Nin Lai
Nian Li (in mandarin, “Nin Lai" in Cantonese, ) is a unique traditional festival in the west of Guangdong Province, China. "Nian" means a year in Mandarin Chinese, while “Li” means a routine. The combination of these two words means a routine of a year. Thus, people celebrate Nian Li once a year. Among various traditional festivals in China, Lunar New Year must be the most bustling one. However, in areas of the west of Guangdong province and the south of the Five Ridges, Nian Li seems more important to local people. It is a festival full of folk cultural custom and local color. It is so busy that the road is virtually paralyzed by traffic at about 5 or 6 o’clock, the peak time---even traffic police must show up to conduct the traffic. Nian Li promote the economic development of the west of Guangdong Province. During Nian Li period, one of the traditional activities, a grand banquet, rises the price of meat, vegetable and fruit apparently. Moreover, for better welcoming Nia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nian Li Worship Activities
A ''nian'' () is a beast in Chinese mythology. Nian live under the sea or in the mountains. The Chinese character ''nian'' more usually means "year" or "new year". The earliest written sources that refer to the ''nian'' as a creature date to the early 20th century. As a result, it is unclear whether the ''nian'' creature is an authentic part of traditional folk mythology, or a part of a local oral tradition that was recorded in the early 20th century. ''Nian'' is one of the key characters in the Chinese New Year. Scholars cite it as the reason behind several practices during the celebration, such as wearing red clothing and creating noise from drums and fireworks. Modern legends Once every year at the beginning of Chinese New Year, the ''nian'' would come out of its hiding place to feed, mostly on people and animals. During the winter, when food was scarce, it would raid villages, eating the crops and sometimes the villagers themselves - particularly their children. Several account ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hanzi
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji''. Chinese characters in South Korea, which are known as ''hanja'', retain significant use in Korean academia to study its documents, history, literature and records. Vietnam once used the ''chữ Hán'' and developed chữ Nôm to write Vietnamese before turning to a romanized alphabet. Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world. By virtue of their widespread current use throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as their profound historic use throughout the Sinosphere, Chinese characters are among the most widely adopted writing systems in the world by number of users. The total number of Chinese characters ever to appear in a dictionary is in the tens of thousands, though most are graphic v ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lady Xian
Lady Xian (or Hsien, ; Vietnamese: Tiển phu nhân; 512–602), also known as Lady of Qiao Guo (or Ch'iao Kuo; ), born as Xian Zhen (冼珍), was a noblewoman of the Li people, born to the chieftain of the Xian tribe in Southern China, in what is now Guangdong during the Sui dynasty. She has been deified as the "Saintly Mother of Lingnan" (). She died during a tour of Hainan. Former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai called her "the First Heroine of China", and Chinese Communist Party general secretary Jiang Zemin praised her as "the role model that the later generations should learn forever". Lady Xian is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (無雙譜, Table of Peerless Heroes) by Jin Guliang. Life Lady Xian was born in 512 to the chieftain of the Xian clan of the Li people in Southern China. She lived during the Sui dynasty in what is now Guangdong in Southern China. Her family were hereditary leaders of their clan. She was a notable leader who successfully defended her clan against its enemi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Central Plain (China)
Zhongyuan (), the Central Plain(s), also known as Zhongtu (, lit. 'central land') and Zhongzhou (, lit. 'central region'), commonly refers to the part of the North China Plain surrounding the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, centered on the region between Luoyang and Kaifeng. It has been perceived as the birthplace of the Chinese civilization. Historically, the Huaxia people viewed Zhongyuan as 'the center of the world'. Human activities in the Zhongyuan region can be traced back to the Palaeolithic period. In prehistoric times, Huaxia, a confederation of tribes that later developed into the Han ethnicity, lived along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The term 'Zhongguo' (Central State) was used to distinguish themselves from the Siyi tribes that were perceived as 'barbaric'. For a large part of Chinese history, Zhongyuan had been the political, economic, and cultural center of the Chinese civilization, as over 20 dynasties had located their capital ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on mainland China. The war is generally divided into two phases with an interlude: from August 1927 to 1937, the KMT-CCP Alliance collapsed during the Northern Expedition, and the Nationalists controlled most of China. From 1937 to 1945, hostilities were mostly put on hold as the Second United Front fought the Japanese invasion of China with eventual help from the Allies of World War II, but even then co-operation between the KMT and CCP was minimal and armed clashes between them were common. Exacerbating the divisions within China further was that a puppet government, sponsored by Japan and nominally led by Wang Jingwei, was set up to nominally govern the parts of China under Japanese occupation. The civil war resumed as soon as it bec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lion Dance In Nian Li
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called ''prides''. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. The lion is an apex and keystone predator; although some lions scavenge when opportunities occur and have been known to hunt humans, lions typically don't actively seek out and prey on humans. The lion inhabits grasslands, savannas and shrublands. It is usually more diurnal than other wild cats, but when persecuted, it adapts to being active at night and at twilight. During the Neolithic period, the lion ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia from Southeast Europe to In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Parade Of Local Land Gods
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pron ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Feast Preparing
A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes include a charitable gathering, a ceremony, or a celebration. They often involve speeches in honor of the topic or guest of honour. The older English term for a lavish meal was a feast, and "banquet" originally meant a specific and different kind of meal, often following a feast, but in a different room or even building, which concentrated on sweet foods of various kinds. These became highly fashionable as sugar became much more common in Europe at the start of the 16th century. It was a grand form of the dessert course, and special banqueting houses, often on the roof or in the grounds of large houses, were built for them. Such meals are also called a "sugar collation". Social meanings Banquets feature luxury foods, often including ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nian Li 摆醮 In Shangpo Village
A ''nian'' () is a beast in Chinese mythology. Nian live under the sea or in the mountains. The Chinese character ''nian'' more usually means "year" or "new year". The earliest written sources that refer to the ''nian'' as a creature date to the early 20th century. As a result, it is unclear whether the ''nian'' creature is an authentic part of traditional folk mythology, or a part of a local oral tradition that was recorded in the early 20th century. ''Nian'' is one of the key characters in the Chinese New Year. Scholars cite it as the reason behind several practices during the celebration, such as wearing red clothing and creating noise from drums and fireworks. Modern legends Once every year at the beginning of Chinese New Year, the ''nian'' would come out of its hiding place to feed, mostly on people and animals. During the winter, when food was scarce, it would raid villages, eating the crops and sometimes the villagers themselves - particularly their children. Several account ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Worship Of Local Land Gods
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God or gods. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, or by a designated leader. Such acts may involve honoring. Etymology The word is derived from the Old English weorþscipe, meaning ''to venerate "worship, honour shown to an object'',Bosworth and Toller, Anglo-Saxon Dictionary,weorþscipe which has been etymologised as "''worthiness'' or ''worth-ship"''—to give, at its simplest, worth to something. Worship in various religions Buddhism Worship in Buddhism may take innumerable forms given the doctrine of skillful means. Worship is evident in Buddhism in such forms as: guru yoga, mandala, thanka, yantra yoga, the discipline of the fighting monks of Shaolin, panchamrita, mantra recitation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaking ethnic group who unified other Jurchen tribes to form a new "Manchu" ethnic identity. The dynasty was officially proclaimed in 1636 in Manchuria (modern-day Northeast China and Outer Manchuria). It seized control of Beijing in 1644, then later expanded its rule over the whole of China proper and Taiwan, and finally expanded into Inner Asia. The dynasty lasted until 1912 when it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multiethnic Qing dynasty lasted for almost three centuries and assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China, the Song was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The dynasty is divided into two periods: Northern Song and Southern Song. During the Northern Song (; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now Eastern China. The Southern Song (; 1127–1279) refers to the period after the Song lost control of its northern half to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars. At that time, the Song court retreated south of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |