Posts Tagged ‘Chinese Online Class’

• Learn Chinese – The Big Egg—National Grand Theater – Chinese Online Class

  Date: 2010.07.31 | Category: Chinese Online Class, learn Chinese | Response: 0

  The National Centre for the Performing Arts (Chinese: 国家大剧院; literally: National Grand Theatre), and colloquially described as The Egg, is an opera house in Beijing, People’s Republic of China.

  

  The main building of the National Grand Theater consists of an exterior shell, within which are a 2,416-seat opera house, a 2,017-seat concert hall, a 1,040-seat theater, a lobby and other supporting facilities.

  The exterior is a shell in the shape of a half ellipsoid with a long east-west axis of 212.20 meters and a short south-north axis of 143.64 meters. It is 46.285 meters tall, and it reaches to a maximum underground depth of 32.50 meters.

  Most of the shell is covered by titanium panels, and it is broken in the middle by a curtain of glass that opens gradually from top to bottom. The pool surrounding the ellipsoid shell covers an area of 35,500 square meters, the main north entrance is an 80-meter-long corridor under the pool. The south entrance and other passages are under the pool too. The pool is surrounded by leisure squares made up of large greeneries.

  (Source:bjchinese.bjedu.cn)

• Learn Chinese – Traditional Shaomai – Chinese Online Class

  Date: 2010.07.21 | Category: Chinese Online Class, learn Chinese | Response: 0

  Once upon a time, there was a rather ordinary pub on Qiangmenwai Avenue . At first, it didn’t have a name at all and only because of the emperor’s favor did it become famous overnight. This is Duyichu restaurant, where numerous visitors from home and abroad line up for a treat. This restaurant specializes in Shaomai, a well known snack in Beijing . When mentioning Shaomai from Duyichu, it is necessary for us to know the origin of shop’s name – Duyichu.

  

  The story goes back to the eve of Chinese new year in the seventeenth year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign. Traditionally, people would not come out of their home at this time without a good reason. Therefore, most all other stores had closed early for the holiday. In the darkness, only a little pub run by a family of Li had the lights on, showing it was still open. Suddenly, three men sauntered into the pub, a master and two servants. The master wore the garb of a scholar, while the two servants carried gauze lanterns in the front and back to light up the way. The pub attendant welcomed them warmly and showed them the way upstairs. As the scholar sat down to dinner he asked, “What’s the name of this shop?” The attendant replied humbly, “It is too small, and does not yet have a name.” The scholar looked around, sighed thoughtfully and said “At this very moment on new year’s eve, there might only be your one shop that is still in operation in the capital, so, you can call it Duyichu.” Several days later, a score of eunuchs from the imperial palace poured into the pub to deliver a shop sign, on which were the characters Du yi chu. Only then many realized that the scholar who had visited Li’s pub on New Year’s Eve was Emperor Qianlong himself, traveling outside of the imperial palace in a commoners garb.

  This romantic legend has been passed down for a couple of hundred years through generations of people at Duyichu, from shopkeepers to waiters, managers to attendants. The story might well be a rumor that has taken on some shades of romantic fabrication. In any case, the reputation of Duyichu improves day by day. Whenever customers come here, there are two things they must do: First, admire the board with the inscription of Emperor Qianlong; second, taste its traditional product, Shaomai.

  Actually, the outside of Shaomai is made of wheat flour, and the fillings are mainly made of various meats. On top there are eighteen folds, which look much like a flower blossoming on the top of a wheat ear, and for this reason that it is called Shaomai. As it is prepared, it is steamed in small baskets, so the shape of it is very much like a stack of lotuses placed one after another. The outside is rather thin, while the filling is ample, which makes it delicious but not greasy. In the past, when crabs were in season in autumn, Duyichu would supply Shaomai with crab meat filling, which was apparently an entirely unique cuisine experience.

  (Source:bjchinese.bjedu.cn)

• Learn Chinese – Nanjing of Liao Dynasty (938 – AD 1123) – Chinese Online Class

  Date: 2010.07.11 | Category: Chinese Online Class, learn Chinese | Response: 0

  During the Five Dynasties period, the ethnic minority Khitan expanded its influence sphere into the North Plains of China. The Tang Dynasty general of Hedong region Shi Jingtang betrayed his old master and sought for assistance from Khitan king Yelu Deguang, promising to cede territory and acknowledge allegiance to Yelu Deguang after his successful rebellion.
  The Khitan troops rode south and overthrew the Tang dynasty, then supported Shi Jingtang in ascending the imperial throne of the Jin Dynasty. In the third year of Tianfu (AD 938), Shi Jingtang, Emperor Gaozu of Latter Jin ceded out sixteen counties of Youzhou and Yunzhou to the Khitan. In the first year of Huitong (AD 938), after he received Youzhou, Yelu Deguang renamed Youzhou as Nanjing, also called Yanjing (modern day Beijing) to be his secondary capital. Latter, he set up Xijin prefecture, with Xijin and Wanping as the governmental location. Nanjing city had eight gates altogether: Andong and Yingchun in the east, Kaiyang and Danfeng in the south, Xianxi and Qingjin in the west, Tongtian and Gongchen in the north, with the imperial city in the southwest corner.
  Inside the city, there was a summer palace on the highland of the west district, a corner watch tower in the northeast, market in the south, and Shuiping Hall in the east. At that time, Liao and Song (two feudal states) came into conflict. When the Song army marched north to the the Yanjing city, they failed to break in and had to return unsuccessful. In the first year of Jingde (AD 1004) of Song dynasty, the two sides signed a treaty named The Oath of Chanyuan. The Annals of Khitan recorded “Nanjing city has a population of 300,000, and the imperial city is magnificent. There is a market in the north of the city, with various goods from both the sea and the land. The monasteries are the greatest in the north, silk and textiles are the finest under heaven.”
  There were 26 residential areas in the city. The housing blocks and streets were well planned. The techniques of Buddhist scripture carving and book printing were rather advanced, examples of which are the Tripitaka in Khitan lanuage – Khitan Scriptures, and the colored Figure of Namo Sakyamuni printed at that time. The stores and markets were concentrated on six streets and in the north market. Liao emperors advocated Buddhism, so temple construction and Buddha worship were rather popular. Dajue Temple, Jietai Temple, the pagoda of Tianning Temple, and the mosque on Niujie Street are all cultural relics left from Liao dynasty. Khitan people also invented their own language in capital and lowercase, and civil examinations were held in Nanjing to seek talented individuals. Consequently, Nanjing of Liao dynasty became the culture and education center of north China.

  (Source:bjchinese.bjedu.cn)