WorldToChina

      From June 1^st on, all the Chinese will be exposed to the question: how to deal with the odds and ends without plastic bags. However, the problem has already been solved by a Japanese woman named Yuriko Koike.

      She is a governor working for the environmental protection. Mottainai Furoshiki, is her designation to replace the white pollutant—plastic bags. It is, in comparison, much more colorful and environment friendly.

      It has various kinds of fabric pattern, and both sides of the cloth is dedicatedly printed. Japanese people are showing a high interest in it, not only because of its none-harm nature to environment but also for its elegance in appearance. This is one of them with cartoon images, which is very popular among girls.

      It can be used as wrap ordinary commodities, or package of gifts, or even as presents for friends itself. All in all, the design is quite practical and applicable. I think Chinese people can also follow the way to save plastic bags.Following is the way of wrapping a ball, a bottle of beer and two bottles of beer. Maybe you can have a try by using a plain cloth.

On Saturday, I finished my MS Office Test. I feel good more for my relief from the intense preparation work than for my performance, though I successfully finished all the tasks.

Today morning, I attended the NECCS. There were some unpredicted small accidents, but it ended well. I finished all the Qs 37 minutes in advance.

Now, I am fresh and new like a newborn. HAHAH“` There are almost 40 days to go before the BEC exam, so I can have some day off to rest.

There were two goin’-to-graduates this afternoon sold their used books on our new campus. I chatted with them. And find they are happy about themselves now as juniors. This runs counter to the stereotype conception of them. It was said that the most depressed idlers are the junior college students. But they are far from that kind of description. They’ve already find a satisfactory job, they’ve passed the TEM 8, and they are now planning a travel before graduation.

They made me feel released. True, it is a release talking to them. Job hunting seems not that difficult. Band 8 is no long that mysterious. AND most importantly, like can be so colorful in the coming years.

Hopefully, I can manage all the up-coming challenges and have a happy life ever after.

     Personally I don’t think Fengshui really function in our daily life. At least I don’t have so strong feelings of affection by the mysterious rule, though some may regard it as a Chinese traditional philosopy.

       But according to the definition of Fengshui in most of the dictionaries, such as Modern Chinese Dictionary and Ci Hai, Fengshui is not considered to be scientifically reasonable. Instead it’s more like a supersition popular among common people without any solitary proof. It means:

  “the location of a person’s house and (or) ancestral grave, supposed to have an influence on the fortune of a family and his offsprings; a geomantic omen”

      However, I consulted some of the methodologies of Fengshui measurements. There is a comparatively simpler one, which operates accordingly to a diagram with 9 grids and 1 star in it.

      In each of the 9 grids, you will find 2 numbers. The number in the upper left corner indicates the annual star and the number in the lower right corner indicates the monthly star. Use a reliable compass to determine your directions or locations; then refer to the flying star chart for the monthly forecast. So, if your front door (the one everybody in the house uses) is located in the south sector, then refer to the relevant grid for the kind of luck that will affect everyone in the household during that particular month. Also, if the room you occupy is located in the north sector, then you will be experiencing the kind of luck indicated by the stars there.

      I think it’s quite confusing to have those numbers and directions as indication of your up coming luck and offsprings. How can I tell? I’d rather set out to solve the problems I’m facing now than to drag my hair out to count all the mysterious numbers.

      In the eve of Spring Festival, nearly every child in China will receive a sum of money, no matter big or small, as called Ya Sui Qian. Then what is the origin of this custom? Why do people give their kid money that day? Well, there is a story about this traditional custom.

      As folk tales goes: Long ago, there was once a ugly goblin, named Sui（祟）, whoes body was black and hands white. He intended to touch the foreheads of little children every Spring Festival Eve. The child would take on high fever after being touched. What’s worse, they became dull and even mad after the fever. Adults were terribly frightened by it. Thus they would stay up with all the lights on that night to keep their kids from his attack. It was called Shou Sui in Chinese.

      A household got a son at their late ages. They loved him so much that they kept strictly the custom of staying up in the Eve. To keep the boy awake, they gave him eight golden coins to play with. He wrapped  them in a red paper package. Folded and opened again and again. However, he finally fell into sleep. When the goblin came and wanted to touch his forehead, the eight coins shined sharply, frightening the goblin away screeming.

      Next day, the magical-coin news spreaded from mouth to mouth. More and more people tried the way of giving their kids some coins as protection against goblin Sui. Consequently, the coins were named under its function as Ya Sui Qian (压祟钱）. Because the Chinese character 祟 has the same pronunciation with another one 岁, as time went on, it was called Ya Sui Qian (压岁钱）, which means only the sum of money given to children in the Chinese Luar New Year Eve as gifts.

      That’s why many modern Chinese people don’t know the origin of the custom.

      You may think the little girl in this picture is nothing special but only a small kid. What if she is an adult looking just as you see now in the picture? One the first sight, I couldn’t at all trust the new agency over this piece. However, the following pictures are real convincing.

(They are: Jyoti on phone, beside a bucket and with a 13-MONTH boy) She is obviously smaller than the baby!

      Born in Dec 16th, 1993, Indian girl Jyoti is only 23.5 inch in height and 5.25 kg in weight. According to the record in India, she is the tiniest girl in the world ever since.

 (with her classmates)

      Jyoti was diagnosed to be suffering from achondroplasia,which directly made her size some small.

(with her family)                             (on papa’s motor) Can you see her?

      It’s really a fancy car, both in appearance and its unique design an innovation of motor! Totally shocked by him– Eliica, a new-born Japanese motor car and the currently most swift one among the electrocars.

      Eliica is short for Electric Lithiun-Ion battery Car. This radical eitht-wheel motivated motor proves that electricel vehicles can be fast and fun to drive, too. According to some tests, it can run even faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo by a recorded speed of 370 kph.

      The former Prime Minister had a trial drive in Eliica on the lawn of his villa.

      The car is nastyly cool and worth promoting, cause’ it can really help deal with the urgency of oil shortage and enviroment pollution. However, there is still a long way to go before it can be popularized: It takes 10 hours to recharge, and a production version would cost £170,000. 

      This is my third time watching The Devil Wears Prada. For this movie I don’t have too much comment on its plot, cause’ it’s no more a repeat of routine Hollywood soap opera, which tells about the foam of superfacial fame and bland competition among career people.

       The real attraction lies in all the fantastic dresses and glowns in the movie. The heroin is no doubt a beauty, at least for me she is. Even when she started her job in the Runway, she looks pure and … not bad anyhow. And, of course, after dressed up she is amazing~!

       Among all the gorgeous dresses I think the most fansy suit is the following white overcoat with the shoulder bag, gloves, and hat. A super match!

      Even after her resignation from the Runway and takes up her job as a journalist in a small publishhouse, her tast is obviously changed, definitely different from that of the former blue sweater girl handing resume to Mirada in her office.

     Mirada, of course, is the monster in her power strentch, especially in the Runway magzine head office. Being her assistant is torturing, but the position has never be vacant. “Girls are killing to get the job.” What’s the attraction? Fashion to be sure!

      Anyway, clever Andy received Mirada’s trust and respect. She companied her to Paris, received the permition to enter her house and wan bounch of clothes and shoes. Whatever her final choice was leaving or staying, she succeded.

     This movie is, in a word, attractive. I enjoy it as a soap opera, an unrealistic dream, as well as a fashion show. Hope you like it too.

      Tomb Sweeping Day is for traditional Chinese ancestor worship. It is of course on the Chinese lunar calendar roll.

      One this very day, a primary school in Henan organized the students to make a big Kongming laten to pay respect to the widely worshiped Lei Feng.

      Another traditional folk activity on this day is to plant willows. Therefore it is also named Willow Sticking Festival. Some are sticking the willow branches into their hair and some put them on their doors, which are believed to be apotropaic. .

     As time went on, the traditions gradually turned to be tomb sweeping and trees planting in its evolution. Anyway, no matter it’s changes or evolutions, they are all based on the historcal traditions and Chinese profound culture.  I think the Tomb Sweeping Day is the crystalized Chinese culture shared among all of its people. Moreover, it’s the nation’s common remmeberence of its past.

      It’s a good idea to set a day off on this festival. At least it can help the young generation to have the recognition of their nation’s glorious tradition. However, the neglection of traditonal festivals are noticeable, especiallly among the youngesters. Thus, in my opinion, the government should pay more attention to the education on traditional culture for preservation rather than only rely on a mere holiday.

      Today most of my teachers and classmates were fooled in different surprising ways, because it’s April 1st– a festival gaining more and more popularity around the world, China is not a exemption.

      Having a long history of her own, China cannot abruptly accept the pevalency of foreign festivals like Christmas, the Valentine’s Day and the Fool’s Day. The older generation is more likely to reject there entry. However, those festives are increasingly favored among youngsters. Some are even more prefered than traditional Chinese festivals. For example, western Valentine’s Day is more popular than traditional Qixi.

      Personally, I think it’s OK for Chinese to celebrate western festivals, cause’ they are merely ways for people to gathering together and enjoy themselves. As long as people like it, it is preferable. However, some may argue about the aggression of cultural shock. What I want to make clear is that: if a culture is strong and mature enough, it must also be tolerant enough to accept new concepts.

      If westerners are generous enough to learn Taiji, Kungfu and Chinese dishes, why can’t we show our confidence too? Just open our mind and enjoy the jokes intended for us on this internationalised April Fool’s Day~!