The Chinese Culture Company
March is the month when Beijing starts to warm up and spring arrives! What else is happening? Of course it’s Women’s Day on March 8th, but there are two more traditional events of note this month too – ‘Insects Awakening’ and Guanyin’s birthday.
Read on to find out more about these noteworthy dates in March!
Continue reading “Noteworthy Dates in the Chinese Calendar – March 2021 Edition”
If you’ve been into the underpass at Beijing’s Guomao intersection (between the south-east corner under the bus station to exit C of the subway station) recently, you have probably noticed this massive mural on the wall at the western end. It’s entitled ‘The Gods go to Work’ and this explosion of colour is full of recognisable – and not so recognisable – homages to Chinese and specifically Beijing culture, both traditional and modern. But what does it all mean and why is it at Guomao?
Read on to find out!
Continue reading “Modern take on traditional deities now on display in Beijing”
Love Halloween? Well, China has its own version, celebrated this year on September 2nd: the Hungry Ghost Festival (中元节 Zhōng Yuán Jié ). It is in fact just one day in a whole month where the gates of Hell are open and the dead walk among us…
Read on to find out more!
How wonderful is it when you stumble upon old photos of your grandparents or your hometown, and you can recognise details in them to connect them to your experiences and memories? The same thing happened in 1991 when Abbot Shi Yongxin of the Shaolin Temple paid a visit to Dharma Temple in Japan and discovered photos of the temple and the surrounding area taken in 1920!
Read on to see some of those pictures and see how the locations photographed look almost a century later!
Continue reading “The Shaolin Temple 100 years later: Photo comparison”
In 2020, the Lantern Festival (Yuánxiāo jié 元宵节) falls on February 8th, the fifteenth and final day of Spring Festival. Although it’s not a public holiday, it is still widely celebrated, especially in southern China and amongst the diaspora.
What’s this holiday all about and how can you celebrate it? Read on to find out!