recent years, the Spring Festival Gala Evening broadcasting on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. Most famous singers and movie stars will make a special new year performance in this party, which will be an great expectation to common people.

11. Custom The Spring Festival The New Year Couplets Top (Horizontal across)   : Whole   Earth  Returns  Spring Right (Vertical) line    : Winter gone mountain clear water sparkles Left (Vertical) line: Spring comes   bird    sings flower fragrant

12. Custom The Spring Festival The New Year Couplets Chun lian（春联）is a special type of Duilian, or couplet. It is used only during the Chinese New Year as part of its celebration. While duilian is permanent, chunlian is a temporary decoration to be placed on the entrance of the house, somewhat akin to Halloween and Christmas decorations. Duilian comprises of a couplet written on vertical strips of red paper in the best calligraphic style one can muster.

13. Custom The Spring Festival The New Year Couplets “福”（Character Fu），Happiness, Good-Luck, are usually pasted upside down intentionally，means here comes happiness (fu dao le).

14. Major Festivals in China content The Spring Festival Papercuts: During Spring Festival, many families decorate the window panes of their houses with pleasant-looking papercuts portraying Chinese opera characters, flowers, birds, insects and fish.

15. The Spring FestivalNew Year Graphics • During the Spring Festival, it is traditional to decorate the homes with many New Year Graphics.

16. The Spring FestivalNew Year Graphics 对脸门神 马上鞭 The posters on the front door

17. The Spring FestivalNew Year Graphics Other Posters

18. Major Festivals in China content The Spring Festival New Year’s paintings are a branch of Chinese folk art which draws inspirations from such things as bumper harvests, prosperity, landscape, flowers and birds, buffaloes, and babies. During the festival, the Chinese love to pin up a few New Year’s paintings on their living room walls to bid farewell to the old year and greet the new.

19. Major Festivals in China content The Spring Festival Early next morning on 1st of January on Lunar Calendar , children will greet their parents and receive red packets (Hong Bao) .During and several day following New Year's day, people are visiting each other with a great deal of exchanging of gifts.

20. Custom Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival takes place at the end of the Chinese New Year Celebration, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (also the 1st round moon). Feb. 28, 2010

21. Custom Lantern Festival Lantern Fair and Riddles 灯会 、灯谜 Palace lantern, wall lamps, Figure lanterns, flower lanterns, animal and toy lanterns, some have riddles on them, which encourage people to strive to be the first to find the answer. The custom of enjoying lanterns on the festival started during Han Dynasty, 2000 years ago.

22. Major Festivals in China content Lantern Festival Lanterns are made in the shape of different animals, vegetables, fruits and many other things. While making lanterns people usually write riddles on lanterns. On the eve of Lantern Festival, all the lanterns are hung up. On Lantern Festival people go outside to have a look at the lanterns and guess the riddles on the lanterns.

23. Custom Lantern Festival 东方朔与元宵姑娘 灯会（Young Lovers Day) 欧阳修：去年元夜时，花市灯如书；月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后。（宋：生查子 元夕） 辛弃疾：众里寻它千百度，暮然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处。（宋：青玉案 元夕）

24. Custom Lantern Festival 东方朔与元宵姑娘 灯会（Young Lovers Day) 欧阳修：去年元夜时，花市灯如书；月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后。（宋：生查子 元夕） 辛弃疾：众里寻它千百度，暮然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处。（宋：青玉案 元夕）

25. Custom Lantern Festival The special food for the LanternFestival is Tong Yuen. These are round dumplings made with sticky rice flour. The round shape of the dumpling is a symbol of wholeness, completeness and unity. So it is also called as “Yuan Xiao Festival”.

26. Major Festivals in China content Lantern Festival In the daytime of the Festival, performances such as a dragon lantern dance, a lion dance, a land boat dance, a Yangge dance, walking on stilts and beating drums while dancing will be staged.

27. Custom Qingming Day The Pure Brightness Day April 5th, in the solar calendar, the third lunar month in spring, is one of the 24 Seasonal Division Points. On this day, people have the custom of sweeping the graves for their ancestors, take an outing in the countryside and wear a willow twig on the head. Cutting weeds, add new earth, burn incense and paper coins, offer food, to show their remembrance and respect. April. 5, 2010

28. Custom Qingming Day The Pure Brightness Day April 5th, solar calendar,

29. Custom Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Jie) 5th Day of the 5th Month of the lunar year “Festival of the Fifth Month” On that day, people eat Zongzi (pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in Bamboo or reed leaves) and hold dragon-boat races. It is said these activities commemorate the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan in ancient China. June 16, 2010

30. Custom Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Jie) Dragon Boat races are the most exciting part of the festival. Dragon Boats are generally brightly painted and decorated canoes. Ranging anywhere from 40 to 100 feet in length, their heads are shaped like open-mouthed dragons, while the sterns end with a scaly tail. A drummer and flag-catcher stand at the front of the boat.

31. Custom Dragon Boat Festival The traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival is Zongzi(粽子) . It is a glutinous rice ball, with a filling, wrapped in reed leaves. The fillings can be egg, beans, dates, fruits, sweet potato, walnuts, mushrooms, meat, or a combination of them. They are generally steamed.

32. Custom Qi Xi Jie- 7Th Evening Qi Xi Festival Qi QIao Festival Chinese Valentine's Day, occurs on the 7th Day of the 7th Month of the lunar year. A love story for this day is about the 7th daughter of Emperor of Heaven and an orphaned cowherd. The Emperor separated them. The 7th daughter was forced to move to the star Vega and the cowherd moved to the star Altair. They are allowed to meet only once a year on the day of 7th day of 7th lunar month. The 7th daughter of Emperor is good at handcrafting, especially weaving clothing. So she was called a Weaving Maid. The Emperor likes her skill to weave clouds and rainbows to beautify the world. Aug. 16, 2010

33. Custom Mid-Autumn Festival The Moon Festival is a very important Chinese festival, on the 15th day of the 8th lunar year. At night the moon is usually round and bright. People can enjoy the moon while eating moon-cakes which are the special food for this festival. They can look back on the past and look forward to the future together. Sept. 22, 2010

34. Custom Mid-Autumn Festival Mid-Autumn Festival moon cakes are the traditional food, moon cakes are round, symbolizing the reunion, and reflects the people's aspiration for family reunion.

35. Custom Mid-Autumn Festival The Lady - Chang Er嫦娥奔月 The date of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband's tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he didn't shoot down the moon.

36. Custom Mid-Autumn Festival The Lady - Chang Er嫦娥奔月 The date of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband's tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he didn't shoot down the moon.

37. Custom Mid-Autumn Festival The Man - Wu Kang Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he decided that he wanted to be an immortal. Wu Kang then 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 he asked the immortal to teach him something else. So the immortal to teach 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.

38. Custom Mid-Autumn Festival The Cake - Moon Cake During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Song dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.

39. Custom Mid-Autumn Festival The Hare - 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 to the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, 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."

40. Custom Chong Yang Festival Double Nineth Festival The day falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, hence it gets name of Double Ninth Festival. In 2010, the Double Nineth Festival Day falls on October 16. The festival is based on the theory of Yin and Yang, the two opposing principles in nature. Yin is feminine, negative principle, while Yang is masculine and positive. Oct. 16, 2010

41. Custom Chong Yang Festival Double Nineth Festival 每 逢 佳 节 倍 思 亲 Mei feng jiajie bei si qin Oct. 16, 2010

42. Custom Chong Yang Festival Double Nineth Festival In ancient times people believed that all natural phenomena could be explained by this theory. Numbers were also related to this theory. Even numbers(偶数) belonged to Yin and odd numbers（奇数）to Yang. The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is a day when the two Yang numbers meet. So it is called Chong Yang. Chong means double in Chinese. Chong Yang has been an important festival since ancient times.

43. Custom Chong Yang Festival Double Nineth Festival On Double Ninth Festival, people would like to drink chrysanthemum wine and have chrysanthemum cakes.       Respect the Aged Mountain climbing

44. Major Festivals in China content Chong Yang Festival On the Double Ninth Festival, people customarily climb mountains, appreciate chrysanthemum flowers, drink chrysanthemum wine, and eat double-ninth cakes. The Festival is also the "Elders’ Festival". Old people are especially meant to improve their health by taking part in the activities on the day of the festival.

45. Major Festivals in China content Chong Yang Festival It is customary, on Double Ninth Day, to go hiking in the mountains, enjoying the autumn sky and the clarity of the heights. The climbing of mountains also represents “climbing to a higher position” – so is symbolic of an increase in health, happiness and prosperity in ones life.

46. Conclusion Major Festivals in China The Spring Festival (1st of 1st month on Lunar Calendar) Lantern Festival (15th of 1st month on Lunar Calendar) Chong Yang Jie (9th of 9th Month on Lunar Calendar) Qing Ming Jie (5th of April on Solar Calendar) Mid-Autumn Festival (15th of 8th month on Lunar Calendar) Dragon Boat Festival (5th of 5th month on Lunar Calendar) Qi Xi Jie(lover’s day) (7th of7th month on Lunar Calendar)

47. Top Attractions in Wuhan Guiyuan Temple Yellow Crane Tower East Lake

48. Top Attractions in Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower Bordering on the Yangtze River and crouching on the top of the Snake Hill, the Yellow Crane Tower is one of the three most famous towers on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

49. Attractions in Wuhan Guiyuan Temple Guiyuan Temple, located on Cuiwei Street, is one of the four biggest temples for Buddhist meditation in Hubei as well as an important Buddhist temple in China.

50. Attractions in Wuhan East Lake The lake covers 33 square kilometers and stretches far into the distance. All the six areas of the East Lake have in common green hills, clear waters, an abundance of woods and typical style of Chu Culture.