24 Solar Terms

Life in China 2017: A Picture a Day, March 5 – As most people do, I grew up with four seasons separating each year. However, in China, and some other Asian countries, there are 24 solar terms that separate the year! These 24 Solar terms, called Jie Qi节气, originated thousands of years ago as a guide for farmers (maybe like the Western Farmers Almanac?), and are still used today. But, they are so much more than agricultural terms to the Chinese people! They offer insight on the weather, the best foods to eat during each time period, and a general guide to daily living.  For many of the terms, our office even sends out notices telling you what kind of weather to expect or even what foods you should eat for the best health during this period!  

Translations of the terms are: Spring Begins, The Rains, Insects Awaken, Vernal Equinox, Clear and Bright, Grain Rain are all in spring.
Summer Begins, Grain Buds, Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice, Slight Heat, Great Heat, are all in summer.
Autumn Begins, Stopping the Heat, White Dews, Autumn Equinox, Cold Dews, Hoar-Frost Falls are all in autumn.
Winter Begins, Light Snow, Heavy Snow, Winter Solstice, Slight Cold, Great Cold are all in winter.

Today, March 5th, 2017, is the 3rd solar term of the year, called Awakening of Insects (Chinese: Jing Zhe). Tradition says that hibernating animals (not just insects) are awakened by the spring thunder. Supposedly, if thunder happens before this date, you can expect unusual weather for the rest of the year! The picture is of some water striders we actually saw a couple of days ago; there were hundreds of them on the pond!

Here is a short YouTube video about the 24 solar terms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfoDp_rglU

Plush Chickens and Roosters

Life in China 2017: A Picture a Day, January 22 –  The chickens and roosters have invaded Pikachu’s spot in the game machine! Did you know that roosters don’t say “cock a doodle doo” in Chinese? They just say “wo wo wo”! Anda chicken says “ge ge!” 

Couplets with Custom Calligraphy

Life in China 2017: A Picture a Day, January 14 –  The Chinese New Year preparations have started! Artists doing custom calligraphy are common at this time of year because people like to have custom couplets made to hang on their doorways. This man had a table set-up at our shopping plaza today and was making some couplets for a woman when I went past. I posted some information about couplets last year January 17, 2016. 

In the written Chinese characters, the words are very carefully chosen, as they have very specific guidelines, including that they rhyme, have the same number of characters on each side, and that the two must correspond to and complement each other. Some examples translated would be:

A wide sea lets fish jump; a high sky lets birds fly.

A mountain of books has a way and diligence is the path; the sea of learning has no end and hard work is the boat

Distance tests a horse's strength; time reveals a person's heart.

Smooth sailing with each year; success with each step.

Heaven adds time and people get older; spring fills the world and blessing fills the door.

China Post

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, December 19 – I think I may have mentioned that we don’t get mail very often. It’s usually just the 2 or 3 bills we get each month. We don’t even get junk mail where we live now! I only check it once every week or two, so today I was surprised to have not just one personal piece of mail but two! The only problem is, they were mailed from the USA last JANUARY! See the dates? 1-11-16 and 1-21-16! So glad to have finally received this long lost mail! Who knows where it has been all this time! Mail doesn’t always take this long though, it’s usually about a month from the USA. The government run China Post is NOT the mail service to use for anything important, it’s very inconsistent! We order things online quite often, and it’s AMAZING how fast they are delivered, BUT, they come through private delivery services, NOT China Post! I’ve also included a picture of our local China Post….it’s actually quite old, dull and boring! 

Vendors with Yolks

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, December 18 – Cooler weather seems to bring out the vendors who walk around carrying their goods for sale in boxes or baskets attached to a bamboo or wooden yolk. They might be selling tofu, candy, fruit or something else. They usually have some kind of metal they strike with a certain rhythm which seems to indicate they are selling something. Even I have learned to recognize this sound and know to look for a vendorwhen I hear it! The sound reminds me of a cowbell! Today, we saw the man who is seated, taking a well-deserved rest since he had probably been walking along the lake before coming to the shopping plaza. I photographed the other two vendors last fall/winter.

Chubby Women #5

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, December 14 – This is the 5th and I think the last of the Chubby Women statue series around Songshan Lake. There are many more in the series in other places though. This is the series by the sculptor named Xu Hong Fei, from Guangzhou. You can see the other four on my blog here: http://www.myownchinesebrocade.com/picture-a-day-1?tag=Xu+Hong+Fei  

Santas and Roosters!

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, December 9 – Our local shopping plaza has just switched its decorations from Halloween to Christmas. And… along with the Santa Claus toys, the first roosters have appeared! Chinese New Year is very early next year, arriving on January 28th. 2017 will be the “Year of the Rooster,” so, it looks like in China, Santa will be sharing the spotlight with the rooster this holiday season :-) 

Cute Japanese Food

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, December 8 – When “International” restaurants are mentioned around us, it often just means other Asian cuisine: Japanese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. The Chinese seem to LOVE Japanese food, so, living in China, we have the benefit of having quite a few Japanese restaurants around. Japan is known for its “cute” food and “sushi art” and we have a chain of restaurants around that make some cute ‘onigiri’ or rice balls. No, they doesn’t taste any different, but it’s fun to eat cute food :-) Tonight, Leah and I had these little panda bear rice balls with little octopi tied on their backs! You can buy all kinds of molds and nori (seaweed) punches to help you make your own cute food at home too :-) Here’s a You Tube tutorial to show you how to make some panda onigiri . You can buy the mold and punch on Amazon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONlY7hP426g

Piggy Buns

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, November 7 – Steamed buns are a very popular food in China. You can get them with all types of fillings. I can’t eat the steamed buns being gluten intolerant, but they look delicious! In the mornings, you walk past shops with huge steamers piled high (but I can’t find my pictures right now :-( ) Quite often, you also see these cute little piggy buns :-) I think they usually have BBQ pork in them, but not always. The top picture is some piggy buns for sale at the larger supermarket we shop at in the next town, and sometimes buy some Dim Sum. The other pictures are frozen buns you can buy at the supermarket nearer to us. They have panda bears and brown bears as well as piggies. They are more of a sweet snack or dessert with custard or red bean filling.

It is time for another break from my daily pictures, tomorrow, Leah and I head for the USA for 3 weeks. I will post random pictures as time allows. In the meantime, feel free to heck out my old blog from when we first came to China! http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/covemom/

Cheese Milk Cap Tea

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, November 4 – You can buy soooo many kinds of tea in China! I love tea and really haven’t found many I don’t like yet! But… in the past, when I saw ‘cheese” and “tea” together, I was very hesitant. Well, we FINALLY realized that the “cheese” is a soft cream cheese topping that is added to the tea, and it is DELICIOUS! Imagine a cheesecake with your tea :-) There are different kinds, but what we have had twice now is called “Hai yan zhi shi nai gai”; That is translated as “Sea salt cheese milk cap,” and you choose if you want it on black or green tea, or others depending on the shop. The first time we tried it, there were even directions on the lid for how to drink it! You don’t put your straw in and drink like with most iced teas, you sip from the cup, tipping it just enough to get a little of the cream cheese while you drink the tea. The first time I had this, it was on the menu as “Riyuetan Pool Black Tea Milk cap,” nothing about the cheese in English, the “riyuetan” means “sun and moon pool.” Today, we tried it at a new little drink shop at our plaza, no English on their menu, thankfully I have Leah to help! The shop is called “Tea Get” :-) We agreed that the mascot looks awfully similar to an M & M character! Hmmm....yes, we live in China! Milk caps are common for iced tea, but I haven’t tried any other than this cheese kind. Has anyone else? How are they?

Halloween

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 31 – I was surprised that we actually had trick or treaters last night: 2 kids and their dog! There was no planned trick or treating where we live, so I wasn’t expecting anyone, but I did find something to give them :-) Halloween isn’t really celebrated by most Chinese, but in areas where expats live, and also where children have English classes and learn about Western culture, there are often parties. This year, I think I’ve seen more parties advertised for adults, at bars and restaurants, than activities for kids! Some of the housing complexes with a lot of foreigners have trick or treating (But not in Songshan Lake, where we live). Our shopping plaza has Halloween decorations up, and the supermarket and one other store had small sections of Halloween items for sale. These pictures show the ‘signs’ of Halloween in Songshan Lake: left – The red lanterns came down and were replaced with Jack-o-lantern lanterns! Top right – The one store that has a big window display has it all done up for Halloween, pumpkins right along with the red lantern window stickers :-) Bottom right – A close up of one of the plastic jack-o-lanterns … with an evergreen branch handle! And Lower left – A place for pictures in the center of the plaza, those panda statues that have been around for a while now, are there right along with the haunted house :-) That’s it, Halloween Chinese style! 

Silk Floss Trees

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 15 – The most beautiful tree blooming here right now is called the Silk Floss Tree. As with so many other species found here now, it is not native to China, but to South America; It can also be found in southern areas of the USA. The variety found here has various shades of pink flowers, but there is also a white variety. The trees are very tall and covered in blooms from late summer until mid-autumn or later! I actually have pictures from last year where they were still blooming here in December! They often lose their leaves before flowering, which helps the flowers stand out even more! After the flowers die, the seed pods develop; the seeds are encased in a silky white floss, which gives the tree its name. When not blooming, they can be identified by their thorny trunks. These trees are related to the Kapok trees which I shared a picture of back on April 10thhttp://www.myownchinesebrocade.com/picture-a-day-1/2016/4/10/kapok-or-mu-mian-cotton-tree-flowers

I don’t think I have any pictures of the seed pods for this tree, but it looks very similar to the ones of the Kapok trees. 

Natural Grass Brooms

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 13 – When I first saw these natural grass brooms, I thought they were quite crude looking, but, after watching them being put to use, I’ve changed my mind. The workers where we live and all around Songshan Lake use these for sweeping the walkways outside and they do a great job! The workers within our housing all have carts that they push around with their tools and the workers along the lake ride their bicycles and have the brooms stick out the back as they ride, but they all use these natural brooms. I wouldn’t be surprised if they even work better than the “fancy” modern ones! 

Stone Baluster Heads

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 8 – I think any country with rivers and lakes has its own style of picturesque bridges and China is no exception! Many of the bridges, whether they are arched, zigzagged, have pavilions in the centers, or something else, have stone balustrades with decorative baluster heads. Long ago, carvings of dragons and phoenixes were used only for the baluster heads on the grounds of imperial buildings; The Forbidden Palace in Beijing has many. In my picture, the dragon baluster heads are around the Drum Tower at the Chiwan Temple in Shenzhen. The bridge is one near us, I’m not sure if the carvings represent flowers or clouds, but they are interesting. Many modern bridges just have plain baluster heads. Other common designs for the more ornate ones are lions, flames, and pomegranates. You can see the plain ones in my post on Zigzag Bridges https://linda-walsh-n6tp.squarespace.com/config/pages/568757bdd8af102bf3da0525

Chubby Women #4 Golf

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 5 - I’ve posted three others of the Chubby Women series by Guangzhou artist Xu Hong Fei. We’ve seen her walking a dog (Feb 5), holding a baby (April 11), lying with a cat (June 24), and now we have her playing golf – only she doesn’t have a golf club that is part of the statue. It doesn’t seem to be broken, it looks like there never was one; I thought she should have one, so I gave her a bamboo club for the picture :-) If you want to see the other three statues, follow this link: http://www.myownchinesebrocade.com/picture-a-day-1?tag=Xu+Hong+Fei I think there is still one more to go! www.myownchinesebrocade.com

National Day

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 1 – Chinese National Day has been celebrated on October 1st since 1949. It is celebrated in China, Hong Kong and Macau. The week following is called “Golden Week.” It is comparable to the USA’s 4th of July, only it lasts a full week instead of one day. Schools are closed as well as many businesses. Mainland China has three official days off, but many people will then have to work the weekend after to make up time. Travelling is very popular during this holiday, since people have more time off. New flags are put up on display, some areas have parades or fireworks. Our plaza had some live music, and we could have gotten a free little flag from our housing office if we wanted (which we didn’t) but, there’s really not much happening right here! The picture shows flag banners along the main road and above the escalator at the supermarket.  

Bike Rentals

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 29 – There are bike rental businesses everywhere you go around us. This is a new one that just opened outside of a restaurant (not sure if it’s actually a part of the same business?). There’s already another one at the end of the row of shops, and a convenience store in between them. People from neighboring towns come to Songshan Lake to relax and have fun, and renting bikes to ride seems to be the top choice of what to do here! For a regular bicycle, rental is 10rmb (about $1.50usd) per day. A mountain bike or bicycle built for two are 20rmb per day. At other places, you can also rent bikes for 3 and 4 people. There are also baby, toddler and child type seats to choose from. There are nice brick bike paths that go all around the lake, much of them shaded, unfortunately, many people insist on riding in the street which causes traffic problems, especially when it’s crowded. 

Rocks in Chinese Gardens

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 28 – The neccessary elements of a Chinese garden are: water, architecture, plants, and rocks. Often walls and winding paths are also included. Different types of rocks serve different purposes, but one of the most treasured types of rocks are unique limestone formations. The most famous gardens have rocks from a place called Tai Lake (Taihu), which is near Suzhou, where there are many famous classical gardens. This picture shows a limestone rock formation near the Lotus Pavilion in Songshan Lake. It looks like the Taihu rocks I’ve seen in Suzhou, but I really don’t know, I’m no rock expert! I included Leah in the picture so you could see the size of the rock. Rock formations like these are actually considered to be “sculptures.” There are also many smaller rocks of different kinds around the park, and also, all of the much smaller ones that make up the footpaths I posted a picture of back in May. It seems rocks in Chinese gardens are basically equivalent to flower plantings in Western gardens. We also have a specific Rock Garden near us. Here is a 5 minute video about a replica of a Classical Chinese garden in New York City. It tells a lot about the meaning of rocks in Chinese gardens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttb2UtMUbIU

Songshan Lake Music Fountain

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 24 – Today is one year since we moved to Songshan Lake, so I thought I’d show some pictures of the Songshan Lake Fountain. The fountain is located across the lake from us at the Songshan Lake Square. It has certain times for shows, varying in different seasons. They play music in both English and Chinese; the song I hear played most often is called “Take Me to Your Heart” by Michael Learns to Rock, a Danish artist. You can hear the music and watch the fountain from the other side of the lake at the square, or as you walk along the side of the lake we live on. After dark, they turn pink and purple lights on the fountain also. Top left and lower right pictures are from the square close to the fountain, lower left is tonight’s sunset with the fountain on the right, and upper right picture is the fountain with lights. Songshan Lake, Music

Herons

Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 22 – Today we went for a bike ride and saw these three different types of herons all in one area. In Chinese culture, herons symbolize strength, purity, patience, and longevity. In Chinese, lu (loo), the word for heron, sounds similar to the word lu used for ‘path’ or ‘way’ (same as street). In Chinese art and poetry, herons are often shown or written about together with a lotus flower. This is because the word for lotus is ‘lian’ and it sounds the same as the word for ‘successive.’ So … the phrase, lù lián sheng, is a wish for good fortune, a positive future, or success in what you are doing. In Chinese legend, white herons were responsible for taking the souls of departed people to heaven, so the white heron represented the path to heaven. The pictures, starting with the top left, are the Little Egret (egrets are a type of heron), top right is the Great Egret, lower right is the Chinese Pond Heron (in non-breeding plumage), and the lower left is a painting I saw last year displayed at a small art gallery at Shenzhen University. In the painting, you can see the lotus flowers behind the heron.