2009年2月26日星期四

5 Days Guilin Golf Tours: Twin Peak and Merryland

Tour ItineraryDay 01 Arrival of GuilinUpon your arrival in Guilin, our professional tour guide will meet you at Guilin airport and transfer to your hotel. Day 02 Guilin / Twin Peak Golf / Guilin / (B)After breakfast, transfer to the Twin Peak Golf Club (20 minutes) and play your Golf. Back to Guilin in the afternoon.Day 03 Guilin / Li River Cruise / Yangshuo / Guilin / (BL)Drive 1 hour to Zhujiang Pier and cruise down the Li River to Yangshuo which takes 3-4 hours. Enjoy the most beautiful landscape in China, have lunch on board. Disembark your ship when arriving Yangshuo, then drive back to Guilin (1.5 hours). Visit the Reed Flute Cave.Reed Flute Cave: The largest and most impressive cave in Guilin, you will see many beautiful stalactites & stalagmites. Day 04 Guilin / Merryland Golf / Guilin / (B)Transfer to Merryland golf club (1.5 hours) and play golf (18 holes). Drive back to Guilin in the afternoon.Merryland Golf: It is the only one in China with 18 holes foothill course of international standard. Following American USGA regulation, Merryland golf course has a golf path of 7073 yard and 72 par. Day 05 Guilin / Departure / (BL)Visit the Seven Star Park and the Elephant Trunk Hill. Transfer to Guilin airport for your departure, end of service.Seven Star Park: A beautiful park which covers 120 hectares and includes peaks, rivers, caves, gardens and relics. Elephant Trunk Hill: Situated majestically at the southeast of Guilin city and west bank of Li River, Elephant Trunk Hill is regarded as the symbol of Guilin landscape.

Travel tips:
China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in Guilin. China has rich culture and history.

Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations. As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.

Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. For the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.

Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water scenery harmony grade of city or style, To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.

If you want to know more information on health tours, traditional Chinese medicine, you can visit the TCM website; it is a lager website on Chinese medicine. You can’t miss it.

Extensive Reading
1. New Feeling - one million women globally have witnessed its magical effect of slimming
2. Keep a regular physical exercise, such as practice Taiji and Qigong in the morning, for it can strengthen your physical ability and Burn fat .
3. Slimming herbal products together with acupuncture lose weight treatment and keep slim.
Slimming pill is for weight loss and diabetes, balance of hypertension and cholesterol.
4. Hot topic: Safety slimming, Graceful shape being form new feeling
Source:Guilin

2009年2月25日星期三

1 Day Guilin Merryland Golf Tours, China Travel

Guilin Merryland golf club is the largest golf club in Guangxi Province, China. And it is also the only one in China with 18 holes foothill course of international standard. Following American USGA regulation, Merryland golf course has a golf path of 7073 yard and 72 par. It is specially designed by American designer, Golden Louise. It is multi-functional golf course including sports, entertainment, travelling and business meeting. While playing, you can also enjoy the special scenery of world best. A professional manager of golf playing is appointted and offer international standard facilities, professional gardener and trained golf caddie are at your service. After playing, you can go to the exquisite royal golf club for a rest.The frontal nine holes and the back nine holes have sharp different style. The frontal nine holes is based on hills and set a pond turning the path, which increase the difficulty of playing greatly. The American foothills at the each side of the path change so diversely. The bunker is a popular topic of the golf players. The back nine holes are divided by water. Green is hiding in the valley. The ladder-like green is a great challenge for players. The unique subsection path will test your distance judgement and ball controlling.There are 60 professional paths at the training course with the instruction of our professional trainer. Guilin Merryland golf club also provide you with Chinese restaurant, cafe, meeting room, sauna and gift shop.Day01 Our guide will meet you at your hotel at 0 8:00am, and then drive to Xing'an County. 9:30 arrive at Xing'an county; play your golf. You can have lunch at restaurant at Merryland. 17:30 Leave Merryland. 19:00 return to hotel in Guilin. (L) Inclution: Private air-conditioned vehicle transport back and forth, English speaking tour guide and 18-hole green fee. Service Inclusion: Air-conditioned tour bus, entrance fees for sights, lunch, English speaking tour guide.Services Exclusion: Gratuities, tips to guide or driver. Suggested tips: USD10-14 to guide per day, USD 8-10 to driver per day, but depending on their service, it's up to you, entirely voluntary. Travel tips:
China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in Guilin. China has rich culture and history.

Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations. As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.

Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. For the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.

Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water scenery harmony grade of city or style, To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.

If you want to know more information on health tours, traditional Chinese medicine, you can visit the TCM website; it is a lager website on Chinese medicine. You can’t miss it.

Extensive Reading
1. New Feeling - one million women globally have witnessed its magical effect of slimming
2. Keep a regular physical exercise, such as practice Taiji and Qigong in the morning, for it can strengthen your physical ability and Burn fat .
3. Slimming herbal products together with acupuncture lose weight treatment and keep slim.
Slimming pill is for weight loss and diabetes, balance of hypertension and cholesterol.
4. Hot topic: Safety slimming, Graceful shape being form new feeling
Source:Guilin

2009年2月22日星期日

Ancient Coins

The currency is a medium for the exchange of commodities; it was the inevitable outcome of such exchanges. In ancient China the currency came in different forms and was made variously from shells, jade, gold, silver, and paper. The following is a brief introduction to ancient coins in China. Shell money. Shell money was the oldest form of currency in ancient China. As the shells were small and hard in texture, they came in handy as money. By the Shang and Zhou dynasties the use of shell money reached its zenith, and shell money became a symbol of wealth. Even today the Chinese like to call their most valuable objects "baobei", which is derived from the name of the Chinese shell money. In ancient China it was not uncommon to use shell money as burial objects.

Hoe-like Money. The hoe-like money was evolved from an ancient Chinese farming tool. In the early days it bore close resemblance to a hoe. Because the hoe is similar to the shovel. This is why the hoe-like money is also known as "shovel money". Bronze money in the design of seashells. With the development of commodity exchange, the supply of natural shells as the currency ran out of supply. Imitation shell money made from stone, bone, ceramics and bronze was thus invented to make up for the shortage. But eventually it was bronze shell-shaped money that replaced natural shells. It was not until Qinshihuang unified the currency in 221B.C. that shells finally were withdrawn from commodity circulation. Knife-shaped money. Cast of bronze during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the money's knife-like shape was derived from a certain weapon from old days.

Bronze coin with a square hole in the centre. In the late Warring States Period, bronze coins with a round hole in the centre first appeared in china. The hole made it convenient to string the coins together. When Qinshihuang unified the nation and the currency, he had the round hole in the bronze coins changed into a square, as the round coin and its square hole is regarded as a reflection of the ancient theory that "heaven is round and earth square". Feudalism lasted for more than 2,000 years, however, despite the change of times and the currency, the round bronze coins with a square hole in the centre was in use for roughly the same duration. It was after the demise of the Qing Dynasty that they were gradually replaced with paper money.

Travel tips:
China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in Guilin. China has rich culture and history.

Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations. As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.

Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. For the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.

Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water scenery harmony grade of city or style, To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.

If you want to know more information on health tours, traditional Chinese medicine, you can visit the TCM website; it is a lager website on Chinese medicine. You can’t miss it.

Source:Guilin

2009年2月16日星期一

The Bronze Tripod or Cauldron

The bronze ding, a cooking utensil in remote times, was used like a cauldron for boiling fish and meat. At first, about 5,000 to 6, 000 years ago, the ding was made of fired clay, usually with three legs, occationally with four that is why it is loosely referred to as "tripod" in English. It stands steadily and has a nice shape.With the advent of the slavery system, China entered the bronze age, and the earthen ding was gradually replaced by the bronze one. In time, it assumed the role of an important sacrificial vessel used by the slave-owning aristocrats at ceremonies of worship.Leading among the bronze ding that have been discovered to date, and by far the largest, is the "Si Mu Wu "ding which dates to the late Shang Dynasty (c. 17th to 1lth century B.C.). Weighing 875 kilograms, it is 133 centimeters high and rectangular in shape, standing on four legs. It was made for the King of Shang to offer acrifices to his dead mother Wu. Exquisitely cast, it is considered a rare masterpiece of the bronze culture the world over. The ding of this historical period have a unique shape and are often decorated with patterns of animal masks and other distinctive features characteristic of the period. They are important material objects for the study of the ancient society concerned.Towards the end of the slave society, the ding became a vessel which, by its size and numbers, indicated the power and status of its aristocrat owner. At rites, the emperor used a series of 9 ding, the dukes and barons 7, senior officials 5, and scholarly gentlemen 3. From the number of ding yielded by an ancient tomb, one can tell the status of its dead occupant.Today visitors to palaces, imperial gardens and temples of the Ming and Qing courts can still see beautiful arrays of bronze tripods which were, in their time, both decorations and status symbols.In the periods when Buddhism was the predominant faith in the country, the ding was also used as a religious incense burner. Such burners, made of bronze, iron or stone in various sizes, can still be seen in many old temples. In Yonghegong, the famous Beijing lamasery, there is a large bronze ding with an overall height of 4.2 metres, cast with the inscription "Made in the 12th year of Qianlong" (1747). It was in this ding that Qing emperors, when they went to the temple for worship, were believed to have offered bundles of burning joss sticks.Bronze tripods and cauldrons have always fascinated people with their heirarchical associations and their simple but stately forms. So there has always been a thriving craft devoted to the making of copies or imitations of them. Normally they are miniatures for table-top decoration often made of other materials such as jade, agate, lacquer and so on. They represent an important branch of China's arts and crafts.China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in guilin. China has rich culture and history.Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations.As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. for the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water sceney harmony grade of city or style,To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.Besides, If you want to know more information about traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Medicine . So TCM can Prevent and Treat many chronic diseases, click it the benifit a lot.

2009年2月10日星期二

Counters

Before the invention of the abacus, counters or tallies were used in China in calculating operations over long ages. Historical writings indicate they were already quite widespread during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods (770-221 B.C.).The earliest counters were round sticks about 0.23 cm across and 12 cm long. Later on they became rectangular in cross-section and shortened to 7-8cm. The earliest counters thus far discovered were unearthed in 1971 in Qianyang County, Shaanxi Province. Dating from the Western Hart (206 B.C.-25 A.D.), they total 30 in number.Ancient counters, mostly made of bamboo and animal bone, are also found of iron, bronze, ivory and jade.To express numbers with the unnotched tallies, ancient Chinese followed the decimal system. That is to say, the same stick placed at the unit's place meant" 1 ", but placed at ten's place, meant "10". Arranged vertically, thus I, Iq, IH, ]ill, t1111, t, II, ill, and t117 (=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9), they were used to represent the figures at the unit's, hundred's, ten thousand's and million's places. Arranged horizontally, thus -, =, =, =-, -, J-, L, _-, and ~- _= they would represent the figures at the ten's, thousand's and hundred thousand's places. The two arrangements, alternating each with the other, could express any figure, no matter how long. In this way, - I~ = Ill1would mean "1984". When a digit happens to be zero, it would be left blank.Thus, == Ni ~]- would read "4308". The system proved easy to learn and master.The counters represented at first only positive numbers. But as more complicated calculations were called for, tallies began to be made in two different colours with red ones standing for positive numbers and black ones negative numbers.The counters, simple as they appear, were employed by the ancients not only to do the sums but also the extraction of square and cube roots, the solution of equations of higher degrees and the calculation pi.It is estimated that counter sticks were widely used in China for 1,500 years until gradually replaced by the abacus about the 15th century during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in guilin. China has rich culture and history.Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations.As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. for the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water sceney harmony grade of city or style,To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.Besides, If you want to know more information about traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Medicine . So TCM can Prevent and Treat many chronic diseases, click it the benifit a lot.

2009年2月9日星期一

Musical Bells and Chime Stones

These are percussion musical instruments unique to ancient China. The zhong are made of bronze while the qing generally of stone. They may be played either individually or in groups. In the latter case, they are hung in rows on wooden racks and known respectively as bianzhong and bianqing. Struck with wooden hammers, they produce melodious sounds of various notes. In their time, they were the important instruments played--either in solo performance or in ensemble or as accompaniment--during imperial audiences, palace banquets and religious ceremonies.Stone and Jade QingIt can be easily imagined that the stone q must have been one of the earliest musical instruments in China. During the Stone Age, the Chinese forefathers, working,with stone implements, found out that certain sonorous rocks, when knocked, produced musical sounds and that, by knocking at rocks of different sizes, they could make music. So the earliest man-made chime stones were born out of those natural rocks. In 1973 a Shang Dynasty (c. 17th-1 lth century B.C.) chime stone was discovered from the ruins of that age in Anyang, Henan Province. It is grey-coloured and has tiger patterns engraved on it, showing that it had been used by the imperial court.The key step in the making of a chime stone is to give it the right note. Artisans learned long ago how to achieve this. If the pitch of a stone was too high, they would grind the two flat faces of the slab, making it thinner if the pitch was on the low side, they would grind the ends and make the slab shorter, until the right tone was arrived at.The jade qing was made much later, following the same idea as for chime stones but using the more valuable jade as the material. In the Hall of Treasures of the Forbidden City can be seen a chime consisting of 12 iade qing. They were made during the reign of Qianlong (1736-1795) of a precious black jade exquisitely finished on both sides with gold-painted dragons playing with balls. It is said that the twelve were chosen out of 160 pieces made at the time by the jade carvers of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, involving 90,000 workdays and untold costs.Chime of Bells BianzhongTo make the chime of bells, an important metal instrument in ancient times, bronze was invariably used for the best acoustic effect. Early bells are called yongzhong, rather flat in shape and very much like two concave tiles joined face to face. Later, however, people stressed the beauty of their shape and gave them a more and more round body, at the expense of the tonal qualities.It seems that there was no fixed number of bells for each chime. Judging by those unearthed to date, a chime may be very simple, consisting of 3, 6 or 9 bells, or very complicated, with 13, 14, 16 or as many as 36 bells.The most elaborate ancient bianzhong, a set of 65 bells, was unearthed in 1978 in Suixian County, Hubei Province, from the tomb of the Marquis of Zeng dating from the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). Their total weight is over 2,500 kilograms, and they were found hung on a three-tiered rack. The biggest of the bells has an overall height of 153.4 centimetres and a weight of 203.6 kilograms. The whole chime, unprecedented disovery in the history of musical instrument ever brought to light--not only in China but in the world as a whole.Although buried underground for over 2,400 years, the bells still produce fine tones. Ancient and modern music, including tunes from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, revived ancient tunes of the Tang Dynasty and theme tunes of modern Chinese operas, has been played on them with satisfying results.Careful study of the bells has revealed that they were cast according to the 7-tone scale with 5 semitones in between, completing a well-integrated system of 12 tones. The scale of the whole chime agrees with the modern 7-tone scale in C major, and its range covers 5 octaves, just two octaves less than the modern piano. What is more amazing, each bell can produce two different tones, a unique feature in percussion imstruments.An inscription of 2,500 characters engraved on the bells tells of the musical theories and the names of the tones prevalent at the time as well as the positions where the tones can be produced. The unearthing of this set of bells has proved beyond all doubt the application of the twelve-tone equal temperament in Chinese music as early as the 5th century B.C., providing one more evidence of the antiquity of the Chinese civilization.The 65-bell bianzhong can be seen at the Provincial Museum of Hubei in the Central China city of Wuhan.Another bianzhong worth seeing is one of 16 bells made of pure gold during the Qianlong period in the 18th century, now displayed in the Forbidden City's Hall of Treasures. Cast in unique forms and about the same size, the 16 bells are of a uniform height of 23.8 centimetres, but their weight ranges from 4,703 to 14,316 grams. Round in shape, they produce a rather monotonous ring, but they were meant during the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, to impress viewers with the wealth and extravagance of the imperial house. And they are indeed very much valued, being cast in dazzling gold and engraved with lively patterns of ball-playing dragons.China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in guilin. China has rich culture and history.Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations.As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. for the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water sceney harmony grade of city or style,To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.Besides, If you want to know more information about traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Medicine . So TCM can Prevent and Treat many chronic diseases, click it the benifit a lot.

2009年2月8日星期日

The Bronze Mirror

The bronze mirror, like its modern glass counterpart, was a household article of daily use in which to look at oneself. Its obverse side is so smoothly polished that it can reflect the image of the user's face. The reverse side is often cast with a knob and decorations, so it is also an art object. Most of the authentic bronze mirrors are finds from ancient tombs; some have been handed down from generation to generation in old families.Ancient Chinese began to use bronze mirrors in very remote times, at the latest in the 1lth century B.C. in the late Shang Dynasty, as evidenced by five of them discovered in Tomb No. 4 at the Yin Remains in Anyang, Henan Province.The mirror became a popular object during the period of the Warring States (475-221 B.C.). The mirror of this period is often found to bear one or two rings of decorations, the usual designs being animal masks, flowers and leaves, dragon and phoenix...During the Western Han (206 B.C.-25 A.D.), the mirror became thicker, and the popular designs at the back were geometric patterns, supernatural beings, birds and animals. It was also in this period that simple, short inscriptions appeared, such as "keep me in mind, forget me not", "perpetual fortune, endless joy" or other words of good wishes. The form of the bronze mirror became more varied during the Song and the Yuan dynasties (10th-14th century). It may be round, oblong, lozenge or octagonal, with or without a handle. During the Qing (1616-1911), it was gradually replaced by the glass mirror.Of particular interest is a bronze mirror dating from the Western Han. With a diameter of 11.5 cm and patterns at the back, it looks no differecnt from other mirrors except an inscription which reads: "With light from the sun, the world is greatly illuminated". The strange thing about it is that, when a sunbeam falls on its smooth surface, its reflexion on the wall shows the design and inscription on the reverse side as if the light had penetrated the bronze. This phenomenon of the mirror had puzzled people, including scientists, over long ages, and it was called the "magic mirror". A specimen of this mirror can be seen in the Shanghai Museum. Today, not only the strange reaction of the mirror to sunlight has been scientifically explained, but imitations have been made of it to amuse collectors.Bronze mirrors, as usual funerary objects of ancient times, are often found in old tombs. They are placed near the head or chest of the dead or packed with combs in lacquer boxes or pouches within easy reach. Some of them are found at the top of the burial chamber or at the four corners of the coffin, suggesting a belief that the mirror had the magic power of warding off evil spirits.China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in guilin. China has rich culture and history.Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations.As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. for the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water sceney harmony grade of city or style,To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.Besides, If you want to know more information about traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Medicine . So TCM can Prevent and Treat many chronic diseases, click it the benifit a lot.

2009年2月3日星期二

The Bronze Drum

The bronze drum is not covered with skin but made entirely of hollowed bronze, and it is the most popular instrument among the ethnic minorities in the south and southwest of China. Its beginning may be traced to be bronze cauldron, a cooking utensil in ancient times.It was used in its time as a sacrificial vessel at offerings and rituals, or as a percussion instrument to give the signals to summon the people of the tribe. In battles it was struck to direct the fighting. For this reason, it was in the possession of the clan headman or tribal chief as a symbol of ruling power. With the decline of chieftain dominance, the bronze drum usually fell into the hands of powerful or rich families.Today the drum is still a favourite instrument with the Zhuang, Buyi, Dai, Dong, Miao and Yao nationalities of China. At festival celebrations or other important activities such as a horse race or a singing competition, the drum is usually played to add to the fun.Up to now, a total of 1,300 bronze rums, have been collected and unearthed China, which are displayed in museums at various places. By far the richest collection of them is at the Museum of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Nanning, which has a special pavilion devoted to them.The oldest bronze drum unearthed soar dates from the Warring States Period aore than 2,600 years ago.The average size of the drums of this type is about one metre in diameter, and most of them are decorated on the surface with cloud and thunder patterns, characteristic of ethnic arts.The biggest bronze drum unearthed up to the time of writing saw the light in 1972 in Beiliu, Guangxi. It has a diameter of 1.65 metres, a height of 37.5 centimetres and a weight of 300 kilograms, and is now exhibited in Nanning Museum.China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in guilin. China has rich culture and history.Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations.As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. for the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water sceney harmony grade of city or style,To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.Besides, If you want to know more information about traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Medicine . So TCM can Prevent and Treat many chronic diseases, click it the benifit a lot.

2009年2月2日星期一

"As You Wish"

Visitors to Beijing's Forbidden City will notice a valuable exhibit called ruyi (formerly spelt as juyi) with a head like a shred of cloud and a long body or handle in the shape of a flat S. It may be made of any of a wide range of valuable materials: gold, jade, jadeite, crystal, agate, coral, agolloch eaglewood, bamboo, bone and what not. And the workmanship is often quite meticulous: it is carved with patterns in incision, low-relief or openwork and sometimes inlaid with silver, gold and gems. The designs may be simple or very elaborate but invariably convey messages of good wishes, such as "pine and crane" (standing for vigorous old age), "immortals wishing you longevity", "phoenix and peony" (standing for wealth, happiness and prosperity), and the like.The ruyi, it is said, was born out of a common Chinese article of household use--the itch-scratcher. This is a stick about 1.5 feet long, with one end in the form of a miniature hand with bent fingers. Holding it, a man can scratch the itches on his own back and thus get a feeling of wellbeing. It is still used by some people in China today. Usually made of commonplace wood or bamboo, it is popularly called by the descriptive name laotoule ("old man's joy").The itch-scratcher, being a joy, began to be made of more valuable materials for those who could afford it. But apart from being an art object, it continued to be used for its original purpose until sometime during the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911). It gradually became a pure ornamental object called ruyi ("as you wish"). The right place for the elevated and transformed itch- scratcher was now on the bedside table of the imperial sleeping chamber, by the side of the throne--to be appreciated daily by the emperor and his numerous wives. On every occasion of court celebrations, such as enthronement, royal wedding or birthday, the nobles and courtiers would be busy raising money and ordering whole sets of ruyi for presentation. On the 60th birthday of Emperor Qianlong (1700), for instance, the ministers presented to him 60 ruyi of gold filigree. Likewise, on the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowage Cixi (1894), she got 9 times 9 or 81 ruyi. (The number 9 x 9 symbolizes infinity or an endless long life.) The ruyi was also used by the emperor, when he chose a concubine out of a number of candidates, to point at the one catching his fancy.The presentation of ruyi was not a one-way affair: it was often bestowed by the emperor upon his ministers or subjects. There is still a valuable collection of them in the Mansion of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong. They were given by various emperors to the descendants of the great sage.It is still difficult to pinpoint the time of the first emergence of the ruyi, although no archaeological finds of them date from before the Qing Dynasty. They are much valued but commonly seen objects of deco- ration in the old Qing palaces, but outside of Beijing one rarely comes across them in provincial museums.China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in guilin. China has rich culture and history.Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations.As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. for the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water sceney harmony grade of city or style,To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.Besides, If you want to know more information about traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Medicine . So TCM can Prevent and Treat many chronic diseases, click it the benifit a lot.

2009年2月1日星期日

Sedans

The sedan or sedanchair (jiaozi), a traditional vehicle of transportation carried by bearers, was called at the beginning jianyu (shoulder carriage), being a carriage that travelled on human shoulders. Jiaozi is its comparatively modem name.In old times, sedans fell into two major categories: the guanjiao (official sedan) and the minjiao (private sedan). Those of e former type were used by the royal family and government officials, and they varied in elaborateness according to the status of the person carried inside, following strict rules laid down for different levels of the hierarchy.Even for the emperor himself, he was to sit in palanquins or sedanchairs of different grades on different occasions: the ceremonial palanquin to go to a formal court of audience, the sedanchair when he rode rounds of inspection inside the Forbidden City, the light sedan for hunts and excursions outside the capital, and finally the casual litter, a spare sedan accompanying him on his trips, into which he might want to change at any moment. For his everyday use in the palace, it was usually the casual litter. Then the furnishings also differed with the seasons: the warm sedan for winter and the cool type for summer. The two sedanchairs now on display in the Hall of Complete Harmony Zhonghedian) of the Forbidden City are he casual litters used by the emperor for everyday purposes.Sedanchairs for the ministers and lower officials varied in grandeur with their ranks. In all cases, an official sedan out in the street was heralded by the beating of gongs to clear the way and surrounded by number of attendants. Common people meeting such a procession must keep quiet and step aside. The higher the official, the greater the number of followers and sedan bearers. The latter might vary from two for a petty official to eight for a very eminent personage. The emperor himself might have as many as sixteen carriers.Private sedans were of simple make, yet they were owned only by the landed gentry or urban rich. Built of wood or bamboo, they could be carried either on flat roads or along mountain paths. Some of the self-pampered potbellies inside, like the officials, were also accompanied by bodyguards walking by the side of the sedans.There was yet another type of sedans for hire to the common people for use on weddings. They were called huajiao (flowery sedan) or xijiao (happiness sedan). The deluxe model of this type was covered by bright-coloured silks embroidered with gaudy designs of good luck and even decorated with sparkling gems. The run-of-the-mill model was also bedecked with colourful silk ribbons. In feudal times a bride was not to be seen by outsiders, so there was an elaborate "double-sedan" with a small one inside the outer one so that the bride could get into (or out of) the inner sedan indoors and then be carried into the outer sedan without exposing herself to public view.Wedding sedanchairs continued to be in vogue for some time in certain regions after the founding of New China in 1949. Nowadays young people prefer the motorized sedan for their weddings, and the sedanchair has been relegated to the realm of history.China Travel website will lead you to discover symbolized Silk Road Tours, unique ice-covered Tibet Tours, magnificent Yangtze River Tours…It will introduce the famous traveling city Guilin and Yangshuo which the scenery is second to none in guilin. China has rich culture and history.Luxurious Guilin Hotels, Holiday Villages, folk travel will cater the foreigners many ideal accommodations.As well as Yangshuo China Tours Guide information: the world fairyland; Chinese culture, with a long history. Yangshuo Attraction, Guilin Attraction guide, China Attraction guide, Chinese history and culture exhibition, all beautiful China hills and water, and Yangshuo China Hotels.Guilin not only has beautiful scenery and human sites, but also has diversity of folk culture. It will show you rich Yangshuo Tour Packages, furthermore, provide Chinese medicine, kongfu and paintings and other Guilin Tours. for the foreign friends who love the Chinese culture.Guilin Travel make you a taste of a long history and colorful culture of the people style, and hill and water sceney harmony grade of city or style,To meet the modern needs of diversified tourism. So don't miss this great opportunity to experience the natural beauty and unique folk-customs of Guilin in person.Besides, If you want to know more information about traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese Medicine . So TCM can Prevent and Treat many chronic diseases, click it the benifit a lot.