China Cultural Chronicles November 17, 2012
- HK-86763
- CN-756112
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- Cormorants at work in the Yulong river, near Guilin, Guangxi, China
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- Lotus Market
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- Great Wall Morning
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- restaurant facade
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- Jinli Street of Chengdu
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- Jinli Street of Chengdu
- Jinli Street of Chengdu
- Jinli Street of Chengdu
- Jinli Street of Chengdu
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- Where to find inner peace in the busy
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下载安装Flash播放器It's still hardly a mainstream pursuit, but there are more and more city dwellers looking for interesting ways to find inner peace in the busy, urban lives. And studying aspects of traditional Chinese culture in order to achieve this is becoming an increasingly attractive option.
Traditional Chinese culture, known as guoxue in Chinese, or simplified to "sinology" in English, covers a wide range of subjects, including ancient book reading, writing, calligraphy, guqin playing, tea-ceremony arranging, and period-costume dressing among others.
These facets of ancient Chinese life began to be readily re-explored by locals in Shanghai about a decade ago. To begin with, a number of courses and lectures were set up by Shanghai institutes such as Fudan University and East China Normal University. And today there is a wide range of venues and institutes offering classes in these arts and crafts to the general public.
Guoxue Xinzhi
The sinology club Guoxue Xinzhi features several series of activities that promote traditional Chinese culture. One of these series, known as Xinzhi School, is dedicated to the academic study of classic literary texts. Zuo Zhuan (Zuo's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals) and Li Ji (Book of Rites) are two of the most commonly studied books.
And every month, the Guoxue Excellent Lecture is held at Jing'an Book Club (located on Weihai Road), highlighting cultural topics such as novels including A Dream of Red Mansions, and ancient wares. Meanwhile, the Haishang Boya Forum gives participants an incisive look into the history of Shanghai. Guoxue Xinzhi also offer events centered around Han costumes, as well as calligraphy courses. Most of the invited lecturers or teachers are from universities and have extensive expertise in traditional Chinese culture.
"Guoxue is also a lifestyle, and it emphasizes self-cultivation and the inner peace of a person," Xu Yuan, founder of Guoxue Xinzhi, told the Global Times. He established the organization three years ago as a way of bringing together groups of people with common interests.
This month there will be classes called "ancient poetry writing" at Xinzhi School, according to Xu.
Admission for each class at Xinzhi School is 40 yuan ($4.62) for members (membership costs 1,000 yuan a year) and 50 yuan for non-members. Other series events such as forums and lectures organized by Guoxue Xinzhi are free.
Add: Bldg 6, Lane 112 Changshu Road
Tel: 400-881-8018
Oasis Club
Guoxue Class is one of the themed classes at the Oasis Club, which features a variety of classes covering traditional Chinese culture such as tea ceremonies, calligraphy, Tai Chi, dance, music and fine arts. The Guoxue Class is held every Thursday night at 7:30 pm, where lecturer, Hu Xuanwei, leads participants in a discussion of the wisdom and thought behind classic Chinese books. The lecture is always given in Chinese.
"Classic Chinese books can be interpreted as guides to modern life by using history as a mirror," Hu told the Global Times. "And better understanding makes it almost like practical philosophy, and this has its everyday uses especially in management. So you find today that guoxue is very popular among high-level employees in companies."
Hu also holds guoxue lectures at Shanghai Ocean University and teaches sinology classes to companies. Hu read and studied I-Ching, (Book of Changes) at the age of 16, and later he studied other classic works including The Analects of Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and the Buddhist tome Diamond Sutra.
An admission fee of 30 yuan per class is charged, or students can donate two books of their choice to receive a free class.
Add: 10/F, Shuguang Building, 189 Pu'an Road
Tel: 6048-6468
- Reservations for Spring Festival Eve going fast
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下载安装Flash播放器Many Chinese restaurants are already booked solid for Spring Festival Eve as customers continue to make reservations earlier and earlier every year for their holiday banquets, the Labor Daily reported Wednesday.
Many Chinese restaurants are already booked solid for Spring Festival Eve as customers continue to make reservations earlier and earlier every year for their holiday banquets, the Labor Daily reported Wednesday.
More than 60 percent of the tables at restaurants offering special Spring Festival Eve meals have already been reserved for this year, said Jin Peihua, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Restaurants Association.
The next Spring Festival Eve will fall on February 9, 2013, the last day of the Chinese lunar calendar for this year. About 67 percent of families in Shanghai eat out for the occasion, Jin said. That number has continued to increase each year as the standard of living rises in the city.
Locals usually begin making reservations in July, though restaurants don't see bookings peak until in October and November, Jin said.
Most restaurants book by the table, which typically seats 10 to 12 people, and offer set meals for the occasion. Because it has become such a popular day for dining out, most restaurants provide an early and late meal to meet the rising demand. The first meal usually runs from 4:45 pm to 7:00 pm and the second lasts from about 7:45 pm to 9:00 pm.
Diners typically prefer to book the early meal in a private room, which most restaurants offer.
The popular Xinghualou Restaurant on Fuzhou Road in Huangpu district, which offers banquet dinners at prices ranging from 2,000 yuan ($321) to 5,000 yuan per table, is completely booked. "All of our tables for Spring Festival Eve were reserved a long time ago," a waiter said. "We aren't taking reservations anymore."
The well-known Jade Garden on Nanjing Road West in Jing'an district began receiving reservations in late October and has booked all of its tables for the early meal, an employee said. It still has tables available for the late meal, though all of its private rooms have been reserved. Its tables are priced between 1,880 yuan and 2,880 yuan.
- Wow, luxury yachts and sexy beauties
- Western old buildings preserved in Fuzhou city
Photo taken on Nov 14, 2012 shows the exterior of the former site of American consulate in Cangshan District of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian province. After the first Opium War in 1840, Fuzhou was forced to be opened as a foreign trade port. Nowadays, many western old buildings are still preserved in Fuzhou city.[Xinhua]
- Travelers to get lounge upgrade at Pudong airport
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下载安装Flash播放器Many international travelers will have access to better lounges at the Pudong International Airport as the Skyteam Airline Alliance will ask its member carriers to share lounges with other alliance passengers at the airport.
Many international travelers will have access to better lounges at the Pudong International Airport as the Skyteam Airline Alliance will ask its member carriers to share lounges with other alliance passengers at the airport.
The alliance plans to have its members, now scattered at the airport, located in Terminal 1, which will make it easier for passengers to access lounges, Chen Yiyan, director of Airport Service-China for Skyteam, said yesterday.
Skyteam is the world's second-largest airlines coalition after Star Alliance and has 19 members.
"China Eastern Airlines, for instance, will build a flagship lounge at the terminal building that will be open to passengers of other Skyteam members like China Southern, Korean Air and Air France-KLM," Chen said.
Meanwhile, passengers of China Eastern and China Southern will also be able to use lounges abroad built by foreign airlines belonging to the alliance.
Currently, most foreign airlines' passengers at the Pudong airport use a common lounge built by the airport in Terminal 1. Other lounges with better facilities built by airlines are scattering in different places or terminal buildings.
The Shanghai Airport Authority will invest 1.2 billion yuan (US$195 million) to renovate Terminal 1 of the Pudong airport to expand its capacity to 37 million passengers a year. Construction is due to begin by the end of the year, when China Eastern will build its new lounge.
Lounge sharing has been tried at London's Heathrow International Airport, where KLM airlines built a lounge, allowing passengers of its partners to use it, Chen said.
"The method helps KLM to amortize the cost of the lounge faster," Chen added. Other airlines pay to let their passengers to use the lounge.
Shanghai-based China Eastern and its subsidiary Shanghai Airlines joined SkyTeam in June to gain access to the alliance's network. Shanghai Airlines left Star Alliance in 2010 after it was acquired by China Eastern.
- World comes to city to lure China's tourists
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下载安装Flash播放器The US booths were among largest exhibitors at the China International Travel Mart in Shanghai yesterday.
South Korea and the southeast Asian countries of Thailand and Malaysia remain the most popular tourist destinations of local travelers, while African and American countries are stepping up efforts to attract city tourists, as was evident at the China International Travel Mart yesterday.
Japanese exhibitors, which usually host large-scale promotion campaigns at the annual event, did not appear this year due to territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands.
Thailand and South Korea, the top and No. 3 overseas destination of organized travelers from Shanghai last year, reported a big jump of Chinese tourists due to the dispute.
About 2.2 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand as of October, a surge of 42 percent from the same period last year, and many of them were from Shanghai, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which held promotions at the fair.
Over 80 percent are organized tourist groups, with Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket the most popular destinations.
China will certainly replace Malaysia as Thailand's No.1 source country of tourists this year, said Chaiwat Charoensuk, director and chief representative of the Shanghai Office of Tourism Authority of Thailand.
S. Korean tourism boom
The promotion booths of many Asian countries like South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives were some of the most crowded.
South Korean exhibitors said the number of Chinese tourists to the east Asian country surpassed Japanese tourists in October, July and August for the first time in its history.
Tensions between China and Japan have simmered over the islands since the summer, when Japan said it was looking to buy the disputed islands. In late September, the National Tourism Administration of China warned Chinese tourists who were in Japan or were planning a trip to the country to be careful.
Major Shanghai travel agencies stopped organizing tours to Japan and suggested tourists make alternative plans due to the islands row.
An average 30 percent increase of Chinese visitors to South Korea has been witnessed this year, and it is expected that China will replace Japan as South Korea's No.1 source country of tourists on an annual basis next year or in 2014, said Seo YoungChoong, director of tourism services of the Korea Tourism Organization's Shanghai Branch.
Seo said South Korea is planning to make visa applications easier to attract more tourists from China and are promoting its less-known scenic destinations like Gangwon-do and Yosu.
Large-scale exhibitors
The United States, Russia and Taiwan are among the largest-scale exhibitors. A large number of US hotels like Aston Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii, travel agencies, duty-free shop operators and airline companies are all present at the fair.
Some new scenic spots which are relatively mysterious to local tourists also joined in the promotion campaigns. Iceland is usually combined with other three Northern Europe countries to form a tourism package, but it has started offering a "deep tourism" package of eight days. The northern lights, glacier and hot springs are some attractions.
Some East European countries such as the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Poland are hoping to win the favor of more Chinese tourists.
African countries are seldom visited by Chinese tourists, but they are eyeing the big market with intensified promotions.
Seychelles will launch direct flights in Hong Kong in February and set up tourism offices on China's mainland in 2013 to raise the country's awareness among local tourists, said Elsia Grandcourt, chief executive officer of Seychelles Tourism Board.
Some 3,000 Chinese tourists visited the country as of October.
There is still no schedule on when tourism to China's Xisha Islands in the South China Sea will be launched as infrastructure is not ready, Hainan Tourism Bureau officials said.
- appreciate the rituals of Shamanism in Repkong, Tibet 2012
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Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157630983897338/s...
Shaman Festival is a grand and festive occasion for local people to show their devotion and gratitude to the Mountain God.
In the beginning of Shaman festival Tibetan people made offering to the locals gods. They climbed to the mountain above the village, performed ritual dances and lighted sang (natural incense made from juniper), throwing lungta ("wind horse", colorful papers, which represent good luck and life force) to the air, loudly chanting mantras and prayers.
blog.snowliontours.com/2012/06/shaman-festival-in-rebkong... - appreciate the rituals of Shamanism in Repkong, Tibet 2012
reurinkjan has added a photo to the pool:
Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157630983897338/s...
Shaman Festival is a grand and festive occasion for local people to show their devotion and gratitude to the Mountain God.
In the beginning of Shaman festival Tibetan people made offering to the locals gods. They climbed to the mountain above the village, performed ritual dances and lighted sang (natural incense made from juniper), throwing lungta ("wind horse", colorful papers, which represent good luck and life force) to the air, loudly chanting mantras and prayers.
blog.snowliontours.com/2012/06/shaman-festival-in-rebkong...
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