Learning Chinese - Taimiao Temple

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Taimiao Temple

( 2008-07-08 )

Taimiao Temple, presently the Working People's Cultural Palace, lies to the east of Tian'anmen Rostrum, symmetrically opposite Zhongshan Park. The large park stretches from Tian'anmen Rostrum in the south to the Forbidden City moat, and from the East Thousand Bu Corridor before the Imperial Palace
in the west to the eastern palace walls -- fully one half the width of the Forbidden City. The park was originally built in 1420 as a large-scale temple.

It used to be the imperial ancestral temple in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, when, on occasions such as an emperor' s ascending the throne, a triumphant return from battle or the presentation of prisoners of war, the emperor would first come here to offer sacrifices to his
ancestors

Built in 1420 (the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty), it covers a total area of 197,000 square meters, and is circled by three red walls. The three halls inside the Halberd Gate, which are the central structures, are imposing and solemn, with roofs covered with yellow glazed tiles. The
front hall, called Sacrificial Hall, was for holding grand sacrificial ceremonies. It stands on a tri-tiered sumeru base made of white marble. Inside the hall, the sixty-eight columns and the wooden components are all made of expensive golden-silk nanmu wood; the floor is paved with golden bricks,
and the ceiling is adorned with colored gilded paintings.

The former imperial forbidden compound was turned into Beijing Working People’s Cultural Palace after 1949, with its name inscribed by late Chairman Mao. It was officially opened to the public on May 1, 1950.

Over the past 58 years, it has become a “school and amusement park” for working people, and a national “model cultural palace for workers.” Various activities held here throughout the year attract many visitors and tourists; its artistic training and vocational education programs have
yielded a large number of persons qualified for various jobs; its performing troupes enjoy a long-standing reputation and popularity.

Later, the other traditional buildings inside the temple were converted into a library, an exhibition hall, a theater and a stadium. Flower beds were laid out among the pines and cypresses to mark the rebirth of this ancient shrine.

Currently, the Sacrificial Hall houses the Chinese Peace Bell, the largest two-note set-bells for stage performance in the world, whose name was inscribed by former president Jiang Zemin, who struck it for the first time on January 1, 2000.

As a municipal park, a historical and cultural garden, and a major tourist attraction in the neighborhood of Tian’anmen, the Working People’s Palace leaves an unforgettable impression on tourists both at home and abroad by perfectly integrating traditional and modern culture.

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* Dancing Beijing -- Beijing 2008 Olympic Emblem

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* Beijing Paralympics Emblem ( 07-10 )
* Environmental Emblem of Beijing 2008 ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing 2008 OYC ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing Olympic Cultural Festival ( 07-10 )

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* UK Contemporary Exhibition
* The Russia Star Ballet

Olympic on Beijing's Axis

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Chinese Tutor - Peking University

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Peking University

( 2008-07-08 )

Peking University is a comprehensive and National key university. The campus, known as "Yan Yuan"-- the gardens of Yan, is situated at the northeast of the Haidian District at the western suburbs of Beijing. It stands near the Yuanmingyuan Gardens and the Summer Palace and covers an area of
2,707,853 sq. m.

Founded in 1898, Peking University, whose former name was Jingshi Daxue Tang (the Metropolitan University), is the first state-run comprehensive university in China and the highest educational administrative body of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

In 1917, Mr. Cai Yuanpei, an outstanding educationist and democratic revolutionary, took up presidency of the university. He played an active role in the reform and development of the university. By 1919, the university had developed into the largest institution of higher learning in the country,
with 14 departments and an enrollment of more than 2,000 students. Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Mao Zedong, founders of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as Lu Xun, a great writer, thinker and chief leader of the Chinese New-Culture Movement, all either taught or took up an appointment in the
university.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Peking University became a university comprising departments of both liberal arts and sciences with an emphasis on the teaching and research of basic sciences.

The University now consists of 30 colleges and 12 departments, with 93 specialties for undergraduates, 2 specialties for the second Bachelor's degree, 199 specialties for Master candidates and 173 specialties for Doctoral candidates. While still laying stress on basic sciences, the university has
paid special attention to the development of applied sciences.

At present, Peking University has 216 research institutes and research centers, and there are 2 national engineering research centers, 81 key national disciplines, 12 national key laboratories.

The university has made an effective combination of the research on important scientific issues with the training of personnel with high level specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization. It strives not only for the simultaneous improvements in
teaching and research work, but also for the promotion of interaction and mutual promotion among various subjects.

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　 Emblems More

* Dancing Beijing -- Beijing 2008 Olympic Emblem

============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

* Beijing Paralympics Emblem ( 07-10 )
* Environmental Emblem of Beijing 2008 ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing 2008 OYC ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing Olympic Cultural Festival ( 07-10 )

News More

* Museums to exhibit 1,000 national treasures
* Creating new rituals, Beijing style
* Marine mural unveiled in capital
* Illustrated Olympic giant panda story comes out
* Ten recommended Beijing shopping streets

Meet in Beijing More

* Dance Along the River during the Qingming Festival
* Concert by Macao Chinese Orchestra
* Kataklo Athletic Dance Theatre
* UK Contemporary Exhibition
* The Russia Star Ballet

Olympic on Beijing's Axis

　 Online Tour

============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

| About us | E-mail | Contact |

Constructed by .cn
Copyright 2003 Ministry of Culture, P.R.China. All rights reserved

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Free Chinese Lesson - How to Make Calls with IP Cards

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How to Make Calls with IP Cards

( 2008-06-27 )

Q: How to make domestic long-distance and international calls with IP cards

A: You can't just simply pick up a phone in the city and call home. You need to buy an IP card. They're cheap and widely available at grocery stores and post offices. But IP cards aren't suitable for every phone but usually, you can use IP cards through fix-lined phones and cell-phones.

Domestic long-distance calls and international calls charge different fees. You can dial China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom customer service numbers to get price details.

China Mobile's IP card: dial 17950

China Telecom's IP card: dial 17908

　 Emblems More

* Dancing Beijing -- Beijing 2008 Olympic Emblem

============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

* Beijing Paralympics Emblem ( 07-10 )
* Environmental Emblem of Beijing 2008 ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing 2008 OYC ( 07-10 )
* Emblem of the Beijing Olympic Cultural Festival ( 07-10 )

News More

* Museums to exhibit 1,000 national treasures
* Creating new rituals, Beijing style
* Marine mural unveiled in capital
* Illustrated Olympic giant panda story comes out
* Ten recommended Beijing shopping streets

Meet in Beijing More

* Dance Along the River during the Qingming Festival
* Concert by Macao Chinese Orchestra
* Kataklo Athletic Dance Theatre
* UK Contemporary Exhibition
* The Russia Star Ballet

Olympic on Beijing's Axis

　 Online Tour

============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

| About us | E-mail | Contact |

Constructed by .cn
Copyright 2003 Ministry of Culture, P.R.China. All rights reserved

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Study Chinese - Show Me the Money

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Exchange>Exhibition

Show Me the Money

The Olympic Museum of Lausanne in Switzerland launched Beijing 2008 Chinese Cultural Exhibition early this year and the overall design was marvelously cloaked in the color of Chinese Red and images of the Temple of Heaven.

Now the exhibition's designer Roger Pfund comes to Beijing with his own solo show, which features his beautiful banknote designs.

Paintings, graphic designs, banknote designs and architecture reveal the versatility of the creator.

Elegant faces of women are decorated with minor pattern or illusory color blocks, presenting both aesthetic enjoyment and a trace of banknote.

The banknote and security series are often fulfilled with the harmonious combination of flowing brush lines and vivid colors.

Pfund also fuses a lot of elements of daily life into his creations. Apples, butterflies and smiling faces resonate with each other as a young girl relaxes under the sunshine.

The top European graphic artist is the designer of the Swiss passport, which has been in use since 2003. He also designed several banknotes for the Swiss National Bank and Banque de France.

Pfund is famed for combining aesthetics and security into his banknote design.

He is also a leading figure who introduced the computer-aided technique.

His advanced anti-counterfeiting features have established brand-new standards for the area.

Pfund's Swiss francs are circulating around the world like an ambassador of the country.

His handiwork not only plays an economic role, but also reflects the cultural and historical feature his nation.

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Chinese Tutor - Art of Attraction

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Exchange>Exhibition

Art of Attraction

With auction prices soaring and hundreds of new studios, galleries and private art museums springing up everywhere, artists from all over the world are cashing in on the China action. Even shopping centers have become art venues. More than 500 Russian oil paintings are now exhibited at Shin Kong
Place. Most of the works have been selected from the 2008 Russian Oil Painting Exhibition held in Moscow.

"Russian oil painting has a long tradition and has influenced many Chinese artists among whom some are teaching at the Central Academy of Fine Arts," says Min Li, the exhibition's organizer, who has been running the Jing Yi Yuan Russian Oil Painting Gallery in Beijing for eight years. Min, who
studied oil painting in Russia, brought her professors' works to Beijing when she started her gallery. "I realized that there are many people who like Russian artworks thanks to historical reasons," she says. "Now, China is opening its art door to the world. It is also important to bring in
foreign art works and absorb more knowledge."

Min has five branches of the gallery in Beijing, displaying more than 700 oil paintings from different eras. "Russian art has undergone an exciting renaissance that has produced a new generation of painters while maintaining traditions," Min says. The Russian oil painting exhibition will last till
May 11. For those looking for more art from abroad, head to the galleries of Beijing's 798 art district.

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Chinese Pinyin - Classic Represented: Opera "Flower Girl"

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Exchange>Stage

Classic Represented: Opera "Flower Girl"

The opera edition of The Flower Girl, the film from North Korea once warmly welcomed by thousands of Chinese audience members in the 1970s, will be brought to China from April 15 through 19, 2008. The well-known North Korean Pibada Opera will give a fabulous performance of the opera edition of The
Flower Girl in Beijing. The lyrics of Flower Girl, such as The Spring Comes Every Year and Flower Song, will be heard again during the show.

Opera "the Flower Girl"

Classic Represented

Classical Film "the Flower Girl"

Thirty years ago, we were deeply moved by the film, because we were in the same situation, and we had the same experiences, more or less. Thirty years later, we will definitely shed tears again, because it sends us a strong sense of spirit, and that is how to survive in bad times, and how we
persist in our own faith. It is no doubt that The Flower Girl is a classic, not only in the form of film, but also of opera. Moreover, it will lead us back to the glorious days in that period.

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Learn mandarin - Preface

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Exchange>Exhibition

Preface

Marriage and families founded through marriage constitute the basic cells of the society. It involves a multi-layer relationship between neighbors and other elements in the community, and it is so regarded by the Chinese as the top issue of the morality of human kind.

Wedding ceremony is the ritual conducted when the couple decides to establish a marital relationship and through which they can win over the approval, recognition and protection of the community. The procedure of the wedding ceremony actually reflects the various social and cultural notions.

The wedding customs in ancient China includes the whole procedure of rituals from the negotiation, engagement to wedding ceremony. Every step, every action and even every piece of utensil used in the whole work of wedding ceremony in which the families involved attach great importance to are so
closely related to social customs, economic development and cultural evolution of the country. Therefore the ritual itself conveys specific historical significance.

China has undergone some dramatic changes in the economy, society, culture and ways of life in the past century and so has the perception of wedding ceremony by contemporary Chinese compared to their ancestors. As a result, the contemporary Chinese emphasize more on the outcome of
relationship-seeking than that process of seeking it. By taking the procedure of negotiation, engagement to wedding rituals only as transitional and ceremonial actions, they regard the wedding banquet as the core of the whole ceremony. However, it does not really mean the power of tradition
contained in the old folk customs has faded away along with the change of ceremonial forms, some of the traditional rituals and folk customs have been preserved up till now.

With this exhibition, our intention is to showcase the wedding customs of contemporary China, explore the old elements from modern wedding rituals and through these , eventually exhibit to our dear audiences the change and inheritance of this ancient cultural heritage of China.

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