Legend of China Square - Tiananmen Square Beijing

When you think about China most people will surely think of Beijing which is capital city of China. The important attraction then in Beijing of course, theTiananmen Square Beijing. Let's explore Tiananmen Square Beijing.

About Tiananmen Square : Famous, Important Square of China

Tiananmen Square is huge open space surrounded on all sides by imposing official buildings. Apart from being a popular gathering place for tourists and kite flyers, it is still often used for any big celebration and for the government leaders to address the people.

You can visit Tiananmen Square Beijing freely until 10.30pm at night. If you go during the day you can often buy a ticket to go up to the balcony from which the leaders address the people.

This gives a very impressive view of the square and you can pretend to be the government figure of your choice.

Getting to Tiananmen Square Beijing is best done by subway or walking as taxis are not really allowed to stop anywhere near it.

Just find the Beijing Hotel on Changan Avenue, walk past it and keep going west on Changan Avenue. You can find many hotels if you travel here.

The Chinese name of Tiananmen Square is written below. You can use it to ask people directions or follow signs: 天安门

Source by : beijingtraveltips.com

Chinese movies and Hollywood in the 1980s-1990s

This was the golden era in China but also the most commercially exploited era of Chinese movie making.

There was a flood of Chinese movies ranging from martial arts, to love stories, to slapstick comedies, to Hollywood copycats as investors and movie makers seek the golden target from a finicky Chinese audience.

There were some commercial success but most movie ventures lost money.

Breaking the trend of Chinese movie flops was Jacky Chan, a up and coming martial art actor who laced his kung-fu movies with a hugh dose of humor and sometimes slapstick.

His movies became best sellers across not only in China or Hong Kong but Asia.

Around the same period, Tsui Hark, another great Hong Kong director, directed and produced a few blockblusters around the legends of an early Kung Fu master, Wong Fei Hong.

He also brought to fame Jet Li, a top martial arts champion from China, who was the key actor for many of his movies.

These led to a revival of martial arts movies, which had went into a downtrend ever since the death of Bruce Lee in 1973.

Not only were Chinese martial arts movies a great showcase for Chinese kung Fu, many of them had gripping storyline, great acting, strong production and strong social themes.

And the same time, up and coming talented directors and actors were coming out from mainland China as commercial film takes on a viability in China.

Taiwan film makers were also introducing good directors and actors or directors.

Not only did many of these Chinese movies took Chinese speaking society by storm, they also took Asia and eventually the rest of the world by storm. Chinese movie making talent had arrived on the world stage.

Info:chinese-culture.net

What’s Mummy“Mummy” - Mummy in China

What’s Mummy“Mummy” when anyone hears this word, they will mostly think about Egypt but how many people know that China had the best preserved bodies in the world…

Mummy is the corpse of death people which preserved by the special chemicals that is keep the corpse dry and cold so that the corpse will not decay. Normally the mummy were embalmed by the by unusual natural condition in order to keep the corpse but for the reason have to specify where the mummy was found because it depends on different culture in different part of the world.

One thing that is still suspicious until now is why the development of each culture in different parts of the world grew in the same way as in Egypt and China; these two countries had the similar culture to preserve the corpses as the mummies despite the territories of China and Egypt are very far away and no communication in that time.

Lady Dai, Chinese MummyThe left image is the image of the reconstructed statue of a youthful Lady Dai from the Ancient Han Dynasty and the right image is the resontructed image of Lady Dai at aged about 50 years old.

Lady Dai was a noble woman from the Western Han Dynasty which ruled 2,100 years ago; is now housed in the state-of-the-art Hunan Museum in Changsha, Hunan province in the Central of China.

The corpse is so well preserved that can be autopsied by pathologists and the cadaver is look like recently deceased human being.

A lot of visitors come to visit her everyday with the wondering how the ancient morticians embalmed her and what materials did they use?

Diva Mummy, Lady DaiChina became a source of fascination for scientist from around the world because of the rich culture and numerous mysteries and treasures buried deep under the land and the sea. “Diva Mummy”, Lady Dai is the top attractive which invites the visitors for coming to see the great mysteries of archaeology.

The Mummy of Lady Dai is the mummy of all mummies; her corpse was the most well-preserved which may be remains for eternity…

Inside the Tomb More than 1,000 perfectly preserved artifacts which claimed to be the most perfectly preserved corpse ever found were found inside the tomb.

This tomb is belonged to the wife of the ruler of the Han imperial fiefdom of Dai, Xin or Lady Dai died between 178 and 145 BC at the age about 50 years old.

The objects inside the tomb revealed that Lady Dai was a wealth and important woman who enjoyed the good things in her life.

As the belief of Chinese about the next life there were not only a lot of the exquisite lacquer dinnerware but also the exotic foods and the fine fabrics that would followed her to immortality also well-preserved state of her remains.

Different of Dragons - Chinese Dragon and Others

Chinese dragons have five toes. The Chinese believe that all eastern dragons originated from China. They believed that when the dragons flew away, they began to lose toes.

The farther and farther the dragons flew, the more toes they lost. So, Korean dragons have four toes, and Japanese dragons have three.1

Japanese dragons have three toes. The Japanese believe that all eastern dragons originated from Japan. They also believed that when the dragons began to leave Japan, they gain toes. The farther the dragons went, the more toes they gained.

This is why the other dragons have more toes. The breath of Japanese dragons turned into clouds, which could produce rain or fire. Due to a measure upon their heads, they could ascend to Heaven when they chose.2

Korean dragons have four toes. The Koreans believe that all eastern dragons originated from Korea. When the dragons leave Korea and go toward China, they gain toes. When the dragons leave Korea and go toward Japan, they lose toes.

Info:blackdrago.com

Drinking Tea in Chinese Style - Chinese Tea Ceremony

The art of drinking and serving tea plays a major cultural role in China. It inspires poetry and songs. Mutual love of tea cements lifelong friendships.

For centuries, the ritual of preparing and serving tea has held a special place in the hearts and minds of Chinese aristocracy, court officials, intellectuals and poets.

The Chinese tea ceremony emphasizes the tea, rather than the ceremony -- what the tea tastes like, smells like, and how one tea tastes compared to the previous tea, or in successive rounds of drinking.

Ceremony doesn't mean that each server will perform the ritual the same way; it is not related to religion. Each step is meant to be a sensory exploration and appreciation.

Most teas used in the Chinese tea ceremony are grown in the mountains of Taiwan at around 4,000 feet. These teas are particularly refined, such as oolong teas which are lightly fermented and red teas that can be moderately to heavily fermented.

This style of tea-drinking uses small cups to match the small, unglazed clay teapots; each cup is just large enough to hold about two small swallows of tea. These tiny cups are particularly popular in Fujian and Chiujao, in southern coastal China above Canton. In Shanghai and Beijing they use large cups.

To Brew Tea Chinese-style Chinese Tea Ware.

After heating water to boiling, the teapot first is rinsed with hot water. Using chopsticks or a bamboo tea scoop, fill teapot approximately 1/3 full with tea leaves and then pour boiling water into the pot.

Hold the teapot over a large bowl, letting the overflow run into the bowl.

Give the tea leaves a rinse by filling the pot half full with hot water, then draining the water out immediately, leaving only the soaked tea leaves.

Now fill the pot to the top with more hot water, cover and pour additional water over the teapot resting in the tea bowl. Do not allow bubbles to form in the pot.

When mixed with the tea, bubbles form a foam that is not aesthetically pleasing. Be sure to not let the tea steep too long; the first infusion should be steeped for only 30 seconds.

In less than a minute, pour the tea into the cups by moving the teapot around in a continual motion over the cups so that they are filled together. Each cup should taste exactly the same.

After steeping, the tea can be poured into a second teapot or tea pitcher to be served at leisure. More water can be added to the teapot, and up to five infusions typically can be made from the same tea leaves. Be sure to add 10 more seconds for the second brewing and 15 additional seconds thereafter.

Each pot of tea serves three to four rounds and up to five or six, depending on the tea and the server. The goal is that each round taste the same as the first. Creating consistent flavor is where the mastery of the server is seen.

Importance of Water

The water used in the tea ceremony is as important as the tea itself. Chlorine and fluoride in tap water should be filtered out as they harm the flavor of the tea. Distilled water makes flat tea and should be avoided.

High mineral content in the water brings out the richness and sweetness of green tea. Black teas taste better when made with water containing less Volvic.

Ideal tea water should have an alkaline pH around 7.9.
Green teas are ruined by boiling water; the temperature is best around 170-185 degrees F.

Oolongs made with underboiled water are more fragrant, which enhances the tea-drinking experience.

Info:holymtn.com

Architecture of Lama Temple - Beijing - China

The dimensions of the Lama Temple Beijing are magnificent, which have five courtyards in a row.

The front structural layout in the temple is bright and spacious dotted with screen walls with carved murals, lifeless things and decorated archways.

Each hall in Lama Temple Beijing has a Buddha. In the fifth hall the Buddha is seventy five feet high and was carved from one piece of Tibetan sandalwood.

Because the structure once served as an imperial palace, the layout of the temple is quite different from other temples.

The main gate at Lama Temple Beijing faces south, and on its 480-meter-long north-south axis are five main halls and annexs connected by courtyards.

They include a glaze-tiled arch, Gate of Peace Declaration (Zhaotaimen), Palace of the Heavenly King (Tianwangdian), which was formerly the entrance to Yongzheng's imperial palace.

Hall of Harmony and Peace (Yonghegong). The Hall of Eternal Blessing (Yongyoudian), the Hall of the Wheel of the Law (Falundian) and Pavilion of Eternal Happiness (Wanfuge).

Lama Temple Beijing: 12 Yonghegong Dajie, Beijxinqiao, Dongcheng District Beijing, China

Info: beijingservice.com