Kongming lock(孔明锁Kǒngmíngsuǒ) is a traditional Chinese intellectual toy. It is said that the toy was invented by Zhuge Kongming(诸葛孔明 Zhūgé Kǒngmíng ) some 2,000 years ago based on the principles of the eight-diagram metaphysics(八卦玄学 Bāguàxuánxué). It was widely popular among the folks. The concave and convex parts inside the three-dimensional interpolation toy mesh perfectly. Kongming locks come in different shapes and sizes, with different internal structures. But they are usually easy to take apart and difficult to reassemble.
Category: Chinese Culture
Chinese Song: ‘Red Dust Inn’ 红尘客栈 by Jay Chou
‘Red Dust Inn (红尘客栈, Hóngchén kèzhàn)’ is included in the Taiwanese Mandopop artist Zhou Jielun ( 周杰伦, Zhōu jiélún) aka Jay Chou‘s latest album Opus 12 (十二新作, Shí'èr xīnzuò), which was released on December 28th, 2012. This ”Chinese-style ( 中国风, Zhōngguó fēng)” song is about a swordsman who pursued a reclusive lifestyle with his love but was eventually killed by the enemy.
Evolution of Female Beauty and Fashion in China
In ancient China, there were Four Great Beauties－Diaochan, Lady Yang, Xi Shi and Wang Zhaojun [*note] － who were so famed for their beauty that, like Helen of Troy, they could overthrow states and cities(倾国倾城qīngguó qīngchéng). Their beauty has been depicted in countless traditional paintings, but unlike the art that came much later, ancient painting techniques make it hard to tell how accurate these depictions are.
By the end of the 19th century, however, calendar posters had begun to gain popularity in China. In 1914, the revolutionary painter Zheng Mantuo created a painting technique that could vividly portray the lively charm of women at the time.
From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, marketing and promotional materials that depict female beauty have influenced the ways in which our ideas of beauty have evolved. More importantly, these pictures represent a snapshot of women's lives at the time.
Liubo 六博
Apart from xiangqi(象棋xiàngqí) (Chinese chess) and weiqi(围棋wéiqí) (the game of go), liubo(六博liùbó) was another board game popular in ancient China. It's a game between two players, each of whom has six chess pieces, hence the name "liubo" or "six sticks".
Chinese Song: ‘The Song of An Older Artistic Woman’ 大龄文艺女青年之歌 by Shao Yibei
‘The Song of An Older Artistic Woman’ (大龄文艺女青年之歌, Dàlíng wényì nǚqīngnián zhī gē) was created by Shao Yibei ( 邵夷贝, Shào Yíbèi), a Peking University alumni from the class of 2006. This song discusses what kind of men an older “artistic” woman should marry. 大龄 (dà líng) means “older than the average age for marriage”. In China, the average age for a man to have his first marriage is 25.3 years old, and the average age for a woman to have her first marriage is 23.4 years old. This song first became an internet hit in 2009 but drew a lot of attention again at the beginning of 2013 because the female host Zhu Dan sang an adapted version of this song on Hunan Satellite TV‘s New Year’s Eve Gala without Shao Yibei and her record company’s permission.
Have You Eaten Yet?
Recently, scientists at NASA discovered seven Earth-sized planets just about 40 light-years away from us, three of them are situated in a habitable zone. Findings like this one make one wonder if this means that we’re a step closer to contacting intelligent life elsewhere.
The Mongolian Chess 蒙古象棋
The Mongolian chess(蒙古象棋Ménggǔ Xiàngqí) is a popular sport game in Inner Mongolia. It's also one of the most attractive items on the Nadam Fair.
Chinese Song: ‘To Youth’ 致青春 by Faye Wong
Zhao Wei (赵薇, Zhào wēi) aka Vicki Zhao‘s first movie So Young has been a hit with ( 致我们终将逝去的青春, Zhì wǒmen zhōngjiāng shìqù de qīngchūn). Chinese audiences and a Chinese box office success, which in turn helped its theme song “To Youth (致青春, Zhì qīngchūn) ” by Wang Fei (王菲, wáng fēi) aka Faye Wong go viral. At time of translation, this song had 2,103,472 listens on popular Chinese online music streaming service Xiami.
Chupu 樗蒲
Chupu(樗蒲Chūpú) is an ancient chess game played in China. It is so named because the dice used in the original game were made of simaruba. It is also called the Play of Five Wooden Dice(五木之戏Wǔmù Zhī Xì) since a set of five wooden dice are adopted.
The Amazing Bike-Sharing Race
The week is not off to a good start for Chinese bike-sharing giant Mobike. Yesterday morning, it was reported that the company had been flagged by the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System as an “abnormal operation” because they could not be found at the address listed. Though company spokespeople quickly responded that Mobike has recently moved into new offices and not yet updated their contact details, the damage was done: Media (including today’s print edition of Global Times) are using the incident as a shady-sounding lead-in to report customer complaints about Mobike ranging from overcharging fees and difficulty getting deposits back.
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