Chinese Culture

Far and wide known as Kungfu (功夫) all over the world, Chinese martial art is also called Wugong (武功) or Wushu (武术) at home by Chinese people. It can be seen as an art of attack and defense in which a series of skills and trick are highly emphasized. Being a characteristic martial culture, Kungfu agglomerates the Confucius, Taoist and Buddhist theories of keeping one's mind in equanimity and nourishing one's vital spirit, while vigorousness permeates the soft theory simultaneously, with ancient Chinese transcendents' insights of life and the universe. Has been developing for thou...

Being a vivid Chinese cultural specialty as well as Kungfu and traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese tea has been being developed in China for a long time accompanied with which a series of tea culture took shape. Widely known in Chinese history as a fortuitous discovery of Shennong (神农), a renowned Chinese legendary chieftain and respected physician in the far ancient times, tea had been mentioned in the old Chinese medical work "Herbal Classic (本草经)", which was written in the 1st century. "Tea Classic", the first work about tea in the world written by Lu Yu (733-804, the "Chinese Te...

"Food is the first necessity of the people" is a famous Chinese old saying, which reflects that Chinese have had paid much attention to food since the ancient times. The importance of food in people’s daily life in China can be seen in the way they send greetings to each other: "Have you eaten?", which is far away from the way people greet in western countries and has been seen as a characteristic of Chinese culture. Staple food in China generally includes rice, wheat, buckwheat, corn, potato, sweet potato, beans and varieties of vegetables. Besides, wheaten food such as Mantou (steame...

Seen as "national treasure of China" as well as a symbol of peace, panda (Chinese: 熊猫, short for "giant panda (大熊猫)" in Chinese) is an endangered mammal winning great attention from all over the world. Two researches done in 1970s and 1980s showed that there were some 1000 wild pandas in about 37 counties of China, in a habitat of around 13,000 square kilometers. Another survey by the State Bureau of Forestry of China in 2006 got a result that the amount of wild pandas in China increased to 1596, with 161 being reared in pens. As the rarest breed of ursidae, giant pandas have been listed as...

With its long history of over 5000 years, China boasts a profound culture with rich and diverse traditional festivals, which are formed after a long-term process of historical and cultural sediment. Developed from remote antiquity, the splendid and colorful living context of that time is vividly presented in these unique and interesting customs of circulated festivals. Most traditional Chinese festivals took shape during Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and major festivals greatly celebrated today were fixed by the time of Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.). Chinese traditional festivals are celebrate...

Chinese literature is time-honored with a history about 3000 years. Because of its unique form and style as well as rich cultural content, Chinese literature is distinguished by featured aesthetic ideal, reigning traditional thoughts and culture, and critical system. Throughout a long history development, masses of men of letter have produced lavish works which incorporate outstanding forms, unique styles, bright individuality and attractive charm that make Chinese literature a glamorous gem of the world literature.

Chinese culture is a great and extensive civilization with featured Chinese traditional opera, especially the Peking Opera, which is regarded as the national opera or the quintessence of Chinese culture. With incomparable artistic charm, Chinese opera delights people home and abroad and enjoys a particular important statue in the world, known as Three Ancient Dramas together with Ancient Greek drama and Indian Sanskritdrama. Chinese opera was born from the ancient songs and dances, and finally completed as a mature art form after a long historical development in Ming and Qing dynastie...

According to the archaeological discovery of the bone-flute unearthed in Wuyang County, Henan Province, Chinese music can be traced back to 8000 years ago. Over a long history, Chinese nation created a marvelous culture of music which also has a far-reaching influence to the country’s neighboring areas. China is known as a country of music in the far ancient times; the Chinese ancient music is of great importance in the culture and etiquette of the country. With a longstanding tradition of musical education as early as the Warring State Period (475 BC - 221 BC), Confucius had set the ...

China is a multi-religious country, and Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Christian are the main religions in the country. China is also a multi-nationalities country that most of the 55 ethnic minorities observe a religion, for instance, Tibetans observe Buddhism, Hui people observe Islam. Incomplete statistics show that there are more than 100 million religious followers in China with over 85 000 religious sites, over 3000 religious groups and some 74 religious colleges. Chinese people enjoy the freedom of religious belief according to low, and regular religious activities are prot...

The earliest men living in China can be traced back to 1.7 million years ago. After long evolving, the ancient hominid commenced to step into civilization society. With a recorded history of nearly 4000 years, China is known as one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Cultivating the main Chinese civilization for thousands of years, the Yellow River and The Yangtze River are seen as Mother Rivers by Chinese people, with the Yellow River also being hailed as "the cradle of Chinese civilization". For thousand of years, colorful cultures of Chinese ethnic groups have been lasting,...

Chinese Architecture is great and profound with a long-standing history as well as the Chinese culture. From the early square or round shallow hole-houses to today’s modern style, many a wonder was built by generations of Chinese in the past 6000 years, which are astonishing with superb techniques, exquisite art designs and unique styles. The magnificent ancient Chinese architecture developed to a distinctive school of its own with unique monomer shape and delicate decorations in every part, while the modern Chinese style is developing rapidly with great diversifications base on the traditi...

In ancient China which was far away from modern medical technology, Chinese people cured themselves by a wide range of traditional Chinese medical practices, including herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping, Qigong (a system of deep breathing exercises), massage therapy and dietary therapy, and so on. According to research, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM for short) had been very popular during the Qin and Han dynasties and many monographs on TCM were written, which are regrettably lost today. In the following dynasties, more medical writings came out successively, among which the “Sheng N...

China is a country with abundant tourist resources and offers countless tourist crafts and characteristic souvenirs that remind one of its long history, profound culture and traditions of its people. As for Chinese souvenirs, there are exquisite handicrafts, such as jade, porcelain, cloisonné, paper-cut, filigree, carpets, lanterns, fans, ivory carvings, satin or silk flowers, animals, birds and flowers made of colored glass, figurines of painted clay, etc, and many other quality products such as jewelry, calligraphy and painting, Chinese brushes, inkstones, inkslabs, tea, liquor and Ch...