Category: Chinese Culture

China’s inflation grew to a seven-month high in September amid a spike in food prices, poor weather and the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

Proverbs and Poems in Autumn Begins

A Poem of Xu Hun is Inscribed In the Inn at Tong Gate on an Autumn Trip to the Capital. The arthur is Xu Hun.

Strong cold front sweeping China

A cold front is sweeping across the country. Southern regions including Shanghai have seen major drops in the mercury today. Today's daytime temperature in Shanghai has dropped to between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius at noon from nearly 27 degrees yesterday. High temperatures through the weekend are forecast to rise no higher than 21 degrees Celsius in Shanghai. It is sunny and cold today in northern China with temperatures dropping below 0 degrees Celsius in some areas.

Nongzheng quanshu 农政全书 “Whole Book on Agricultural Activities”

The Nongzheng quanshu 农政全书 "Whole book on agricultural activities" is an agricultural encyclopaedia compiled by the lateMing period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Xu Guangqi 徐光启 (1562-1633), courtesy name Xu Zixian 徐子先, style Xuanhu 玄扈. He came from Shanghai 上海 and earned his jinshi degree with the age of 36 sui. In 1604 he participated a second time in the metropolitan examination and in 1632, as an elderly man, was appointed Minister of Rites (libu shangshu 礼部尚书) and Grand Academician (daxueshi 大学士) of the East Pavilion 东阁. A year later he was transferred to the post of Grand Academician of the Hall of Literary Profundity 文渊阁 but he died soon thereafter. His posthumous title is Duke Wending 徐文定公. Xu Guangqi is very famous for his cooperation with the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci (Chinese name Li Madou 利玛窦) together with whom he translated European treatises in astronomy, mathametics and mechanics, like Euclid's "Elements" (original Greek title Stoichéia, in Chinese as Jihe yuanben 几何原本). He also compiled a treatise about the amelioration of the Chinese calendar, the Chongzhen lishu 崇祯历书. Xu Guangqi was also very interested in firearms because of their usefulness in the campaigns against the Jurchens (that were soon to become the Manchus).

New human H7N9 infection was confirmed in CHINA

One new human H7N9 avian influenza case has been confirmed in east China's Zhejiang Province, local authorities said Tuesday.

Qimin yaoshu 齐民要术 “Important Methods to Condition the People’s [Living]”

The Qimin yaoshu 齐民要术 "Important methods to condition the people's [living]" is one of the oldest agronomical treatise of China. It was written by Jia Sixie 贾思勰, a scholar of the short Eastern Wei period 东魏 (534-550). He came from Yidu 益都, modern Shandong, and was governor (taishou 太守) of the commandery of Gaoyang 高阳. He had the opportunity to observe the farming activities in the regions of Jingxing 井陉, Huguan 壸关 and Shangdang 上党 (all in modern Shanxi and Shaanxi) and was himself a breeder of sheep.

Beijing Normal University 北京师范大学

****************************************************** Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学：Běijīnɡ Shīfàn Dàxué）was the earliest established teacher-training university in China, which grew out of the Faculty of Education of the Metropolitan University founded in 1902. It was named Beijing Normal University in 1923. It is the first university in China that has been authorized to grant doctoral degree in educational technology

For the last one hundred years, the faculty and students of the Beijing Normal University, motivated by a strong sense of responsibility for the nation and the people, have strived to live up to the motto of “studying to teach and acting to example” and cultivated a fine tradition of patriotism, progress, honesty, innovation, truth-seeking and being a paragon of virtue and learning. After a century of development, Beijing Normal University has become an important education and research base for multi-disciplinary and advanced scientific studies. It cultivated nearly 200,000 talents for China, among them many excellent teachers.

Nüerjing 女儿经 “The Classic of Girls”

The Nüerjing 女儿经 "Classic of girls" is a textbook for primary teaching for girls written by an unknown author during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) . The most important editions of this book were made during the Wanli reign 万厉 (1573-1619), an edition with a commentary by Zhao Nanxing 赵南星 from the Tianqi reign 天启 (1621-1627), the so-called Qiushi Nüerjing 裘氏女儿经 printed by Master Gao 高氏 around the year 1622, a revised edition by He Ruilin 贺瑞麟, the Gailiang Nüerjing 改良女儿经 from the Tongzhi reign 同治 (1862-1874), and a print by the Tunxijuwen Studio 屯溪聚文堂 from the Guangxu reign 光绪 (1875-1908). The book is written in phrases that are all consisting of three characters. The book is 864 characters long, or 288 sentenctes. It explains that a girl has to obey father and mother, to work hard and to live a proper life, to speak with a low voice and to wear decent clothes. After marriages her obedience has to be given towards her parents-in-law and her husband. She has to care for their household, to establish good relationship with the neighbourhood, and to raise up her children. TheNüerjing also brings forward a lot of good examples from the past which each women should try to follow. It was very widespread because it is easy to read.

Biggest matchmaking party in SHANGHAI

Shanghai's largest matchmaking party, set for Qingpu District next month, will expand the age group of participants to 60 years old, and will last three days instead of the previous two, its organizers said today.

Qianjiashi 千家诗 “Poems of One Thousand Writers”

The Qianjiashi 千家诗 "Poems of one thousand writers" is an anthology of poems from the Tang 唐 (618-907), Five Dynasties五代 (907-960) and Song 宋 (960-1279) periods. The complete title of the collection is Fenmen leizuan Tang-Songshi xian qianjia shixuan 分门纂类唐宋时贤千家诗选 "Selected poems of one thousand excellent authors from the Tang and Song periods, arranged in various categories". It was compiled by the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) scholar Liu Kezhuang 刘克庄. Following his scholarly style name, Houcun 后村, the anthology is also called Houcun Qianjiashi 后村千家诗. It is 22 juan "scrolls" long and is divided into 14 chapters.