Chinese Culture

Something odd happened to him recently: He sat in front of a symphony orchestra, and all that familiar tension bunched up in his neck and back and shoulders just melted away.

Near the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a village in Northeast China where a family surnamed Xing lived. The Xing family was famous for two reasons. The first was that they had a secret ancestral remedy for eye disease; whoever had eye disease went to the Xing household to receive the remedy and […]

You ask me why I dwell in the emerald mountains. I smile and make no reply, my heart at ease. Peach blossoms flow downstream on the water, vanishing without a trace. It is another realm, beyond the human world. —Li Bai, one of China’s most celebrated poets For centuries, the Chinese have exalted and reveled […]

Traveling 5,000 miles from Shaanxi Province in northwest China, 10 life-size Terracotta Warriors have left their emperor’s kingdom in order to be exhibited in England, in “China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors,” an exhibition at the World Museum in Liverpool until Oct. 28. The famous burial chamber figures are displayed along with artifacts spanning […]

The 15th day of the 7th lunar month is known as the Ghost Festival. Its origin dates back to the story of Maudgalyayana rescuing his mother, which was first recorded in the Ullambana Sutra. Maudgalyayana was one of Buddha’s ten most outstanding disciples, and he also had the greatest psychic powers. After he acquired psychic […]

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a young man named De Yuan. He lived a very poor life and sometimes had nothing to eat for several days. But he liked to read, and he studied very hard to prepare for the Imperial Examinations, which were held only once every three years. Although he could not […]

During the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history, there was a bow maker in the state of Jin. His wife was the daughter of an official. Duke Ping of Jin instructed the bow maker to make a bow, and he spent three years completing the task. However, the arrow shot from the bow was […]

One day, after collecting firewood from the forest, Zhao Zan was on his way home. His mother was in the yard preparing to cook dinner. Then, a tiger ran into the village and directly into Zan’s yard. At that moment, Zan arrived at the village and all the villagers called out to him, “Don’t go […]

A man named Wang Xiang lived during the Jin Dynasty. He was well-known for his filial piety. Wang Xiang’s mother died when he was a child. His father remarried and his stepmother hated him. She frequently beat him and blamed him for the smallest things. Soon, Wang Xiang’s father joined his stepmother in berating him, […]

A basic tenet of ancient Chinese beliefs was that of filial piety, or caring for one’s parents. Both King Wen and his son King Wu were excellent examples of this ideal. King Wen of Zhou’s Filial Piety King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty, also known as Ji Chang, was a sage king in Chinese history. […]

At the beginning of the Hong Wu period of the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, there was a man named Zhu Shiji who had a daughter named Zhu E. Zhu Shiji, who was in charge of food taxes, was falsely accused by a grain debtor. He was put in jail and sentenced to death. […]

“If your heart is like a pool of clear water, every moment in your life can serve as inspiration,” says Ying-Hsiang Hsu. In his 40 years of working with jade and diamonds, the Taiwan-based metal processing expert, jade jewelry artist, and founder of jewelry company Art Jade has stood steadfastly by this philosophy, remaining true […]

Yu Shun, also known as Chong Hua, had a father, named Gu Sou, who was blind. His stepmother gave birth to a boy named Xiang. Much like his parents, Xiang was very vicious toward Shun. Their father liked Xiang very much and always looked for a chance to get rid of Shun. One day, Shun’s […]

There was an ugly woman in the state of Qi during the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.) who was still single at the age of 40. One day, she came to the king’s palace and asked to marry the king. The strangest thing was, the king did marry her and even made her the queen. […]

Practitioners of a Chinese spiritual discipline with ancient roots held festivities in Kiev, Ukraine. Falun Dafa practitioners performed dances, played Chinese drums, and flew a dragon through the streets. They went out there to raise awareness about Falun Dafa and how the Chinese communist regime persecutes people who do the practice. “We want to bring […]

A colourful sight unfolded in London’s Leicester Square on May 13, as Falun Dafa practitioners celebrated a meditation practice handed down from ancient China. Wearing yellow costumes that glimmered in the sunshine, practitioners performed the slow-moving exercises of the practice in the bustling central London square. The event was held to mark Falun Dafa Day, […]

NEW YORK—Look around New York and you might see waves of bright yellow shirts, golden dragons, and troops of drummers this week. About a thousand Falun Gong practitioners will participate in three days of events around the city to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day. Officially observed on May 13, it marks the day when Falun Dafa (or […]

There is a clay statue of a mad monk in the 500 Arhats Hall at Xiyuan Temple in the city of Suzhou. The monk has ten defects: a crooked mouth, a hunchback, crossed eyes, bat ears, ringworm of the scalp, uneven legs, scrawny hands, slanted shoulders, a pigeon chest, and a wonky nose. He is […]

In the spring of the 13th year of the Tianbao period (circa A.D. 754) of the Tang Dynasty, Liu Cheng and Li Hui often took big boatloads of fish and crabs to sell between Wu and Yue states.  One day, they loaded a boat full of fish in Xinan and were on their way to […]

When Zhuge Liang was about 17 to 18 years old, he went to Wolong Gang in Nanyang City, Henan Province, and built a thatched cottage. There, he ploughed the field and studied hard. A squire named Huang Chengyan lived under the Wolong Gang Ridge. He took a liking to Zhuge Liang when he saw that […]