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 Move out the way!!!!! by sugarpuff
Hope you had fun being part on the activity!!!! Leave a Comment Address: Every junction in Beijing!Directions: Everywhere....you just CAN'T miss it!
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 by sugarpuff
Cricket Culture in China encompasses a 2000 year history of both singing insects and fighting crickets. Two millennium of tradition may be divided into three eras. From times prior to the Tang dynasty (500 B.C. - 618 A.D.), people only appreciated the cricket's powerful tunes. During the Tang dynasty (618 - 906 A.D.), people started to keep crickets in cages and enjoy their songs while in captivity. Under the Song dynasty (960 - 1278 A.D.), cricket fighting flourished as a popular sport.
Insects use to play a crucial role in the understandings of agricultural practices as they were often the best indicators of climactic change. One such understanding is called "Jing-Zhe," meaning "waking of the insects." At this time, the farmers knew it was time to start Spring ploughing. (The traditional Chinese calendar is divided into 24 solar terms, the third of which has been named "Jing-Zhe.")
The Chinese appreciation of singing insects extends beyond the appeal of their beautiful tunes to include their powerful vitality and interesting life-cycles. The fact that both katydids(large green long-horned grasshopper of North America) and crickets are able to lay hundreds of eggs was in line with Chinese beliefs that the most important ingredient to success in life was to have as many children as possible (Mao soon put a stop to that!). The katydid was thus elevated with the symbolism of thriving prosperity; People blessed their friends to have as many children as the katydids. Leave a Comment
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 Cricket containers by sugarpuff
Most of the ladies of the palace were concubines to the Emperor. With emperors typically having three thousand concubines, their life was typified by a rich material life but starved emotional and cultural experience. A similarity can be drawn between the concubines and their captive crickets in their golden cages. Rather than enjoying the sweet chirps of the crickets, the concubines heard a reflection of their own sadness and loneliness in the cricket's chirp.
A poem taken from the Tang Dynasty. 'Listen to the cricket' by Bei Ju-Yi
The Singing cricket chirps throughout the long night, tolling in the cloudy autumn with its rain. Intent on disturbing the gloomy sleepless soul, the cricket moves towards the bed chirp by chirp.
With the growth of adoration towards singing insects, people became more aware of their short life-spans ending with the onset of winter. According to Liu Tong's "Cu Zhi Zhi" (c.a. 1700 A.D.), towards the end of the Ming dynasty, people started to rear crickets:
"...placing soil in a pot, let the insect lay its eggs inside. In the winter, put the pot on a Kang (a heated brick bed,) water it every day and cover it with a cloth. At the beginning of the summer, the soil will start to stir, and one week later, the nymphs will emerge as white maggots. In addition to watering and covering, feed these nymphs with vegetables. After the legs and wings become mature, their color will darken. One month later, the crickets will start to sing their song, although it is softer that in the autumn and they will die with the coming of the spring."
Insect paraphernalia manifests the numerous varieties of specific insects, seasons, and functions. Materials used range from gold, jade, ivory, buffalo horn, animal bone and brass, to sandalwood, coconut shell, gourd, bamboo, reed, clay, pottery, porcelain and plastics. According to their shape and pattern, these cages may be divided into the following five groups: pots, cages, cases, tubes, and gourds. Leave a Comment
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 'Cricket fighting equipment' by sugarpuff
One day an officer from the local rice granaries saw a wonderful cricket, and exchanged it for his best horse. While he was away, his wife opened the pot to peek at the special cricket which promptly jumped out and was instantly eaten by a cockerel outside. The lady was so scared that she committed suicide. Her husband, upon returning and seeing his dead wife along with the missing cricket, also took his life.There are numerous tragedies and comedies associated with cricket fighting.
Since the emperor's actions had direct bearing on people's lives, the emperor's interest was largely responsible for stimulating this sport into the status of a nation wide game. The game became fashionable for the upper-class, for which cricket fighting became an activity to show off ones richness and demeanor.The lower classes placed emphasis on gambling. Most of them were experienced in the specifics of collecting, rearing, caring for, and fighting the crickets. A few of them got rich but many others destroyed the future for their families.After the Qing dynasty the reputation grew to the point where the government officially prohibited cricket fighting.
Despite a persistently ugly reputation, cricket fighting has survived to this day even throughout the Cultural Revolution when the sport went underground.
The cricket has truly earned the attention it receives from Chinese people due to their sounds, intelligence, and competitiveness. Leave a Comment
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 Entrance to the Great Wall by urban4est
The wall is called The Long Wall by the Chinese. The difference in name seems to reflect the difference in how westerners and Chinese regard the wall.
The wall has been added to over the centuries but was almost always was used to prevent Northern Barbarians from entering China, at which it failed.
In the 1940's the Kuomintang repaired sections to use for moving troops.
Today many parts are being preserved as a tourist attraction. At the gate there are even old style soldiers and performers.
Be sure to get your I Climbed the Great Wall T-Shirt. Leave a Comment Directions: About 2 hours from Beijing by bus.
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 by urban4est
And they weren't much easier coming down then going up. Imagine the soldiers with all of their gear running up them to reinforce a section under attack. Leave a Comment
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 Forbidden City by muddybok
Forbidden City covered extensive grounds of 720,000 square meters, 800 buildings and 9,999.5 rooms. (it must not more than 10,000 rooms as compare to mythical Jade Emperor's Palace).
The Forbidden City is listed by UNESCO with largest preserved ancient wooden structures in the World, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. Leave a Comment Address: North of Tiananmen SquareDirections: The Forbidden City is accessible via Tiananmen Gate from the Tiananmen Square.
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 'A city of 13 million!' by sugarpuff
I personally LOVE seeing so many people in the capital as you can feel there's something exciting in the air...but on the downside, having so many people walking around with maps and getting in your way is a real pain! Leave a Comment Directions: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Wangfujing shopping street and basically anywhere of any interest to a tourist in Beijing!!!!
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 by urban4estLeave a Comment
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The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 AD during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth.
The Temple is divided by two enclosed walls into inner part and outer part. The most magnificent buildings are The Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian) from south to north. Also, there are some additional buildings like Three Echo Stones and Echo Wall. The Circular Altar has three layered terraces with white marble. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the emperors would offer sacrifice to Heaven on the day of the Winter Solstice every year. This ceremony was to thank Heaven and hope everything would be good in the future. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is a big palace with round roof and three layers of eaves. Inside the Hall are 28 huge posts. The roof is covered with black, yellow and green colored glaze representing the heavens, the earth and everything on earth. The Hall has a base named Altar for Grain Prayers which is made of three layers of white marble and has a height of six meters. Another important building in Temple of Heaven is Imperial Vault of Heaven.
The Vermilion Steps Bridge connects the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Three Echo Stones is outside of the gate of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you speak facing the Vault while standing on the first stone, you will hear one echo.
Overall, I think the Temple of Heaven is an attraction which you must visit when you are in Beijing. You should start at the South Gate and work your way to the North Gate through all the monuments mentioned above. A leisurely walk takes about 3 hours and the entrance fee is RMB$35. More photographs are at the travelogue section of this VT page and the Temple of Heaven will be introduced in more details (with more photos) at the Local Customs section of this VT page. Leave a Comment
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