The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is a lunar holiday, occurring on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

There are few sites more spectacular than a fleet of boats decorated to look like dragons racing to the finish line, paddlers moving their oars in one fluid motion while the drummer thumps out a steady rhythm.

The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and the one with the longest history. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by boat races in the shape of dragons. Competing teams row their boats forward to a drumbeat racing to reach the finish end first.
The boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival are traditional customs to attempts to rescue the patriotic poet Chu Yuan. Chu Yuan drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C. Chinese citizens now throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water. Therefore the fish could eat the rice rather than the hero poet. This later on turned into the custom of eating tzungtzu and rice dumplings.
The celebration's is a time for protection from evil and disease for the rest of the year. It is done so by different practices such as hanging healthy herbs on the front door, drinking nutritious concoctions, and displaying portraits of evil's nemesis, Chung Kuei. If one manages to stand an egg on it's end at exactly 12:00 noon, the following year will be a lucky one.

New Year Video

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Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year that is celebrated for about fifteen days is one moment in the year when the whole nation feels united as they can imagine each other's enjoyment. The Chinese New Year gets determined by the Chinese New Year calendar

Being a country where majority of the peoples' occupation is related to agriculture, the movement of the solar system and its effect is of great importance in China. Most of the major activities of day-to-day life are guided by the agricultural season. The ploughing of the field, sowing of seeds and even reaping of the crops are regulated by the cycle of the season.

The Chinese lunar calendar is said to be the longest chronological record in history, dating from 2600 BC. Emperor Huang Ti is believed to have introduced the first cycle of the zodiac. The most important aspect of the calendar, the celebration of the New Year festival, is based on the cyclical dating that is based on the track record of the new moon. The moon varies from year to year, the beginning of the year falls anywhere between late January and the middle of February of the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese New Year for the Gregorian year of 2010 falls on February 14th. A complete cycle, according to the Chinese calendar, takes 60 years and is made up of five cycles of 12 years each.

As every one is aware of its significance, the working people in china can take weeks of holidays so that they can join the company of their near and dear ones and a feast with their family members on the Chinese new year eve or Lunar New Year's Eve. Although with the changing times and increasing mobility of the people the celebration of Chinese New Year Festival has undergone some changes, everybody still very fervently follow all the customs that their elders have taught them.

A Monkey and a Tiger

There were once two rulers on a mountain, a smart Monkey and a fierce Tiger. They were blood brothers. One day, Tiger said to Monkey, “It’s true that you and I are the kings of the mountain, and we are living a leisurely life, you on wild fruits and I on wild animals. But I begin to find them boring. So what’s your take?”

“I think they are boring, too” Monkey answered, “but what else can we find that is interesting?”

“How about going to the villages down the mountain and seeing what food humans eat?” sug- gested Tiger.

“A great idea!” Monkey jumped with joy.

Evening came, and it began to snow. Tiger and Monkey waited until it was pitch-dark. Then they went down the mountain and arrived in a village at its foot. It was the New Year season, and the entire village was permeated with delicious, meaty aromas. It was customary for Chinese villagers to slaughter their pigs and goats at this time of year and prepare big feasts to celebrate the New Year.

“It smells so good,” said Tiger, sniffing with its big nose, “Domestic animals must taste good, too.” They began to search for pigs and goats in the village, but all they could find were cattle. Chi- nese farmers did not kill their best helpers in their farm work unless they became useless.

“Let’s steal a cow. Beef must taste better than pork and mutton!” said Monkey.

“Yes, let’s get a cow for our supper tonight,” Tiger said, smacking its watering mouth.

As they slipped into a courtyard in the darkness, a human thief had just sneaked into it and was lurking on the roof of the house. They did not hear each other because both parties tried to be very quiet. In the house there lived an old couple. They had built a big fire to warm themselves. However, they did not realize that the heat would melt the snow on the thin roof above them, and the roof began to leak. The old couple could not go to sleep and started chatting. Their conversation was loud enough for the animal and human thieves to hear.

“We’ve had a good year and are looking forward to another. We have nothing to worry about but the leak,” said the old woman to her husband.

“Sure, I really fear what the leak would do to us on a dark night like this,” responded the husband.

Tiger and Monkey pondered, “We are the most fearful creatures in the world as kings of the mountain. Why does the old couple fear ‘Leak’? Who in the world is this ‘Leak’?” Monkey pressed its mouth to the big ear of Tiger and whispered, “We’d better leave here and find another residence. Or we’ll be losing our lives when Leak knows we are here.”

The human thief was also asking himself the same question on the roof and decided to leave. He jumped off the roof and, as it happened, fell on the back of Tiger. Believing that Leak was on the of- fensive, Tiger began to run like mad, followed blindly by Monkey. When Tiger reached the moun- tain, it was almost daybreak. Tiger was so tired that it could not even pull itself up.

The human thief was terrified when he realized what he was riding on. As if he had a guardian angel, a branch of a tree happened to brush him as the tiger hobbled beneath it and stopped to rest. Wasting no time, the human thief jumped onto the tree and climbed to the top. When they found out what had been riding on Tiger’s back and had ruined their “night out,” both Tiger and Monkey were exasperated. They wanted to tear the human thief to pieces. However, Tiger had never learned to climb trees. Its teacher, a cat, had stopped short of teaching Tiger the skill when it found the beast of prey starting to threaten its life. Therefore, Tiger turned to its nimble partner Monkey for help. It asked Monkey to go up and drive the human thief down so that it could catch him. Then, we’ll share his flesh!” Tiger said with clenched teeth.

“That’s easy!” said Monkey. However, halfway up the tree it balked, thinking, “What if I fail to get the man, but instead, he gets me?”

Monkey came down and said to Tiger, Find us a rope. Tie one end to my waist and the other to your tail. Start running when I wave my hand.”

“That’s a marvelous idea,” said Tiger. It then found a rope and did as Monkey suggested. Mon- key began to approach the human thief. The thief was so nervous and scared that he sweated pro- fusely. His sweat fell like rain on the face of Monkey, approaching from below. Monkey had to rub his face and shake the perspiration off its hand. When Tiger saw Monkey shaking its hand, it thought that Monkey was signaling it to run. Tiger scampered off wildly, thinking that the human thief was even more frightening than Leak! Tiger ran and ran until it reached its den, totally forgetting its pri- mate friend, which had been dragged to its death.

The moral of this story is to not be overconfident to the point where mistakes can be fatal

A Tiger that First Sees a Donkey

Long, long ago, in a remote place called Qian, there were no donkeys. A merchant who had seen donkeys elsewhere wanted to import one. One day he bought a donkey a few hundred miles away and shipped it back to Qian. However, after he returned to Qian he found that he had no use for the beast, so he set it free in the wilderness.

A tiger prowling in the wilderness spotted the donkey. The sudden appearance of a strange beast in the territory puzzled the animal king. Deer and hogs were the biggest animals he had ever tackled, but this one was much bigger than anything he had seen before. He said to himself under his breath, “It must be a supernatural being that has landed here to prey on us.” Terrified at the thought, the tiger sped away without looking back.

The tiger stopped after scampering a few hundred yards. “Whom am I running from?” He asked himself. “I am the king of the wilderness, and being a king, I should fear nobody. I need to know for sure what that creature is before I show it respect.” So thinking, the tiger returned. He stalked toward the donkey with great caution. Then he hid behind a big tree and peeked around it. Seeing the beast doing nothing unusual, the tiger gained some confidence. He even began to feel the urge of his hunting instincts. He leaped out from behind the tree and crept toward the donkey. The strange beast seemed to have heard something stir, for it stiffened its long ears, blew its white nose, and stomped its black hooves on the grass. Startled, the tiger scurried away, uncertain what the don- key would do.

The next day the tiger went to look at the donkey again and was about to approach it when, all of a sudden, the donkey brayed, “Heehaw, heehaw, heehaw . . . .” The previously unheard bellow frightened the tiger out of his wits. He wished that his legs could be longer as he dashed into the thick- ness of the woods.

A few days passed. Curiosity took hold of the tiger once again. He went to watch the donkey, but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about it. The strange animal was grazing peace- fully, swiveling its long ears and wagging its tail from time to time. The tiger became bold enough to move closer. He tried teasing the donkey, but the donkey responded merely with a few brays and kicks. The tiger leaped back a few yards to dodge the attack. Eager to know what else the donkey could do, the tiger decided not to run. Instead, he tried provoking it a second time. Again, the don- key responded with the same braying and kicking.

“Hah, hah! That’s all the donkey can do!” the tiger chuckled. With that happy realization, he pounced on the donkey and ate it up.

This story indicates that revealing weakness too early can have dire consequences

Growing Pop Industry

With the rapid grow in China the music industry has seen a new sensation erupt. The pop music scene is now divided into two divisions- Cantopop and Mandopop. Cantopop is pop music sung in Cantonese dialect found in southern China, while Mandopop is pop music that is performed in Mandarin the most widely spoken dialect. As Cantopop is declining Mandopop continues to excel and grow in popularity. Boy bands dominate the current pop market. The fans are young girls that are compared to fans of Beatlemania. The Chinese market is vastly growing as top record labels are targeting the 1.4 billion potential fans. Moving into China comes with caution, as the country is infamous for pirating the latest song and destroying record sales of top performers. Another hurdle that faces musicians is China is that the government still controls the broadcast media and strictly filters what content is played on the air. Rock musicn is popual in China and has been a steady market in the country since the mid 80s. Many rock bands perform in underground concerts and are forced to be secretive because of their views. Classic rock and rock or punk music are both seen as popular within different circles of the population.

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A Fox and A Tiger. Who is the real king of the jungle?

Once upon a time, a hungry tiger was prowling in a forest looking for food, that is, other animals. He could eat them because he was their king. The tiger had not eaten anything for the part two days, because animals like deer, boars, wolves, rabbits, and certainly foxes all seemed to have become smarter than ever before. Each time he came out hunting, they would scatter in all directions and disappear before he could reach them. How ironic it was to be a king! Tiger was the supreme leader of the jungle, but his subjects feared him so much that they all shunned his presence, and their fear of him almost deprived him of his food source. "I would give up my throne for a bunny," he would sometimes say to himself sullenness. However, if an animal should challenge his authority, that would be the end of it. he never really wanted to give up his throne.

At the same time, a conceited fox, taking advantage of the hubbub and commotion of the fleeing animals, caught a big bunny and gobbled it up. Smart as she was, the fox hadn't anticipated that her bulging belly would weigh her down so much that she could not run as fast as she usually did. She became the hungry tiger's easy prey. This fox, however, was no ordinary beast. She thought she was the smartest animal in the entire animal kingdom, and she would prove it.

"Hold it," the fox blurted out at the top of her voice, as the tiger snarled, arched his hips and opened his watering mouth. "You think you are still the King of the Jungle?" the fox asked, pressing her forefinger on the wet nose of the tiger. If the tiger had concentrated his sense of feeling on that part of his body at the moment, he could have felt the fox's slender finger quivering. The strange question, however, simply bewildered him. Besides, he had never known a fox to talk to him in such a blod and arrogant manner. He asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean you are not the King of the Jungle anymore!" responded the fox categorically.

The tiger dropped his big jaw at the fox's shocking remark. Completely baffled, he asked, his tone still carrying some contempt, "How do you know?"

"Haven't you heard that the Jade Emperor of Heaven has made me the new King of the Jungle?" the fox cocked up her head and said, "His Majesty ruled that all animals, including your, should submit to me. He said that if you disobey, he will punish you without mercy!"

The tiger sized up the fox with mixed feelings of disbelief and dread. The fox's entire body was no bigger than the tiger's foreleg. A mere flap of his paw would smash her skull and break her backbone. Emboldened by these thoughts, the tiger demanded that the fox show him proof.

The fox was relieved to find that the tiger might be taken in. she had to act before the tiger saw through her trick. The tiger's demand prompted her to come up with an idea quickly: She was going to challenge him to a test. she said to the tiger with great confidence, "The Heavenly Emperor's decree is on its way, but I can show you who the king really is if you can't wait".

"Sure, show me," the tiger roared with impatience, because he was too hungry to wait. He was ready to pounce on the little fox as soon as she failed to produce the evidence. The fox invited the tiger to inspect the jungle with her, and see whether the animals ran for their lives at the sight of her. "Follow me and watch," the fox commanded.

While the tiger and the fox were in the heat of this test of intellect, the other animals had resumed their daily routine, thinking that the tiger had eaten the fox and would call it a day. They had never expected to see the tiger come their way again, chasing the fox in an unhurried manner. No matter what, a tiger was a tiger. The animals took to their heels at the very sight of him.

The tiger's astonishment was beyond description. He could not figure out why in the world all the animals, big or small, ran for their lives at the mere sight of the fox. The thought of being dethroned and the prospect of submitting to the fox and, what was worse, becoming her food, struck the deepest fear into him. He shuddered. When the strutting fox ahead of him paused and turned, he leapt back a few steps, startled.

"What do you think?" asked the fox proudly.

The tiger was speechless, shivering all over. He wanted to run from this small but fierce animal as soon as his shaky legs could carry them.

"Let me tell you what more the Heavenly Emperor told me before I returned to rule this jungle: he wanted me to tear you into pieces before I gobble you up!"

At this, the already terrified tiger ran for dear life, leafing the fox chukling at the success of ther deception. but knowing that lies can't last forever, the fox wasted no time and scampered away to safety.

The idiom is often used to analogize with those who take advantage of somebody else's power to bully people.