Chinese Paper Cutting

Paper-cutting is a very distinctive visual art of Chinese handicrafts. It originated from the 6th century when women used to paste golden and silver foil cuttings onto their hair at the temples, and men used them in sacred rituals. During the Chinese Festivals like the New Year, paper cuttings are used to adorn entrances of buildings and homes to bring good luck and fortune.

They have special significance at festivals and on holidays. At the New Year's Festival for example, entrances are decorated with papercuttings which are supposed to bring good luck.Papercuttings used to be used as patterns, especially for embroidery and lacquer work.

Though small piece of paper is, it can reflect many aspects of life like prosperous atmosphere, healthy persons and harvest year, etc. Some is even drawned from stories representing common goals and expects to happiness.

The main cutting tools are simple: paper and scissors or an engraving knife, but clever and deft craftspeople are remarkably good at cutting in the theme of daily life. When you look at items made in this method carefully, you will be amazed by the true to life expressions of the figure's sentiment and appearance, or portrayal of natural plants and animals' diverse gestures. Patterns of chrysanthemum display the curling petals, pied magpies show their tiny feathers and others such as a married daughter returning to her parents' home, or young people paying a New Year call to their grandparents.

People find hope and comfort in expressing wishes with paper cuttings. For example: for a wedding ceremony, red paper cuttings are a traditional and required decoration on the tea set, the dressing table glass, and on other furniture. A big red paper character 'Xi' (happiness) is a traditional must on the newlywed's door. Upon the birthday party of a senior, the character 'Shou' represents longevity and will add delight to the whole celebration; while a pattern of plump children cuddling fish signifies that every year they will be abundant in wealth.

Chinese Lantern Festival 2010

The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival since Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago. In the early Tan Dynasty (618-907AD), it was called the Shan-Yuan Festival, because of Taoism. in the late Tan Dynasty, it was called the Yuan-Xiao Festival. It was called Lantern Night in the Sun Dynasty (960-1297 A.D.). The Lantern Festival was used in Ching Dynasty (1644-1911 AD).

According to the Chinese calendar, the night of January 15th has the first full moon of the New Year and marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

Chinese people traditionally celebrate this occasion with the Lantern Festival in which beautiful lanterns (and nowadays electric lights) of all shapes and sizes are lit, fireworks are set off, lantern riddles are devised and guessed and people eat Yuan Xiao together while appreciating the full moon.

The lantern displays can be found in the town center square and temples. Usually. there is the lantern competition at the temple. Traditional lanterns are made by paper. They can make the lantern tuning around by the heat circulation from the candle inside. Today the light of the lantern is from the electricity. People like to design lantern using zodiac animals, historical figures, saint and gods of Taoism or Buddhism. Certainly, the current year's animal symbol of the Chinese calendar is most popular subject. Using the computer tool today, they can design the lantern with different movements, the different colors of light and even using the laser light with special visual and sound effects.

Customs of the Lantern Festival

1. Eating Yuan Xiao
It is well known that Lantern Festival is also called Yuan-Xiao Festival. This is because Chinese eat Yuan-Xiao on this day. This custom originated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song Dynasty.

Yuan-Xiao just like Tang-Yuan . They are made of sweet rice flour into sticky glutinous balls. They can be filled in with sesame, red-bean or peanut butter paste. Usually, they are severed with sugar water. But some people still make salty Tang-Yuan.

The difference between Yuan-Xiao and Tang-Yuan is the way they are made and cooked. This is because that Chinese in different geographic area prepare the food in different way. Chinese call the one they eat on Winter Solstice Day is Tang-Yuan. The one they eat on the Lantern festival is called Yuan-Xiao.

2. Lantern Riddles

Guessing lantern riddles is a popular addition to the Lantern Festival that appeared during the Tang Dynasty. As you would imagine, the game is to write riddles and have other people try to guess them. This is a popular social part of the Lantern festival and provides great exercise for the brain!

3 Best Nourishing Soup in Winter

It is the best time for us to nourish our bodies in Autumn and Winter all year. Although we are always in strong stress, we should not forget to nourish ourselves. Here I recommend you 3 nourishing soup, which make you have a nice winter.

Almond Pearl Tofu Soup
Effects: Relieving constipation, Whitening skin.
Materials: Large almond 10g, Tofu 150g, Pearl Powder 1 to 3g, glucose powder 15g.

Peanut Pettitoes Soup
Effects: moisturizing the skin and increase elasticity.
Materials: Peanut 80 g, Zhushou 300 g, yam 50 g
Seasoning: Salt, Onion, Ginger, Cooking wine
Shouwu Pigeon Eggs Soup
Efficacy: supplement liver and kidney, Hair Tonic
Material: fleece-flower root 5 g, Rehmannia 3 g, Pigeon Eggs 50 g, Mushroom 10 g.
Seasoning: Salt

Gourmet in Hongkong

Hongkong is the top fashion city, where integrate the western and eastern cultures, in the world. So you can enjoy the all different kinds of delicious food here.
Tutto by Habitu

All Italian dishes are the combination of the traditional style and the new ideas and elements, creating an innovative feature of Italian cuisine. The "Tutto" comes from "Total" in Italian, which means the restaurant can provide a wide variety of Italian food, Italian food culture to us all.
Bi Fengtang

Bi Fengtang (Typhoon Shelter) is a small harbor in the Hong Kong Victoria Harbor originally. There are mainly fishermen, whose specialty is seafood. They have the unique way of preparing a series of sea there. The "Ship Porridge" is one of the most popular dishes there.
Japanese-style Beef

The Japanese-style Beef is the speciality in Longhuang Restaurant in WTC More. The attraction of this restaurant is its location, where you could enjoy the beautiful scenery of Victoria Harbor.

Picking up Strawberries in Nanjing

Picking up strawberries, which is a kind of fruits that could make the spring close to us, with family is so popular in this spring. Put a strawberry at your lips, your will find that spring is fair for every one.

In Nanjing, Jiangxin island is one of the most popular place for visiters to pick up strawberries. On last weekend (the traditional festival - Qingming, which is for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime, and also to tend to the graves of departed ones.), many nanjing people go there to enjor the delicious fruits and spring.

In these strawberry bases, the average price is from 16 rmb/kilo to 40 rmb/kilo. In average, there are 1,500 kilo strawberries to be picked up in each base.

The 10 Most Romantic Honeymoon Destiny of the World

Iguazu Falls - Argentina & Brazil
Iguazu Falls stretches 2700 meters in semi-circular-shaped, which is made of 275 small waterfalls. It will undoubtedly be a heart-pounding place for lovers.

Bali- Indonesia
Because of its beauty and luxury, Bali is one of the most romantic travel spot.

Venice - Italy

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of region Veneto. Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area Venice is called "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Bridges", and "The City of Light".

You can take a punt in the narrow waterway to enjoy the beautiful scenery. If you go there on Valentine's Day, you can also experience the unique Venice Carnival.

Bora Bora - Polynesia, Franch
Bora Bora is the third of the latest Seven Wonders islands of the World. It is an excellent romantic place for you to have a high-quality honey moon vacation in the edge of the dark blue ocean.

Alps - Swiss
Switzerland is always a honeymoon destination, where there is not only picturesque country scenery, but also the spectacular Alps. Is there some reason to reject it?

New York - America
You could enjoy that walking in the Central Park in summer, kissing your lover in the Times Square, or overlooking the hurry world from the the top of Empire State Building.

Santorini - Greece
You could see the most beautiful sunset of the world in Santorini. It is the best choice for singleton to find his or her right man in the spectacular sunset.

Saint Lucia - Caribbean
It is a pop choice for newlywed to have honey moon in Saint Lucia, especially for those who want to experience Caribbean-style wedding. The island's natural beauty, like a magnet, attracts people in love.

Ring of Kerry - Ireland
There are not only pastoral scene of both villages, but also bustling and noisy cities in beautiful Ireland. The above picture shows the Scariff island of Ireland.

Paris - France
Paris is always in the ranking list of the most romantic place in the world. Each year, the city attracts tens of thousands newlywed to come here to enjoy the its beauty.

Nanjing Four Star Luxury Toilet in Use

Since mid-February 2009, the first four-star luxury public toilets will be put into use in a small garden of Confucius Temple in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. It is reported that the luxury toilets are rebuilt on the base of a common public toilets to cater for the creation of National 5A scenic spot of Confucius Temple Qinhuai landscape level with and to respond to the "difficult to go to the toilet" complaints in the Confucius Temple Area. This toilet covers an area of more than 100 square meters, and cost 400,000 yuan. And it will be free to public.

The public toilet is made up with the men's and women's room and the hall. There are basins that made by blue and white porcelain, sliding door with wood sculptures in Ming-Qing Dynasty and sensor hand-dryers in toilet. And all types of signboards and nameplates are translated in 4 languages including Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean. In the hall, there are also central air conditioners, LCD TVs and fauteuils. Since it was put into use, many people came here to have a try.