Lion Dance

Lion is an important Chinese totem, the symbol of power, majesty and courage, capable of warding off evil spirits. In this context, the Chinese consider it to be a peaceful creature. In Chinese legend, lion was the ninth son of the dragon and was the best employable guard, thus it was usually seen in front of royal palaces, offices and residences.

Lion dance is a folk recreational and sporting activity, imitating the movement of lions. As an important tradition in China, it is usually performed with the dragon dance on auspicious occasions, as lions express joy and happiness. A good performance is believed to bring luck and happiness.There usually are two performers who play the lion. One, handling the lion's head, leads the dance and shows the lion's emotions. The other plays the body and the tail. They hide themselves under a cloth attached with the head.

For a proper show, the movements must match the music played by a minimum of three pieces: drum, gong and cymbal. The loud music, along with the firecrackers and lion movements, is used to scare away "evil spirits" so that good luck will follow. Throughout the performance, the lion will imitate various moods and demonstrate similar physical gestures allowing the lion to look life-like. Emotions and expressions portrayed by the dancers include excitement, caution, curiosity, playful, anger, sleepiness, confusion, happiness, sadness, and many others.

Chinese lion dance goes back some one thousand years. The first record of the performance of an early form of the dance dates to the early Qin and Han dynasties. By the end of Ming Dynasty and at the beginning of Qing Dynasty, lion dance had become popular in Guangdong. Lion head is often made of paper and lion body of cloth. From the fourth day to the fifteenth of the New Year, lion dance groups would tour from village to village in traditional China.

Snow

It snowed again when i went out after supper. It is the end of March already. Spring should come now. But there is no sign of spring at all. It started to snow since i came here last October. The snow here always makes me think of coldness. The winter here is really too long. No wonder once a colleague said that there are only winter and summer in Calgary. He told me there are four seasons in his home country.
yeah, in my hometown, there are four seasons too. March is the spring time and we can colourful flowers all around. And even in winter, there may only be light snow once in a while. Sometimes the snow melts even before it can cover the ground. At that time, we were so eager to see snow. I remembered i had spent one winter in Beijing, which is in the north of China. It snows more often than in my hometown. I was so excited to see the white world outside after I got up on morning. I used to like the white snow so much. When the snow stopped, we went out to play with each other. We made snowman. We fought with each other with snowballs. Sometimes I would hold some snow in my hand until it melted. We also like to take pictures with the white and pure snow as a background. We did not feel cold at all.
Now, I can see snow nearly every week, but i do not have htat kind of feeling at all. I just feel it is a long , cold, and boring winter. I wonder when the spring may come.

The truth in Tibet , China

This week, the Tibet turmoil in China was broadcast on CBC several times When i watched TV. CBC reported that the Chinese government suprressed the Zhang People in Tibet who pretest to seperate from China by force. Some other western media including CNN also reported the news wrongly and distort the truth.
Actually, Tibet is part of China thousand of years ago. The life of Tibet people have improved a lot since the foundation of People's republic of China. Chinese government have try every means to develop Tibet. There are many high mountaions there and natural environment there is relatively worse. It is not easy to Zhang people to get in tough with the outside world. In order to build the railway there, thousands of Han People gave up their lives there ( Han people is the majority of Chinese). Chinese government also spent a lot of money to repair and keep the historical heritage of Tibet, Buladagong.
It is not the Zhang people who want to seperate from China. It was some few malicous people led by Dalai Lama who want to destruct the development of China. They planned the turmoil.
The suffians in Tibet set fires to a lot of buildings including government office, malls, even hospitals. many people died and many others were injured. Many people lost their wealth that they have worked for several years.
Some foreign tourist have witnessed the cruel actions of the suffians. A canadian there has seen the cruel people hit the people walking in the street with stones. They also fire the cars in the street. The 25-year-old guy from Switzerland was travelling there at that time. He saw how the suffians hit an old man riding on bike.
In order to same the people's life and wealth, the Chinese government had to take action. The goverment sent out army to stop the cruel actions of the suffians.

Yuan Longping, the "Father of Hybrid Rice"

Yuan Long Ping is derector-general of China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Centre in Central China's Hunan Province. He had been dubbed the "father of hybrid rice"
When they people first see him, they would thought he was a farmer. Like a farmer he often works in the field, but he not only plants the rices, but also do research on the plants.
He came up with the idea of hybridizing the rice for the first time in the world in 1960s. After that he devoted most of his life growing rice in paddyfields. He has conducted extensive research related to the cultivation of new strains of hybrid rice in some ten provinces.
In 1999, more than 300 million kilograms of grain were increased from about 240 million hectares of hybrid rice, which signified the sucess of his research. The "Super Rice" yields are 30 percent higher htan those of common rice. His scientific breakthrough has fed millions of people in the world's most populous country.
But even after that achievement, Yuan won't take a break. He has a dream that popularizing new strains of grain with higher yields around the world to elimiate starvation on earch.
The FAO's 1991 statistics show that 20 percent of the world's rice output was yielded from 10 percent of the world's rice fields, which grow hybrid rice. His "Super Rice" has been introduced to more than 20 countries.
Because of Yuan Longping's contribution to the world, most Chinese people believe that he should be awarded " Nobel Prize".

I like dreams

The word"dream" has several different meanings in dictionary: a."a dream is a series of images, events, and feelings that happen in your mind while you are sleep." b. " a dream is a wish to have or be sth, expecially one that seems difficult to achieve." c. a dream is a state of mind or a situation in which things do not seem real or part of normal life.
I like all kinds of dreams. I like the dreams while sleeping. In these dreams I can do thins that cannot or is impossible to do in the waking world. I often have the same dream. In my dreams I can fly high in the sky. I fly over the mountains, over the oceans. The feeling is so good. In my dreams, i can meet my beloved grandmother who has been away for fifteen years. I am so happy to see her. In my dreams i can meet my relatives and friends far away in my hometown. I also like daydreams. I can sit there for a long time and dream a lot of wonderful dream. Although it may be a kind of illusion. After I read the story of Madam Curie in my childhood, I had hoped to be a famous scientist like her. When I was in high school, I had hoped to be a good translator and interpreter. Now, all these dreams has passed by. I arrived in Calgary. I am studying with the students most of whom are much younger than me. I am going to study a new major. I will work in a new field. I am not as young as before. But I still tell myself frequently that i should havve my dream. People often say " There is a will, there is a way."

My hometown

My homtown, Yichang, lies on the bank of Yangtze river. It is an ancient city and its history can be date back to 4000 years ago. The famous ancient beauty Wang Zhaojun and the patriotic poet Quyuan was born there.
Yichang is a beautiful city. There is a very long park along Yangtze river. In the park, you can see a lot of green grass, all kinds of trees and colourful flowers. There are also some pretty pavilious in the park. The abudant natural resoures and historical sites of Yichang are very attractive such as mountains, waterfalls, caves, stone forests and pools. Xiling gorge, which is in yichang is an important part of Three Gorges scentic spot. The three gorges Dam project is one of the great wonders in the world and it has become a toursit hot spot. Every year, millions of visitors gather there to vitness this great man-made project.
Besides the breaktaking scenery, Yichang is also abundant in local products such as oranges, persimmons, Chinese gooseberries, tea, etc. There are all kinds of nice food in Yichang. The visitor can choose restaurant to try the dishes from different parts of China. They can also have a taste of snacks with local flavour sold in the street and lanes. They are cheap and delicious.
My hometown is really a wonderful place. I miss it very much.

Hello, everyone!

Hello, everyone! I am from China. I moved to Calgary three months ago. It is the first time for me to have a blog. I am glad to share my experience with all of you. Have fun!