Eight Immortals

祝大家在新的一年 八方来财 牛转钱坤！(zhu da jia zai xin de yi nian ba fang lai cai niu zhuan qian kun) Wish everyone wealth and prosperity in the new year!

February 16, 2021, is the fifth lunar day, the Welcome Home Day for the God of the Wealth.

The fifth Day of Chinese New Year also known as 破五pò wǔ ("pò" means "to break" Many taboos can be broken on this day) is the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth Guan Yu. On this day people will set firecrackers ensuring his favor and good fortune for the new year. It is also a common custom to eat dumplings on this day. The sound of chopping of the stuffing is said to scare off evil spirits away and bring good luck for the coming year.

新春快乐(xin chun kuai le)！Happy Chinese New year!

牛年到了，你说的是牛话，办的是牛事，发的是牛财，走的是牛路，开的是牛车，交的是牛友，碰的是牛运，总之2021你最牛!!!

(Pinyin for the blessing above: niu nian dao le, ni shuo de shi niu hua, ban de shi niu shi, fa de shi niu cai, zou de shi niu lu, kai de shi niu che, jiao de shi niu you, peng de shi niu yun, zong zhi 2021 ni zui niu!)

In Chinese “牛(niú)” is cow/ox but is also used as a slang to express awesome. 

So basically 牛 = 厉害(lì hai) 

For example you can say “你最牛(nǐ zuì niú)” which means “you are the best”.

It’s CNY’s Eve!!! Most Chinese families will enjoy a new years eve dinner and watch the 春节联欢晚会(spring festival gala) together! 

I’ve shared the link below 👇 

They will be streaming it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-lxMLoGtIg

Live starts Beijing time 2月11日20:00（GMT+8）

Below is the performance order!!!

Happy New Year ! We wish everyone the very best in 2021 ❤️

In Chinese, new year’s day is called “元旦 ( yuán dàn )” .

Jan 25th, 2020 is Chinese New Year! Happy Chinese New Year y’all! It’s the year of the Rat （鼠 shǔ）!  

希望大家今年会有( I wish everyone that in this year you will have)。。。

“鼠”不尽的收获 （shǔ bú jìn de shōu huò）endless gains，

“鼠”不尽的快乐 （shǔ bú jìn de kuài lè）endless joy，

“鼠”不尽的笑容 （shǔ bú jìn de xiào róng）endless smiles，

“鼠”不尽的幸福 （shǔ bú jìn de xìng fú）endless happiness，

“鼠”不尽的美满生活 （shǔ bú jìn de měi mǎn shēng huó）endless happy life！！！ 

Friday, September 13th is the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival of 2019! 

The Mid-Autumn Festival was traditionally celebrated by the Han Chinese, but many other ethnic groups across China and the entire world now recognize the holiday. Outside of China, the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated by the Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Filipinos, and many others. This offers a clear example of the influence of Chinese culture on the rest of the world!

(source: publicholidays.cn)

Spend some time to connect with your family members and don’t forget to treat yourself with the moon cake, or yuebing (月饼)! 

Happy Chinese New Year!

A junior high teacher in China gave an interesting piece of holiday homework: the students were to translate the 3000+ words Anderson fairytale The Emperor's New Clothes into a 300+ words wenyanwen (文言文 Classical Chinese) version.

Each picture shows an extracted sample from a different student. The 1st one (by 杨若梅) and the 4th one (by 宋艺樊) are pretty good.

(Image from: circumnavigators.org)

Happy Chinese new year everyone!

It’s the year of the dog! 

(image from: gettyimages)

Watch the 2018 Spring Festival Gala below!!!

February 15th is Chinese new years eve, on this day everyone is busy preparing a feast for dinner also known as 年夜饭 (reunion dinner). Traditionally, families will have already started to prepare for this day from after 小年. Preparation includes gathering 年货 (special purchases for Chinese new year –– decorations and ingredients for the feast, etc) and cleaning the house.

(Image from: www.xcnnews.com/cul/3079657.html)

The most important part of the reunion dinner is a family reunion and that everyone from young to old is involved in helping with the preparation.

(photo from: http://m.zk008.com/zj-6983.html)

Below is a very interesting Chinese new year documentary from 舌尖上的中国 which introduces the preparation of the Chinese new year dinner in different areas of China. 

今年冬至是2017年12月22日！！！

The winter solstice festival was originated from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) and thrived in the Tang and Song dynasties (618 - 1279). People in the old times attached great importance to the festival. 

冬至民俗 Custom

祈福

祈求与消除锅中的疫疾，减少荒年与人民的饥饿与死亡。

贺冬

In Han Dynasty, the festival is regarded as the Winter Festival and people had one day off for the holiday. Officials organized the ceremonies to celebrate the day and people visited each other with delicious food. 

祭祀

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the day was to sacrifice to the heaven and the ancestors. The emperor usually went to the suburb for worshiping to the heaven. The common people prayed at the tombs of their ancestors and deceased relatives on the day.

冬至饮食 Food 

饺子 

谚语云：“十月一，冬至到，家家户户吃水饺”

The dumpling is the essential food for people in northern China. After the winter solstice, it will become colder and colder. By eating dumplings, people think they can avoid their ears from being frostbitten as the dumplings look like people’s ear.

The story:

Zhang Zhongjing (150-219), is a famous physician in Eastern Han Dynasty. He was once an official in Changsha. When he returned home to private life, he saw people lived a very hard life and their ears were red with cold in the snowing winter. He was very sad and let his disciple cook to drive out the chill with mutton, hot pepper, and some medicine. Zhang let him boiled them first and minced them, then wrap them with flour. After boiling, he gave the food to the people there. By eating this kind of ear-like food, people’s ears were all cured. Later, every winter solstice, people cook such kind of food which was called dumplings to avoid ears from being frozen.

(Photo from: http://www.top-news.top/news-12667820.html)

馄饨

过去北京有“冬至馄饨夏至面”的说法。

（Photo by: 湯興漢） 

吃羊肉

冬至吃羊肉的习俗据说是从汉代开始的。相传，汉高祖刘邦在冬至这一天吃了樊哙煮的羊肉，觉得味道特别鲜美，赞不绝口。从此在民间形成了冬至吃羊肉的习俗。现在的人们吃羊肉以及各种滋补食品，以求来年有个好兆头。

汤圆

汤圆是冬至必备食品。“圆”意味着团圆，圆满，冬至吃的汤圆又叫“冬至团”。

(Photo from: http://travel.newsgd.com/default.php?act=article&id=2027)

江南米饭

在江南水乡，有冬至之夜全家欢聚一堂共吃赤豆糯米饭的习俗。

Having a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice is also popular for people in southern China. By eating it, people think ghosts and evil things can be driven away.

(Photo from: http://a.mini.eastday.com/a/171222120458528-3.html)

苏州酿酒

姑苏地区有俗语云：“冬至如大年”。相传的姑苏人家，会在冬至夜喝冬酿酒，冬酿酒是一种米酒，加入规划酿造，香气宜人。

（Photo: http://zhongyi.health.sohu.com/20140107/n393005070_2.shtml）

江西麻糍

麻糍，是浙江，江西的特产，也是福建人的传统小吃。

（photo from: http://www.yalipex.com/news/show-260.aspx)

台湾糯糕 

在台湾还保存着冬至用九层糕祭祖的传统，用糯米粉捏成鸡，鸭，龟，猪，牛，羊等象征吉祥中意福禄寿的动物，然后用蒸笼分层蒸成，用以祭祖，以示不忘老祖宗。

（content source: 古典书城）

Weibo has blocked alteration of personal info, editing of comments and uploading of photos. Overseas users are blocked from uploading videos and photos. The above functions are blocked until 5th Jun 2017 2400 as far as the grapevine goes. We all know why. Despite attempts to block out 4th June & Tiananmen, people are talking about “look up tomorrow’s date” as a reference.

Translation:

老朱专用MK42: [resigned sarcastic smiling wave] Silent for 2 days, it’s meaningless [to stay here right now] since [ I ] can’t upload photos, goodbye. [‘what can we do’ gesture]

刘啊刘6A6: To be honest, this has nothing to do with ‘Shitty Lang’ (T/N: 渣浪 zha1lang4 is a derogatory nickname for Sina Weibo 新浪(xin1lang4) 微博), obviously it’s because of “That Time Of Tomorrow That Shall Not Be Spoken Of”.

BA_KON: To remain silent for 2 more days [facepalms]

I also recommend readers to read:

Hong Kong Free Press’ Guide to events commemorating the 28th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/06/03/hkfps-guide-events-commemorating-28th-anniversary-tiananmen-massacre/

The Facebook page of the June 4th museum:

https://m.facebook.com/64museum

Tiananmen memorial museum to run at Shek Kip Mei arts centre from April to June:

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/04/05/tiananmen-memorial-museum-run-shek-kip-mei-arts-centre-april-june/

World’s only Tiananmen museum returns to Hong Kong:

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/04/30/worlds-tiananmen-museum-returns-hong-kong/

端午节（每年农历五月初五）  here

（image source: 重回汉唐）