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清明
The Qingming festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival observed by the Han Chinese of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, and by the ethnic Chinese of Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Panama. It falls on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. This makes it the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, either 4, 5 or 6 April in a given year. During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors and make ritual offerings. Offerings would typically include traditional food dishes and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper. The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one's ancestors in Chinese culture. The Qingming Festival has been observed by the Chinese for over 2500 years, altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Calendar
The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar 曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar 曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar 曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar which identifies years, months, and days according to astronomical phenomena. In China, it is defined by the Chinese national standard GB/T 33661–2017, "Calculation and Promulgation of the Chinese Calendar", issued by the Standardization Administration of China on May 12, 2017. Although modern-day China uses the Gregorian calendar, the traditional Chinese calendar governs holidays, such as the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival, in both China and overseas Chinese communities. It also provides the traditional Chinese nomenclature of dates within a year which people use to select auspicious days for weddings, funerals, moving or starting a business. The evening state-run news program ''Xinwen Lianbo'' in the P.R.C. continues to anno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Term
A solar term is any of twenty-four periods in traditional Chinese lunisolar calendars that matches a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon. The points are spaced 15° apart along the ecliptic and are used by lunisolar calendars to stay synchronized with the seasons, which is crucial for agrarian societies. The solar terms are also used to calculate intercalary months; which month is repeated depends on the position of the sun at the time. According to the '' Book of Documents'', the first determined term was Dongzhi (Winter Solstice) by Dan, the Duke of Zhou, while he was trying to locate the geological center of the Western Zhou dynasty, by measuring the length of the sun's shadow on an ancient timekeeper instrument named Tu Gui (土圭). Then four terms of seasons were set, which were soon evolved as eight terms; until 104 BC in the book Taichu Calendar, the entire twenty-four solar terms were officially included in the Chinese calendar. Because ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Observances Set By The Chinese Calendar
The traditional Chinese holidays are an essential part of harvests or prayer offerings. The most important Chinese holiday is the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), which is also celebrated in overseas ethnic Chinese communities (for example in Malaysia, Thailand or the USA). Traditional holidays are varied from region to region but all scheduled according to the Chinese calendar (except the Qing Ming and Winter Solstice days, falling on the respective ''Jie qi'' in the Agricultural calendar). Public holidays Traditional holidays are generally celebrated in Chinese-speaking regions. For the most part however, only Chinese New Year, Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are statutory public holidays. This is the case in both mainland China and Taiwan whilst Hong Kong and Macau also observe Buddha's Birthday and Chung Yeung Festival. In Singapore, Chinese New Year is the only traditional Chinese public holiday, likewise with Malaysia. Each regi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Holidays In China
There are currently seven official public holidays in mainland China. Each year's holidays are announced about three weeks before the start of the year by the General Office of the State Council. A notable feature of mainland Chinese holidays is that weekends are usually swapped with the weekdays next to the actual holiday to create a longer holiday period. History Festivals in China have been around since the Qin Dynasty around 221-206 BC. During the more prosperous Tang Dynasty from AD 618–907, festivals involved less sacrifice and mystery to more entertainment. Culminating to the modern era Between the 1920s until around the 1970s, the Chinese began observing two sets of holidays, which were the traditional and what became "official", celebrating the accomplishments of the communist regime. There was then a major reform in 2008, abolishing the Labour Day Golden Week and adding three traditional Chinese holidays (Qingming Festival, Duanwu Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caozaiguo
''Chhau-a-koe'' is a type of kuih with a sweet dough made with glutinous rice flour, sugar, and a ground cooked paste of Jersey cudweed or Chinese mugwort. The herbs give the dough and the finished kuih a unique flavor and brownish green color. The kuih is found in Fujian, Hakka, and Taiwanese cuisine. Chhau-a-koe is usually made in Qingming Festival as a celebratory food item. Although the kuih can be made from either herb, Chinese mugwort is more commonly used in making Hakka-style caozaiguo. The herb-flavored dough is commonly filled with ground meat, dried white radish, or sweet bean pastes. In Taiwan, a filling consisting of Dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, dried and shredded white radish (), and deep-fried shallots is commonly used. See also * Qingtuan, the Jiangnan form of this dish * Kusamochi, the Japanese form of this dish * Songpyeon ''Songpyeon'' (, 松䭏) is a traditional Korean food made of rice powder. It is a type of ''tteok'', small rice cakes, tradit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryukyuan Languages
The , also Lewchewan or Luchuan (), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family. Although Japanese is spoken in the Ryukyu Islands, the Ryukyu and Japanese languages are not mutually intelligible. It is not known how many speakers of these languages remain, but language shift toward the use of Standard Japanese and dialects like Okinawan Japanese has resulted in these languages becoming endangered language, endangered; Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, UNESCO labels four of the languages "definitely endangered" and two others "severely endangered". Overview Phonologically, the Ryukyuan languages have some cross-linguistically unusual features. Southern Ryukyuan languages have a number of syllabic consonants, including unvoiced syllabic fricatives (e.g. Ōgami Miyako language, Miyako 'breast'). Glottal consonant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helichrysum Luteoalbum
''Helichrysum luteoalbum'', the Jersey cudweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Description It is an erect herbaceous biennial up to tall, branching from the base. Leaves are oblanceolate to lanceolate and covered in hairs like that of the edelweiss. The leaves can survive frozen over in winter. Flowers are cream, yellow, white, or pink. Seeds have a pappus which lets them float over long distances. Taxonomy This species was first published by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 ''Species plantarum'', under the name ''Gnaphalium luteo-album'' (the orthography was later changed to omit the hyphen). In 1829, Ludwig Reichenbach transferred it to ''Helichrysum'', but this name was not taken up, and the species was retained in ''Gnaphalium'' until 1981, when Olive Mary Hilliard and Brian Laurence Burtt transferred it into ''Pseudognaphalium''. In 2004, an investigation into the phylogenetic relationships of ''Helichrysum'' and related genera found this species to ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okinawan Festivals And Observances
This is an overview of festivals and observances found in the Okinawa Islands, Okinawa Prefecture of southwestern Japan. The Okinawan culture is noted for extreme diversity. The following list is based on south-central Okinawa, and may not be applied to northern Okinawa. Miyako and Yaeyama hold substantially different festivals and observances. Unless otherwise noted, dates are according to the traditional lunisolar calendar. The categories below ("January - May" and "June - December") are artificial, created for ease of article navigation. January - May observances *31 December (solar calendar): ''Tusinuyuru'' (New Year's Eve). Amid celebration, garlic is used in different ways (according to local tradition) to banish and keep away evil spirits. '''Wakamizi'', the year's first drawn water, is set out as an offering to ancestors. *1 January (solar calendar): ''Sjoogwachi'', (Standard Japanese: ''Shōgatsu''; New Year's Day). Local religious leaders hold first rites of the New Year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni the westernmost. The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island. The climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfa'') in the north to tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification ''Af'') in the south. Precipitation is very high and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons. Except the outlying Daitō Islands, the island chain has two major geologic boundaries, the Tokara Strait (between the Tokara and Amami Islands) and the Kerama Gap (between the Okinawa and Miyako Islands). The islands beyond the Tokara Strait are characterized by their coral reefs. The Ōsumi and Tokara Islands, the northernmost of the islands, fall un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive varieties of the Chinese language. The estimated 1.4 billion Han Chinese people, worldwide, are primarily concentrated in the People's Republic of China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau) where they make up about 92% of the total population. In the Republic of China (Taiwan), they make up about 97% of the population. People of Han Chinese descent also make up around 75% of the total population of Singapore. Originating from Northern China, the Han Chinese trace their cultural ancestry to the Huaxia, the confederation of agricultural tribes living along the Yellow River. This collective Neolithic confederation included agricultural tribes Hua and Xia, hence the name. They settled along the Central Plains around the middle and lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cold Food Festival
The Cold Food or Hanshi Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday which developed from the local commemoration of the death of the Jin nobleman Jie Zitui in the 7thcenturyBC under the Zhou dynasty, into an occasion across East Asia for the commemoration and veneration of ancestors by the 7th-century Tang dynasty. Its name derives from the tradition of avoiding the lighting of any kind of fire, even for the preparation of food. This practice originally occurred at midwinter for as long as a month, but the hardship this involved led to repeated attempts to ban its observance out of concern for its practitioners. By the end of the Three Kingdoms Period (3rd century), it was limited to three days in the spring around the Qingming solar term. Under the Tang, ancestral observance was limited to the single day which is now the Tomb-Sweeping Festival. The Tomb-Sweeping Festival is a official holiday in several countries, and the Cold Food Festival which stretches either side of it co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jie Zitui
Jie Zhitui (centuryBC), also known as Jie Zitui, was a Han aristocrat who served the Jin prince Chong'er during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. Chinese legend holds that when Chong'er finally ascended to power as the duke of Jin ("Duke Wen"), Jie either refused or was passed over for any reward, despite his great loyalty during the prince's times of hardship. Jie then retired to the forests of Jin in what is now central Shanxi with his mother. Supposedly, the duke so desired to repay Jie's years of loyalty that, when Jie declined to present himself at court, he ordered a forest fire to compel the recluse out of hiding. Instead, Jie and his mother were killed by the fire on . By the Han, Jie was being revered in central Shanxi as a Taoist immortal. He was annually commemorated with a ritual avoidance of fire that, despite many official bans, eventually became China's Cold Food and Qingming Festivals. Names Jie Zhitui or Jiezhi Tui is the name given to him in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
