chinese culture

CHINESE CULTUREQUESTION K

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CONTENT

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ARCHITECTURE IN CHINA

THE BEIJING OPERA

CHINESE KUNGFU

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

PART 1

Ancient Chinese architectural art is the most immemorial and outspread art system

in the world.Deeply rooted in the traditional Chinese

culture, it includes numerous

remarkable works such as

the world famous Great Wall,

Summer Palace and Forbidden City.


ANCIENTBUILDING

Covering an area of 720,000 square

meters, Forbidden City is

the world’s largest wooden architecture

and an absolute incomparable masterpiece.

Its palaces extend from the very north

to the very south of Beijing

and have witnessed the rise and fall of

two dynasties.


ANCIENTBUILDING

As one of The World's Eight

Wonders, the Great Wall has a

overall length of 21196 kilometers

and a history of more than 2000 years.

It demonstrates the wisdom of Chinese

people and constitute an irreplaceable part of

Chinese history and culture.


ANCIENTBUILDING

Different from the strange and mysterious Gothic architecture, ancient architecture in China reflects Chinese’ pursuit of integrity. Most of these buildings are circular, square and symmetrical, the style of which accords with people’s appreciation of beauty and embodies the unity of nature and human beings.


ANCIENTBUILDING

Modern Chinese architecture also

inherits the traditional spirit and style of

their ancestors. The stream lined design not only

expresses modernism, efficiency a

nd speed, but also shows

Chinese’ praise for completeness.


MORDENBUILDING

To demonstrate the historical sense

and the national origin of

5000-year China, Chinese architects always characterize

the buildings by solemnity and magnificence, which arouse

people’s inner aweand veneration.


MORDENBUILDING

PART 2

BEIJING OPERA

The most distinctive part of Beijing opera is its facial makeup. Different character has different style of makeup and represent different personality.

For example, white face represents duplicity, black represents justice, blue represent arrogance and red represent loyalty and enthusiasm.

As the quintessence of Chinese culture, Beijing opera has been performed all over the world as a unique art form

BEIJING OPERA

Facial makeup is a combination of both beauty and ugliness. It is beyond any of the natural shape in real life and is courageously designed with exaggeration, decoration, filament line and color flow. Today, facial makeup has been separated from Beijing opera and becomes an independent art practice that focuses on imagination, metaphor and symbolism.

BEIJING OPERA

Apart from the facial makeup, Beijing opera

also requires the actors to put on traditional

Chinese costumes and head decorations.

The design of the clothes various according to the

character’s identity. Short embroidered capes

are for the rich while pants are for the poor and

only the emperors can wear clothes decorated

with dragons.

BEIJING OPERA

The flamboyant head decoration, embroidery, facial

makeup together with the actors’ singing,

dialoguing, acting and

acrobatic fighting compose this spectacular

art form. Beijing opera combines

drama, music, apparel art and face-painting art together and

presents the audience with a truly

visual feast that arouse people’s search for

aesthetics and excellence.

PART 3

“YANY”, WHICH MEANS THE HEAVEN, REPRESENTS MASCULINITY AND POSITIVITY

“YIN”, WHICH MEANS THE EARTH, REPRESENTS FEMININITY AND NEGATIVITY

CHINESE KUNGFU

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2 Chinese Kungfu is a manifestation of Taoism. It aims at reaching an internal harmony by combining the strength training and mental exercise together and by conquering the unyielding with the yielding.

Chinese Taoism believes that everything in this world has two sides: Yin and Yang, heaven and earth, male and female, positivity and negativity. They interact with each other in order to keep balance.

CHINESE KUNGFU

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2Technically speaking, Kungfu is not a kind of sports since the core of sports is to beat others and to win. Kungfu is an form of art and should be performed rather than becoming a part of competitive sports.

3 That is why when Bruce Lee first introduced Chinese Kungfu to the foreigners, he insisted on giving performance only even though many fighters challenged him and called him a coward since he refused to compete with them.

Kungfu is not only a wrestling skill, but also a spiritual culture. It is not a skill to attack others, but a way to prevent aggression and to preserve peace.

CHINESE KUNGFU

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2 Shaolin Kungfu focuses on skill training and represents the “Yang” part of Chinese Kungfu. It includes free combat, wrestling, grappling and is famous for its unique cudgel play.

As a branch of Chinese Kungfu, Shaolin Kungfu has the most prominent feature of combining martial art and Zen Buddhism together. It stems from Shaolin Temple-the fountainhead of Zen Buddhism-and flourishes as a faith-based traditional culture.

CHINESE KUNGFU

Shaolin Kungfu can be dated back to A.D. 527 and still keeps growing now under the government’s assistance as a legacy of Chinese culture.

SHAOLIN KUNGFU

CHINESE KUNGFU

PART 4

In total, there are 8 kinds of cuisine, 5 kinds of flavor and25 kinds of cooking method in China that make eating more than just taking food, but also a rite of creating, enjoying and appreciating.

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1The vast territory of China with its different climates, natural resources and customs breeds various kinds of diet cultures including the traditional tea culture and wine culture in China.

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Chinese Cuisine

Talking about Chinese food, the first image jumping out of most people’s mind is a bow of dumplings. Dumplings to Spring Festival is like turkeys to Thanks Giving. On the new year’s eve, family members usually get together to make dumplings on their own. So as time goes by, dumplings has now become a symbol of family reunion and happiness in China.

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Chinese CuisineThere are various cooking methods of dumplings. They can be made of rice, meat, vegetables, beef and mushroom and can be steamed, fried, roasted, stewed and baked. Each combination generates a new taste that can active your appetite.

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Chinese CuisineApart from the exquisite cooking skills, Chinese cuisine also emphasizes a lot on the tableware, color, smell, taste and appearance of the food and dedicates to show the beauty of integrity.

Chinese Cuisine

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Chinese culture also has a significant influence on Chinese diet.

For example, the design of Chinese hotpot imitates the shape of the

Yin and Yang symbol and triggers the modern Chinese

nostalgia for the ancient Chinese culture.

TEA CULTURE

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Tea has been found as a drink for

more than 4000 years in China and

has become an irreplaceable part of

people’s daily life. Chinese people use tea as

a drink to serve guests, an entertainment in

social activities, a model to draw in the

pictures and a substitute of table wine.

TEA CULTURE

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Chinese people like to drink tea without

any accompany. They like the bitter taste

of the tea-leaf and its fragrant after-taste

because it resonates with Chinese admire for

painstaking fruit. Its mild taste has been

endowed with frugalness and peace and has been deeply

loved for thousands of years.

TEA CULTURE

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Chinese tea culture is very different from Europe and Japan.

It goes beyond making and tasting. It penetrates into Chinese poetry,

painting, calligraphy, religion and medicine. For thousand of years,

Chinese people not only have accumulated abundant knowledge

about tea’s growing and making methods,

but also have been utilizing it as an important literature element.

CHINESE CULTURE

Apart from these mentioned above, Chinese culture also includes numerous traditional

festivals, medicine, music and worship that will take you more than a lifetime to fully

understand.

Nowadays, the Chinese government strives to protect and develop the Chinese culture so that

it can be inherited with full vigor and spread around the world.

So with the flourishing status quo of modern China, the Chinese culture will continue to

thrive and influence the world.

TO BE CONTINUED

CHINESE CULTURE

THANK YOU

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