Hair pins are perhaps, still the most popular and widely used hair accessories available. You would be surprised to know that hair pins date back to the earliest civilizations. Along with pieces of trinkets like bangles and necklaces, archeologists have also discovered exquisitely designed hairpins from the remnants of these civilizations. For generations, the world has believed that a beautiful long mane is the defining feature of most beautiful
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Hairpins for different hair styles
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Old Hutongs of Beijing
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
A hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where hutongs run into the several thousand. Surrounding the Forbidden City, many were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming(1368-1628) and Qing(1644-1908) dynasties. In the prime of these dynasties the emperors, in order to establish supreme power for themselves, planned the city and arranged the residential areas according to the etiquette systems of the Zhou Dynasty. The center of the city of Beijing was the royal palace — the Forbidden City.
One kind of hutongs, usually referred to as the regular hutong, was near the palace to the east and west and arranged in orderly fashion along the streets. Most of the residents of these hutongs were imperial kinsmen and aristocrats. Another kind, the simple and crude hutong, was mostly located far to the north and south of the palace. The residents were merchants and other ordinary people.
The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles–a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard . The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents. The big quadrangles of high- ranking officials and wealthy merchants were specially built with roof beams and pillars all beautifully carved and painted, each with a front yard and back yard. However, the ordinary people’s quadrangles were simply built with small gates and low houses. hutongs, in fact, are passageways formed by many closely arranged quadrangles of different sizes. The specially built quadrangles all face the south for better lighting; as a result, a lot of hutongs run from east to west. Between the big hutongs many small ones went north and south for convenient passage.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty unified and closed China came under influence from abroad, having experienced change of dynasties and the vicissitudes of life. The stereotyped arrangement of the hutong was also affected. Many newly formed hutongs with irregular houses appeared outside the city, while many old ones lost their former neat arrangement. The social status of the residents also changed, reflecting the collapse of the feudal system. During the period of the Republic of China (1911-1948), Chinese society was unstable, with frequent civil wars and repeated foreign invasions.
The city of Beijing deteriorated, and the conditions of the hutong worsened. Quadrangles previously owned by one family became a compound occupied by many households.
After the founding of the people’s Republic of China in 1949, hutong conditions improved. In recent years, the houses in many hutongs have been pulled down and replaced by modern buildings. Many hutong dwellers have moved to new housing.
The hutong today is fading into the shade for both tourists and inhabitants. However, in the urban district of Beijing houses along hutongs still occupy one third of the total area, providing housing for half the population, so many hutongs have survived. In this respect, we see the old in the new in Beijing as an ancient yet modern city.
Traditional Chinese music instruments
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Historical records indicate that there used to be 1,000 or so musical instruments in use in ancient times. Today, some 500 of them are extant. The earliest of them date back to more than 8,000 years ago.
Traditional Chinese musical instruments were closely associated with the rise of music in China. They are symbols of Chinese culture. In old times, they were also indicators of the level of productivity.
There are mainly the following styles instruments used and popular in ancient China history.
Gu-qin
seven-stringed zither without bridges, the most classical Chinese instrument with over 3000 years of history. Literally, Gu Qin means “Ancient Musical Instrument”. It is a seven string plucked Chinese musical instrument of zither family. Its sound is very peaceful, like resounding in a valley.
Being on top of the four traditional arts, the guqin has historically been regarded as one of the most important symbols of Chinese high culture. Unfortunately only small number of people in China could play the instrument, because classical musical education of this kind has never reached general public.
Gu-zheng
Chinese zither with movable bridges and 16 – 25 strings. There are Guzhengs with even more strings. The guzheng is a similar instrument to many Asian instruments such as the Japanese koto, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese ?àn tranh.
The modern-day guzheng (gu jirn) is a plucked half-tube zither with movable bridges and 21 strings. However, the number of strings may range anywhere from 15 to 25. A customized version even exists with more than 44 strings. The strings were formerly made of twisted silk, but at the turn of the 20th century most players used metal strings (generally steel for the high strings and copper-wound steel for the bass strings). Currently most performers use steel strings flatwound with nylon.
Er-hu
Two-string bowed Chinese musical instrument, known in the West as the “Chinese violin” or “Chinese two-string fiddle”. Playing the erhu is accomplished usually via sitting with the box on one knee and the erhu held virtually vertical. The bow is strung between the two strings (which are close) and bowing causes both strings to vibrate. The left hand alters the tone of the strings by pressing on the string at the normal harmonic points. As the instrument has no frets, the tone is slightly muddled, but resonant.
Pipa
A plucked Chinese musical instrument with four strings. Sometimes called the Chinese lute. It has a pear-shaped wooden body. This instrument resembles the Spanish guitar in some ways, with long fingernails being cultivated to pluck the strings. The Pipa has a history of over 2,000 years spanned from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. The most common pipa has a body with a short neck and a wooden belly. There are 19 to 26 bamboo frets called Xiang on the neck. The Xiang are either made of wood, jade, or elephant tusks. A pipa traditionally had 4 silk strings mostly with common tunes of A, D, E, and A. With the pipa held vertically in the lap, the player plays it using imitation fingers. This allows more freedom for the player to perform various techniques on the four strings. The range of techniques that can be used are the widest among all of the Chinese plucked-strings, making it the most expressive instrument in the plucked-string section. Some of the techniques include: fretted pitch-bends, tremolos, various double and triple, and a continuous strumming of the strings with four fingers. We bought ours in Zhengzhou in 1999. They come in different sizes. Ours is a smaller one.
Dizi ( Bamboo Flute )
Dizi, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, became popular as early as the Warring States Period (475-221BC). It first appeared in Hemudu Clan (in present-day Hubei Province) 7,000 years ago.
This transverse bamboo flute has a blowing hole, a stop hole and six finger holes. The two holes furthest from the player and fundamental tone holes and next to them are two auxiliary tone holes. Its range is two and a half octaves. During the blossoming of the art of opera in the late Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, Dizi was adopted as an accompanying instrument for various kinds of stage dramas.
Xiao
is a Chinese vertical end-blown flute. It is generally made of dark brown bamboo (called “purple bamboo” in Chinese). It is also sometimes (particularly in Taiwan) called dongxiao, dòng meaning “hole.” An ancient name for the xiao is “vertical bamboo flute”, but the name xiāo in ancient times also included the side-blown bamboo flute, dizi.
China Food Therapy
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
Chinese food therapy is a practice of healing using natural foods instead of medications.
Chinese food therapy is a modality of traditional Chinese medicine, also known as Chinese Nutrition therapy. It is particularly popular among Cantonese people who enjoy slow-cooked soups.
Chinese food therapy dates back as early as 2000 BC. However, proper documentation was only found around 500 BC. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine also known as the Niejing, which was written around 300 BC, was most important in forming the basis of Chinese food therapy. It classified food by four food groups, five tastes and by their natures and characteristics.
During the Chau dynasty (16 BC), food therapy was established as a specialist field. The state even had a food specialist serving the emperor in the imperial court. It was during the Tang dynasty (608-906 AD) that food therapy became popular and the classic books on the subject were published.
Throughout Chinese history, healthcare was not the responsibility of the state but rather the responsibility of every ordinary citizen. People used their own resources to find cures when they became sick, which meant that most people could not afford to be sick. This is why preventive healthcare is so popular in China. Out of the four pillars of health – lifestyle, diet, exercise and mind – diet is most important because food is considered the primary cause of sickness as well as the main reason for living long and healthy.
Food plays a center role in Chinese culture. Cooking good food for family members is a lifelong profession for most women. Children are brought up with some knowledge of the nature of their daily foods. Dietary restriction is commonly understood and observed. Eating well and healthy is almost a national obsession and definitely the most valued activity of family life.
Some common food therapy items and recipes
Oral secretion of swiftlets, collected from the binding material of their nests.
Alleged effects: promote beautiful skin for women; “strengthen the spleen and open up the stomach” (meaning improve appetite. Vegetables and fruits are believed to nullify the effect of bird nest if taken within the same day.
The dried material is soaked in water to rehydrate.
The soaked bird nest is cleaned by hand to remove other nest building debris such as grass and feathers.
The cleaned and crumbled bird nest is double steamed with rock sugar as a dessert or with a small amount of pork as a soup.