WorldToChina

      At the foot of a mountain in Luoshui, Shifang city, Sichuan province, there buried 108 pupils. As you can see in the picture, one brick is one tombstone of a kid.

      Some children haven’t been claimed by their families; therefore, we are forced to have some bricks stand there with no names on it. To memorize the dead kids, the soldiers carved numbers on the bricks as signs. The figure 108 is more than a pure number, but a shocking fact that some many little kids died in the disaster.

      I don’t think it is necessary for me to criticize the fragile constructions schools built. Nearly every one in China now is strongly complaining about the hastiness. All I want to say is:

       Headmasters and pit bosses, attention please! When you are going to do any constructions ever after, always remember the number 108. Don’t make any of your family members add up to the figure.

      Right after I finished the movie Hard Candy, looooots here to say.

      Jeff (Patric Wilson) the devil, gains the audience’s sympathy, of course, all the way through until he finally talked his evil deeds at the very end before he commits suicide. Actually, I was confused in the middle part as the movie went on,  wondering: is Jeff really a villian; or it might be Heyley (Ellen Page) who is really insane and is imposing torture? Even at some time, I believed Jeff is innocent. And had hoped the neighbor who comes to visit will discover the conspiracy and call the police to release Jeff. (Of course, now I have a full view of the two main actors, and changed my standing.)

      Lots and lots to comment on this movie. No wander it gains fame. But there are two haunting questions on my mind right now:

      Why does Jeff become so nervous everytime when Janelle is mentioned? Is he really in love with that woman and would like to sacrafice life for her in the end?

      Why is Heyley intentionally dressed in red in the end, walking in the bushes? Does that have any symbolic connection with the Little Red Hat, to further indicate her heroic and brave characteristic?

      Anyway, Hard Candy is no doubt a clever and exciting thriller, which developes with mainly two actors, apart from the neighbor (Sandra Oh). It leaves me a lot to be think about. The feeling is a little bit too complicated to sort out. But it’s really new hit in thrill movies. The heroin in the Hard Candy is inconventionally scary and remorseless. The actress not only stricks me but also leaves me drained and exhausted…

      Legendary martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li come together onscreen.

      Director Rob Minkoff’s time-traveling takes on the Monkey King fable and finds an American teen transported back to ancient China.  After wandering into a pawn shop the adventurer discovers the king’s fighting stick.

      Once there, the adventurous teen joins an army of fierce warriors who have sworn to free their imprisoned king at all cost. In addition, Li assumes the role of a silent monk, and Chan appears in the role of kung fu master Lu Yan. Famed action choreographerYuan Woo Ping preside over the fight sequences. 

      Actually, these two martial arts masters have never faced each other before, which in theory is the primary allure of “The Forbidden Kingdom.”

      Nothing about The Forbidden Kingdom comes close to leaving the sort of indelible cultural mark those previous films did, but it’s indeed an entertaining deversion anyway.

      Chinese traditional private school reappears in Changle villege, Lanxi, Zhejiang province. It’s opened up on April 26, 2008.

      Students in this school are taking courses tatolly different from those they have in the normal public schools.

      You can never find text books of mathematics, English or even mordern Chinese in this school. Instead, they are having traditional lessons on The Four Books( The Great Learning, The Doctrine of The Mean, The Analects of The Confucius and The Mencius) and The Five Classics. Besides, courses about Chinese traditional etiquettes and culture are scheduled to better cope with the all-round analysis of ancient articles.

      Students in the school have to write with Chinese writing brush pen and roll their heads while doing reading and reciting just like the ancient Chinese students did. Both students and tutors are dressed in ancient garments.  While delievering courses, the tutor is goin’ to carried a ferula  in his hand, which I think is only to act more like the anciet tutors rather than to give physical punishment to the kids.

      Since Apr 7^th, when the Tibetan separatists tried to interfere with the torch relay in Paris, people have become closely concerned about Beijing Olympics and most Chinese people now are showing great patriotism in opposing France and even French enterprises such as Carrefour super malls.

      There are some interesting DIY T-Shirts initiated by some netizens showing their strong support of Beijing Olympics and their unshakable following after the Chinese governing, or say, foreign interference.

(You can enlarge the photos by a click on them)

     I dare not give any comment on this for fear to be accused of any possible crime. All I want to say is that Chinese people’s patriotism shouldn’t never be overwhelming only when there is a riot. Instead, we should always bear in mind the seemingly tiny trivial things we do on every ordinary day for our country’s reputation and development are no less significant and contributive.

     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.

      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. 

      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~!