Category: Chinese Culture

Shangcheng Relics Site in Henan

Location: Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China The Shangcheng(商城Shāngchéng) Relics is the relics of the capital of Shang (or Yin) Dynasty in ancient China and the oldest and largest ancient city in China. With a history of about 3500 years, Shangcheng Relics Site possesses the relics earlier than the Archaeological Site of Yinxu, Anyang, whose excavation began in 1950th. The discovery of Shangcheng Relics Site of Zhengzhou provides precious material information to study the Slave Society of Shang Dynasty and the formation and development of Chinese ancient cities. This site is in a rectangle shape with a total area of 25 square kilometers and a city wall with a length of seven kilometers and a height of 10 meters. There are 11 nicks on the city wall, some of which might be the gate. In the northwest of the city lies the Palace Area, where several palace sites were discovered. Inside the palace site, there are some small house sites and well sites; while outside there are residence area, cemeteries, Copper-casting site, Ceramic Site and so on.

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Liji 礼记 “The Book of Rites”

The Liji 礼记 "Book of rites" is a collection of descriptions of ritual matters written during the late Warring States 战国 (5th cent.-221 BCE) andFormer Han 前汉 (206 BCE-8 CE) periods. It is one of the Five Confucian Classics (wujing 五经) and one of the three ritual classics (sanli 三礼). During the Former Han period books on ritual matters with a length of 131 chapters were brought together, one by the Confucian scholar Dai De 戴德 (Dai Senior 大戴) who compiled a collection of 85 chapters (called Da Dai Liji 大戴礼记 "Ritual book by Dai Senior"), and one by his nephew Dai Sheng戴圣, with a length of 49 chapters, which was accordingly called the Xiao Dai Liji 小戴礼记 "Ritual book by Dai Junior". At the end of the Later Han period 后汉 (25-220 CE) the book of Dai De ceased to be taught at theNational University (taixue 太学) and was overshadowed by the compilation of Dai Sheng which then became the orthodox classic on rituals, together with the Yili 仪礼 and the Zhouli 周礼. Its status as a classic was enhanced by the fact that the Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan 郑玄 wrote a commentary to Dai Sheng's Liji. Some of the chapters are similar in content to the Yili, like the capping or marriage ceremonies, but others are not contained in the Yili classic, like mourning clothes (sangfu 丧服) and the ritual game of pitch-pot (touhu 投壶). The Liji also contains some general chapters on Confucian ritual thinking, like the conveyance or rituals (Liyun礼运), ritual music (Yueji 乐记), or studies (Xueji 学记). The chapter Yueling月令 is not directly "Confucian" but describes the proceedings of the government in the different months from the viewpoint of early Chinese cosmological thinking. The traditional shape of Chinese government is described in the chapter Wangzhi 王制. The chapter Yueji has been interpreted by some scholars as the often-mentioned but actually never identified sixth Confucian classic (of the Six Classics Liuyi 六艺), namely that on ritual music. Two chapters have been extracted during the Song period 宋 (960-1279): the Zhongyong 中庸 "Doctrine of the Mean" and theDaxue 大学 "Great Learning". These two book became part of the so-called "Four Books" (sishu 四书).

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Chinese Festival

Developed from remote antiquity, the splendid and colorful living context of that time is vividly presented in these unique and interesting customs of circulated festivals. Most traditional Chinese festivals took shape during Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and major festivals greatly celebrated today were fixed by the time of Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.). Chinese traditional festivals are celebrated according to the Chinese lunar calendar or Chinese agriculture calendar (农历:nóng lì); Therefore, dates of each festival are varied in western calendar every year. But all festivals make no difference to be celebrated for good wishes for happiness, health, luck, wealth and most important, family reunion.

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Chinese Pandas

Panda (熊猫 xióng māo) is one of the scarcest animals. People in the world like it very much. there used to be many pandas in China long ago. As the balance of nature was destroyed and the weather was getting warmer and warmer, pandas became less. But at present, the number of pandas is increasing year by year. there are now so many pandas that some are being sent to other countries so that people there can enjoy them.

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Yan Capital Site

Excavation of Yan Capital Site(燕都城遗址Yāndūchéng yízhĭ) of Early Western Zhou Dynasty in Liulihe Town, Fangshan District, Beijing(City) announced to the world the discovery of capital of Yan state in Western Zhou Dynasty. In early Zhou dynasty, Yan was one of the important vassal states of vast territory in the north. Located at Liulihe Town, Fangshan District, Beijing, the ancient Yan capital named Pingming takes the shape of a rectangle.

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