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Years
The traditional cycle of astrological years is associated with twelve animals, each of these are combined with one of five elements to give a total cycle length of 60 years. The cycle of animals is rat; ox; tiger; rabbit; dragon; snake; horse; sheep; monkey; rooster; dog and pig. Read more…
Kites Along with many other things the Chinese lay claim to the invention of the kite remains very popular in China and many can be seen flying in public parks. In the past they have even been used for military purposes. Read more…
玩 wán toy; to play 王 yù jade radical 96, 元 yuán primary; first; dollar]Origin The radical suggests jade from which best toys were made from, 'yuan' indicates rough pronunciation Full information for 玩
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Nixon visit
Richard Nixon, US President visited Mao Zedong in February 1972. The visit marked the end of a long period of isolation for China and hostility with the U.S.. John Adams wrote an opera about the visit called ‘Nixon in China ➚ ’. Read more…
All the tea in China
Tea was the most important export that was weighed in the traditional Chinese unit of measurement called a 'catty'. It is known colloquially as the Chinese pound and is about 1.1pounds. In China it is known as the jin 斤 the word catty probably came from the Malay word. The modern weight is aligned to the metric system as exactly 500grams. The container for tea, a 'caddy', is believed to have been named after the measure.
Wed 9th Nov 2022Drought brings in treasure hunters While some parts of China have experienced flooding others have experienced drought this year.
In Jiangxi province the lack of rain has led to the river beds of tributaries of the Yangzi river (Zhang and Gong rivers) to be exposed for the first time in many years.
The river beds have revealed a good deal of treasure in the form of bronze coins and artifacts.
Locals have been out treasure hunting while officials are rather keen that any finds are handed in for analysis. A stone tablet of the Qing dynasty has been found along with many coins, some dating back a thousand years.
Read full story…
Britain and China - 18th century Back in the 17th the British view was of great admiration and respect for Chinese culture and civilization. Over the 18th century that view was to change to one of dismissal and denigration on both sides. Read more…
The Hidden Kingdom Protected by mountains on three sides and the Yangzi river on the other, Sichuan has the feel of an isolated kingdom. Historically Chinese culture has held out longest here when China came under attack. It has hot, moist summers and has been heavily populated for two thousand years. Read more…
Proverb
金 石 为 开
Jīn shí wéi kāi
Even metal and stone can be pierced
Any difficulty can be overcome given time and commitment. The story is of the famous archer Xiong Quzi of the Zhou dynasty. At dusk he mistook a stone for a tiger and shot an arrow at it. In the morning he found his arrow had penetrated deep into the stone. This led to the idiom that with great skill and determination the apparently impossible can be achieved.
Roughly equivalent to: The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.
All about Chinese proverbs
Tue 20th Sep 2022Patreon pictures Thanks to the generous donations from Chinasage's Patreon ➚ sponsors we've just added quality photographs to many of our pages.
Although you can get images of all sorts of thing for free you do still have to pay for quality, particularly for specialist subjects. This time we have used 123rf for the new images who claim to have 200 million images to choose from. It takes a long time to make a choice and then they all need editing for usage, tagging and finally putting on the appropriate place on our hundreds of pages. We hope you will agree that they make a significant improvement.
New Year dragon, Shanghai Read more…
Book: Symbols of China Amazon details... ➚
Book: Routledge Grammar:Basic Chinese Amazon details... ➚
Book: Chinese Thought Amazon details... ➚
Book: The Cambridge Illustrated History of China Amazon details... ➚
Book: China: A History of China and East Asia Amazon details... ➚
Cracking China book
Your A-Z key to understanding China
We are proud to announce a printed book all about China based loosely on this web site. It is a set of sixty topics in A-Z order covering everything from hair to kiwifruit, clapping to rhubarb, eunuchs to dragons. Buying a copy will help support Chinasage . Now available as a Kindle eBook for just $3.90.
Details... ➚
Book of Changes - Deciphered
The Yi Jing is the premier ancient classic in China, and yet at the heart of this very strange but important book is a mystery that has remained unsolved for 3,000 years. The ‘Book of Changes - Deciphered’ describes the history and importance of the Yi Jing (I Ching) and proposes a new solution to the ancient mystery. Buying a copy will help support Chinasage . Now also available in Kindle eBook format for just $5.99.
Details... ➚
All the tea in China
Tea was the most important export that was weighed in the traditional Chinese unit of measurement called a 'catty'. It is known colloquially as the Chinese pound and is about 1.1pounds. In China it is known as the jin 斤 the word catty probably came from the Malay word. The modern weight is aligned to the metric system as exactly 500grams. The container for tea, a 'caddy', is believed to have been named after the measure.
All the tea in China
Tea was the most important export that was weighed in the traditional Chinese unit of measurement called a 'catty'. It is known colloquially as the Chinese pound and is about 1.1pounds. In China it is known as the jin 斤 the word catty probably came from the Malay word. The modern weight is aligned to the metric system as exactly 500grams. The container for tea, a 'caddy', is believed to have been named after the measure.