弘道馆 Boundless Way Community Center

Wulingyuan - the Labyrinth of Nature

Wulingyuan is also a green treasury and a natural zoo. Over 97.7% of Zhangjiajie is clad with vast expanse of primitive sub-forests. There are 191 species of forest trees alone. Suoxiyu has 89 families of wooden plants with 570 species, of which are rare species including dove tree, ginkgo, spruce, etc… There are quite a few exotic flowers too, such as unique lobster flower, giant mountain lotus, and all sorts d azalea, iron plum and orchid. Flowers are in blossom all the year round with fragrance spread all over.
According to a preliminary survey, hundreds of species of animals are found in Wulingyuan. Among them are rare animals like rhesus, civet, giant salamander and pangolin; some 20 rare birds like tragopan, golden pheasant, red - billed leiothrix, etc ..

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Harbin - the “City of Ice”

Harbin - the “City of Ice”:

In winter Harbin is covered with snow everywhere and offers typical northern scenery. It is a good time for a trip there. The city attracts visitors particularly for its ice and snow festival. The festival usually opens in the first lunar month which normally begins in late January or early or mid-February of the solar year. Ice is carved into all kinds d images such as buildings and animals. When night falls, colored lights are turned on to enhance the beauty of the ice sculptures.

Mt. Emei - the Natural Museum

Mt. Emei - the Natural Museum:

Mount Emei is also a rich natural museum. Some 3,000 varieties of plants including the rare dove tree, fir plants more than 60 sorts of the azalea, one of the three most famous flowers, in the world, can be round. In addition to the rare animals, such as the lesser panda, serow, silver pheasant, leaffaded butterfly and bearded frog, the most attractive animals are the monkeys. They often cane and go on the winding corridors of the temples or on the small paths in the forest near the “Heavenly Abode of the Nine Immortals” and the “Elephant Pool Monastery”. They beg for food from the passers-by, then chase each other and play with visitors. There the tourists soon forget their weariness and their pleasure is redoubled.

The Chinese Menu

The Chinese Menu:

One of the best things about any visit to China is the food, at least for the independent traveler. But outside Hong Kong and big hotels and expat cafe ghettos on the mainland, few restaurants have English menus.
Menus generally open with liang cai (cold dishes). Except in top-class Sino-foreign joint-venture restaurants, you are strongly advised to avoid these cold dishes, especially if you’re on a short trip. The restaurant’s specialties also come early in the menu, often easily spotted by their significantly higher prices, and if you dither, the waitress will recommend them, saying, “I hear this one’s good.” Waitresses always recommend ¥180 dishes, never ¥18 ones. Occasionally, some of these may be made from creatures, or may contain an odd material like swallow saliva (the main ingredient of bird’s nest soup, a rather bland and uninteresting Cantonese delicacy).
Main dishes come next, various meats and fish before vegetables and doufu (tofu), and drinks at the end. There are rarely desserts, although Guangdong (Cantonese) food has absorbed the tradition of eating something sweet at the end of the meal from across the border in Hong Kong, where all restaurants have something to offer of this kind, if only sliced fruit.
Soup is usually eaten last, although dishes arrive in a rather haphazard order. Outside Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, and Macau, rice usually arrives toward the end, and if you want it with your meal you must ask (point at the characters for rice, below, when the first dish arrives).
There is no tipping. Tea, chopsticks, and napkins should be free, although if a wrapped packet of tissues arrives, there may be a small fee. Service charges do not exist outside of major hotels, and there are no cover charges or taxes. If you are asked what tea you would like, then you are going to receive something above average and will be charged. You should be careful, since some varieties of tea may cost more than the meal itself.
Most Chinese food is not designed to be eaten solo, but if you do find yourself on your own, ask for small portions (xiao pan). These are usually about 70% the size of a full dish and about 70% the price, but they enable you to sample the menu properly without too much waste.

Chinese Literature Development Introduction

Chinese Literature Development Introduction:

Dating back to the sixth century BC, the earliest Chinese texts were primarily philosophic, such as the Confucian Analects and Daoist Daode Jing. History as a literary genre was not established until the Han period (206 BC-AD 220) with Sima Qian’s Historical Records: thereafter each dynasty wrote a history of the preceding one. As for the novel, a fully fledged Chinese example did not appear until the Ming period (1368-1644) and was developed during the Qing dynasty.
Classics
Post-Qin dynasty, once Confucianism had become the state orthodoxy, five early works were canonized as the Five Classics: the Book of Changes, Book of Documents, Book of Songs, Spring and Autumn Annals and Book of Ritual. These books were established as the basis for Chinese education.
Tang Poets
With early beginnings in the Book of Songs and Elegies of Chu, Chinese poetry reached its height more than twelve hundred years later in the Tang period (618–907). The two greatest Tang poets are considered to be Du Fu and Li Bai. Others include the Buddhist Wang Wei, also 8thcentury, and slightly later Bai Juyi (772–846).
Epic Novels
In the Ming era, the novel developed from folk tales and myths into classics such as Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Water Margin. Later, the Qing novels used a more elevated language and subtle characterization, culminating in the romantic novel, Dream of the Red Chamber. These novels contain many characters that reoccur in other cultural contexts from Beijing Opera to popular television serials and films.

Etiquette and Customs in China

Etiquette and Customs in China:

Wear whatever you find comfortable.
Some of the diaphanous or apparently sprayed-on clothing of younger Chinese women is more likely to surprise you than your attire will surprise them. Foreigners are stared at regardless of what they wear. Swimwear should tend toward the conservative by Western standards — swimsuits rather than bikinis for women — but not if you are using pools in deluxe hotels with foreign guests. Business attire is similar to that of the West. For most visitors, opportunities to dress up formally are few; no restaurants or hotels absolutely require a jacket or tie.
Greetings and gestures:
The handshake is now used as it is in the West, although there’s a tendency to hang on longer. Take business cards if you have them, as an exchange of cards almost always follows a greeting. Present yours with two hands, and then hold the one you’re given with two hands. If you can speak even two words of Mandarin, you will be told that you speak very well. This is something you should deny even if you are fluent.
Avoiding offense:
However great the provocation, do not lose your temper and shout at someone in public or cause them to experience public shame (loss of face). Even flatly contradicting someone in front of others (so he loses face) is also best avoided if harmony is to be maintained. Instead, complain calmly and privately, and directly to a superior if you wish. Punctuality is very important in China, and the traffic situation in most cities makes that difficult, so allow plenty of time to get where you are going if you are meeting someone.
Eating and drinking:
Master the use of chopsticks before you go. Suggestions that the food is lacking in some way, made by the host, should always be greeted with firm denials. Serve yourself from main dishes using the spoon provided, then eat with chopsticks. Do not leave them sticking up out of your bowl. Your cup of tea will constantly be topped up — if you don’t want anymore, leave it full. There’s a great deal of competitive drinking at banquets, which is done by the simultaneous drinking of toasts in bai jiu (Chinese spirits), to cries of “Gan bei!” (“dry cup” — down in one). Avoid participation by drinking beer or mineral water instead, but if toasts of welcome are made, be sure to make one in reply. Dining tends to happen early, and at the end of the meal everyone disappears quickly. If you are invited to eat at someone’s home, be sure to take off your shoes at the entrance (your host’s protestations that it’s not necessary are merely polite).

New Mural Unveiled in State College

New Mural Unveiled in State College: After months of extensive planning, fundraising and painting, “Colors of Music,” a community art mural on Garner Street, was unveiled late last month. The 44-foot mural was created by more than 400 locals artists.

Thursday, May 10, 2012