IR Illuminator

IR Illuminator
E-3000C IR Illuminator with 100m IR Distance and 25/30 Degrees IR Angle

Features:

* LED: 27 + 6 pieces
* IR distance: 120m
* IR wavelength: 850nm
* Power supply: 220V AC +\-10%, 600mA
* Status: under 10 lux by CDS
* Gamma: 0.45
* Video output: 1Vp-p 75ohms, negative
* Operating temperature: -10 to 50 degree Celsius, RH 95% maximum
* Storage temperature: -20 to 60 degree Celsius, RH 95% maximum



YES Development Co.,LTD
6/F, Block B,
Runfeng Industrial Park,
Gushu, Bao'an District,
Shenzhen
Guangdong
China 518000
Tel: (86 755) 29988558 (86 755) 88822033
Fax: (86 755) 82722676 / (86 755) 29988777
Mobile: (86) 13760401230
Homepage Address
www.yescctv.cn

USB Video Capture Adapter

USB Video Capture Adapter with Small Size and Plug-and-Play Function

* Features:
o Video capture
o Plug-and-play
o Edit movies and video mail
o Snap shot
o Small wonder
o Net meeting and video conference
o Video input
o Compression
* Specifications:
o Video input: one RCA composite, one S-Video
o Video output: serial data for USB standard compliant
o Video capture size: 160 x 120, 176 x 144, 320 x 240, 352 x 288, 640 x 480
o Power source: 5V DC, 170mA (max.) through USB port
o Frame rate: 30fps at CIF (352 x 288 pixels)
o Dimensions: 88 x 31 x 21mm
o Version: USB 2.0
o Systems: support NTSC, PAL
o OS support interface: USB 2.0: Windows 2000 / XP P4.1 1.8GHz (real-time MPEG-2)
SharpVision Co Ltd
4F, No. 4 Tangdong Dong Road,
Tianhe District, Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangdong
China 510665
Tel: (86 20) 85572236/85572237 (86 20) 85545366
Fax: (86 20) 85542122

Homepage Address
http://www.sharpvision.cn

Automatic Switch Box

AC-503 Automatic Switch Box with Four Camera Inputs, Operates from 12 to 32V Voltage

Features:

* Supports four camera inputs
* When five trigger wires for cameras are triggered, image of monitor automatically switches to relative channels
* Button with trigger cable for switching channels are by hand
* Two AV outputs
* Operates from 12 to 32V voltage


SharpVision Co Ltd
4F, No. 4 Tangdong Dong Road,
Tianhe District, Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangdong
China 510665
Tel: (86 20) 85572236/85572237 (86 20) 85545366
Fax: (86 20) 85542122

Homepage Address
http://www.sharpvision.cn

EAS Sensor System

BS-2108 EAS Sensor with 80 to 180cm Detection Range, Easy to Debug and Install

Specifications/Special Features:

* CE certified
* Technical parameters:
o Scan center frequency: 8.2MHz +/- 0.05MHz
o Sweeping bandwidth: 7.5 to 9.2MHz
o Detection range: 80 to 180m (depends on the size of tag or label)
o Alarm volume: high, medium and low (three kinds of optional volume)
o Optional colors: black, gray and white
o Dimensions: 165 × 39 × 10cm (mm)
* Specially designed for top grand shopping plazas and garment stores
* Elegant design, concise shape and soft color
* Ideal for your ornament taste of stores

Wenzhou Boshine Electric Security Co., Ltd
2nd F D Building Liaoqian Industry,
Liaoqian West Road,
Wenzhou
Zhejiang
China 325000
Tel: (86 577) 88992230
Fax: (86 577) 88992333

Spy DVR Pen

HY-V001 &2 Spy DVR Pen with High Resolution, Used for Law Enforcement Agencies and Stealth Surveillance

Key Specifications/Special Features:

* Product descriptions:
o Professional pen DVR for the professional investigators or law enforcement agencies
o Has high quality video and audio with real time date and time stamping for the evidence in the court
o Built-in 4GB memory, gives 16-hour audio/video recording in AVI format which is acceptable for the evidence in court or in police and army departments
o Super sensitive microphone can record the voice in a range of 15 square meters
o With delicate outline, fluent writing function, changeable pen filling is super vivid, long
o time used
* Specifications:
o Real-time date and time stamping
o 4GB built-in memory
o Video: 3,000K pixels, AVI format
o Built-in microphone
o Normal size pen with handwriting function
o Built-in lithium battery, can record for two hours if the battery is fully charged
o High-speed USB 2.0 interface
o Portable U-disk function
o Supports firmware upgrade
* Packing includes:
o Pen DVR
o User manual
o Emergency charger
o USB connector
o Charger connector
o Two pieces extra refills for the pen
o Nice gift box
* Parameters:
o Image rate: 15 to 30fps (frames)
o Sensitivity: 0.6 lux (1.3V/lux sec)
o Lens exterior: 8 x 8
o Object lens: 2.8mm
o Focus: 2.6mm
o Video resolution: CIF 640 x 480 pixels
o Dimensions: 150 x 15.6mm
o Weight: 46g
* Product applications:
o Police can use it for law enforcement
o Lawyers can use it to collect evidence
o Reporter can use it to interview in special occasion
o For stealth surveillance

Redleaf Technology (HK) Industry Co.,Ltd
Block A2, Hangcheng Industry Park,
Gushu, Bao'an District
Shenzhen
Guangdong
China 518000
Tel: (86 755) 27479943 (86 755) 83205823 Ext : 801
Fax: (86 755) 83208897

Homepage Address
www.hkredleaf.com.cn

Exorcising Ghosts Opera

I had heard a long time ago that Guizhou was the only place where an ancient opera of primitive culture, the exorcising ghosts opera (nuoxi), was still played. On my trip to Guizhou this time, I happened to see a few shows.

The performers were all farmers. The accompanying musical instruments included gongs, drums, and cymbals. With simple costumes and masks, they danced to the importance. Although this opera died out long ago in its birthplace, it still lives on in a border province hundreds of miles away.

The exorcising ghosts opera originated from a sacrificial ceremony for driving away evil and pestilence in ancient times. The unearthed objects from the Yin ruins in Henan Province showed the mask worn by the official of the exorcising ceremony. It province that this kind of ceremony was found in the Rites of Zhou, a book recording the system of the court of the Zhou Dynasty (c, 11th century-221B.C.). It reads, "With eyes shining like gold, bear paws over his palms and a red coat over his shoulders, a masked man waved a spear and a shield and led a hundred slaves to exorcise the pestilence...."

By the Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, the scale of the court exorcising ceremony grew even larger. "Masked Dance" and "Dance of Twelve Gods" appeared in the Han Dynasty. Folk exorcising dances became popular and more entertaining, with stories added to the rituals of offering sacrifices to the gods and exorcising ghosts.

During the Song Dynasty (960-1297), the plot of the story became more complicated and complete, and its masks more varied. Gradually, the ceremony developed into an opera.

By the 13th to 14th centuries, zaju, poetic dramas set to music, flourished in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). Instead of wearing masks, performers painted their faces with colourful paint and the exorcising opera was also replaced by different local operas. By the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the exorcising ghosts opera was introduced to China's southwest area by war refugees from the Central Plains. Later in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), soldiers stationed in the Guizhou border area also brought the opera there from the interior.

Now, the exorcising opera and many of its offshoots are still popular in Guizhou.


Wearing a mask, the actor enjoys the status of a god for the moment and can relish the fruits, wine and provisions proffered by the villagers.
However, the exorcising opera and sacrificial rite dance popular among the ethnic groups such as the Yi and Bouyei still remain at their early stage, similar to the sacrificial northeast Guizhou has reached the zenith of its development.

This opera is characterized by various masks made by local artists. In Guizhou, there are almost a thousand exorcising opera troupes and each one has some masks handed down from previous generations.

Looking at the masks, I could not but admire the ingenuity of those who carved them. By the hands of a skilled artisan, a piece of lifeless wood was transformed into an image full of artistic power. Ghost or human, every one of them looks unique and vivid. Further-more, the performers' exaggerated gestures and humorous lines also add dramatic effect to the masks. Though already different from their original form, these bold and vivid masks still capture attention with their artistic beauty.

The Mongolian Nationality

The Mongolian Nationality, who are the main body of the population of Inner Mongolia, have their own traditional social customs and etiquette which are especially imbued with the characteristics of honesty, courtesy and hospitality. When they meet a guest, they warmly shake hands with him and say "Tasain bainu" (which means "How do you do" in Mongolian). When the guest gets into the yurt, the housewife presents him a bowl of milk tea with both her hands and then puts all kinds of dairy food on the table in front of the guest. When the guest leaves, all the family get out of the yurt to say to him. "Good-bye and wish you a good trip."

The Mongolian Yurt, called " a vaulted tent" or "felt tent" in the ancient times, is a domed peaked tent. The frame of the yurt is a supporting ring, formed by some wooden poles. The wooden poles are fastened with leather thongs and studs to form a fence-like structure (which are called "Hana" in Mongolian). The frame of the yurt is covered with thick felt fastened from outside the yurt with ropes. Every yurt has an opening on the top, which provides both light and ventilation, and a wooden door facing south or southeast.

Mongolian Ox Cart
The ox cart, also called the "Lele" cart, is a traditional traffic vehicle invented and used by the Mongolian people. It used to be made of birth wood or elm wood. The cart itself weighs about 50 kilograms. It is capable of carrying a few hundred or a thousand kilograms of goods.

The Festivals
The major traditional festivals among the Mongolian people are the Off Year, which is on the 23rd day of the last month according to the lunar calendar, and the On Year, which is the first day of the first month of the new year also according to the lunar calendar.

The Mongolian people make use of the Off Year festival to worship the "Kitchen God" as well as to bid farewell to the "Kitchen God". They particularly worship the "the Fire God", believing that the "Fire God" could bring happiness and wealth to man. On the off Year Day all the members of the family are sure to come together to have a reunion dinner. When it is time to bid farewell to the Kitchen God, they throw a little food of all kinds into the fire and pray the god for blessings.

The Mongolian people make the On Year Festival (which is called the Spring Festival by the Han people) a chance to have their family reunited. Before the festival, they are busy getting everything ready, including beef, mutton, new clothes and delicious food of all kinds. On the eve of the festival, all the family sit at the dining table with cooked meat, dairy products and good wine, talking and laughing while they are eating and drinking. A large piece of paper, with their ancestor's name on it, is often placed in the centre of the dinner table, which indicates that the spirit of their ancestor would come back to celebrate the festival with them. On the first five days of the first month of the lunar calendar, they go to the friends and relatives' yurts, paying New Year calls and give Hada and wine as presents. In doing so, they often take back a small packet of tea with them, hoping that they would bring good luck home from outside.

Dress and Personal Adornment

In order to adapt themselves to the natural conditions, the Mongolian people have developed their unique national costume which consists of the loose sleeved tunic, the long sash, Mongolian boots and head ornaments (i.e. head-dress). The Mongolian women often wear head-dress while they visit their friends and relatives. The head-dress is made of agate, pearls, coral, jadeite, gem, gold and silver, with which many different beautiful patterns are formed. The Ordos women's head-dress is the most typical of all in Inner Mongolia. Made of valueable materials, it si exquisite and pleasing in form, weighing about 20 kilograms.

It is customary for the Mongolian women to wrap their heads in scarlet or green silk. The Mongolian men wear hats with heavy ear-flags in winter. The robes worn by Mongolian people have high collars and long loose sleeves, reach below the knees and button down at the right breast. The sash is often worn round the waist to match the robe. The materials of the robes can be silk, satin or cotton cloth. They are suitable for riding horses.

Marriage Customs
Two kinds of marriage customs used to be in fashion among the Mongolian people; snatching a maiden and making her a bride; making a proposal of marriage to the girl and her parents by offering betrothal gifts. The former custom had died out by the 13 th century while the latter custom has been handed down. In the pastoral area cattle, sheep or other live-stock are often sent to the bride's family as betrothal gifts. The number of gifts must be nine or can be divided by nine. This is because cardinal numbers are regarded as auspicious by the Mongolian people. The wedding often lasts two or three days.

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Liao Dynasty Street

Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is a world-famous Buddhist pagoda in Yingxia County under the jurisdiction of Shouzhou City, Shanxi Province. Now a new Liao Dynasty Street has been built to the south of the noted pagoda. Running from north to south, the street together with the wooden pagoda constitutes in the county.

The street was constructed in line with the architectural style and characteristics of the Liao Dynasty (916-1125). Its completion symbolizes the prosperity of the Liao Dynasty when the construction of the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda began.

Along the street stand buildings with the unique features of the Liao Dynasty. The organized layout of these buildings blends harmoniously with the street, creating both a simple and unsophisticated look. Some are two stories and some are three stories. Some have upturned leaves and some are decorated with crisscrossing beams. Each of these building links to another, forming a typical cultural street of the Liao Dynasty. Together with the wooden pagoda there is a unified architectural style.

The street is 340 meters in length, with a width of 18-meters (42-meters if the buildings on both sides are included). Its construction area covers 12,000 square meters. Twenty million yuan was invested in this large-scale project, where the market played the role of the lever without financial support from the central government. The local people have put their plan into practice and have also created a new way of developing local tourism. Now the Liao Dynasty Street serves as a tourist attraction with a special cultural flavor.

The street is also called a cultural street because it has such a deep cultural connotation. It lures tourists to take a long walk along it. Shops and stalls line both sides of the street and sell various kinds of goods and commodities, such as special local products, goods which are unique to northern Shanxi local food popular in the area beyond the Great Wall, and fine arts and souvenirs for tourists. The market scene is a symbol of the flourishing local tourism.


The Liao Dynasty Street in Yingxia County.
The magnificent wooden pagoda has stood here for 900 years. It is 60 meters tall and 30 meters in diameters at the base. As a representative of the architectural level and culture of the Liao Dynasty, it has become a noted historical site of cultural interest in the Dynasty, it has become a noted historical site of cultural interest in the Datong Tourist Area. Over the past 20 years, it has attracted numerous domestic and overseas tourists who have wanted to see for themselves its beauty and primitive simplicity. The cultural street has formed an entire architectural complex. As a window for both Chinese and foreigners to find out something about economic development in Yingxian County, the Liao Dynasty Street has put local tourism and the economy back on track.

Now the local people are working hard to level the ground in order to build a large square and the Pagoda Reflection Park to the south of the pagoda. They also plan to rebuild a section of the city wall around the square in order to show what the frontier fortress in the Liao Dynasty would have looked like, thus creating a tourist attraction with a unique atmosphere.

"Magpie Dress" in Yunnan

In the Yunnan local dialect, a small intermontane plain is called a bazi. Baofengba in Puning County is a village inhabited by the Hans. When I saw Luo Meiying, the township leader, she wore a typical peasant dress: a black cloth scarf wrapped apron on her head, a white tight jacket covered with a black lace vest, an embroidered apron around her waist, blue pants and embroidered cotton shoes. Sensing my curiosity, she told me that it was called a magpie dress because the black head and body and white wings.


The Miao women in Guizhou are good at weaving, dyeing and embroidery. They use homemade cloth and embroidery to dress and decorate themselves and their children.
The magpie dress was introduced to this Han village by Luo Meiying from her Yi village when she got married more than 12 years ago. She then changed the chintz scarf and white vest to black, making her look like a magpie which is regarded by the Chinese as a lucky bird. They believe that if a magpie sings in the tree in front of your house, your family will be fortunate.

Yi girls are known for their simplicity, beauty and kindness. Young men from Baofengba think themselves very lucky if they can marry Yi girls. They get to know each other while cutting firewood in the mountains, at country fairs and singing, dancing or drinking mountain wine at local festivals or activities.

When I visited a Yi village called Tianba, I saw a tiyue (dancing) scene. According to the Yi custom, Yi girls can only dance with young men from Han villages bring wine, sausage and candies to the appointed place and start a fire while waiting. When the Yi girls arrive, they all get up and greet them before sitting down around the fire, while the Yi girl gathers some brambles and puts them on the designated meeting spot to show her disappointment, thus breaking up the relationship.

But if a young man breaks his promise by not showing up at the appointed place, the Yi girl gathers some brambles and puts them on the designated meeting spot to show her disappointment, thus breaking up the relationship.

At Tianba, the old Yi houses with thick walls made of sticky soil look as a castle. In the past, there was always a dog crouching on the flat roof to watch our for people who came to attack the village. The frequent contact over the past few decades between the Yi and the Han has also resulted in intermarriage between the Yi and the Han. When the Yis found that the Han's brick houses with slanted roofs were durable and good for drainage, they also started to build their houses as the Hans do.

I was invited by a Yi family of Guo Xiaolan. They lived in a two-story house. Entering the arched gateway, I found myself in a small yard with a sitting room and bedroom in front and two rooms on each side: one that served as a kitchen and the other that served as a storehouse. It looked quite similar to the houses found in the Han village of Baofengba.

It was the slack winter season. A few young people from the Tianba amateur singing and dancing troupe were practising the Flower Lantern Opera, a folk opera which used to be popular among the Hans in Yunnan and Guizhou. During the Spring and Lantern festivals, a group of three to five performers would bring simple costumes with them and give performances from village to village.

After generations of intermingling with the minorities, the Han people have also been influenced by them in clothing and customs.

The Miao women are good at dyeing, weaving and embroidery. Not only do they wear colourful embroidered dresses, but they also dress their children in colourful clothes. Even the bundle cloth they use to carry baby on the back is also embroidered with beautiful patterns. Imitating the Miao women, the Han women also make embroidered hats for their children and carry their babies with embroidered bundle cloths on their backs. It is difficult to tell a Miao woman from a Han from their back. Assimilating and developing the best of different minorities, some Han women in minority-inhabited areas dress themselves in colourful minority costumes, and yet no one can identify them with any particular minority group.

The Han women living at Baofengba of Jinning all wear embroidered cotton shoes. As the shoe has an upturned tip which looks like a turtledove's head, it is known as turtledove shoe. Though most of the minority women living in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces also wear embroidered shoes, no one can say for sure who the originator is.

the Moon Festival

On the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the moon is round and the Chinese people mark their Moon (or Mid-autumn) Festival. The round shape to a Chinese means family reunion. Therefore the Moon Festival is a holiday for members of a family to get together wherever it is possible.

On that day sons and daughters will bring their family members back to their parents' house for a reunion. Sometimes people who have already settled overseas will come back to visit their parents on that day.

As every Chinese holiday is accompanied by some sort of special food. On the Moon Festival, people eat moon cakes, a kind of cookie with fillings of sugar, fat, sesame, walnut, the yoke of preserved eggs, ham or other material. In Chinese fairy tales, there live on the moon the fairy Chang E, a wood cutter named Wu Gang and a jade rabbit which is Chang E's pet. In the old days, people paid respect to the fairy Chang E and her pet the jade rabbit.

The custom of paying homage to the fairy and rabbit is gone, but the moon cakes are showing improvement every year. There are moon cake

hundreds of varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of the Moon Festival this year. Some moon cakes are of very high quality and very delicious. An overseas tourist is advised not to miss it if he or she happens to be in China during the Moon Festival.

Poems on Moon and Home

The Mid-Autumn Moon
by Li Qiao

A full moon hangs high in the chilly sky,
All say it's the same everywhere, round and bright.
But how can one be sure thousands of li away
Wind and perhaps rain may not be marring the night?

The Yo-Mei Mountain Moon
by Li Bai

The autumn moon is half round above the Yo-mei Mountain;
The pale light falls in and flows with the water of the Ping-chiang River.
Tonight I leave Ching-chi of limpid stream for the three Canyons.
And glide down past Yu-chow, thinking of you whom I can not see.

Jingdezhen

Jingdezhen, formerly spelt Ching Teh Chen and known as the "Ceramics Metropolis" of China, is a synonym for Chinese porcelain.

Variably called Xinping or Changnanzhen in history, it is situated in the northeastern part of Jiangxi Province in a small basin rich in fine kaolin, hemmed in by mountains which keep it supplied with firewood from their conifers. People there began to produce ceramics as early as 1,800 years ago in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Jingde Period (1004-1007), Emperor Zhenzong of the the Song Dynasty. decreed that Changnanzhen should produce the porcelain used by the imperial court, with each inscribed at the bottom "Made in the Reign of Jingde." From then on people began to call all chinaware bearing such inscriptions "porcelain of Jingdezhen."

The ceramic industry experienced further development at Jingdezhen during the Ming and Qing dynasties or from the 14th to the 19th century, when skills became perfected and the general quality more refined; government kilns were set up to cater exclusively to the need of the imperial house.

Jingdezhen, the ancient ceramics metropolis, has been regenerated with new vigor since the founding of New China. It now boasts a ceramic research institute and a ceramic museum in addition to five kaolin quarries, 15 porcelain factories, two porcelain machinery plants, one porcelain chemical plant, two refractory materials factories and dozens of porcelain processing works.

The leading centre of the porcelain industry, Jingdezhen has been put under state protection also as an important historical city. With 133 ancient buildings and cultural sites, it is a tourist town attracting large numbers of visitors from home and abroad.

Sleeping Buddha

The Sleeping Buddha is Sakyamuni on his death bed entering nirvana. It can be seen in temples, grottoes or frescoes all round China, varied from stone engraving, wood cutting, jade carving, clay sculpture, coloured drawing to metal moulding. Its size can be so long as to tens of meters or as small as a grain of rice.

Mr. Zhao Puchu, the president of China Buddhism Association, such described the authentic sight of Sakyamuni's nirvana in the book of "General Knowledge of Buddha":

"Before the Buddha's death, he became severely sick. He walked northwest with his disciples and had the food offered by a blacksmith. His illness was getting worse. In the end, he came to a river and took a bath. Then he made a rope bed among eight sal trees, with each direction has two. He lied on his side, right hand supporting his head, the other resting on his body. All later reclining Buddhas (called Buddha's Nirvana) are in the same posture. The Buddha's disciples kept watch on him after they were told the Buddha was going to nirvana. At night, a scholar of Brahman went to see the Buddha, but was stopped by Ananda, a disciple of the Buddha. Hearing this, the Buddha called the scholar to his bed and worded for him. Thus the scholar became the Buddha's last disciple. The final exhortation of theBuddha to his disciples was that they should not be sorry for losing their tutor. Their should take the Buddhism Doctrine as their guide, eager for progress, no indulgence. After his death, the Buddha's remains were cremated.

Sakyamuni died at the age of eighty years old. People excavated the vestige of the cremation of his remains and the reclining Buddha carved in stone at where he died.

The No.158 Cave of Dunhuang Grottoes in China built in Tang Dynasty has a 15-meter-long glazed figurine of reclining Buddha in clay. Though for art's sake it was exaggerated, it still authentically reflected the scene of Sakyamuni's death. The artists of Tang Dynasty depicted the eighty-year-old Buddha into an asleep woman with plump cheeks, half-opened eyes, deeply sunk corners of mouth and kind and tranquil smile. It is said at that time, he was giving his last expounding on "Nirvana Doctrine" to his disciples around.

The southern wall of this cave drew in color two elder disciples of Sakyamuni. One of them was listening with rapt attention, while the other was running. It is said the latter was practicing Buddhism in a mountain when he heard his tutor was going to nirvana. He rushed down to listen to Sakyamuni's last words.

On the western and eastern walls there is a colored "Sorrow Showing Picture" about Bodhisattvas, arhats and princes of all kingdoms in Turkestan. Bodhisattvas are the figures with higher awareness in Buddhism. They knew only the Buddha after nirvana could enter the Sukhavati (Western Paradise). Therefore, they showed nonchalance and indifference to Buddha's nirvana. For those arhats, as they had not reached such a high level as Bodhisattvas, their expressions are miserable when they knew the Buddha was leaving them. As to those princes, they cried out aloud, thumping their chests and stamping their feet. Some even cut their noses and ears with knives. Some laid open the bowel and committed suicide, deciding to follow the Buddha. What they had done showed their devoutness to the Buddha and their low awareness as well. These colorful pictures not only helped people historically understand the real sight of the Buddha's death, but get to know the folk customs of the ancient Turkestan people through the portraits on the drawings.

There are many reclining Buddha statues all over China, some of which have high artistic value. They have been listed as important cultural relics to be preserved by the nation.

Dragon & Phoenix

The dragon and the phoenix are the principal motifs for decorative designs on the buildings, clothing and articles of daily use in the imperial palace. The throne hall is supported by columns entwined by gilded dragons, the central ramps on marble steps were paved with huge slabs carved in relief with the dragon and phoenix, and the screen walls display dragons in brilliant colours (see the Nine-Dragon Screen in Beihai Park). The names in the Chinese language for nearly all the things connected with the emperor or the empress were preceded by the epithet "dragon" or "phoenix"; thus, "dragonstone dragon seat" for the throne, "dragon robe" for the emperor's ceremonial dress, "dragon bed" for him to sleep on, and "phoenix carriage", "phoenix canopies" and so on for the imperial processions. The national flag of China under the Qing Dynasty was emblazoned with a big dragon. The earliest postage stamps put out by China were called "dragon-heads" because they showed a dragon in their designs. Even today the dragon is sometimes adopted as the symbol of Chinese exhibitions held abroad or the cover designs of books on China printed by foreign publishers. "The Giant Dragon of the East" is becoming a sobriquet for the country.

Belief in the dragon, and drawings of the imaginary animal, can be traced back to primitive society when certain prehistoric tribes in China adopted the dragon among other totems as their symbol and guardian god. Some of the recently unearthed bronze vessels of the Yin Dynasty, which existed more than 3,000 years ago, are decorated with sketches of dragons of a crude form. Earliest legends in China described the dragon as a miraculous animal with fish scales and long beards. As time went on, it became more and more embellished in the minds of embroidery phoenixthe people, acquiring the antlers of the deer, the mane of the horse and the claws of the eagle -- in short, appropriating the distinctive features of other creatures until it became what we see today everywhere in the palace.

The Chinese phoenix, likewise, exists only in legends and fairy tales. Sovereign of all birds, it has the head of the golden pheasant, the beak of the parrot, the body of the mandarin duck, the wings of the roc, the feathers of the peacock and the legs of the crane; gloriously beautiful, it reigns over the feathered world. An early design of the phoenix can be seen on the silk painting discovered in a tomb of the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) near Changsha in Hunan Province.

The dragon and the phoenix often served in classical art and literature as metaphors for people of high virtue and rare talent or, in certain combinations, for matrimonial harmony or happy marriage. As an important part of folk arts, dragon lanterns, dragon boats, dragon and phoenix dances are still highly popular on festivals among the people of all localities.

Silkworm Raisers' Customs

Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces are prominent silkworm producers in China. In early May each year, every household begins preparing to breed silkworms when barley becomes yellow and the mulberry fields turn green.

A

The Mulberry leaves for silkworms must be fresh and clean. Women go to the mulberry fields to collect the mulberry leaves every morning.

dust-sized silkworm ovum will grow into an ant-shaped silkworm after brooding for a month, and then grow into a long white worm after four periods of quiescence and exuviation and then, the silkworm begins spinning pure white silk and finally turns into a pupa. There are many legends about the development of silkworms. One of them is a touching story, which goes as follows.

Once upon a time, there was a father and his daughter who depended on each other very much. They had a white horse, which the girl fed with mulberry leaves. Once, the father went out to do some trade and didn't come back on time. No one knew of his whereabouts. The daughter was very worried about him. One day, she prayed to marry a kind-hearted man who could help her find her father. When she had just finished asking for this, the white horse standing beside her nodded, circled around her three times and galloped away. Several days later, the white horse found the old man who had lost his way in the mountains and carried him home on his back. However, the white horse was always with the girl from then on and the father was puzzled by the matter. After he questioned her, the girl told the truth to her father. He got very angry, "It is natural that the horse looks for its owner, but how can an animal be a match for a person?" When the horse heard this, it began neighing and refused to eat anything. The father was very angry, and killed it with an arrow. He skinned the horse and dried the hide in the sunshine. After the daughter collected mulberry leaves, she returned home. Caressing the skin of the horse, she burst into tears. When her tears dropped on the horse, her body was wrapped up by the skin and flown to the sky. Later, seeing snow-white silkworms hanging on the mulberry trees, people said that theses silkworms were the girls wrapped in the horse's skin. Since the head of the silkworm is similar to that of a horse's head, Matouniang (a girl with a horse's head) became another name for silkworm. When the daughter missed her father, she spun out the long silk. This is a legend about the origin of how silkworms spin silk and become silkworm cocoons.

In the past, whenever there was a bumper

A Picture of the Goddess of Silkworms.

harvest of silkworm cocoons sericulturists would light an incense burner and offerings were arranged in the central room of a house to thank the Goddess of Silkworms. The statue of the goddess engraved on a wooden plate was a goddess in a horse-skin cloth. She had a vertical eye on her forehead which was deliberately drawn because no one could bear to see the arrow wound.

It is very interesting that Japan also has a legend about Matouniang with the spread of Chinese silkworms to Japan in the third century. However, in Japan the Goddess of Silkworms is a Japanese beauty in a kimono that rides a horse.

Sericulture in the region of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces is as important as farming. A good or poor harvest of silkworms is directly related to the livelihood of sericulturists. Silkworms are tender and delicate, hard to raise and easily get diseases. If the diseases spread, all the efforts of the sericulturists will be wasted. Therefore, when the season for breeding silkworms comes, every household in the villages is very busy. There are also many taboos and regulations in this period.

There are taboos surrounding the raising of silkworms. Women are prohibited from visiting friends, children from shouting, and men from going without a shirt during the time when silkworms are being hatched. On seeing peach branches which are thought to avoid evil and red paper with the characters can yue zhi li (A man should be polite in the month of silkworms) inserted on the eaves of a sericulturist's house, an unexpected guest should go away quietly.

There are other taboos and regulations concerning the homes of sericulturists, such as forbidding a stranger to enter the house, prohibitions on shouting, crying, and knocking doors or windows in the house. Liquor, vinegar, and anything smelling of fish of mutton should not be brought into a sericulturist's house and it is forbidden to dig the ground, cut grass, husk rice with a mortar and pestle or to burn fur and hair around a sericulturist's house. In the past, before putting silkworm eggs into a round shallow basket woven out of bamboo, people always pasted a wood engraving of a cat on the basket. This was because mice are natural enemies of silkworms. The mice often climbed to the shelves of silkworms and ate young silkworms when night-watchers dozed off. Hence, every household not only raised cats, but also retains the custom of pasting a picture of a cat on the basket.

Of course, some regulations are superstitious, for instance, menstruating women or women about to give birth are forbidden to raise silkworms; when buying mulberry leaves from other villages, in order to dispel evil spirits, sericulturists use mulberry branches to lash the leaves three times, and then feed them to silkworms. However, the purpose of all these prohibitions is to avoid noise pollution and bad smells. Young silkworms grow healthily in a clean and quiet environment.

When harvesting silkworm cocoons, sericulturists will, according to tradition, buy fish and meat, kill chickens and arrange feasts to celebrate. At this time, friends and relatives bring loquats, duck eggs and zongzi (a triangular dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or other leaves) to visit these sericulturists. They come to send best wishes and ask how many can hua (harvests) these sericulturists get.

Can hua (literally "silkworm flower") is not a flower, but a word which indicates a good or bad harvest of silkworm cocoons. According to local custom, when young silkworms lie dormant for the fourth time, sericulturists will weigh these silkworms on a scale. For instance, if one catty of silkworms can spin out six catties of silkworm cocoons, the six-catty cocoons are called liu fen can hua (liu means six, and fen is a unit of measurement). The word can hua is often used in reference to the silkworm trade, but its meaning has various connotations according to the situation.

According to local tradition, women who raise silkworms wear flowers on their upswept hair, wishing to have an abundant harvest of silkworms.

For example, local people call women sericulturists can hua gu niang (gu niang means a girl). On the morning of the first day of the lunar year, a woman sericulturist must, according to tradition, sweep the floor from the outside to the inside of a house. It is called sao can hua di (sweep the floor of can hua), meaning that there will be a good harvest of silkworm cocoons when can hua is swept into a house.

On New Year holidays, people will greet each other by saying, gong xi fa cai (may you make a fortune) and can hua er she si fen) (wish you a good harvest of silkworm cocoons).

On the day of the Qingming Festival, at the beginning of April, can hua gu niang will insert can hua in their hair at the temples. Can hua here refers to small flower, or golden yellow vegetable flowers. The can hua gu niang will go to a monastery to pray together at an appointed time. They will also buy some silk flowers from the monastery and insert them in round shallow baskets. This is called tao can hua (tao here mean to beg). They believe that can hua coming from a monastery can expel all the evils in a sericulturist's house, so they will have a brisk silkworm business. At night, the woman of the house will prepare a delicious dinner. The family then gets together to drink. This is called can hua jiu (jiu means liquor). Drinking can hua jiu means that they will do their best to raise silkworms.

When a couple get married, the girl's parents will send the couple two young mulberries, two round shallow baskets of silkworms and silk clothes and bedding as a dowry. They hope that the bride will bring brisk business.

Kashi, a pearl on the Old Silk Road

This is a narrow, quiet lane. The road is lined with houses of one or two storied built of adobe or red brick. It is Saturday. A group of Uygur children are playing, bringing a joyful atmosphere to the quiet bane. At the end of the lane, a sign reading "Vegetable Bazaar Lane" reminds people of its past. The bazaar no longer exists, and people can only imagine the brisk scene here in the old days.

In the old districts of Kashi, many streets have "bazaar" as part of their names. Although most of the bazaars have ceased to exist except in name, there are still some that are still in use. From the names of these streets people can imagine the past glory of this ancient trading city on the Old Silk Road.

The animal market at the Sunday Bazaar.

Kashi, located in the southwestern part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has a history of more than 2,000 years. It has occupied an important position in northwestern China since ancient times. Situated at the juncture of the southern and northern routes of the Old Silk Road, it attracted merchants from many parts of the world to trade here . So Kashi became a famous trading city, called a bright pearl on the Old Silk Road. Meanwhile, Kashi is also a sacred place of Islam. Atigar Mosque, the largest mosque in Xinjiang, situated on Atigar Square in the center of the city, is more than 500 years old. The city has produced many famous figures throughout its history.

Kashi is divided into two parts: the new district and the old district, the streets are wide and lined with high-rise buildings, little different from other cities in China ; in the old district, the streets are narrow and most houses are low brick or adobe one.

In fact, today's Kashi has preserved the old traditions. On streets one can find markets selling various commodities, such as vegetables, fruits, food, garments, tools and handicrafts.

Kashi's markets differ from markets in other places in that most of the commodities on sale are made by the vendors themselves. Here tourists can see the handicrafts actually being made in the workshops. Wandering along an ancient street in Kashi, it is as if one has traveled back in time. At the shoes and caps market, the caps and boots on sale are made on the spot.

Going ahead, one can hear the clanging of blacksmiths' hammers. If you hear the sound of an electric saw, then you can go and see carpenters making furniture and kitchen utensils. If you smell the fragrance of baked cakes, you will soon find an eating place serving nang, the staple food of the Uygur people. The nang is broken into small pieces and dipped in soup. It is said nang can be kept for weeks without going stale.

Abahuoga Mazar. It is said that the Fragrant Imperial Concubine of the Qing Dynasty is buried here.

These markets are open every day. The famous Sunday bazaar has been operating since ancient times, and the scale has become larger and larger, attracting merchants from all over Xinjiang and neighboring countries such as Pakistan and Kirghizstan.

Farmers from the suburbs of Kashi come to the bazaar early in the morning, using various means of transportation, such as bicycles, motorcycles, tractors, trucks and donkey-drawn carts. The highways leading to Kashi are crowded with these vehicles and pedestrians on Sunday mornings, as well as with flocks of sheep.

On Sunday the whole city becomes a big market. It is hard to tell the markets from the ordinary streets. Of the 20 markets, some are comprehensive ones, and some are specialized markets selling local produce, arts and crafts, garments, knives, timber, coal or animals. Among them, the animal markets are the largest. Each day, more than 1,000 head of cattle, horses, sheep and camels are traded here.

October is the best season to visit Kashi, as the weather is pleasant and the autumn harvest makes the markets more brisk. In autumn, many types of fruit are on sale, such as grapes, watermelons, Hami melons and figs. Other local products include Xinjiang knives and carpets, which make good souvenirs for tourists.

Uygur people make up most of Kashi's inhabitants. On the streets, one can seldom see people of other ethnic groups except foreign tourists and tourists from other parts of China.

On the ancient streets of Kashi everywhere there are men wearing Uygur skullcaps and women wearing brown veils. The Uygur language is universally spoken by the local people.

After visiting Kashi's Sunday bazaar, people will understand the saying" without visiting Kashi, one cannot say he has visited Kashi. If you have a chance to visit Kashi, don't miss the chance to visit its Sunday Bazaar.

Traditional Chinese Painting

An important part of the country's cultural heritage, the traditional Chinese painting is distinguished from Western art in that it is executed on xuan paper (or silk) with the Chinese brush, Chinese ink and mineral and vegetable pigments.

To attain proficiency in this branch of art calls for assiduous exercise, a good control of the brush, and a feel and knowledge of the qualities of xuan paper and Chinese ink.

Before setting a brush to paper, the painter must conceive a well-composed draft in his mind, drawing on his imagination and store of experience, Once he starts to paint, he will normally have to complete the work at one go, denied the possibility of any alteration of wrong strokes.

Xuan paper, as discussed in a previous article, is most suitable for Chinese painting. It is of the right texture to allow the writing brush wet with Chinese ink and held in a trained hand, to move freely on it, making strokes varying from dark to light, from solid to hollow. These soon turn out to be human figures, plants and flowers, birds, fish and insects, full of interest and life.

Many a Chinese painter is at the same time a poet and calligrapher. He will often add a poem in his own hand on the painting, which invariably carries an impression of his seal. The resulting piece of work is usually an integrated whole of four branches of Chinese art-- poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal-cutting.

Chinese paintings are divided into two major categories: free hand brushwork (xieyi) and detailed brushwork (gongbi) . The former is characterized by simple and bold strokes intended to represent the exaggerated likenesses of the objects, while the latter by fine brushwork and close attention to detail. Employing different techniques , the two schools try to achieve the same end, the creation of beauty.

It is difficult to tell how long the art of painting has existed in China. Pots of 5,000-6,000 years ago were painted in colour with patterns of plants, fabrics, and animals, reflecting various aspects of the life of primitive clan communities. These may be considered the beginnings of Chinese painting.

China entered the slave society about 2000 B.C. Though no paintings of that period have ever come to light, that society witnessed the emergence of a magnificent bronze culture, and bronzes can only be taken as a composite art of painting and sculpture.

In 1949 from a tomb of the Warring States Period (475-221 B. C.) was unearthed a painting on silk of human figures, dragons and phoenixes. The earliest work on silk ever discovered in China, it measures about 30 cm long by 20 cm wide.

From this and other early paintings on silk it may be easily seen that the ancients were already familiar with the art of the writing or painting brush, for the strokes show vigour or elegance whichever was desired. Paintings of this period are strongly religious or mythological in themes.

Paintings on paper appeared much later than those on silk for the simple reason that the invention of silk preceded that of paper by a long historical period.

In 1964, when a tomb dating to the Jin Dynasty (265- 420 A. D) was excavated at Astana in Turpan, Xinjiang, a coloured painting on paper was discovered. It shows, on top, the sun, the moon and the Big Dipper and, below, the owner of fan in his hand. A portrayal in vivid lines of the life of a feudal land-owner, measuring 106.5 cm long 47 cm high, it is the only known painting on paper of such antiquity in China.

Beef with Black Pepper

Yue cuisine, whose recipes appeared in the literature of the Han, Wei, South and North Dynasties (220-587), became famous both at home and abroad at the beginning of the 20th century. Various unusual materials are used, cooking techniques include SHAO (boil, then fry in oil), BAO (cook with a special kind of boiler), soft fry in oil, soft stir-fry, and steam in clear soup. the general flavour is light and fresh. Famous dishes are roast suckling pig, snake meat with juice, Dongjiang salted chicken, shark's fin with brown sauce, White Cloud pig's foot, fish belly in clear soup, fried shrimp, bird's nest with wax gourd.

Beef with Black Pepper

Materials:
500g beef
200g onions
25g black pepper
25g hot pepper grains
1 egg
20g Jishi powder

Preparations
1. Remove the sinews of the beef, cut obliquely into thick slices, beat loose with a cleaver, add salt, MSG, flour, cornstarch, soy sauce, five spices powder, water, and beaten egg, steep for 30 minutes, then saute in 40% heated oil until done.
2. Leave a little oil in the wok, add chopped garlic, onion, hot pepper grains, black pepper grains and stir-fry until the fragrance comes out, add the beef, add condiments and stir-fry.
3. Transfer the beef to a heated iron plate covered with onion rings, pour the juice into the iron sauce jug.

Waging War--The Art of War

Part 8

Sun Tzu said: When you dispatch troops for a battle, you must consider you will require one thousand swift war chariots, one thousand heavy war chariots and one hundred thousand soldiers. Besides, you will require enough provisions for them to cover a thousand miles. Therefore it will spend one thousand pieces of gold a day for the expenditure both at home and on the front, for the entertainment of advisers and counsellors, for the maintenance cost of materials such as glue and lacquer, chariots and armours. After you have had enough money, your hundred thousand bold warriors can go out to battle.

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Part 9
In military operations a long-drawn-out victory will make the whole army dull and tired out, and dampen the spirit and enthusiasm of the soldiers; a drawn-out siege of a city will exhaust their strength; a protracted campaign abroad will deplete the financial resources of the state. If the army is tired out, the soldiers' enthusiasm is dampened and their strength exhausted, and the state's treasury is depleted, the neighbouring princes will take advantage of your difficulty and attack you and do you harm. By that time, not even an able or wise counsellor can steer clear of danger to safety.

Though we have heard of criticism of a hasty campaign, we have never seen the cleverness in prolonging a war, and we have never heard a protracted war can benefit a country. It is obvious that he who doesn't fully understand the dangers inherent in military operations cannot fully master the method of conducting the army in a profitable way.

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Part 10
He who is adept in military operations never raises an army twice nor provides food again and again. He brings along military supplies from his own country, and obtains provisions in the enemy state. In this way, the whole army can be sufficiently provided with food.

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Part 11
Generally, transporting supplies to a distant place will impoverish the state that dispatches troops to wage war. At the same time, it will render the common people destitute. Besides, the prices of commodities normally soar near the battleground or the area where the troops are stationed; and the high price will drain away the common people's financial resources; and the financial exhaustion will lead to urgent exactions. With such financial depletion, every household in the country is stripped bare, about seven-tenths of the people's wealth is sent, and six-tenths of the state's revenue is dissipated, with chariots broken, horses worn out, weapons lost or worn, including armours and helmets.arrows and crossbows, halberds and bucklers, spears and shields, draught oxen and heavy wagons and the like.

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Part 12
Hence a wise commander should strive to get provisions in the enemy state. The consumption of one zhong* of food from the enemy is equivalent to twenty zhong from his own land; and the consumption of one dan* of enemy fodder to twenty dan of his.

*zhong: ancient Chinese unit of dry measure for food.
*dan: ancient Chinese unit of dry measure for grain.

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Part 13
If you want to slay the enemy, you must first rouse the hatred of your soldiers for the enemy, if you want to obtain the enemy's property, you must first give your soldiers material reward. If your army captures ten chariots in a chariot battle, you must reward the first who took the enemy's chariot. Replace the enemy's flags and banners with your own and mix the captured chariots with yours. At the same time, you should treat the captives well and know how to choose them for the right positions. As the saving goes, 'The more times you defeat the enemy the stronger you will be!'

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Part 14
Military operations should aim at speedy victory and not prolonged campaigns.

Therefore, the commander who is versed in the art of war is the man to determine the people's fate and to control the security of the nation.

Preliminary Calculations--The Art of War

Part 1

Sun Tzu said: What is war? It may be described as one of the most important affairs to the state. It is the ground* of death or life of both soldiers and people, and the way* that governs the survival or the ruin of the state. So we must deliberately examine and study it.

*ground: battlefield.
*way: in ancient Chinese language 'way' means law, principle, or reason.

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Part 2
Therefore we should analyse and compare the conditions of ourselves and an enemy from five factors in order to forecast if we will win before the beginning of war. The five factors are as follows: the first is way; the second, heaven; the third, earth; the fourth, generals or commanders, and the firth, law.

What is the way? The way may make the people in complete accord with their ruler in their goals and cause them to share weal and woe fearlessly during the war. What is the heaven? The heaven means day and night, cold and heat, and the sequence of the seasons.

What is the earth? The earth signifies whether the battleground is distant or near, whether the terrain is strategically difficult or secure, vast or narrow, and whether conditions are favourable or unfavourable to the chance of survival.

What is the general or commander? The general or commander may be one who is a high ranking military officer with five virtues: intelligence, trustworthiness, benevolence, courage, and sternness.

What is the law? The law refers to the military establishment, the assignment of officers at all levels, and the allocation and use of military supplies.

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Part 3
Whoever leads soldiers to fight must be familiar with the above-mentioned five factors. Only he who thoroughly understands them can win victory. If he is not well versed in these, he may be defeated. Therefore, in order to analyse and compare the conditions of the opposing sides according to a scheme to determine whether our side will win or not, the following questions should be asked:

Which ruler is the one who is popular with the people?

Which general is the one who has ability?

Which side has the more favourable climate and the advantageous terrain?

Whose discipline is more effective?

Which side possesses military superiority?

Which side has soldiers and officers that are better trained?

Whose system of rewards and punishments is fairer and clearer?

We may forecast the outcome of a battle if we have a careful consideration of them.

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Part 4
The general who adopts my schemes or stratagems will surely win while commanding at the front, and will surely retain his general's position. If he does not adopt my advice, he will certainly suffer defeat at the front, and will not keep his post.

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Part 5
The general, having paid attention to my useful schemes or stratagems, must establish his force which will help him realize his plan. What is force? It means that a general should formulate his tactics according to what is expedient.

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Part 6
Any military operation takes deception as its basic quality. A commander who is competent should pretend to be incompetent, he who is ready to use military force should pretend to delay his action; he whose troops draw near the enemy should make it seem as if his troops were still far away; and he whose troops are far away from the enemy should let the enemy believe he is drawing near. A good commander must offer a bait to allure the enemy who covets small advantages, capture the enemy when he is in disorder, take precautions against the enemy who has good preparation and substantial strength, evade for a time the enemy while he is strong, enrage the enemy who is hot-tempered, pretend to be weak in order to make the enemy arrogant or haughty, wear the enemy out if he has taken a good rest, set one party against another within the enemy if they are united. A commander must understand how to attack where the enemy is unprepared, and hit when it is unexpected. All the above-mentioned is the key to military victory, but it is never possible to formulate a fixed plan beforehand.

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Part 7
It gives a general greater advantage to win to make military decisions in the temple* even before fighting a battle, and less advantage if he makes no military decision in the temple before doing battle. He who plans and prepares carefully will find himself in a favourable position and win victory; he who does so carelessly will find himself in an unfavourable position and win no victory. How much worse off it is for those who do not prepare carefully at all. In this way, we can see clearly who may win and who may lose. *make military decision in the temple: doing battle is a matter of vital importance to the nation , the generals must hold a ceremony for military actions and forecasting the outcome of war.

The Bun Festival in Cheung Chau

Cheung Chau, a 2.4-square-kilometre outlying island situated to the southwest of Hong Kong Island, is a city dwellers's paradise: there are no skyscrapers, no vehicles and none of the disturbance of modern city life. However, in the fourth lunar month each year, this quiet island is transformed into a hive of activity when the fascinating Bun Festival, Cheung Chau's main claim to fame, takes place.

A Harbour Free From The Commotion of the City

Cheung Chau is 12 kilometres from Hong Kong Island, and it takes around an hour to get there by ferry. When the Bun Festival is not in full swing, visitors are soaked in the atmosphere of a typical fishing village.

Cheung Chau looks very similar to a dumbbell: it was formed by two separate islets linked together by a gradually-accumulated sand bank. As a result, both the north and south ends of the island are hilly while the central region, the isthmus, is narrow and flat, providing an ideal location for housing. To the east of the isthmus if Tung Wan, a beautiful beach with clear water and soft sand, while to the west is a pier with Chinese-style fishing boasts shuttling to and fro. The distance between the two spots is only 200 metres.

Strolling along the maze-like lanes on the island, you feel as if you have been taken back to a fishing village lost in time. The majority of the stalls lining both sides of the lanes sell seafood and dried sea produce; a fishy whiff assails you pass them. The rest are groceries and various restaurants.

Though the lanes zigzag, visitors will not get lost--simply remember that the main streets on the islands run from north to south down the narrow isthmus. Following them in either direction will bring you to the two main tourist attractions on the island: the Tin Hau Temple in the south, dedicated to Tin Hau, the Goddess of the Sea, and the Pak Tai Temple to the north, where the Lord of the North (Pak Tail), the fishermen's patron deity, is enshrined and worshipped.

Since Cheung Chau enjoys such tranquillity and ambience, it has emerged as a popular holiday resort for townsfolk. Many people, including some foreigners, even settle in Cheung Chau, treating this small island as their home town.

The Bun Festival: Entertaining Gods, Spirits and Men

The annual Taiping Qingjiao (Peaceful Taoist Sacrificial Ceremony) better known as the Bun Festival in English, is a thrilling carnival for the islanders. Each year, the peaceful fishing village is converted into a place bursting with joy and excitement: the bay is packed with fishing boats and yachts from near and afar; the streets are decorated with colourful flags; tens of thousands of tourists from Hong Kong and overseas pour into the area, bringing liveliness and jubilation to the island.

In high spirits, the inhabitants of Cheung Chau begin their preparations several days before the grand ceremony. Scaffolds are erected and decorated with multi-coloured paper flowers contributed by various associations and neighbourhood committees. Written on them are prayers for luck and good health, messages offering thanks for gods' blessing, and the names of the contributors. On the square outside the Pak Tai Temple, a bamboo stage and a temporary altar are built, and three gigantic "bun towers" are erected.

During the festival, there is a tradition that the residents stop slaughtering and give up meat for three days. Most of the restaurants on the island serve only vegetarian foods in this period of fasting. Respecting the local customs, foreigners living there generally follow suit.

Opinions vary concerning the origins of the Bun Festival. The prevalent theory goes like this: in the middle of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Cheung Chau was devastated by a storm, followed by an outbreak of the plague which claimed many lives. The island was believed to be haunted. In view of this, a sacrificial ceremony was performed by the inhabitants, on the one hand to placate the lingering spirits of the dead, on the other hand to pray for the gods' favour for the living. The island was clear thereafter. This tradition passed on from generation to generation and has now transformed into a major Chinese festival held in the fourth lunar month.

In fact, the original ritual of the Bun Festival has undergone some changes. In the past, the festival reached its climax with the rite of "snatching the bun towers"' in which villagers competed with each other in scrambling up the mountains to grab the lucky buns. However, following an accident in the 1970s when the bun towers collapsed causing injuries, the rite ceased. Buns are now distributed, and an exhilarating parade has replaced the rite as the climax of the festival. Meanwhile, the objective of this Taoist service has changed too. Formely, the aim was to pay homage to the gods and to placate the ghosts, but now the living are also considered.

The Fascinating 'Float Procession' --Piaose

The ceremony is held in the open area outside Pak Tai Temple, and the venue is crowded with people early in the morning. The three giant bun towers, 16 metres high, are covered with numerous white buns, each garnished with a red mark. They are called the "nether buns", as no one can eat them until the ghosts have had their fill, but are also referred to as the "lucky buns"' since the locals believe that eating the buns will bring them good luck. Traditional Cantonese opera is performed on the stage at the centre of the square day and night throughout the festival. The temporary altar is decorated with several enormous effigies of deities and giant incense sticks, creating an extraordinary display.

The climax of the festival builds up gradually from the afternoon. The ceremony begins with lion and dragon dancing. The statues of various deities enshrined in different temples on the island are then respectfully transported to the square, where they are worshipped by the inhabitants. Soon after, the impressive parade starts.

A procession composed of members of lion and dragon dancing teams, martial art performers, folk dancers, and children of the piaose parade representing various organisations start out from the square of the Pak Tai Temple, proceeding along the main streets lined with an enthusiastic audience. They head towards the open area outside the Tin Hau Temple, the "stage" for these entertainers. Guests and overseas visitors gather here to admire the spectacular performances.

Overseas travellers are astonished by the Piaose (literally, "Floating Colours"), or the "Float Procession": children dressed up as characters from Chinese folklore--heroes, fairies, demons, scholars and beauties, as well as modern celebrities. They "float" shoulder-high above the crowd to the bewilderment of foreigners: how can the children "stand" on a cup, a paper fan, or even the tip of a sword? The truth is that each of the young performers is actually safely secured by an exquisitely -designed steel frame camouflaged with delicate props. creating the illusion that the children are "gliding through the air". The parents are proud of their kids being elected as a Pialse performer as they believe the child will be blessed.

The carnival still carries on in spite of the end of the procession. Several lion dancing teams entertain the crowd by showing their superb skills. Villages in the parade carrying the statues of deities in sedans compete with each other to send the "gods" back to the temporary altar for good luck, and devotees follow to flock to the altar, praying and offering sacrifices to the gods.

Exotic Sacrificial Ceremony and Bun Distribution

At dusk, in Pak Tai Temple's square, dozens of "nether feasts" are prepared--sacrifices composed of food, wine and daily necessities dedicated to the spirits of the victims of all kinds of disasters. Taoist monks pray for the ghosts so as to placate them; villagers burn incense sticks in front of the sacrifice, inviting the lingering spirits to enjoy the offerings. The surrounding spectators get the feeling that they, too, have entered the nether world.

Fifteen minutes to midnight and the rite is brought to its climax: the paper effigy of the "King of Ghosts" is set on fire in the open area. Without waiting for the extinction of the bonfire, the islanders hurry to grab the offerings of the nether feasts. According to local beliefs, the sacrifices will bring peace to them.

At midnight, the crowd gathers around the bun towers. This was formerly the time to snatch the buns, but today the buns are distributed. All the same, the inhabitants of the island still look forward to this annual event. Several men climb up the immense bun towers to "harvest" the buns with long hooked sticks. They are collected in large bamboo baskets and distributed to the villagers, who are pleased to have a share of these auspicious buns.

Most travellers disperse after this rite, but the locals stay on for the performances staged on the temporary "theatre" throughout the night, immersing themselves in the jovial atmosphere.

Chongyang Festival

The Chongyang Festival falls on the ninth day of the nonth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, so it is also known as the Double Ninth Festival.

The festival is based on the theory of Yin and Yang, the two opposing principles in nature. Yin is feminine, negative principle, while Yang is masculine and positive. The ancients believed that all natural phenomena could be esplained by this theory. Numbers are related to this theory. Even numbers belong to Yin and odd numbers to Yang. The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is a day when the two Yang numbers meet. So it is called Chongyang. Chong means double in Chinese.Chongyang has been an important festival since ancient times.

The festival is held in the golden season of autumn, at harvest -time. The bright clear weather and the joy of bringing in the harvest make for a festive happy atmosphere.The Double Ninth Festival is usually perfect for outdoor activities. Many people go hiking and climbing in the country, enjoying Mother Nature's final burst of color before she puts on her dull winter cloak. Some will carry a spray of dogwood.

It is hard to say when these customs were created. But there are many stories which are closely related. The book Xu Qi Xie Ji ,written by Wu Jun in the sixth century has one such story. In ancient times, there lived a man named Huan Jing. He was learning the magic arts from Fei Changfang, who had become an immortal after many years of practicing Taoism. One day, the two were climbing a muntain. Fei Changfang suddenly stopped and looked very upset. He told Huan Jing,On the ninth day of the ninth month, disaster will come to your hometown. You must go home immediately. Remember to make a red bag for each one of your family members and put a spray of dogwood in every one. Then you must all tie your bags to your arms, leave home quickly and climb to the top of a mountain. Most importantly, you must all drink some chrysanthemum wine. Only by doing so can your family avoid this disaster.

On hearing this, Huan Jing rushed home and asked his family to do exactly as his teacher said. The whole family climbed a nearby mountain and did not return until the evening. When they got back home, they found all their animals dead, including chickens, sheep,dogs and even the powerful ox. Later Huan Jing told his teacher, Fei Changfang, about this. Fei said the poultry and livestock died in place of Huan Jing's family, who escaped disaster by following his instructions.

And so it happened that climbing a mountain, carring a spray of dogwood and drinking chrysanthemum wine became the traditional activities of the Chongyang Festival.

The dogwood is a plant with a strong fragrance, and is often used as a Chinese herbal medicine. People in ancient times believed it could drive away evil spirits and prevent one from getting a chill in lalte autumn. So its history as a medicine goes back many centuries. But the custom of carrying a spray of dogwood during the Double Ninth Festival is slowly dying out and many people, especially young people in the cities, do not even know what a dogwood spray looks like.

Even thouht the tradition of carrying a few sptigs of dogwood dies out, that of climbing mountains is reaching new heights.

Early in the Western Han Dynasty, about 2,000 years ago, people used to climb a high platform outside the capital city of Chang'an on the occasion of the Chongyang Festival. For many, it was the last outing of the year before the onset of winter. The custom evolved into its present form, when people go climbing to get some exercise as well as enjoy the autumn scenery.

But what about those people who live in flat regions far from any mountain? The problem is solved by going for a picnic and eating cakes. The Chinese word for cake is Gao, a homonym of the Chinese word for high. Mountains are high, so eating cake can, by a stretch of the imagination, take the place of going for a climb.

Since nine is the highest odd digit, people take two of them together to signify longevity. Therefore, the ninth day of the ninth month has become a special day for people to pay their respects to the elderly and a day for the elderly to enjoy themselves. It has also been declared China's day for the elderly.

A Wedding Without Bridegroom

Occasionally the procedure of some of minority nationalities' marriage in Yunnan like this, engaged, married, the bride goes back her mother's home for living, pregnant, birth and bride come back to husband's home, then begin to fall in love and romantic life again. It is quite different from ours. It is happened to meet a wedding of Yi nation without the bridegroom in a county of Yunnan. A bride is sitting on the grassland and a colorful scarf covers the face, many people around her, it seems no any merry atmosphere on the wedding ceremony. The sisters of the bride prepare ready the wine, cooked pig head and eggs, the aunt of the bride takes off the scarf and combs the hair for her under the sun. She looks a little bit of shames on face. The wedding is going on officially. Every three eggs are put in five bowls separately, a half of pig head and a bottle of wine; all of these are set before the bride. An old man, Bimo (a priest with rich traditional cultural knowledge) prays for the happiness for her, then the relatives of the bride, who are the people with the red cloth strips around the heads, enjoy and share the pig head, eggs and wine. They pray the good lucks for bride together while they drink, they will send the bride back home before sunset. It is a greatly question that where is the bridegroom?

In the fact the bride had lived with her lover for a time, called common-law marriage, which had been considered as a very happy marriage by all people in the village, she can be living with her husband after 3 years of at her home. The bridegroom now is drinking at his home and waiting for her bride.

Mazu and Mazu Culture

Over 1,000 years ago, a beautiful young firl by the name of Lin Mu was born at the Xianliang Port of Meizhou Bay in Putian, Fujian Province. Clever, brave and kindhearted, Lin Mu could forecast the weather and was happy to help fishermen in distress at sea. She encouraged the people to conquer nature and defeat evil, so she was much loved and esteemed by the people in her hometown. Unfortunately she died an early death at only 28. As the legend goes, she ascended to heaven and became an immortal at Meizhou Bay located opposite to the Xianliang Port.

For more over 1,000 years, she has been living, with a composed and tender smile, in the hearts of the people. The people pay homage to her, respectfully calling her fairy, the daughter of dragon, goddness, the mother or Mazu ( a title of respect for an aged woman): rulers of past dynasties upheld her and granted her the titles of "Lady", "Heavenly Queen" and "Holy Mother"; the times have bestowed her a series of loveable and respected names such as "Goddess of the Sea", "Goddness of the the Straits" and "Goddess of Peace of the Straits".

She is none other than the world-renowned Mazu, goddess of the sea, of Fujian, China.


The hairstyle of Mazu
The respect for Mazu has turned into a wide-spread belief with the passage of time. Following the footprints of sea merchants and overseas Chinese, Mazu went out of Putian, out of Fujian and out of China, making her presence in many corners of Asia, America, Australia and Europe. Consequently, over 1,500 Mazu temples are found all over the world, where Muzu from Meizhou are consecrated. The belief in Mazu has become a sort of transnational folk belief with more than 100 million worshippers. However, different from a religion in the ordinary sense, is a special kind of ideology connected with thropology, religion, folklore, sociology as well as the history of sea commnication overseas Chinese, culture and the development of Fujian and Taiwan. This is the culture of Mazu which has aroused an extensive interest and great attention of Chinese and foreign scholars and is now under integral part of the culture of the Chinese nation and a part of the brilliant civilization of China.

In recent years, there are a number of academic groups, experts and schoolars working on research of Mazu and published special works on the subject in Taiwan, Hongkong and Macao regions and in such countries as Japan, the United States, France, Singapore and Malaysia. The research on the Mazu culture has a great appeal and cohesive force to the Chinese both at home and abroad. Now the achievements in the research on the Mazu culture have become valuable material in the research on the history of navigation, science, overseas Chinese, development of off-shore islands and economic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries as well as the history of folklore and religion of ancient China.

For geographical and historical reasons, the belief in Mazu at Taiwan has turned out to be a popular belief. According to statistics, around two-thirds of the population in Taiwan believe in Mazu, and more than 500 Mazu temples are scattered on the island. In the wake of improving relations between both sides of the Straits, tens of thousands of Taiwan compatriots swarmed to the Meizhou Island to dedicate their piety at Mazu temples to fulfil their sincere wish which they had cherished for decades. The unique Mazu Pilgrim Tour will undoubtedly breakthrough the artificial hedge standing between the people on both sides of the Straits.

Chinese Gardens

Chinese garden design reached its fullest development during the late Ming dynasty, where gardens were commonly found in homes of the elite. Gardens were particularly prevalent in southeastern China south of the Yangzi, especially in Hangzhou (p308), Yangzhou (p233) and Suzhou (p243).

Rather than lawn and flowers, the three principle elements of Chi- nese gardens are rock, water and stone, arranged in formations that mimic well-known mountains or paintings. Gardening was considered an intellectual pursuit and calligraphy, poetic names, references to liter- ary classics and other complementary art forms are featured in many Chinese gardens.

Although many are park-like in scale, historically Chinese gardens were nothing like the public parks of today. They were compounds to which only a tiny portion of the population ever had access. The larger and grander of these were imperial, existing to please and entertain the emperor. In prosperous regions, private gardens also proliferated in cer- tain periods. At its peak Suzhou had hundreds of gardens, and the city was registered as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1997 in recognition of those that remain. The numerous pavilions dotted around the gardens were used for

everything from meditating and playing chess to musical performances and banqueting.

CHINA'S TOP 10 GARDENS

Beihai Park, Beijing

Summer Palace, Beijing

Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai

Garden of the Master of the Nets, Suzhou, Jiangsu

Humble Administrator's Garden, Suzhou, Jiangsu

Slender West Lake, Yangzhou, Jiangsu

Cuihu Park, Kunming, Yunnan

Wuhou Temple, Chengdu, Sichuan

Shuzhuang Garden, Gulang Yu, Fujian

Du Fu's Cottage, Chengdu, Sichuan

Chinese Architecture

Architecture

China's architectural history stretches back more than 3000 years, mak- ing it one of the longest of any civilisation. Many different materials and finishes can be seen throughout Chinese architecture - wood, rammed earth, masonry, stone, thatch, tiles, plaster and paint. Its use depended on function, cost, availability and aesthetics.

HISTORY

Few structures survive from before the 8th century AD. Many early build- ings were constructed in wood, which has long since disappeared, with more durable buildings often destroyed by war. Much of what is known has been gathered from references to building in literature, song and artwork.

Until Qin Shi Huang became first emperor around 220 ���� and unified China under a centralised system, there was no such thing as a Chinese national architecture. Under Qin Shi Huang's rule large and impressively decorated structures were built. This period saw the beginnings of what would later become the Great Wall.

It is from the Tang and Song dynasties that the first surviving structures appear. Buildings were painted in bright colours, with great attention to detail. When the Mongols ousted the Song in the late 13th century, they contributed little of their own culture to architecture, instead choosing to imitate and rebuild the style of the Chinese.

Beijing was the long-standing capital during the Ming and Qing dynas- ties. The Forbidden City (p110) showcases the architecture of the time. In it we can see the epitome of traditional Chinese architectural ideas of monumentality and symmetry, with strong use of colour and decoration.

WESTERN INFLUENCE & MODERN ARCHITECTURE

China had early contact with foreign traders along the Silk Road, but it was not until the establishment of Western trading headquarters and banks in the late 18th century that a colonial influence in architecture made its presence felt. The Portuguese, Germans, British, Dutch, Spanish and Russians, among others, established communities and constructed buildings using foreign architects and Chinese craftsmen.

It was not until the 20th century that Chinese architects designed Western-style buildings themselves. Buildings with sleek, clean lines, flat roofs and materials such as steel and glass had appeared in Shanghai by the 1940s. There was for some time a push to revive the tradi- tional Chinese style, but this proved uneconomical and was eventually abandoned.

The 1990s especially saw China drawing up an increasingly ambi- tious building agenda. Beijing, in particular, is being transformed for the 2008 Olympics and losing much of its traditional architecture. With so many construction projects currently under way, it's uncertain what China will look like in the not so distant future. Some cities, such as Lijiang (p666) and Zhouzhuang (p250), have been designated Unesco World Heritage sites and are good places to see China's few remaining traditional buildings.

RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE

All Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian temples are built on a north-south axis, with the main door of each hall facing south. Beijing's hutong courtyards were traditionally also constructed on this axis. Most temples tend to follow a strict schematic pattern, depending on the faith. The shape of the roof, the placement of the beams and columns and the location of deities are all carefully placed following the use of feng shui (meaning wind and water), a complex cosmological system designed to create harmonious surroundings in accordance with the natural laws of the universe.

The exteriors of many temples in China look similar. However, Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian temples are all fairly easy to distinguish, once you know what to look for. Buddhist temples have fewer images, except for statues of the Buddha, seated in the middle of the temple on an altar. Guanyin is the next most common deity you'll see, sometimes accom- panied by other bodhisattvas. Pagodas are common features of Buddhist temples, built to house Sanskrit sutras, religious artefacts and documents or to store the ashes of the deceased. A number of pagodas stand alone in China, their adjacent temples gone.

Taoist and folk temples are much gaudier inside, with brightly painted statues of deities and colourful murals of scenes from Chinese mythology. On the main altar is the principle deity of the temple, often flanked by some lesser-ranked gods. Fierce-looking temple guardians are often painted on the doors to the entrance of the temple to scare away evil spirits. Large furnaces also stand in the courtyard; these are for burning 'ghost money', paper money meant to keep the ancestors happy in heaven.

Wutai Shan, Tai Shan, Qingcheng Shan, Wudang Shan and Putuoshan are China's famous sacred mountains and are excellent places to visit Buddhist and Taoist temples.

Confucian temples are the most sedate and lack the colour and noise Environment Korina Miller of Taoist or Buddhist temples. Not nearly as active or as colourful as their Taoist or Buddhist cousins, they often have a faded and musty feel. Their courtyards are a forest of stelae celebrating local scholars, some supported on the backs of bixi (mythical tortoise-like animals). The Confucius Temples in Qufu , Shandong province, and Beijing are very famous.

In addition to Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian buildings, Islamic architecture may also be found across China, most of it dating after the 14th century and influenced by Central Asian styles and often combined with local Chinese style.

Chinese Music

TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Musical instruments have been unearthed from tombs dating back to the Shang dynasty and Chinese folk songs can be traced back at least this far. Traditional Chinese instrumens are often based on ancient Chinese poetry, making them very symbolic in form. Two books of the Confucian canon, the Book of Songs and the Book of Rites both dwell on music, the first actually being a collection of songs and poems, formerly set to music.
The traditional Chinese music scale differs from its Western equiva- lent. Unlike Western music, tone is considered more important than melody. Music to the Chinese was once believed to have cosmological significance and in early times, if a musician played in the wrong tone,it could indicate the fail of a dynasty.
Traditional Chinese musical instruments include the two-stringed fiddle (erhu), four-stringed banjo (yue qin), two-stringed viola (huqin), vertical flute (dongxiao),- horizontal flute (dizi), piccolo (bangdi), four- stringed lute (pipa), zither (guzheng) and ceremonial trumpet (suona). Traditional music places a lot of emphasis on percussion, which is what you'll most likely hear at funerals, temples and weddings.
China's ethnic minorities have preserved their own folk song traditions;a trip to Lijiang in Yunnan gives you the chance to appreciate the ancient sounds of the local Naxi orchestra.The communist anthem 'The East is Red' developed from a folk song popular in northern China and later became a defining element of the Cultural Revolution. Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth (opposite) contains many beautiful folk songs of this region.
Many department stores in China sell traditional Chinese instruments like flutes and piccolos and most music stores sell recordings of opera and instrumental music.

CHINESE OPERA

Chinese opera has been formally in existence since the northern Song dynasty, developing out of China's long balladic tradition.

Performances were put on by travelling entertainers, often families, in teahouses frequented by China's working classes. Performances were drawn from popular legends and folklore. Beijing opera became officially recognised in 1790, when perform- ances were staged for the imperial family.

There are over 300 types of opera in China, Beijing opera being the most familiar to West- erners. Other types include Yue opera and Kunqu opera, among others. Yue opera is commonly performed in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. Its singing and dialogue are all in Cantonese dialect. In addition to Chinese traditional instruments, Western instruments such as the violin, saxophone, cello and double bass are also used. Kunqu opera, originating in Jiangsu, is notable for its soft melodies and the use of the flute.

Chinese opera is fascinating for its use of make-up, acrobatics and elaborate costumes. Face painting derives from the early use of masks worn by players and each colour suggests the personality and attributes that define a character. Chinese audiences can tell instantly the per- sonality of characters by their painted faces. In addition, the status of a character is suggested by the size of headdress worn - the more elaborate, the more significant the character. The four major roles in Chinese opera are the female role, the male role, the 'painted-face' role (for gods and warriors), and the clown.

POPULAR MUSIC

China's thriving music industry came about in the 1980s, a time when many younger Chinese were becoming more exposed to international music trends. The energetic Hong Kong song industry had for years been popular in China, with its twinkle-eyed and pretty emissaries (Aaron Kwok, Faye Wong, Andy Lau, Kelly Chen, Jackie Cheung et al) warbling their catchy, saccharine melodies. Further north, however, their harmless songs of love and loss impacted with a growing rock scene. Cui Jian, the singer and guitarist whose politically subversive lyrics provoked authori- ties, led the way for a slew of gritty bands who hacked away at the edifice of rock and metal (Tang Dynasty) and punk (Underground Baby, Brain Failure). Nowadays, major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have a thriv- ing underground music scene and plenty of places to hear live music.