The city council in the town of Oranienburg has approved the plan for the construction the first Chinatown in Germany at a decommissioned airport, according to Spiegel Online. Read more »
The First Chinese Typewriter
The English alphabet only has 26 letters while Chinese has roughly over 80 thousand characters. It was very difficult to come up with a solution to be able to type in Chinese. Read more »
How to create your own website
Setting up a website turned out easier than I had imaged, and you can also create your cyberspace foothold in a day or two.This is how I set up this website and had it operational in two days. Read more »
The Top Five Culture Shocks You are Likely to Encounter in China
The five culture shocks listed here are not meant to a slur on my fellow countryman, although regrettably, China does need to improve in some of the areas listed below.
Please keep two things in mind when reading this article: China is fast modernizing and many things will eventually get better; do not let these shocks prevent you from enjoying China.
Confucianism Summed up in Three Hundred Words
This is a very concise summary of Confucius and his thoughts. This is not meant to be comprehensive, but the core ideas of Confucianism are presented here.
1. Who is Confucius?
A spiritual leader and teacher born 2500 years ago, Confucius is recognized as a culturally symbolic figure of Chinese thinking. He was the founder of the School of the Literati, but there is no record of his own writing. His teachings were preserved and compiled into Analects by his disciples. Confucius, which is the latinized form of his name, is known in China as Kong Zi.
The U.S. Dollar Inspired Spirit Money
Qing Ming or the Tomb Sweeping Day is the time for Chinese people to visit tombs, present offerings and burn the spirit money for the deceased. It typically falls on April 4, 5 or 6 every year. Last Friday, I was surprised to see that street stalls were selling the spirit money that looked like the U.S. dollars.
The traditional Chinese belief holds that when people die, they go to the underworld and continue to live on. The underworld does have a currency in circulation, but it is not designed or printed by the residents of the underworld. Read more »
The Most Popular Instant Messenger in China
Although I don’t like QQ and use it only on rare occasions, I have to admit it is the most popular instant messenger program in China. Especially for teens and twenty somethings, this program is a must-have.
QQ was known earlier as OICQ. It changed the name into QQ in 2001 because of its copyright infringement on AOL’s ICQ. Read more »
A Profile of Yun-Fat Chow
Birthday: May 18th, 1955
Place of Birth: Lamma Island, Hong KongYun-Fat Chow
Also known as: Zhou Runfa, Fa Zai, Fa Ge, Chow Anderson, Amon Chow
Chinese zodiac sign: Sheep/Goat
Biography: Yun-Fat Chow is the jewel in the crown in the Hong Kong movie industry. Since 1975, he has acted in a dazzling array of over 100 TV series and films. His virtuoso performance won him numerous fans throughout the world. Read more »
A New Way to Find your Chinese Zodiac Sign
Your Chinese zodiac sign may be a rooster, but you are actually influenced by the dog sign. How could this be possible?
1. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar
The Chinese calendar is both lunar and solar based (lunisolar). Nearly all the important traditional Chinese festivals are celebrated on the basis of moon phases. The solar aspect of the Chinese calendar, however, is important for agricultural activities and remains constant from year to year. Read more »
Noisy Eaters? Not a Big Deal in China
The Importance of Living by Dr. Lin Yutang was once the best-selling book in America in 1938. In this book, he explains why Chinese don’t think it is a big deal to make noises when eating. Read it with a sense of humor: